Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman, a plain-spoken Missouri senator, became president on Roosevelt's death in April 1945 and immediately faced world-shaping decisions.

He authorized the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II. He then defined the early Cold War: the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan to contain communism and rebuild Europe, the Berlin Airlift, the founding of NATO, and U.S. intervention in the Korean War. He also desegregated the armed forces. Trailing badly in the polls, he won a famous upset re-election in 1948.

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