Harry Truman

Here's a summary of some of the major events of his presidency:

• World War II ended. A lot happened here, but a very short summary is that Germany surrendered, there were some more battles against Japan, nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan (the only time that nukes were used in a war), and Japan surrendered.
• the resolution of the war happened. Japan was occupied by the US and a new government was set up. Germany was split up and occupied by the US, France, UK and USSR. There were lots of treaties and negotiations involved in all of this, and the surviving leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan were removed from power.
• German and Japanese leaders were put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the first time that's really happened. As the war was ending, the Allies found evidence of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and their Japanese allies, and it was decided that the officials who carried it out needed to be held accountable. The Nuremberg Trials were the most famous of these.
• the United Nations was created in an attempt to build a stronger version of the old League of Nations. The "jury's still out" on whether or not that was successful.
• Truman passed executive orders that helped begin the process of ending racial segregation. One of the major things he did was he ordered the US military to integrate- that is, black people didn't have to be in separate units anymore, and were allowed to fight alongside white people.
• The Cold War began, the US and USSR being the primary opponents (but most countries in the world were involved one way or another). Despite having recently been allies, the US and USSR distrusted each other, and sought to undermine each other. The two countries never directly fought a war against each other; rather, they got involved in other countries and their civil wars/conflicts.
• Germany became the first "battlefield" of the Cold War, with the Berlin Blockade and Airlift, and the subsequent permanent split of Germany into East and West Germany.
• The Korean War was the first major actual battle of the Cold War. Soviet-backed North Korea invaded US-backed South Korea and nearly conquered it; the US and her allies were able to launch a counter-invasion and nearly invaded China (which had very recently become Communist too); then China got involved and the war evened out. Korea wound up being split almost exactly as it had been when World War II ended. The war didn't come to an end until shortly after Truman left office.
• McCarthyism began. Joseph McCarthy was a US Senator who brought paranoia against Communists to the forefront of US politics. He began a witchhunt, trying to find Communists in the government and military (which was then carried over into the private sector, notably in Hollywood). McCarthy's hunt did not end until after Truman left office.
• By 1952, Truman was very unpopular, and did not seek reelection. His administration was plagued with corruption; the ongoing Korean War and McCarthy's Red Scare also hurt Truman's popularity. He chose not to run for reelection, and Dwight Eisenhower was elected, succeeding to the office in 1953.

There is no "period" after the "S" in Harry S Truman because it is not an abbreviation.

I have some more facts I think are interesting:

• He was left handed.
• He never went to college.
• During most of his term he didn't live in the white house, because it was falling apart so it was being renovated so he lived across the street in Blair House.
• His nickname was 'Give Em' Hell Harry'.
• When he was lived across the street from the white house ( in Blair House) he almost got assassinated, but thank goodness the killers were killed.
• At age eight he got glasses and he was worried he would break them so (what he did to prevent breaking them is listed below!).
• By the time he was fourteen he read all the books in his local public library and the Bible three times! -all bullets done by Brett D., the expert.