Harry Truman Won the Cold War

When Harry Truman left the presidency he was had a terrible popularity rate and for years was rated as one of the least successful presidents in United States history. Becoming president after the death of FDR during World War II he surprisingly was re-elected for a second term in 1948. During his second term Truman would contribute to the start of the Cold War and left office highly regarded as one of the least popular presidents of all time. Many factors contributed to this, many having to do with the begging of the cold war.

After Truman’s death in 1972 he started to get recognition has an honorable president. At the end of the cold war many argued that his policies and ideas at the begging were responsible for the war ending in U.S victory. It can be said that Truman was ahead of his time when it came to how he handled the start of the cold war. It can also be said that he got lucky with his policies and his mistakes did not cost him as much as they could have. In the end it seems his successes out did his failures and his public image is much stronger then it was when he was alive.

During the first stages of the Cold War many disapproved of Harry Truman and felt his mistakes in handling the situation were costly. Truman did make mistakes and miss-handled many situations at the begging of the War. One of his first failures can be his handling of Stalin and the polish government. Truman tried to “get tough” with Stalin and force him to allow free open elections in Poland which would have led to a democratic polish government and eventually another ally for the U.S. Stalin never budged and many felt it was due to Truman being weak. Truman was viewed as weak through out his second term by many people around him including Joseph McCarthy who accused Truman of allowing communist subversion in the U.S government. General Macarthur saw Truman has weak during the Korean War. The Korean War is another one of Truman’s failures. The Korean War was an attempt to hold back North Korea from spreading their communist influence in to South Korea.

The war ended in the loss of many American lives and only to leave Korea in a stalemate close to were the war started. The Korean War was responsible for a rapid decline in Truman’s public approval because he ended up firing General Macarthur for insubordination. Macarthur was a beloved General who was a world ware II hero. Another noted Truman Failure was that many felt he was responsible for the loss of China. Truman was criticized for getting involved in Chinas fight to retain its non communist government. Truman started to aid the Chiang Kai-shek led Chinese government who was fighting communism. Truman faltered because this was a weak corrupt group who had no chance to fight Mao Zedong’s communist group who controlled much of china already. China eventually went to Mao and became communist. The blame was put on Truman by many Americans; china was the key to a communist free peaceful world. These failures and mistakes cost Truman the Public approval for the time he was in office and up and until his death.