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August 26th, 2010.
Berkeley, California
Received by FAB
I am here, Harry Truman.
I have been reading along with you this book about my time as president
[The Fifties, by David Halberstam]. I am glad you find my comments
were honest and refreshing.
Well, I certainly had my character strengths, but I have suffered
greatly for many things I did, particularly as president. I had
more than a notion of what awaited me here, but I didn't understand
the full impact until I found myself confined by my own conscience.
Besides, these sorts of matters did not preoccupy me on Earth. I
really wish they had.
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was
the 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953). As President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President
of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12,
1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after
beginning his historic fourth term.
During World War I, Truman served as an artillery officer, making
him the only president to have seen combat in World War I (his successor
Eisenhower spent the war training tank crews in Pennsylvania). After
the war he became part of the political machine of Tom Pendergast
and was elected a county commissioner in Missouri and eventually
a Democratic United States senator. After he gained national prominence
as head of the wartime Truman Committee, Truman replaced vice president
Henry A. Wallace as Roosevelt's running mate in 1944. (Source: Wikipedia)
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