Where is Truman?

            In the fall of the presidential campaign of 1980 I came within a few feet of Ronald Reagan as he exited the Hearst building in New York where I worked. But the only president I’ve ever seen in person while he was in office was Harry Truman. I was an eight-year old boy riding in a car with my dad when we stopped at a railroad crossing in Framingham, Massachusetts, as a train went by. There, on a platform at the back of the last car was Truman waving to the people lined up at the crossing.

            I was thinking about Harry Truman last week when I wrote about our need to find a statesman like Winston Churchill to lead us out of our current political morass. Why Truman? Because this unprepossessing haberdasher from Missouri rose from relative obscurity to become President of the United States. And he rose to the occasion.

            Upon the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman was faced with enormous challenges. His first major decision was to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a decision he defended, arguing that it ended the war and prevented the potential loss of 100,000 American lives had the war gone on. After dealing face to face with Stalin at Potsdam, he put forth the Truman Doctrine that effectively contained the spread of Soviet Communism, defied the Soviets with the Berlin Airlift, oversaw the creation of NATO, and got the Marshall Plan enacted to help rebuild Western Europe. He helped found the United Nations and obtained its support in defending South Korea in the Korean War.

            At home he successfully guided the domestic economy through its post-war challenges. He also submitted the first comprehensive civil rights legislation and issued executive orders to begin racial integration of the military and the government.

            In spite of his successes he faced severe criticism that brought his popularity down to as low as 22%. But he has been vindicated by history: President Truman is now ranked favorably among the near-greats.

            Last week I asked, “Where is our Churchill?”  Today I ask, “Where is our Truman?”