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Facts about Harry S Truman (from the Truman
Library web site):
After being reelected in 1940 as Senator from
Missouri, Truman gained national prominence as chairman of the
Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense
Program. This committee, which came to be called the Truman Committee,
sought with considerable success to ensure that defense contractors
delivered to the nation quality goods at fair prices.
In July 1944, Truman was nominated to run
for Vice President with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On January
20, 1945, he took the vice-presidential oath, and after President
Roosevelt's unexpected death only eighty-two days later on April
12, 1945, he was sworn in as the nations' thirty-third President.
Regarding Truman's military service, from 1905 to 1911, Truman had served in the Missouri
National Guard. When the United States entered World War I in
1917, he helped organize the 2nd Regiment of Missouri Field Artillery,
which was quickly called into Federal service as the 129th Field
Artillery and sent to France. Truman was promoted to Captain
and given command of the regiment's Battery D. He and his unit
saw action in the Vosges, Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns.
Truman joined the reserves after the war, rising eventually to
the rank of colonel. He sought to return to active duty at the
outbreak of World War II, but Army Chief of Staff General George
C. Marshall declined his offer to serve.
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