This year, shown as 2020 on our calendars, is the 75th anniversary of some of the most dramatic, sad, and consequential events in our history.
*75 years ago in January, Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated for his unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States. Beside him at the swearing in was his new Vice President, Harry S Truman of Missouri.
*75 years ago in April Franklin Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia. The presidency and the war had drained the health and life of Roosevelt.
*75 years ago, on April 12, 1945, Harry S Truman became President of the United States. It was just after 7PM when Truman took the oath, and beside him was his wife, now the First Lady, and his daughter, Margaret. Bess and Margaret Truman would be Harry Truman's rocks as he navigated this new job.
*75 years ago Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy fell. Europe began the period of rebuilding, and America would play a vital role.
*75 years ago in June, 1945, Harry Truman made his first trip home to Independence as President of the United States. He received his first honorary degree...but made sure he was home for his 26th wedding anniversary on June 28. He stopped in Independence after being in San Francisco to help inaugurate a new organization...the United Nations.
*75 years ago Harry Truman made the trip to Potsdam, Germany, to meet with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, as they tried to chart a post-War world. En route back to the United States Harry Truman made, arguably, the most important decision of his presidency. Perhaps the most consequential decision in world history. A new weapon was to be used.
*75 years ago in August, 1945, that new weapon, an atomic bomb, was used on two cities in Japan. The intent was to end the War in the Pacific theatre. Japan ultimately did surrender. As in Europe, America played a vital role in rebuilding Japan.
*75 years ago in October, 1945, Harry Truman created the Seal of the President of the United States. This new symbol represented an office in transition. Truman did make one significant change to the emblem...the head of the eagle now faced towards olive branches and not arrows. Truman wanted peace. So did the world.
1945 changed the world. So did Harry S Truman.
Harry S Truman National Historic Site hoped...hopes...to share these stories with our valued partners. We know the present health crisis is deeply affecting everyone in the world. Perhaps one of the legacies of World War II, and 1945, is the idea that we are citizens of the United States, but also the world.
|
March 20, 2020
|
Last updated: March 20, 2020