Wars, politics & history

Death of Harry S. Truman

26 December 1972

Harry S. Truman died on 26 December 1972 in Research Medical Center, aged 88. An American Democratic politician from Missouri, Truman served as a senator and as vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt before becoming the 33rd president on Roosevelt's death in April 1945. He took the decision to use atomic bombs against Japan, and his administration launched the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan to contain communism and rebuild Europe, helped to found NATO and organised the Berlin Airlift. He ordered the desegregation of the armed forces and sent American forces to the Korean War. He won a surprise victory in the 1948 election against Thomas Dewey, and chose not to run in 1952.

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