Truman Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Truman

Truman Day is observed annually on May 8 in Missouri and, if May 8 occurs on a weekend, on the following weekday. During the final months of World War II, Truman made the decision to unleash the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman Day is a Missouri state holiday for which state employees receive compensated time off. Missouri is celebrating a special day because Harry S. Truman is the only U.S. president from the state. The day is also recognised nationally by the Democratic Party in the United States. Truman Day honours the legacy of Harry S. Truman during his time as a senator and president.

The background of Truman Day

Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884, to John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. The middle initial ‘S’ was given to him by his parents to honour his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. 1890 saw the relocation of Truman’s parents to Independence, Missouri, where he laboured as a Shabbos goy for his Jewish neighbours. Truman worked as a mail boy at The Kansas City Star, a timekeeper at the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and a bank assistant at the Kansas City National Bank of Commerce between 1901 and 1906. In 1906, after serving in the Missouri National Guard from 1905 to 1911, Truman returned to the family farm near Grandview and assumed responsibility for its administration. After the United States’ entry into World War I in 1917, Truman re-enlisted in the National Guard and was sent to France. He commanded Battery D and saw combat at Saint Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne.

Following his return to the United States in 1919, Truman wed Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Wallace. Mary Margaret Truman, the couple’s only child, was born on February 17, 1924. She later became a professional performer and author. With the support of Thomas Pendergast, Truman began his political career in 1922 by becoming the county judge of the eastern district of Jackson County. In 1926, he was appointed as the county court’s presiding justice, where he served two four-year terms. In 1934, when it appeared that Truman’s political career was drawing to a close, Pendergast reluctantly supported him for a seat in the U.S. Senate, after his first four choices declined. In January 1935, Truman was inaugurated into the United States Senate as the junior senator for Missouri.

Truman contributed to the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 and the Wheeler-Truman Transportation Act of 1940 during his tenure as a senator. He also chaired the Subcommittee on War Mobilisation of the Committee on Military Affairs, which reportedly saved the country approximately $15 billion. In 1944, he was chosen as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president over Henry A. Wallace. He was inaugurated into office as vice president of the United States on January 20, 1945. Roosevelt died of a brain haemorrhage 82 days into his presidency, and Truman was promptly inaugurated as president. During his two years as president, Truman presided over the conclusion of World War II, the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the First Indochina War, the Korean War, and the beginning of the Cold War. In Independence, Missouri, he constructed the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum after leaving the White House in January 1953.

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5 fascinating facts about Truman

After deliberating over his middle name, Truman’s parents decided to give him the middle initial ‘S,’ which is not a name.

Truman and his associate Eddie Jacobson briefly owned a haberdashery in Kansas City before Truman entered politics.

Two Puerto Rican independence militants attempted to kill Truman at Blair House, but he escaped unharmed.

Truman served as vice president for only 82 days before being sworn in as president.

He was instrumental in the formation of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

TRUMAN DAY DATES