WWII 70: Marching to Victory | September 2, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Formal Surrender of Japan
September 2, 1945
It is Sunday, September 2. Some 280 Allied warships and thousands of troops are staged in Tokyo Bay. On the deck of one vessel, the battleship USS Missouri, General Douglas MacArthur and 50 other Allied leaders are assembled. It is not a battle they have prepared for, however, but a brief ceremony. The men aboard the Missouri are about to witness Japan’s formal surrender. Read More
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | August 14, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: Japan Surrenders
President Truman’s News Conference
August 14, 1945
THE PRESIDENT. [reading]: I have received this afternoon a message from the Japanese Government–
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | August 9, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Bombing of Nagasaki
August 9, 1945
Visitors to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum can view a unique artifact that speaks to the revolutionary power and danger of the weapon that destroyed Nagasaki and helped end World War II.
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WWII 75: Marching to Victory | August 6, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Bombing of Hiroshima
August 6, 1945
At 8:15 AM on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber opened its bay doors over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and released a solitary bomb. Forty-four seconds later, it exploded 1,900 feet above the city. This single explosion brought the Second World War into its final phase and revealed to the world a new and devastating weapon.
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WWII 75: Marching to Victory | July 26, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Potsdam Declaration
July 26, 1945
By July 1945, Japan was defeated nearly everywhere except in the hearts and minds of the Japanese. Even as the Japanese Empire crumbled and the suffering Japanese prepared for invasion, military leaders reminded their people that national honor prohibited surrender to the Allies.
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WWII 75: Marching to Victory | July 17, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Potsdam Conference
July 17, 1945
What do you do when you’re about to win a war and your mightiest ally seems just as dangerous as your enemies?
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WWII 75: Marching to Victory | July 16, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Trinity Test
July 16, 1945
At 5:29 AM on July 16, 1945, an enormous explosion rocked the bleak desert of southern New Mexico. The cause of the blast was a device called the Gadget, which exploded with the force of forty million pounds of TNT. It produced intense heat, a light brighter than the sun, and a mushroom cloud 7.5 miles high that glowed yellow, then red, then purple. People felt the shockwave 100 miles from ground zero, and newspapers reported that a blind woman 150 miles away asked: “What’s that brilliant light?”
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WWII 75: Marching to Victory | July 5, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: How Children Helped Win the War
July 5, 1945
World War II was a total war. Those who were not soldiers were mobilized to some degree. They conserved, raised money, boosted soldiers’ morale, worked in war manufacturing, and contributed to the war effort in countless other ways. Even young people participated in the war effort.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | June 26, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The United Nations
June 26, 1945
Popular depictions of World War II concentrate on paratroopers, goose-stepping Nazis, Holocaust victims, tanks, aircraft carriers, and other symbols of the world at arms and the deaths of millions of people.
But violence was not the war’s only legacy.
An Update on the Truman Library’s Renovation | June 12, 2020
There is no better place in the United States to tell the story of America’s 33rd president than the Truman Library. And there is no better time to share Harry Truman’s life and legacy.
When the Midwestern farm boy who never went to college assumed the presidency in the final months of World War II, he inherited a worldwide catastrophe. With his “Buck Stops Here” leadership, he created post-war order at home and abroad. The new Truman exhibition will explore these achievements, from the Truman Committee and the Truman Doctrine to desegregating the military and recognizing Israel, for a 21st-century audience.
As the renovation completion date comes into view later this year, the Truman Library is looking more and more like the finished project. Here are a few renderings from the fly-through presentation alongside photos of the current progress. It’s exciting to see our plans become a reality.