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John Truman was a farmer and livestock dealer. The family lived in Lamar until Harry was ten months old, when they moved to a farm near [[Harrisonville, Missouri]]. They next moved to [[Belton, Missouri|Belton]] and in 1887 to his grandparents' {{convert|600|acre|ha|adj=on}} farm in [[Grandview, Missouri|Grandview]].{{sfn|Truman Library, Birth|2012}} When Truman was six, his parents moved to [[Independence, Missouri]], so he could attend the [[Presbyterian]] Church Sunday School. He did not attend a conventional school until he was eight years old.{{sfn|McCullough|1992|pp=37, 77, 1112}} While living in Independence, he served as a [[Shabbos goy]] for Jewish neighbors, doing tasks for them on [[Shabbat]] that their religion prevented them from doing on that day.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Devine, Michael J.|title=Harry S. Truman, the State of Israel, and the Quest for Peace in the Middle East|date=2009|publisher=Truman State Univ Press|isbn=978-1-935503-80-4|page=93}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Schultz, Joseph P.|title=Mid-America's Promise: A Profile of Kansas City Jewry|date=1982|publisher=Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City|page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, Volume 129|publisher=Jewish Community Publications|year=1979|page=v}}</ref>
Truman was interested in music, reading, history, and
After graduating from [[William Chrisman High School|Independence High School]] in 1901,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/student-resources/places/independence/columbian-school-ott-school-and-independence-hs|title=Columbian School, Ott School & Independence High School|website=trumanlibrary.gov|author=Anon|year=2021|publisher=[[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]]|quote= "Readers of good books are preparing themselves for leadership. Not all readers become leaders. But all leaders must be readers." (Post Presidential Papers, Desk File.)}}</ref> Truman took classes at Spalding's Commercial College, a Kansas City business school. He studied bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing but stopped after a year.{{sfn|Ferrell|1994|pp=25–26}}
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In late 1940, Truman traveled to various military bases. The waste and profiteering he saw led him to use his chairmanship of the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services#Committee on Military Affairs, 1816–1947|Committee on Military Affairs]] Subcommittee on War Mobilization to start investigations into abuses while the nation prepared for war. A new special committee was set up under Truman to conduct a formal investigation; the White House supported this plan rather than weather a more hostile probe by the House of Representatives. The main mission of the committee was to expose and fight waste and corruption in the gigantic government wartime contracts.
Truman's initiative convinced Senate leaders of the necessity for the committee, which reflected his demands for honest and efficient administration and his distrust of big business and Wall Street. Truman managed the committee "with extraordinary skill" and usually achieved consensus, generating heavy media publicity that gave him a national reputation.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael James Lacey|title=The Truman Presidency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfkuktI-JewC&pg=PA35|year=1991|pages=35–36|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521407731}}</ref>{{sfn|Dallek|2008|pp=12–14}} Activities of the Truman Committee ranged from criticizing the "[[dollar-a-year men]]" hired by the government, many of whom proved ineffective, to investigating a shoddily built New Jersey housing project for war workers.<ref>{{Citation | last = Herman | first = Arthur | title = Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II | pages = [https://archive.org/details/freedomsforgehow00herm/page/103 103, 118, 194, 198–199, 235–236, 275, 281, 303, 312] | publisher = Random House | place = New York | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-1-4000-6964-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/freedomsforgehow00herm/page/103 }}.</ref>{{sfn |''Life''|November 30, 1942}} In March 1944, Truman attempted to probe the expensive [[Manhattan Project]] but was persuaded by Secretary of War [[Henry L. Stimson]] to discontinue with the investigation.{{r|n=zuberi2001|r={{cite journal |last1=Zuberi |first1=Matin |title=Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |journal=Strategic Analysis |date=August 2001 |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=623–662 |doi=10.1080/09700160108458986|s2cid=154800868 | issn = 0970-0161 }}|p=634}}
The committee reportedly saved as much as $15 billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|15|1940|r=-1}} billion in {{Inflation-year|US}}),{{sfn|McCullough|1992|pp=337–338|ps=: "Later estimates were that the Truman Committee saved the country as much as $15 billion."}}{{sfn | McDonald |1984|ps=: "This committee saved billions in taxpayers' money by helping eliminate waste and fraud."}}{{sfn|Daniels|1998|p=228|ps=: [[Jonathan W. Daniels]] quotes journalist [[Marquis Childs]] who wrote in November 1942 that the Truman Committee had "saved billions—yes, billions—of dollars."}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2009|p=301|ps=: "Over seven years (1941–1948) the committee heard from 1,798 witnesses during 432 public hearings. It published nearly two thousand pages of documents and saved perhaps $15 billion and thousands of lives by exposing faulty airplane and munitions production."}} and its activities put Truman on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine.{{sfn | ''Time'' |2012}} According to the Senate's historical minutes, in leading the committee, "Truman erased his earlier public image as an errand-runner for Kansas City politicos", and "no senator ever gained greater political benefits from chairing a special investigating committee than did Missouri's Harry S. Truman."{{sfn |Senate Truman Committee|2012}}
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==== Approval rating falls; Republicans win Congress in 1946====
The president's approval rating dropped from 82 percent in the polls in January 1946 to 52 percent by June.{{sfn|McCoy|1984|pp=64–65}} This dissatisfaction led to large Democratic losses in the [[1946 United States elections|1946 midterm elections]], and Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since 1930. When Truman dropped to 32 percent in the polls, Democratic Arkansas Senator [[William Fulbright]] suggested that Truman resign; the president said he did not care what Senator "Halfbright" said.{{sfn|Dallek|2008|pp=48–50}}{{sfn|McCoy|1984|p=91}}
Truman cooperated closely with the Republican leaders on foreign policy but fought them bitterly on domestic issues. The power of the labor unions was significantly curtailed by the [[Taft–Hartley Act]] which was enacted [[veto override|over Truman's veto]]. Truman twice vetoed bills to lower income tax rates in 1947. Although the initial vetoes were sustained, Congress overrode his veto of a tax cut bill in 1948. In one notable instance of bipartisanship, Congress passed the [[Presidential Succession Act of 1947]], which replaced the secretary of state with the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate as successor to the president after the vice president.{{sfn|McCoy|1984|pp=96–102}}
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[[Category:American Freemasons]]
[[Category:American people of the Korean War]]
[[Category:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway people]]
[[Category:Burials in Missouri]]
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