Born in Lamar, Missouri, Harry Truman served as an officer in World War I. In 1922 he became a judge in Missouri, a position he held until 1934, when he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. Truman was elected as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president in 1944 and became president when Roosevelt died in 1945. Early in his presidency, Truman ordered the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led to the end of World War II. In an effort to contain the spread of communism, Truman promoted the Truman Doctrine in 1947, the Marshall Plan in 1948, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. He also established the Central Intelligence Agency. During Truman’s presidency, the Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution, which limits the presidency to a maximum of two terms, was enacted. In 1948 Truman was elected president in a surprise victory over Thomas Dewey. In 1948 Truman ordered the Berlin Airlift, which continued until 1949, and in 1950 he sent U.S. troops to South Korea. Truman declined to run for president in the 1952 election. He wrote two volumes of memoirs in the 1950s.
