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Following a tough Democratic primary victory in 1940, he won a second term in the Senate, and it was during this term that he gained national recognition for leading an investigation into fraud and waste in the U.S. military. He won the primary with a 40,000-vote plurality, assuring his election in solidly Democratic Missouri. He lost his bid for reelection in 1924, but he was elected presiding judge of the county court in 1926, again with Pendergast’s support.
South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, a segregationist, declared his candidacy for the presidency on a Dixiecrat ticket and led a full-scale revolt of Southern "states' rights" proponents. Truman took a considerable political risk in backing civil rights, and many seasoned Democrats were concerned the loss of Dixiecrat support might seriously weaken the party. A sharp address given by Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis—as well as the local political interests of a number of urban bosses—convinced the convention to adopt a stronger civil rights plank, which Truman approved wholeheartedly. At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Truman attempted to unify the party with a vague civil rights plank in the party platform. In the spring of 1948, Truman's public approval rating stood at 36 percent, and the president was nearly universally regarded as incapable of winning the general election.

Under what circumstances did Harry S. Truman become president?

As Secretary of State Acheson increased his pressure on Truman, the president stood alone in his administration as his own top appointees wanted to normalize relations. Navy's Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent further conflict between the communist government on the China mainland and the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. NATO's goals were to contain Soviet expansion in Europe and to send a clear message to communist leaders that the world's democracies were willing and able to build new security structures in support of democratic ideals. The war remained a frustrating stalemate for two years, with over 30,000 Americans killed, until an armistice ended the fighting in 1953.citation needed Truman and his generals considered the use of nuclear weapons against the Chinese army, but ultimately chose not to escalate the war to a nuclear level.

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• The entire national railroad system was shut down, immobilizing 24,000 freight trains and 175,000 passenger trains a day.
• He testified before Congress to have money appropriated to have presidential papers copied and organized.
• On April 10, 1945, Truman cast his only tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate, against a Robert A. Taft amendment that would have blocked the postwar delivery of Lend-Lease Act items contracted for during the war.
• At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary (March 11, 1952), no candidate had won Truman’s backing.
• At the Kansas City Law School (now the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law) but dropped out after losing reelection as county judge.
• He appointed fellow colonel and civil rights icon Blake R. Van Leer to the board of the United States Naval Academy and UNESCO who had a focus to work against racism through influential statements on race.
• The final break came in 1947 when the Labour government in London could no longer afford to help Greece fight communism and asked Washington to assume responsibility for suppressing the Communist uprising there.

Harry S. Truman’s presidency was a period of significant transition and challenge. Truman left the presidency and retired to Independence in January 1953. Truman's presidency was marked by important foreign policy initiatives.

Foreign policy

Marshall believed the paramount threat to the United States was the Soviet Union and feared Arab oil would be lost to the United States in the event of war; he warned Truman the United States was "playing with fire with nothing to put it out". Secretary of Defense James Forrestal warned Truman of the importance of Saudi Arabian oil in another war; Truman replied he would decide his policy on the basis of justice, not oil. The Berlin Airlift was one of Truman's great foreign policy successes; it significantly aided his election campaign in 1948. On November 4, 1952, Truman authorized the official, though at the time, confidential creation of the National Security Agency (NSA). He won bipartisan support for both the Truman Doctrine, which formalized a policy of Soviet containment, and the Marshall Plan, which aimed to help rebuild postwar Europe. As a Wilsonian internationalist, Truman supported Roosevelt's policy in favor of the creation of the United Nations and included Eleanor Roosevelt on the delegation to the first UN General Assembly.

Military awards and decorations

He participated in a conference at Potsdam, Germany and worked to lay groundwork for the final stage of the war against Japan. As President, Truman oversaw the ending of the war in Europe. This committee, which came to be called the Truman Committee, sought with considerable success to ensure that defense contractors delivered to the nation quality goods at fair prices. Truman gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program.

• Though this was the first time the Soviets had been officially given information about the atomic bomb, Stalin was already aware of the bomb project—having learned about it through atomic espionage long before Truman did.
• In his first term, Truman spoke out against corporate greed and the dangers of Wall Street speculators and other moneyed special interests attaining too much influence in national affairs.
• Respected by his Senate colleagues and admired by the public at large, Truman was selected to run as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president on the 1944 Democratic ticket, replacing Henry A. Wallace.
• The large-scale destruction forced the Japanese to surrender and quickly brought the war to an end.
• Is flat a good deal of the time—more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years …
• Truman then thought he might serve out his career in some well-paying county sinecure; circumstances changed when Pendergast reluctantly backed him as the machine’s choice in the 1934 Democratic primary election for the U.S.
• Truman managed the committee “with extraordinary skill” and usually achieved consensus, generating heavy media publicity that gave him a national reputation.

Post-War Challenges and the Beginning of the Cold War: 1945-1947

Roosevelt's advisors knew that Roosevelt might not live out a fourth term and that his vice president would very likely become the next president. The committee reportedly saved as much as $15 billion (equivalent to $260 billion in 2024), and its activities put Truman on the cover of Time magazine. Truman's initiative convinced Senate leaders of the necessity for the committee, which reflected his demands for honest and efficient administration and his distrust of big business and Wall Street. A new special committee was set up under Truman to conduct a formal investigation; the White House supported this plan rather than weather a more hostile probe by the House of Representatives.
Campaign manager William J. Bray said Truman took this advice, and spoke personally and passionately, sometimes even setting aside his notes to talk to Americans "of everything that is in my heart and soul." They are strong for labor—but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. Truman delivered an aggressive acceptance speech attacking the 80th Congress, which Truman called the "Do Nothing Congress", and promising to win the election and "make these Republicans like it". We must ensure that these rights – on equal terms – are enjoyed by every citizen.

Civil rights

When he was serving as a county judge, Truman borrowed $31,000 (equivalent to $364,327 in 2024) by mortgaging the farm to the county school fund, which was legal at the time. Truman, behind the scenes, lobbied for a pension, writing to congressional leaders that he had been near penury but for the sale of family farmlands. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents, and Congressional pensions were not approved until betory casino registration 1946, after Truman had left the Senate, so he received no pension for his Senate service. Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support. Upon leaving the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home, which he and Bess had shared for years with her mother.
Truman submitted a reorganization plan to reform the IRB; Congress passed it, but corruption was a major issue in the 1952 presidential election. The 1948 presidential election is remembered for Truman's stunning come-from-behind victory. Truman managed the committee "with extraordinary skill" and usually achieved consensus, generating heavy media publicity that gave him a national reputation. This was payback to Pendergast for delivering the Kansas City vote to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. Investigations revealed corruption in parts of the Truman administration, and this became a major campaign issue in the 1952 presidential election, although they did not implicate Truman himself. He energized the New Deal coalition during the 1948 presidential election, despite a divided Democratic Party, and won a surprise victory against the Republican Party's nominee, Thomas E. Dewey.