Harry Truman: Atomic

01VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

02Today we are talking about Harry S.

03Truman.

04He became President of the United States in 1945, a few weeks before the end of World War II in Europe.

05Truman took office after Franklin Roosevelt died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage.

06Roosevelt had been President for 12 years, but Truman was new to the position of Vice President.

07Two other men had earlier served in the office under Roosevelt.

08On April 12, 1945, less than three months after he became Vice President, Truman was called to the White House.

09There, Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, told Truman about her husband's death.

10Truman was quickly sworn in as President.

11Shortly after the ceremony, the Secretary of War privately told Truman about a secret project involving American scientists.

12They were building an extremely destructive atomic bomb.

13Historians debate whether Truman already knew about the project or whether the information was a complete surprise.

14In either case, the new president had to decide whether to use the weapon, which he called the most terrible bomb in the history of the world.

15Harry Truman came from simple beginnings.

16He was born in the state of Missouri.

17He, his parents, a brother and a sister, lived in the town of Independence.

18As a boy, Harry Truman helped his father on the family's farm, but he did not enjoy the work.

19And he could not play sports because he could not see very well.

20From the time he was a child, Truman wore eyeglasses.

21So he developed his interests in reading and music.

22He was an especially good piano player.

23Truman was also a good student, but his parents did not have enough money to send him to a four-year college.

24Instead, Truman worked in a number of jobs, including as a bank clerk, mining company operator, and partner in an oil business.

25When the United States became involved in World War I, Truman decided to rejoin the National Guard.

26His guard unit became part of the U.S.

27Army, and Truman earned a position as a captain.

28Truman experienced real success in the military.

29He was an able soldier and leader, and he and his troops fought in battle.

30When the war ended, Truman kept both the feeling of self-confidence and the friendships with the other soldiers he had formed.

31He was a good man.

32One of Truman's first acts after the war was to get married.

33He married a woman from his hometown.

34They had been romantically linked for a long time.

35Her name was Elizabeth Wallace, but she was called Bess.

36The Trumans remained happily married for more than 50 years and had a daughter named Mary Margaret.

37In the first years after the war, Harry Truman opened a men's clothing shop with a friend from the military.

38But the shop, called a haberdashery, eventually failed.

39Truman soon found a new line of work.

40An operative from the Democratic Party asked Truman to be a candidate for a position as a judge.

41Truman won the seat, as well as a public reputation for being an honest, effective public servant.

42In time, Truman successfully won election to a seat in the U.S.

43Senate.

44For the most part, he earned a good public image there, too.

45He supported the social programs of President Roosevelt, and he tried to prevent big businesses or large labor unions from misusing public money.

46Both voters and Democratic officials liked Truman enough to accept him as the party's vice presidential candidate in 1944.

47Truman performed well as a candidate, but he did not have a close relationship with Roosevelt or play much of a part in his government.

48Yet in a few weeks, following Roosevelt's death, Truman was leading the country.

49Truman faced a number of difficult decisions during his two terms as president.

50Many of them involved foreign policy.

51His actions helped shape the second half of the 20th century.

52In his first months after taking office, Truman watched the end of World War II in Europe.

53He then had to decide how to deal with the war in the Pacific.

54Japan did not want to accept the Allied forces' demand for total surrender, and Truman did not want to extend the war.

55So he approved using the atomic bomb on Japan.

56Truman directed the Secretary of War to drop the weapon on military targets and try to reduce civilian deaths.

57But the destruction was still terrible.

58An estimated 192,000 people died in the attack or the effects of the bomb in Hiroshima.

59Most of the city was destroyed.

60Three days later, the U.S.

61military dropped another atomic bomb, this time on the city of Nagasaki.

62More than 70,000 people died instantly.

63The Emperor of Japan called the weapon a new and most cruel bomb.

64He agreed to his country's surrender on August 14, 1945.

65World War II came to an end.

66Truman and his government quickly had to make other decisions about how to react to the new international situation.

67One of the most pressing concerns was the Soviet Union.

68Soviet officials sought to expand their influence around the country's borders, especially in Eastern Europe, Turkey, and Iran.

69Truman and other U.S.

70officials believed those moves threatened American interests.

71The United States supported democracy and capitalism.

72It did not want the Soviet Union's form of communism to spread.

73So Truman's government put in place two measures to answer the Soviet Union's influence.

74One was a policy known as the Truman Doctrine.

75It promised American support to Greece, Turkey, and other democratic nations against authoritarian forces.

76The measure was a new step for the United States.

77In the past, the country had tried to avoid conflicts that did not directly involve it.

78Under Truman, the U.S.

79government was committed to helping free peoples anywhere by improving their living conditions.

80A second measure came to be called the Marshall Plan, after Truman's Secretary of State, George Marshall.

81Marshall wanted the United States to invest a large amount of money in rebuilding Europe after World War II.

82Because the Soviet Union controlled much of Eastern Europe, the money eventually went to improving the market economy the economy of Western Europe.

83The Office of the Historian at the State Department notes that one effect of the Marshall Plan was to introduce foreign aid programs as an official part of U.S.

84foreign policy.

85Truman also sought to guarantee peace and contain communism in other ways.

86He supported the United Nations, which was officially launched during his presidency, and he negotiated a military alliance among Western democratic nations.

87The group became known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

88Military alliances became especially important in 1950 when communist forces in North Korea invaded South Korea.

89The UN agreed to send troops to help South Korea, although many of the troops were American, and they were led by an American general.

90Fighting in the Korean War lasted until 1953.

91As many as 5 million people died in the conflict.

92Neither side gained much territory.

93But the Korean War had other effects.

94It fueled the Cold War between communist and democratic forces.

95It showed the U.S.

96would really defend other countries against authoritarian forces.

97It sharply increased American spending on the defense industry.

98And it helped make President Truman very unpopular.

99Many Americans believed Truman was losing the battle against communism.

100During his presidency, the Soviet Union successfully tested a nuclear weapon, and China officially became a communist country under Mao Zedong.

101Some U.S.

102lawmakers even accused Truman's government of protecting communist spies.

103Senator Joseph McCarthy was the most famous of these critics.

104He launched investigations against thousands of U.S.

105government employees, as well as movie actors and directors in Hollywood.

106McCarthy did not have evidence that these people were secretly working for the Soviet Union, but his campaign helped fuel the public's concern over communism, a fear that came to be called the Red Scare.

107Truman grew tired of the accusations, as well as other political battles.

108He decided not to seek re-election in 1952.

109Instead, he retired with his wife to their home in Missouri.

110At first, many Americans had mixed emotions about Truman's presidency.

111For the most part, they did not support the Korean War, and they remained suspicious that his government had included communist supporters.

112But Truman's public reputation rose over time.

113He became known as a down-to-earth person who would and could fight if needed.

114His supporters liked to say, give him hell, Harry.

115Truman is also remembered for taking some steps toward ensuring equal rights for all Americans.

116Truman supported the racial desegregation of the military and banned racial discrimination in the civil service.

117But Truman is probably best remembered for the difficult decisions he made during his presidency, especially the one to drop atomic bombs on Japan.

118To the end of his life, he accepted responsibility for the decision and did not apologize for it.

119Truman died of natural causes at the age of 88.

120His remains are buried at his presidential library in Independence, Missouri.

121I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

122and I'm Kelly.

123I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

124I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

125I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.