It’s time to dust off our memories of Harry S Truman, the 33rd president.
The centennial of Truman’s birth is May 8. By proclamation. President Reagan has called on Americans to reflect on the Missouri Democrat’s accomplishments and his “dedication to freedom and democracy.”
If you were among the thousands who heard either of Truman’s two Provo speeches, you will have some warm and personal memories.
In his nearly eight years as president, HST was called on to matte some of the most difficult decisions of any United States president in the 20th Century including use of the atomic bomb to hasten Japan’s surrender to end World War II.
At the same time, he was a colorful, forthright, down-to-earth individual. A “common” man.
Let’s mention a few lingering Truman images. But first, what other chief executives have visited Provo during their presidencies?
Insofar as I can determine, there were only two:
– Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president, spoke from a railroad platform May 9, 1891 while Utah was still a territory.
– William Howard Taft, the 27th president, spoke in the Provo Tabernacle Sept. 24, 1909.
If you’re an old-timer, you must also remember Herbert Hoovers railroad platform appearance Nov. 4, 1928, just two days before his election as the 31st president.
Reflecting on the Truman years, I recall how stunned and humbled the vice president was when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died April 14, 1915 early in his fourth term, placing the burden of the presidency on his shoulders … how he rose to meet the challenges of president in those climactic months of World War II … Truman’s fast-paced morning walks, with reporters hurrying to keep up his piano playing (he loved Chopin music, but cringed when asked to play “the Missouri Waltz”) … his comment that he’d like to punch the nose of the music critic who gave his daughter Margaret a bad review on her vocal concert.
The 33rd president was tough on wasteful government spending. How many of you are aware that of the only eight times in the last half century that Congress has balanced the budget, four were during the Truman years? (Three were under President Eisenhower and one while Richard Nixon was president.)
Who can forget the indomitable Truman’s hard-hitting campaign for re-election against the favored Thomas E. Dewey in 1948? It was during his 30,000-mile, 355-speech whistle stop tour that he first came to Provo as president. He attracted 5,000 Utahns to the railroad station. Stops also were made at Springville and American Fork.
On Election Day HST scored a dramatic upset victory.
Truman’s second speech in Provo was at the old BYU Stadium Oct. 6, 1952 in the closing months of his second term when he was supporting Adlai Stevenson, Democratic nominee running against Republican Dwight Eisenhower.
(Earlier, while a U. S. senator, he had visited Geneva Steel Plant twice as chairman of the Senate watchdog committee probing defense plant expenditures.)
Truman had bean president less than a month when Germany surrendered. His May 8 birthday become V-E Day. Japan surrendered Aug. 14, 1945, days after the U. S. Army dropped single atomic bombs, first on Hiroshima, than Nagasaki.
The president never doubted the validity of his decision to drop the bomb, which in his view forestalled massive casualties on both sides that would have resulted from an invasion of Japan.
After V-E Day, Truman met with Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam to dismiss post-war global policies. Small agreements were made but it was obvious the Cold War already was approaching.
I mentioned that Truman had many difficult decisions to make. Some were associated with the Marshall Plan in rebuild creation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), aid to Greece and Turkey, the Korean Conflict and the Berlin Airlift, each in itself a story of historic proportions.
Those momentous times offer much to think about as we mark the Truman centennial.