Harry Truman Decision Making

Harry S Truman was born on a farm and raised in Independence, Missouri (Harry Truman). He would eventually become the President of the United States and have to make a decision that would change the course of history. This decision was either to drop the atomic bombs (a bomb that is capable of mass destruction) and kill thousands (of men, women, and innocent children) to save millions, or to let things slide and let Japan kill millions more than he would with two bombs. All of Harry’s life experiences before his presidency helped form his character. Most impressive was his work ethic, which allowed him to be able to make his thoughts, decisions, and take complete and total responsibility for his actions. Harry S Truman was a very responsible

He was the only president from Missouri (Miller Center University of Virginia). Harry S Truman commented, “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 planets had fallen on me”, about his unexpected call to office (Harry Truman). During his first year in office, after he was called unexpectedly to the presidency, there were many decisions to make. This is why Harry called his first year as president a “Year of Decisions”. Later on, Harry ran against Thomas Dewey in the election of 1948. When Harry won, it was called the “Upset of the Century”. In newspapers, many said that Thomas Dewey won the election, but they were clearly incorrect (Miller Center). Thanks to his steady childhood and good education, he stayed grounded in this

One of the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, and then three days later another on Nagasaki (World Book 469). He decided to drop them there because he was anxious to end World War II. He also wanted to drop them because he knew that Japan was not going to give end the war, and it was not going to end itself, so somebody had to do something. The bombs and radiation poisoning killed around two-hundred thousand people. Most of the people killed were civilians and twelve were US Navy fliers that were being held captive in a Hiroshima jail. Much controversy followed the bombings. Some said Truman insisted that the decision and responsibility was his and that sometimes he even said that he dropped them “simply out of revenge”. Many Americans and foreigners even called him a “war criminal”. Many also said that if the US had not entered the war, Hitler would have “conquered the world” and “killed millions” (Student Activity). It is true that he insisted by his famous quote, “The Buck Stops Here”, that anything that happened was his responsibility and no one else’s