geeky
Democrats retained control of Congress and the presidency in the 1944 elections, and Truman took office as vice president in January of 1945. He had no major role in the administration and was not even told about many key developments, such as the atomic bomb. On April 12, 1945, Truman was urgently summoned away from the senate office, where he was having a drink with some of the member of the senate, and was told to get to the White House immediately. There he was met by Eleanor Roosevelt, who informed him that the President was dead. Shocked, Truman asked Mrs. Roosevelt, "Is there anything I can do for you?", to which she replied: "Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now." The day after assuming office Truman spoke to reporters: "Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
By April 1945 when Truman was sworn in as President, World War Two was still ongoing, but the end was in sight. The Allied Powers, led by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, were close to defeating Germany. Japan remained a formidable adversary in the Pacific. As vice president, Truman's role had more to do with domestic issues on the home front. He had been uninformed about major initiatives relating to the war, including the top-secret Manhattan Project, which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb. On the afternoon of April 12, after being sworn in as President, Truman was told that the Allies had a new, highly destructive weapon. But it was not until April 25 that Secretary of War Henry Stimson told him the details of the atomic bomb, which was almost ready to be deployed. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, ending the war in Europe. Truman's attention turned to the Pacific, where he hoped to end the war as quickly, and with as little expense in lives or government funds, as possible.
Truman flew to Berlin for the Potsdam Conference, to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British leader Winston Churchill. The subject was what the post-war world order would look like. Several major decisions were made at the Potsdam Conference. The allies agreed that Germany would be divided into four occupation zones (among the three powers and France). Germany's border was to be shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line. A Soviet-backed group was recognized as the legitimate government of Poland. Vietnam was to be partitioned at the 16th parallel. The Soviet Union also agreed to launch an invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria. While at the Potsdam Conference, Truman was informed that the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb on July 16 had been successful. He decided to tell Joseph Stalin that the U.S. was about to use a new kind of weapon against the Japanese. Though this was the first time the Soviets had been officially given information about the atomic bomb, Stalin was already aware of the bomb project, having learned about it through espionage long before Truman did.
In August 1945, the Japanese government ignored surrender demands. With the support of most of his aides, but over the objection of a number of scientists, Truman approved the schedule of the military's plans to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, and Nagasaki three days later, leaving approximately 135,000 dead; another 130,000 would die from radiation sickness and other bomb-related illnesses in the following five years. Japan agreed to surrender on August 10, on condition that Emperor Hirohito would not be forced to abdicate. The Truman administration accepted these terms of surrender. The decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a decision that has been the subject of debate ever since it was made, Supporters of the bombings argue that, given the tenacious Japanese defense of the outlying islands, the bombings saved hundreds of thousands of lives that would have been lost invading mainland Japan. After leaving office, Truman said that the atomic bombing "was done to save 125,000 youngsters on the American side and 125,000 on the Japanese side from getting killed and that is what it did. It probably also saved a half million youngsters on both sides from being maimed for life." Truman said that he was also motivated by a desire to end the war before the Soviet Union could invade Japanese-held territories and set up Communist governments there. But critics of the decision have argued that the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary, given that conventional tactics such as firebombing and blockade would have brought about Japan's surrender without the need for use of nuclear weapons.
On April 14, Truman attends Roosevelt's funeral and the following day he attended Roosevelt's burial services. On April 16 Truman addressed a joint session of Congress, during which he outlined his intentions of his tenure, including plans to win the war, carrying on the policies of the late President Roosevelt, and punishing war criminals. The following day he delivered a broadcast address to service members in the United States Army and Navy. That same week he designated May 13 as Mother's Day in order to show what he called the US's "gratitude, love, and devotion" for its mothers.
On May 2, Truman presented Congress with the first economy program from the White House. It called for a $7 billion cut in funds for shipbuilding, reduction of at least $80 million in eight agencies' budget estimates, and announced the termination by June 30 of the civilian defense office. On May 4, General Dwight Eisenhower announceds the surrender of enemy forces in Holland and northwestern Germany and Denmark. Four days later, on May 8, Truman announced the end of the war in Europe via radio (a day known as V-E Day). The following day the office of war mobilization announces the return of American troops from Europe between 270,000 and 500,000 monthly and that reducing the number of soldiers there to 100,000 will take a year. Later that week the War Department announced plans for American involvement in the occupying of Germany, and that General Eisenhower would represent the United States on the four-powers control council for Germany.
On Mother's Day, President Truman was visited by his mother Martha Ellen Young Truman in her first trip to Washington. Truman and his mother join service members in prayer at the chapel of the Bethesda, Maryland as part of a thanks for European victory.
On June 1, President Truman gave a joint address to Congress that detailed his plan to bring about Japan's surrender. The plan included an army of 7 million and a navy of 3 million. Later that month, on June 26, the United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco. Also in June, on the 29th, the House passed Truman-backed legislation making the Speaker of the House next in the United States presidential line of succession after the Vice President.
On July 16, the U.S. conducted the Trinity test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first test of a nuclear weapon. The following day, on July 17, Truman attended the Potsdam Conference with Stalin and Churchill. On July 21, his 101st day in office, Truman met with Churchill, and Stalin for their fifth three-hour meeting in Potsdam, Germany. While the conference was on, on July 26, the Labour Party won the United Kingdom general election by a landslide and the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Clement Attlee replaced Churchill at the negotiating table at Potsdam. That day the Potsdam Declaration is issued. The conference adjourned on August 2nd as Allied leaders released a joint report on the Potsdam Conference simultaneously in Washington, Moscow, and London.
Truman had great responsibility thrust upon him the the first 100 days of his Presidency, though by this time Roosevelt had done all of the heavy lifting involved in managing the war for the United States. Truman would inherit the problem of shaping the post-war order in the nation, and he would struggle with the challenges of transitioning the nation from a war economy to a peacetime economy. He would confront his share of challenges.