WWII 75: Marching to Victory | June 5, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: Civil Rights
June 5, 1945
President Truman knew that victory in WWII depended on the full participation of “all available workers regardless of race, creed or color.” When Congress abruptly dropped appropriations for the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) – the agency in charge of protecting Americans from discrimination in defense industries or government – in the spring of 1945, Truman launched an impassioned defense of the FEPC and civil rights.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | June 2, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: Victory Gardens
June 2, 1945
Although Nazi Germany had surrendered weeks earlier and the Japanese Empire was near collapse, President Truman sent a strong message to Americans on June 2, 1945 about winning the war…and winning the peace.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | May 7, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: Germany Surrenders!
May 7, 1945
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | April 30, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Death of Adolf Hitler
April 30, 1945
75 years ago today – with the Red Army only blocks away – Hitler killed himself in the Führerbunker beneath the city streets of Berlin.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | April 29, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Liberation of Dachau
April 29, 1945
In April 1945, as the European war neared its end, one question loomed large: how would the Allies ensure that justice was served to the perpetrators of Dachau and other Nazi crimes against humanity?
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | April 12, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: “The President Is Dead”
April 12, 1945
On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, Vice President Harry S. Truman was just starting to relax after a day of presiding over the Senate when he was urgently summoned to the White House. There he received the unwelcome news that President Franklin Roosevelt had died and that he, Truman, was now president.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | April 11, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Liberation of Buchenwald
April 11, 1945
On April 11, GIs of the 6th Armored Division entered Buchenwald, the main camp in a large complex of concentration camps near Weimar that had recently been abandoned by German troops. American soldiers who liberated the camp were met by thousands of emaciated camp survivors. Shortly after the camp’s liberation, Bernard Bernstein reached Buchenwald and came face-to-face with the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. His story is part of the Truman Library’s archives, and it begins here…
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | April 1, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Battle of Okinawa
April 1, 1945 – Easter Sunday, April Fools’ Day, and codenamed “Love Day” by U.S. forces – must have seemed an unwarlike day for starting a major military operation. Yet it was on that date that American troops landed on the Pacific island of Okinawa, initiating one of the bloodiest and most important battles of World War II.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | March 9, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: The Tokyo Fire Raids
March 9, 1945
On the night of March 9-10, 1945, American B-29 bombers barraged Tokyo with napalm in the most devastating aerial bombardment in history.
WWII 75: Marching to Victory | February 23, 2020
WWII highlights from the Truman Library’s archives and collections
Marching to Victory: Iwo Jima
February 23, 1945
The Iwo Jima Memorial in miniature is a small testament to tremendous courage.
