Who else admires Harry Truman?

Question

One of the great US Presidents, who made hard decisions, and made them right.

And unlike most other world leaders, never lost the common touch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman_National_Historic_Site

Answer 1

Yes Tink, I admire him...and I remember him! My parents always liked him, "the buck stops here" being an anthem admirable to logging country...and I am glad that later evaluations have vindicated his presidency which was much criticized at the time.

I even remember this newspaper, even at the time it was the occasion of much hilarity, a photo similar to this one printed in our local Raymond Herald!

300w, 50w" class="wp-image-116438" alt="" src="https://brewminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/020220-04-Truman-Dewey-Politics-Vote-Election.jpg">

Comments

Yes, Virginia, history has indeed vindicated Truman, and deservedly so. And I think he was one of the most decent men ever to have become president.

I shudder to think of what would have happened if Henry Wallace had become president instead (the Democrats wisely removed him from the ticket in 1944). Wallace was perhaps the most egregious example of how one of Lenin's "useful idiots" could attain high office.

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Tink, I don't even know anything about Wallace other than his name...again, your knowledge of history is remarkable, yes I remember you said it was your major, and you have certainly kept it up.

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No, that's Sir Furry that has the history degree. My major was mathematics.

My interest in history developed through family history.

Answer 2

You'll find no U.S. Marines who do.  Period.  I'm not sure whom I revile more, he or Eisenhower.  Both were Army and despised the Marine Corps.  It was Truman who attempted to eliminate us, but due to several well versed Marine Corps luminaries, chiefly among them Edson, Krulak, and Cates, they exposed the Army biases and a plan to centralize military power within the Joint Chiefs rather than a civilian control by Congress, and they raised enough hell by presenting their case both to Congress and the American people despite Truman trying to muzzle them that the outcry became overwhelming once the American people and Congress found out what was afoot------it was SO overwhelming in fact, that Truman was forced to apologize to the Marine Corps, and then to attend and apologize again publicly before that years Marine Corps League meeting.  Cripes I would have loved to have been present.

Eisenhower, Truman, and Marshall's plan for their grand Army  scheme proved to be an epic failure.

Comments

There indeed were moves to vastly reduce the armed services, particularly the Navy and the Marines, but of course not the Air Force, under the mistaken assumption that nuclear weapons had made conventional warfare obsolete.

Truman was soon to learn the error of that assumption in Korea. He apologized in writing to the Marine commandant, and then in person at the Marine Corps League meeting in September of 1950, less than two weeks before the Inchon landing, which he must have known was in the works.

And btw, he received a standing ovation from the Marines, at least according to Wikipedia:

"He made amends only by making a surprise visit to the Marine Corps League a few days later, when he reiterated, “When I make a mistake, I try to correct it. I try to make as few as possible.” He received a standing ovation."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps

And I think there may have been some servicemen, including Marines, that approved of Truman's decision to use the atomic bombs, saving hundreds of thousands, maybe a million American casualties.