Biography:Truman served only four months as Vice President of the United States before Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, unexpectedly making him the 33rd President.
Taking over just before the end of World War II, Truman made the momentous decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ushering in the Atomic Age and shortly afterward the Cold War.
On the domestic front Truman presided over a surge in prosperity following the war and the Great Depression. In Europe he approved the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western European countries and announced the Truman Doctrine to combat the spread of communism.
His surprise victory in the 1948 presidential election coincided with the early beginnings of the Cold War; that year the Berlin Airlift resolved the first major crisis between the US and the Soviet Union. In 1950 Truman responded militarily to the outbreak of the Korean War, but the conflict stalemated for three years and helped contribute to the defeat of the Democrats against Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952.
1945-08-08 President Harry Truman signs the United Nations Charter
1945-10-08 US President Harry Truman announces atomic bomb secret shared with Britain and Canada
1946-08-01 US President Harry Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
1946-11-09 US President Harry Truman ends wage/price freeze
1946-12-05 US President Harry Truman creates Committee on Civil Rights by Exec Order #9808
1946-12-31 US President Harry Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
1947-03-12 US President Harry Truman introduces the Truman Doctrine to fight communism
1947-03-21 US President Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9835 requiring all federal employees to have "complete and unswerving loyalty to the United States"
1947-06-23 US President Truman's veto of Taft-Hartley Act, restricting the power of trade unions is overridden by Congress and becomes law
1947-07-26 US President Truman signs National Security Act (1947), establishing Department of Defense, CIA, National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff
1947-09-18 The Central Intelligence Agency officially comes into existence after being established by President Truman in July
1947-10-05 Harry Truman makes the 1st Presidential address televised from the White House
1947-12-06 The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated by President Harry S. Truman
1948-01-07 US President Harry Truman raises taxes for the Marshall Plan to assist in rebuilding Europe after WWII
1948-04-03 US President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Western Europe after World War II, granting an initial $5 billion in aid to 16 European countries
1948-06-25 Harry Truman signs Displaced Persons Bill (205,000 Europeans to US)
1948-11-02 US President Harry Truman is re-elected in an upset victory over Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey
1949-01-05 US President Harry Truman labels his administration the "Fair Deal"
1949-01-20 US President Harry Truman announces his four point program
1949-05-14 US President Harry Truman signs bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral
1949-09-23 US President Harry Truman announces evidence of USSR's 1st nuclear device detonation
1949-10-06 US President Harry Truman signs Mutual Defense Assistance Act (for NATO)
1949-10-26 US President Harry Truman increases minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents
1950-01-31 US President Harry Truman publicly announces support for the development of a hydrogen bomb
1950-06-27 North Korean troops reach Seoul, causing the UN to ask member states to aid South Korea. Harry Truman orders the US Air Force and Navy into the Korean conflict.
1950-08-13 US President Harry Truman gives military aid to Vietnamese regime of Bảo Đại
1950-11-01 Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry Truman at Blair House in Washington D.C.; attack thwarted by White House Police, including Officer Leslie Coffelt who was killed in the line of duty
1950-12-16 US President Harry Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"
1951-03-26 United States Air Force flag officially adopted by President Harry S. Truman
1951-04-20 Huge ticker-tape parade held in NYC for World War II and Korean War General Douglas MacArthur after he was relieved of Command by President Truman
1951-07-09 US President Harry Truman asks Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
1951-09-04 US President Harry Truman addresses opening of Japanese Peace Treaty Conference
1953-01-07 US President Harry Truman announces American development of the hydrogen bomb
1957-07-06 Harry S. Truman Library forms in Independence, Missouri
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