WWII: Highlights from the Truman Library

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.
Read More

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

President Harry S. Truman Attends the Signing of the Medicare and Medicaid Act of 1965

July 30, 1965

“THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD ARE OF ONE MIND IN THEIR DETERMINATION TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS BY WORKING TOGETHER.”

TODAY marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of Medicare and Medicaid—a key milestone in American life and public health. President Johnson signed this critical legislation at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, with President and Mrs. Truman at his side. It was a nod to Truman’s tireless advocacy to improve the health of all Americans. Although unsuccessful during his presidency, Truman created the blueprint for the passage of the Medicare & Medicaid Act of 1965. Read More

WWII 80: Highlights from the Truman Library

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.
Read More

WWII 80: Highlights from the Truman Library

The Potsdam Conference
July 17- August 2, 1945

What do you do when you’re about to win a war and your mightiest ally seems just as dangerous as your enemies?
Read More

WWII 80: Highlights from the Truman Library

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?”
Read More

WWII 80: Highlights from the Truman Library

How Children Helped Win the War
July 5, 1945

World War II was a total war. Those who were not soldiers conserved, raised money, boosted soldiers’ morale, worked in manufacturing, and contributed to the war effort in countless other ways. Even young people participated.

Read More

Independence Day 1951

ON JULY 4, 1951, Washington, D.C. held a grand celebration marking the 175th anniversary—the demisemiseptcentennial—of the Declaration of Independence.

At 9:30 p.m., President Truman delivered an address that still has the power to thrill, challenge and inspire. Amid rising global tensions, he spoke of American unity, the defense of freedom, and the improbable birth of a democratic republic at a time when monarchs ruled the world. Following his remarks, a fireworks display (billed as the nation’s largest) filled the night sky. Read More

WWII 80: Highlights from the Truman Library

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.

Read More

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

President Harry S. Truman Signs into law the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948

JUNE 12, 1948

TODAY, we dig into the archives to explore one of President Truman’s most consequential acts as commander in chief.

On this day in 1948, he signed into law the Women’s Armed Services Integration (WASI) Act. For the first time in American history, women were permitted to serve as permanent members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the newly formed Air Force. Read More

Margaret Truman Daniel—A Unique Privilege

ON FEBRUARY 17, 1924—a wintry Missouri day—Harry and Bess Truman celebrated the birth of their daughter.

Two years earlier, Harry Truman’s haberdashery business in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, had failed. Now, he was taking classes at the Kansas City School of Law by night and serving as a county court judge by day. There was nothing to hint that this humble family from Independence, Missouri, would one day occupy the White House. Or that Margaret would grow to be an American classical soprano, actress, journalist, author, radio and television personality, and New York socialite.

Read More