(This series is provided with compliments from Paul Wolfgeher.)

——— So you think we live in chaotic times, now consider in the not so distant past what Harry Truman faced and achieved.

The Bomb

World War II had a calamitous effect on all combatants. In 1945 Japan had lost the war but the tyrants wouldn’t accept defeat. Truman had a momentous decision to make.

To invade and occupy Japan as most military minds recommended meant as many as a million US military casualties. The war had already taken an unprecedented human toll. President Truman had an option. A new weapon, if used, was so destructive even the most zealous enemy would realize the futility of continuing the fight.

On August 6, 1945 Truman gave the order, B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb released in anger on Hiroshima Japan. It immediately killed over 100,000 civilians with tens of thousands later succumbing to radiation poison. Another bomb leveled Nagasaki 3 days later, Japan and the world realized this was now a new reality. Delivering cataclysmic destruction, Japan surrendered a week later.

The President had brought the world into a new terrifying era, one where a push of a button could end civilization or release a new source of power, if harnessed, it could change the world.

Something to contemplate, what if Hitler had developed “the bomb!”

The Marshall Plan / Berlin Airlift

Lessons learned from post-World War I inwhich the victorious nations punished the vanquished led to desperation, starvation, humiliation and Nazism. President Truman and Secretary of State George C. Marshall weren’t going to let that happen again.

The plan was against human nature, instead of penalizing your defeated enemy, help them.

The goal was to assist rebuilding western Europe through investment, remove trade barriers, modernize industry from a war mode, rebuild individual countries’ heritage and prevent the spread of communism through capitalism.

The Soviet Union had other ideas.

After Germany’s surrender the country was separated into zones with control going to the 4 major victors, England, United States, Soviet Union and France with Berlin in the Soviet section. The city was also divided into sectors but encircled by the Soviet zone. The Russians were restless, wanting to control the entire city and blockaded all allied access by land and water to Berlin.

Without firing a shot, Truman risked World War III and begain airlifting supplies to isolated allies and starving Berliners. If the Soviets shot down a plane, it would cause an international incident.

The airlift went on for over a year with as much as 12,000 tons of food and fuel delivered daily by British and American aircraft. It was the first major Cold-War crisis.

Embarrassed, in May of 1948 the Russians finally blinked, allowing land access to Berlin.

The Truman Doctrine Former ally Russia had become a global bully, controlling half of post-war Europe under its communist net. The Yalta Agreement allowed Stalin to lay clain to much of Europe when he committed to declaring war on Japan. Now they wanted to expand their influence into vulnerable Greece and Turkey.

NATO

Evolving from the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization pledged peace, security and human rights assurances for all members. To this day the organization’s benchmark is Article 5 of the charter stating, “an attack on one is an attack on all.”

United Nations

Developed from Woodrow Wilson’s flawed League of Nations it was conceived to have an organization where grievances and claims could be discussed before conflict. In San Francisco on October 24, 1945 an agreement was signed by France, China, Soviet Union, United States and England creating a place where countries could talk out their differences, promoting peace and cooperation in trying to avoid another ruinous war like the one the world just experienced.

The Big 4 United States, Russia, China and England signed on with individual veto power over any proposal, France was later added. In 1945, 51 countries joined, it worked. Who knows how many countries avoided military conflict because there was a place to debate, today 193 countries are members.

Civil Rights

Truman, as a man, evolved. Experiencing life through world and local events, he learned, applied and acted starting the process to change society as he felt it needed.

Segregation was wrong and Truman knew it but the process would take small steps and decades to change attitudes. It was the right thing to do, much to the chagrin of many of his southern democratic colleagues but black people voted too.

The Commander and Chief desegrated the military and federal government on July 26, 1948 one year after Jackie Robinson broke into major league baseball.

Truman spearheaded the creation of all these doctrines, orginizations and movements. It was a crucial time in our country’s history. We as a society moved into a new technological and social economic age.

In 1952 Truman could have run for another term but he had had enough. He had done enough!

This mild-mannered, blunt talking farm boy from Missouri brought the world into a new era, fostered international stability and initiated the slow progress of civil rights.

Harry Truman left his mark on humanity, retired from office in 1953 and headed home, hanging up his cape and proceeded to stroll the streets of Independence, until his death in 1972. ——— You can find more of Bob’s work on his website bobfordshistory. com and videos on YouTube and TikTok.