One of our great presidents, who could make the hard decisions; stepping into the shoes of FDR, making the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. He was part of the founding of the United Nations, created the Truman Doctrine for the containment of communism, which largely defined the subsequent 'cold war', and a art of that containment was the huge funding for the Marshall plan that helped rebuild Europe after WW II, with billions of dollars of aid that was intended to make democracy and the western powers - and western-style democracy and capitalism - a more desirable choice for nations literally rebuilding every aspect of their countries from the ground up. It was 'dollar diplomacy', which turned out to be one of the best designed foreign policy investments in our history and in world history, intended in art not to make the same mistakes made post-WW I. He put U.S. support behind the establishment of the nation of Israel. On his watch, he dealt with the Berlin airlift, was a key player in the founding of NATO with Eisenhower as Supreme Commander. And he handled the crisis of the Korean War / 'police action'.
Truman was one of the first Democratic presidents to support civil rights, desegregating the military under protests very similar to the objections to ending discrimination against gays.
And Truman like another President had to deal with a Republican 'do nothing' Congress, although NO Congress has done so little as our obstructive 2010 Tea Party Congress. Calling them out on their failure resulted in his Truman's legendary win over Dewey that like Rove with Romney was wrongly called.
When Truman left office, after the economic problems of turning a war time economy back to a peace time economy, faced with shortages, unemployment, and high inflation, he was unpopular. History now views his presidency as far more favorable. Popular or unpopular, Truman in making his decisions and setting policy was on the right side of history. The lesson I take from his part of history is that popularity should not be the determining factor in evaluating a President. Making decisions and policies that are on the right side of history are what determine the legacy of each Presidency.
The Truman legacy has steadily gained in luster. Others.....not so much. Truman, known for keeping a sign on his desk stating 'the Buck stops here', was on the right side of history, consistently, as a statesman and leader. As we approach the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, launching us into WW II. Intended as a preemptive / preventive strike to scare us away from going to war with Japan. It was a terrible miscalculation by the Japanese - and was a lesson from history about the perils of preemptive military action that should have been a caution to the right wing idiot Dubya.
Republicans then and now gave lip service support to many things which they actively opposed in practice.
Take a moment to appreciate on of our great Presidents, Harry Truman, and how little some things have changed.
Truman was one of the first Democratic presidents to support civil rights, desegregating the military under protests very similar to the objections to ending discrimination against gays.
When Truman left office, after the economic problems of turning a war time economy back to a peace time economy, faced with shortages, unemployment, and high inflation, he was unpopular. History now views his presidency as far more favorable. Popular or unpopular, Truman in making his decisions and setting policy was on the right side of history. The lesson I take from his part of history is that popularity should not be the determining factor in evaluating a President. Making decisions and policies that are on the right side of history are what determine the legacy of each Presidency.
The Truman legacy has steadily gained in luster. Others.....not so much. Truman, known for keeping a sign on his desk stating 'the Buck stops here', was on the right side of history, consistently, as a statesman and leader. As we approach the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, launching us into WW II. Intended as a preemptive / preventive strike to scare us away from going to war with Japan. It was a terrible miscalculation by the Japanese - and was a lesson from history about the perils of preemptive military action that should have been a caution to the right wing idiot Dubya.
Republicans then and now gave lip service support to many things which they actively opposed in practice.
Take a moment to appreciate on of our great Presidents, Harry Truman, and how little some things have changed.
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