He was the oldest of three children born to Martha Ellen Young Truman and John Anderson Truman in the family’s small frame house in Lamar, Missouri, in 1884.
He was given the middle initial “S” to appease relatives who’s names started with that letter.
When he was six, his family moved to Independence, Missouri, where he attended Presbyterian Church Sunday School where he met his future love, five-year-old Elizabeth Virginia (“Bess”) Wallace.
Though he wore glasses to correct his extreme short sightedness, he enjoyed reading and playing the piano. He read four to five biographies or histories a week and acquired a great amount of
knowledge of past wars and great world heroes.
In 1901, he graduated from high school. His future was very uncertain at this time. He could not go to college because of his family’s financial situation and his poor eye sight prevented him
from joining the military.
He did couple of short jobs before going back home to help his parents run a large farm belonging to his grandmother in Grandview, Missouri. He was a successful farmer for 10 years.
His father died in 1914.
Just before the United States entered W.W.I, he enlisted in the Army.
In 1923, he was sworn in as Jackson County Judge. A year later his only daughter, Mary Margaret was born.
After his first term, he ran for reelection but the Klu Klux Klan helped bring about his only political defeat.
On January 3, 1935, he was sworn in as junior senator for the state of Missouri.
With no money, no political backing, and two popular reformers as his opponents, his reelection was so unexpected that when he returned to the senate his colleagues gave him a standing ovation.
In 1944, he was nominated as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s running mate. He took oath of office as vice-president on January 20, 1945.
Presidential Facts
He ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on japan.
He annouced the Truman doctrine, a policy to help other countries oppose Communism in 1947.
He began the rebuilding of war-ravaged Europe.
He waged an undeclared war in Korea.
Presented his “Fair Deal” program to promote housing, education, civil rights, and social security.
He served an assignation attempt in 1950 that killed a White House guard.
Truman’s famous desk plaque, which read “The buck stops here,” was made for him at an Oklahoma prison.
