Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

Harry S. Truman

Eighty-Two Days, And Nobody Told Him Anything · President of the United States · 1884–1972

The Missouri senator who became President with no briefing on Yalta or the atomic bomb, and set out the doctrine that named American containment.

Defend these ideas against Truman

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, and on it a topic counts as mastered only once you have learned it, proved it in questions, taught it back and defended it against the person with the strongest claim on it. Harry S. Truman is that person for 2 topics on the course:

• The attitudes of Truman and Stalin — History · A world divided: superpower relations, 1943–72
• Bizonia and the Berlin Blockade — History · A world divided: superpower relations, 1943–72

Who was Truman?

Born in Missouri in 1884, Truman farmed, failed as a haberdasher, commanded an artillery battery in France and rose through the Kansas City machine to the Senate, where he made his name investigating waste in war contracts. He was Vice-President for eighty-two days, had met Roosevelt twice, and learned of the Manhattan Project only after Roosevelt died in April 1945. He authorised the use of the atomic bomb, attended Potsdam, announced the doctrine to Congress in March 1947 to move an appropriation for Greece and Turkey, signed the Marshall Plan legislation, ordered the Berlin airlift in June 1948, desegregated the armed forces by executive order the same year, and took the United States into Korea in 1950. He relieved MacArthur in April 1951.

Major achievements

• Announced the Truman Doctrine to Congress on 12 March 1947
• Signed the European Recovery Program into law in April 1948
• Ordered the Berlin airlift in June 1948 rather than accept the blockade or force it
• Desegregated the armed forces by Executive Order 9981 in July 1948
• Relieved General MacArthur in 1951, asserting civilian control at heavy political cost

Life in brief

• 1884 — Born in Lamar, Missouri: Farmer, failed haberdasher, artillery captain in France.
• 1945 — President on 12 April: After eighty-two days as Vice-President and two meetings with Roosevelt.
• 1947 — The doctrine: Announced to Congress on 12 March to move an appropriation for Greece and Turkey.
• 1948 — Berlin and desegregation: The airlift begins in June; Executive Order 9981 follows in July.
• 1951 — Relieves MacArthur: Asserting civilian control at heavy political cost.
• 1972 — Dies in Missouri: Having lived to see the doctrine outlast him.

Explore the life of Truman — five chapters

1. The Farm, the Guns and the Shop That Failed — The last president who never went to college
2. Eighty-Two Days — A vice-president who was told nothing
3. The Year the Cold War Was Built — A doctrine, a plan, and a loyalty programme
4. Korea, and the General He Sacked — Civilian control, at the cost of everything else
5. The Reputation That Arrived Late — Out at the bottom, and up ever since

Read the five-chapter life of Harry S. Truman →

Begin

• Start a conversation with Truman — a dramatised, historically grounded AI portrayal
• Read the Historical Brief
• Explore the life of Truman — five chapters
• Find your course · Meet all 280 figures