By: AVA WOFFORD
Staff writer
Harry S. Truman was more commonly known as Give em’ Hell Harry. His nickname was Give em’ Hell Harry because of an incident in 1948 at a presidential campaign where a supporter shouted Give em’ Hell Harry! He was the 33rd president of the United States. He served from 1945 until 1953. Got elected a second time in 1948. He went to college at UMKC School of Law and studied bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing but left after a year. Prior to getting involved in politics, some of the jobs that he had were farmer and businessman. The first political office that he held was a judge of the Jackson County Court. He also served as senator. He first became president in 1945 after F.D.R. died. He first ran for president in 1948. His main opponent was Thomas Dewey. There were 531 total electoral votes when he ran for office. To win the presidency, he needed 266 electoral votes to win. He barely won with 303 electoral votes. He was a member of the Democratic party. His first major event that took place during his presidency was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This event took place on August 6, 1945. It was important because this was the first-ever time a nuclear weapon was used. There were two bombs set off. The first one was in Hiroshima and the second one took place three days after that in Nagasaki. This would kill around 200,000 Japanese lives, most of them being innocent. After his presidency, he retired to my hometown in Missouri with his wife Bess. He died in December 1972 from old age.
