1. Resume
    1. 1905 - 1911, 1917 - 1919, 1920 - 1953: Military Service - World War I
    2. 1922 - 1924: County Court of the Eastern District of Jackson County
    3. 1926 - 1930: Elected the Presiding Judge for the County Court
    4. 1935 - 1945: United States Senator from Missouri
    5. 1945 - 1945: 34th Vice President of the United States
    6. 1945 - 1953: 33rd President of the United States
  2. Chronology
    1. 1884: Born in Lamar, Missouri
    2. 1901: Graduated from Independence High School
    3. 1905 - 1911: Enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard
    4. 1911: Courted Bess Wallace and proposed to her, but was turned down
    5. 1917: Joined the army
    6. 1919: Married Bess Wallace
    7. 1972: Died after multiple organ failure at age 88
  3. Notables
    1. Decision to use atomic weapons against Japan led to a speedy end of the war but remains controversial
    2. Most recent U.S. president to not have earned a college degree
    3. Turned down for appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, because of poor eyesight
    4. His war record made possible his political career in Missouri
    5. Had a relationship with Roosevelt during the 1932 presidential election, and supported the New Deal
    6. Was vice president for only 82 days when Roosevelt died
    7. He was expected to lose the 1948 election, but came from behind to win
    8. 1949 inauguration was the first ever televised nationally
    9. His approval mark stood at 22% in 1952, which was the lowest approval mark for an active American president until George W. Bush in 2008
    10. During renovations of the White House from 1949 - 1952, two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate Truman in 1950
  4. Laws / Acts / Events
    1. The U.S. successfully concluded World War II: in the aftermath, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War
    2. Assisted in the founding of the United Nations, issued the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, and passed the $13 billion Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe
    3. Oversaw the Berlin airlift in 1948 and the creation of NATO in 1949
    4. Gained UN approval for the Korean War after North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950
    5. Recession of 1921
    6. Arguable whether the atomic bomb was a smart decision, although it is estimated to have saved thousands of lives
    7. 1946: Steel strike involving 800,000 workers was followed by a coal strike and a rail strike
    8. 1947: Presidential Succession Act, making the Speaker of the House rather than the Secretary of State next in line to the presidency after the vice president
    9. Fair Deal - Truman's legislative agenda, with only the Housing Act of 1949 ever enacted from it
    10. 1947: National Security Act - merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (Department of Defense) and created the U.S. Air Force
    11. National Security Act also created the CIA and the National Security Council
    12. Berlin Airlift was one of Truman's great foreign policy successes, significantly aiding his election campaign in 1948
    13. 1948: Recognized the State of Israel eleven minutes after it declared itself a nation - Secretary of State thought it would hurt relations with the Arab states, and Saudi Arabia was important for oil incase of a war with the Soviets
    14. 1951: Fired MacArthur from his commands, which was among the least politically popular decisions in presidential history
    15. 1950 Korean war was a frustrating stalemate for two years, with over 30,000 Americans killed, until an armistice ended the fighting in 1953
    16. The U.S., Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Iceland, and Canada were the original treaty signatories of NATO
    17. The alliance resulted in the Soviets establishing the Warsaw Pact
    18. 1950, the Senate investigated numerous charges of corruption among senior administration officials
    19. 1951: The U.S. ratified the 22nd Amendment, making a president ineligible for election to a third term or for election to a secondf ull term after serving more than two remaining years of a term of a previously elected president
    20. 1958: Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pensiont o each former president