Harry S Truman

I became the thirty-third president of the United States in April of 1945 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and I, being the vice president, assumed the duties of commander in chief. Before entering the presidency, I served as a captain in the Field Artillery during World War I. After the war, I became active in the Democratic Party and was elected as a judge of the Jackson County court in 1922. Twelve years later, I become a U.S. Senator and headed the Senate war investigating committee during World War II. President Roosevelt eventually selected me to be his running mate and I soon became the vice president. I oversaw the end of World War II as the U.S. President and made some of the most crucial decisions in the conflict; perhaps most famous among them is my decision to use atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war in the Pacific. I was elected president on my own in the next election in 1948 and witnessed the beginning of the Cold War. In my elected term in office, I laid much of the groundwork for the course of world affairs that would last until the end of the century. Some of the more memorable programs that came out of my administration include the Fair Deal, The Marshall Plan, and the Truman Doctrine. I also negotiated the NATO military alliance and was commander in chief during the Korean War. Due to low approval ratings at the end of my first term, I decided not to run again in 1952.