Fair Deal Dbq

The President of the United States, whomever it may be, has always stood as a beacon, often offering vagabond refugees and warring nations mellifluous words of comfort and providing a haven from atrocities committed almost daily in emerging nations. As such, it's no surprise that a president wont to promote democracy would consider just which sorts of ramifications his actions would hold stands yet as a symbol of American virtue and dignity. Harry S. Truman, who thoughtfully steered the United States through the later part of the bloodcurdling quagmire that was World War II, was the most capable and perhaps accomplished president the United States has witnessed; he was the best of an elite best.

Harry S. Truman decided to allow the atomic bombs to descend on Japan, which led to, despite the horrific loss of life, an end to one of history's most colossal wars. "Truman approved the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945" (Truman:

HST Biography). According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, "On August 14," shortly after the bombing of Nakasaki, "Japan surrendered." With Japan's white flag, the cessation of the Pacific theater of World War II came to fruition. Continued fighting and imperialism on Japan's part in the Pacific would have kept claiming countless lives, such as those of the so-called "Comfort Girls" used as sex slaves shanghaied from locales throughout the territory the Japanese had acquired in the war. Truman doubtless was savvy to at least the potential change to the lives of average civilians he was liberating from infernal Japanese Imperial control. He knew more or less the amount of consequent bloodshed the bombs would bring about, and yet he achieved his goal, in the end sparing more lives than were consumed by the annihilation of Little Boy and its counterpart. Today, many nations Japan had previously conquered enjoy stable enough democracies, while Japan itself has been able to focus on technological advancements, both developments perhaps impossible if not for the atomic bombs and Truman's decision to drop them.

Truman brought about the Fair Deal, which, although it only met ultimately limited success, provided institutions still in use today.

One helpful provision of the Fair Deal was the G.I. Bill, which simplified the angst of transition for the many returning soldiers of World War II; it gave veterans financial aid for industrial training and secondary education. The Fair Deal also enabled former military personnel to achieve some semblance of domesticity by "[guaranteeing] loans for home buying" (The Fair Deal) In addition, it bolstered the minimum wage and promised health insurance for all Americans, according to the Library of Congress. In this was displayed Truman's desire to ensure the felicity of his average Americans, the proletarian masses who just desired to live in a free and peaceful land free from Communism's snares and totalitarianism; it was about declaring that the United States would not and could not waver in its mission to guard its people from the ills of the Soviet way of

life.

Truman made more arrangements that strengthened not just America but much of the globe. For example, the White House itself proclaims that the Marshall Plan enacted by Truman "stimulated spectacular economic recovery in war-torn western Europe." If the contemporary White House decided that something that long ago was beneficial, chances are, its effects can be seen throughout the character of Western Europe still today. The White House also remarks that Truman galvanized the United States' position as a harbinger of democracy to all by providing aid to countries resisting the Soviets' communism through the conception of his namesake doctrine; Truman helped the world to strive for Western democracy, which is a trait most modern nations consider beneficial, and in doing so, he emblazoned the United States' name with an almost fatherly influence towards smaller and less powerful nations. Truly, Truman confirmed the United States' long-standing position as a role model, an authority, to developing nations worldwide. And, of course, in a time when it was hotly contested which superpower would emerge victorious, it was even strategically viable, as the United States came to witness the collapse of the Soviet Union later, indubitably thanks to at least some of the conditions put in place by Truman.

Exhibiting the United States as a land of the free, ending one of history's biggest conflicts, and aiding a war-torn world and a blossoming America were among the most notable of Harry S. Truman's feats. The United States is looked up to as a political, economic, and democratic band of devotees to the cause of freedom for all mankind, and Truman sought this through his countless struggles, be them against Congress, Japan, or poverty so that we could one day declare the United States as unshakably elite.

Works Cited

"Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - 1945." Atomic Heritage Foundation. N.p., 05 June 2014. Web. 11 July 2017.

"Harry S. Truman." The White House. The United States Government, 08 Mar. 2017. Web. 11 July 2017.

"Harry S. Truman Library & Museum." Truman: HST Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2017.

"The Fair Deal." United States History. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2017.

"Truman Announced A Fair Deal." America's Story from America's Library. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 11 July 2017.