(This historical series is complimentary from Paul Wolfgeher, enjoy!) ——— Harry Truman didn’t know Franklin Roosevelt well enough to dislike him.

In 1944 the Democrats needed a vice presidential nominee that would unify the party to campaign with Roosevelt for his 4th run to stay in the White House.

“I don’t want to be vicepresident!” exalted Harry, “All they do is preside over the senate and sit around waiting for a funeral.” But at the convention when the party called, Truman answered. Roosevelt wasn’t thrilled about the little known senator from Missouri either.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s health was failing, nobody knew how ill he had become. He wanted to do something no other President had ever done. Bring the country through World War II, get the United Nations off to a good start then retire. To retire in office as Commander and Chief would set a precedent.

The Roosevelt-Truman ticket won in 1944. Finally the war in Europe was going well. The Russians had the Germans on their heels to the East while American troops were approaching the Rhine. The Nazi’s ill-fated last ditch battle through the Ardennes Forest had not yet been fought back.

As Allies sensed the war was coming to a triumphant end, tension between the victors concerning post-war claims and agreements grew.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin agreed to a 3rd war time meeting to confer what postwar Europe would look like.

America, still in an all out fight with Japan, needed Russian help.

They met for the Yalta Conference on the Crimea Peninsula, a coastal retreat off the Black Sea. Stalin had a fear of flying. The meeting ensued on February 4, 1945 to decide the fate of Europe and what turned out to be the world for the next 50 years.

Roosevelt was sick, Churchill war weary but Stalin emboldened.

The French weren’t even invited which later caused problems between General de Gaulle and the other allies for years to come.

Stalin was a bully according to one negotiator, Secretary of State James Byrnes,” it wasn’t a question of what we would let the Russians do, more like what we could get them to do.”

Russia and Japan had a neutrality pact that kept the two military behemoths at arms length. The United States needed Russian might to bring the Pacific War to an end. If Russia would declare war on Japan, Roosevelt and Churchill were willing to give Stalin control of what would become, the Eastern Bloc of Europe.

The Manhattan Project, United States atomic bomb effort, was top secret. Roosevelt had not decided to use it or not. If that choice had been made it’s my opinion all the European concessions Stalin got would not have been so easily conceded.

Truman was out of the loop. Roosevelt had other confidants he relied on for years but for the good of the country and the obvious succession law, why no relationship?

During Truman’s Vice President tenure he met privately with Roosevelt only twice.

Just 82 days after taking the oath of office for his 4th term, Roosevelt died. The country was in shock and so was Truman. Franklin D. Roosevelt had led the country out of the depression onto victory in Europe and hopefully the Pacific, but now what? He was the country’s security blanket.

Truman knew nothing about the Manhattan Project or was involved in any agreements coming out of Yalta. Harry was totally unprepared, “I feel like the moon, stars and planets have fallen on me,” gasped our new President. He didn’t have a choice, now ”the buck stops here!”

After Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945 all American fighting efforts turned to the Pacific.

Island hopping had been devastating, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Saipan and now Okinawa cost thousands of American lives but the Japanese were fanatical.

Russia lived up to their Yalta commitment, and declared war on Japan August 8, 1945. Late to the conflict no doubt but with 1.2 million troops deployed in time to add serious pressure with victories throughout Japanese controlled Manchuria it had more impactful than the west realized.

Still with religious type zeal the Japanese left little doubt the only way to achieve an unconditional surrender was to invade and occupy Japan. It was a daunting thought, the world had already lost so many lives in this insane war.

Truman received estimates, if the United States were to invade Japan it could cost upwards of 1 million or more American soldier’s lives and several million Japanese.

The President had learned about the existence and potential of the atomic bomb shortly after Roosevelt’s death.

B-29’s were in reach of the Japanese mainland 5 months before the Hiroshima decision. Tactics changed when the Army Air Force began targeting cities with incendiary bombs. At a horrific pace 67 Japanese cities were firebombed, homes made of wood and tar paper spread firestorms throughout those cities.

In the most destructive aerial raid in history Tokyo, with a population equal to New York City, 16 square miles was decimated by fire, 100,000 people died in that one night and 1 million left homeless. It was worse than the firebombing of Dresden. Still the Japanese didn’t surrender.

The choice for Harry Truman was clear: it would take the new most destructive invention ever created by man, the atomic bomb, to bring Japan to its senses.

The order was given on August 6, 1945. The B-29 Enola Gay then delivered “Little Boy,” obliterating Hiroshima. Three days later, “Fat Man” leveled Nagasaki.

The Japanese announced its surrender on August 15, 1945 ending a sad chapter in human history.

Harry Truman presided over the United States until 1953, he could have run again but had enough.

The speckled farmer from Missouri changed the world ending a brutal war, entered the globe into a new age and saved millions of lives by relying on his God given instincts, midwestern upbring and love of country. ———

You can find more of Bob’s work on his website bobfordshistory. com and videos on YouTube and TikTok.