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Becomes the 33rd President
After President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in Warm Spring, Georgia; Harry S. Truman becomes the thirty-third President of the United States. -
Ended WWII
Truman used nuclear weapons to end World War II, desegregated the U.S. armed forces, supported a newly independent Israel, and was a founder of the United Nations.With no prior experience in foreign policy, Truman was thrust into the role of commander in chief and charged with ending a world war. In the first six months of his term, he announced the Germans’ surrender, dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ending World War II. -
Cold War Began
The Cold War was a battle between us, the United States, and the Soviet Union. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred – the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue. -
Truman Doctrine was Created
The Truman Doctrine was a de facto declaration of the Cold War. Truman’s address outlined the broad parameters of U.S. Cold War foreign policy: the Soviet Union was the center of all communist activity and movements throughout the world; communism could attack through outside invasion or internal subversion; and the United States needed to provide military and economic assistance to protect nations from communist aggression. -
NATO Treaty was Signed
The United States and 11 other nations establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression against Western Europe. NATO stood as the main U.S.-led military alliance against the Soviet Union throughout the duration of the Cold War. Truman was the signer for the United States. -
Korean War Began
The Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. -
Harry S Truman Presidency Ended
The Truman left the White House and returned to Independence, Missouri. When Truman left the presidency, the world was far different from when the senator from Missouri was asked to run as Roosevelt’s vice president. Harry S. Truman helped in a new world order and set in place policies like the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, and institutions like the United Nations to try to prevent another world war. Under his leadership, the country embraced its new status as a superpower. -
Korean War Ended
After three years of a bloody and frustrating war, the United States, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea agree to an armistice, bringing the Korean War to an end. The armistice ended America’s first experiment with the Cold War concept of “limited war.”