President Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945, later that same day Vice President Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the thirty-third President of the United States.
Germany Surrenders
Russian forces reached Berlin and occupied the city on April 22, 1945. Eight days later Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin air raid bunker. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. In America May 8, was celebrated as V-E Day (Victory in Europe).
San Francisco Conference, United Nations Established
On April 25, 1945 the representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to draft a charter for a post war organization for the maintenance of international peace. The charter establishing the United Nations was signed on June 26, 1945.
Potsdam Conference
In July of 1945 President Truman met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Churchill was replaced at the conference by Clement Attlee after British elections), and Soviet Premiere Joseph Stalin in Potsdam, Germany, a suburb of Berlin. While in Potsdam President Truman learned of the successful testing of the atomic bomb by U.S. scientists. The Potsdam Declaration, demanding the immediate, unconditional surrender of Japan, was issued on July 26. Though the declaration promised Japan that failure to surrender would result in "prompt and utter destruction" it did not mention the existence of the atomic bomb.
Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945 the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 100,000 people were killed instantly, and the entire city was obliterated.
Russia Declares War on Japan
In fulfillment of the promise Joseph Stalin made to President Roosevelt at Yalta, Russia entered the war against Japan on August 8, 1945.
Nagasaki
On August 9, 1945 a second atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. 35, 000 people were killed in the blast. Japan asked for peace the following day.
Japan Surrenders
On September 2, 1945 officials of the Japanese government surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur in a ceremony held aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, which was anchored in Tokyo Bay. In America the day was celebrated as V-J Day (Victory in Japan).
Berlin Airlift
In June of 1948 the Soviet Union cut off ground access to West Berlin. President Truman responded by ordering American transport planes on daily missions to fly in enough supplies to sustain the more than 2 million people living in West Berlin. The Soviets restored ground access to West Berlin in May of 1949.
Legislation
Committee on Civil Rights
In 1946 President Truman established the Committee on Civil Rights, which created a Fair Employment Practices Commission, and introduced anti-lynching and anti-poll-tax legislation into Congress.
Taft-Hartley Act
Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in June of 1947 over President Truman's veto. The Taft-Hartley Act outlawed the practice of requiring workers to join the union before receiving employment. It also outlawed strikes arising over disputes between unions over rights to represent workers.
Truman Doctrine
Early in 1947 a small faction of Greek communists aided by the communist states of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria attacked the Greek government. Great Britain came to the rescue of the Greek government but soon found it could not provide the nation with the necessary supplies. In February of 1947 President Truman asked Congress for $400 million in aid for the governments of Greece and Turkey. President Truman justified the expenditure by saying, "It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." This approach to cold war politics became known as the Truman Doctrine.
Marshall Plan
During the summer of 1947 Secretary of State George C. Marshall suggested that the way to fight the spread of communism in Europe was to help the free nations of Europe rebuild their economies. In February of 1948 Congress approved $13 billion dollars in economic aid to western Europe.
Federal employee Loyalty Program
In 1947 President Truman established the Federal Employee Loyalty Program which authorized the FBI to investigate the lives and histories of all federal employees. Thousands were fired or forced to resign under this program for reasons ranging from alcoholism, homosexuality, unpaid debts, leftist political sympathies or associations, and support of civil rights.
Harry S. Truman 1949-1953
Second Term
Events
Inauguration
Harry S. Truman delivered his second inaugural address on January 20, 1949.
Soviet Union Obtains Atomic Bomb
On September 22, 1949 President Truman revealed to the American people that U.S. scientists had obtained information indicating that a nuclear explosion had taken place within the Soviet Union.
Alger Hiss Convicted of Perjury
In 1948 Whittaker Chambers, an editor for Time magazine and former member of the communist party, accused Alger Hiss, a former State Department official of being a communist. Hiss denied the allegations and sued Chambers for libel. Chambers then produced microfilm which supposedly proved that Hiss had made secret copies of classified documents which were to have been sent to Moscow. Hiss could not be tried for the crime because the statue of limitations had expired, instead he was tried for perjury. Alger Hiss was convicted on perjury charges in January of 1950 and sentenced to five years in prison.
Atomic Spies
In 1945 Igor Gouzenko, an official of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, had defected to the west, bringing with him documents detailing a Soviet spy ring which had been operating in the United States and Canada during the war. The documents lead to the arrests of Dr. Alan Munn May and Dr. Klaus Fuchs, two British scientist who had worked on the Manhattan Project. Dr. Fuch's testimony, which became public in February of 1950, lead to the arrest of a group of political radicals in the United States. Of the group which included Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Morton Sobell, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, only Harry Gold and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing secret information concerning the construction of the atomic bomb to the Soviets during the war. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953.
McCarthyism
On February 9, 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was addressing the Women's Republican Club of Wheeling, West Virginia when he declared that the United States State Department was infested with communists. Senator McCarthy claimed that he was in possession of a list of 205 names of those people working in the State Department who were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the communist party. Senator McCarthy's accusations brought him national attention, and gave rise to a number of communist witch-hunts which lead the House of Representatives' Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to investigate everyone from the Boy Scouts to the entertainment industry. Senator McCarthy personally lead attacks against Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, Secretaries of State Dean Acheson and George C. Marshall, the State Department, and the U.S. Army before being censured in 1954.
Korean War
By 1950 Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into the northern Democratic People's Republic, aided by the Soviet Union, and the southern Republic of Korea, aided by the United States and the United Nations. In June of 1950 communist force invaded the South. With the permission of the UN Security Council but without first seeking the approval of Congress, President Truman began to send American military forces into Korea. UN forces under General Douglas MacArthur pushed the invading communists first back to the 38th parallel, and then back to a line immediately south of the Yalu River. On November 26 Chinese forces joined the war, launching a campaign which pushed MacArthur's forces back to the 38th parallel. Peace talks began in June of 1951, but a peace was not reached until two years later.
MacArthur Dismissed
In the spring of 1951 General MacArthur began petitioning President Truman for permission to extend the war beyond the Yalu River into China. When President Truman refused to permit MacArthur's invasion, the General began petitioning Congress, and openly criticizing Truman's policy in the war. Truman ordered MacArthur to be silent. When MacArthur refused, Truman relieved him of his command.
Hydrogen Bomb Completed
The hydrogen bomb was successfully tested by the United States government in November of 1952. The Soviet government successfully tested their own hydrogen bomb the following August.
Legislation
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
In April of 1949 the Representatives of the democracies of Europe and North America gathered in Washington and signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Under NATO the United State, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Portugal, and Canada declared that an attack against one of them would be in effect an attack against them all.
