How many times was truman president

Truman was promoted to Captain and given command of the regiment's Battery D. Truman joined the reserves after the war, rising eventually to the rank of colonel. Marshall declined his offer to serve. On June 28, , Truman married Bess Wallace, whom he had known since childhood. Their only child, Mary Margaret, was born on February 17, From to he ran a men's clothing store in Kansas City with his wartime friend, Eddie Jacobson. The store failed in the postwar recession. Truman narrowly avoided bankruptcy, and through determination and over many years he paid off his share of the store's debts.

Truman was elected in , to be one of three judges of the Jackson County Court. Judge Truman whose duties were in fact administrative rather than judicial, built a reputation for honesty and efficiency in the management of county affairs. He was defeated for reelection in , but won election as presiding judge in the Jackson County Court in He won reelection in In , Truman was elected to the United States Senate.

He had significant roles in the passage into law of the Civil Aeronautics Act of and the Transportation Act of Truman was also a fine musician, playing the piano.

Following his high school graduation in , Truman worked at a variety of jobs including farming, oil drilling and banking. He served in France and left the army as a captain in May of One month later, he married Elizabeth Wallace. Did you know that Harry S. Truman actually had no middle name? His parents gave him the middle initial S to honor and please his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

From that moment on, the 33rd President signed his name Harry S. Truman or put all the letters in his name together as in HarrySTruman. After failing in the haberdashery business, Truman ran for county judge the title for a county commissioner in Jackson County, MO. In , he ran for re-election and lost, the only election he ever lost. In he was again elected judge, a post he held until when he ran for the U. Senate and won.

He grew up on the family farm in Independence, Missouri. After graduating high school, Truman worked at times as a timekeeper, a clerk, and a bookkeeper before becoming a farmer and joining the National Guard in He did not attend college. Returning to Missouri after the war, he became active in the Democratic Party and briefly co-owned a haberdashery. In , he was elected as a Jackson County judge and served one term before being defeated in his bid for re-election.

In , he was once again elected to a Jackson County judgeship. He held this position until , when he was elected to the United States Senate.

The Roosevelt-Truman ticket won with Truman took the oath of office as vice president of the United States on January 20, On April 12, , President Roosevelt died from a stoke and Truman was sworn in as president.

Truman's presidency began during the last months of World War II. After Germany's surrender in May, Truman witnessed the signing of the charter establishing the United Nations in June He signed the order to drop atomic bombs on Japan, which was carried out on August 6 and August 9, After the war, Truman established what is known as the Truman Doctrine, meant to help contain the Soviet Union's influence, and the Marshall Plan, which was enacted to aid Europe to rebuild following the damages of war.

Truman was re-elected in , defeating Republican candidate Thomas Dewey with The Fair Deal was a point program that included universal health care, expanded Social Security, and expanded equal rights for citizens under the law.

Although this decision originally had public support, Truman faced criticism for the war. The public's approval declined further in after Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur, who disagreed with Truman's handling of the conflict. The President also took steps to energize his liberal Democratic base, especially blacks, unions, and urban dwellers, issuing executive orders that pushed forward the cause of African-American civil rights and vetoing unsuccessfully the Taft-Hartley bill.

Truman won the presidential nomination of a severely divided Democratic party in the summer of and faced New York's Republican governor Thomas Dewey in the general election. Few expected him to win, but the President waged a vigorous campaign that excoriated Republicans in Congress as much as it attacked Dewey. Truman defeated Dewey in November , capping one of the most stunning political comebacks in American history.

Truman viewed his reelection as a mandate for a liberal agenda, which he presented under the name "The Fair Deal. He did win passage of some important liberal legislation that raised the minimum wage and expanded Social Security. Moreover, the American economy began a period of sustained growth in the early s that lasted for nearly two decades. Increasingly, though, his administration was buffeted by charges of corruption and being "soft on communism.

Some of the most virulent and irresponsible anti-communists, like Wisconsin's Republican senator Joseph McCarthy, lambasted the administration and the State Department, in particular. Significant foreign policy challenges persisted into Truman's second term.

The President committed the United States to the defense of South Korea in the summer of after that nation, an American ally, was invaded by its communist neighbor, North Korea. The American military launched a counterattack that pushed the North Koreans back to the Chinese border, whereupon the Chinese entered the war in the fall of The conflict settled into a bloody and grisly stalemate that would not be resolved until Truman left office in The Korean War globalized the Cold War and spurred a massive American military build-up that began the nuclear arms race in earnest.

Truman's popularity sank during his second term, due largely to accusations of corruption, charges that the administration was "soft on communism," and the stalemated Korean War. Unsurprisingly, Truman chose not to run in Eisenhower in the fall election.

Truman's legacy has become clearer and more impressive in the years since he left office. Most scholars admit that the President faced enormous challenges domestically, internationally, and politically. While he occasionally failed to measure accurately the nation's political tenor and committed some significant policy blunders, Truman achieved notable successes. Domestically, he took important first steps in civil rights, protected many of the New Deal's gains, and presided over an economy that would enjoy nearly two decades of unprecedented growth.

In foreign affairs, the President and his advisers established many of the basic foundations of America foreign policy, especially in American-Soviet relations, that would guide the nation in the decades ahead. On the whole, Truman is currently celebrated by the public, politicians, and scholars alike. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A.