Difficulties Facing Harry Truman

1997 Words8 Pages
Difficult Issues Facing The Presidency Of Harry S. Truman, 1945 A hurried call by Truman to the White House revealed the news of Franklin Roosevelt’s death. With little ceremony, two hours later, Harry S. Truman became the thirty-third president of the United States on April 12, 1945. Shocked to learn that he was president, Truman stepped right into an overwhelming three month period. During this three month period President Truman, his wife, and their college age daughter moved into the White House. The war in Europe was ended, the Atomic Age began, the war with Japan was won, and the United Nations Charter was drafted. Harry Truman said, “Within the first few months I discovered that being president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.” At this time, Truman realized that being president was not going to be an easy task. Some of the immediate problems Harry S. Truman faced during the first year of his presidency were ending the war in Europe, moving massive armies to the Pacific Ocean, completing arrangements of the United Nations Conference in San Francisco, and his most difficult problem, the dropping of the atomic bomb. Truman’s first night as president had him only concerned with the issues at the San Francisco Conference. One of the main points at the conference was the deadlock over veto power. The voting style of the Security Council, as suggested by sponsoring powers, was being attacked by practically every-one of the smaller countries. Their goal was the veto right of the great powers, which was based on an agreement that was reached at Yalta. Within the Yalta Agreement, the United States, United Kingdom, U.S.S.R., China and France would get a veto vote in the Security Council whenever a question of military or economic sanctions arose. The conference as a whole generally went smoothly after all the
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