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- In office since
- April 12, 1945
- Left office
- January 20, 1953
- Born
- May 8, 1884
- Died
- December 26, 1972
- Religion
- Baptists[2]
Earnings by year1
What each year added up to: salary, plus outside income, royalties, endorsements, prizes and investment income where a source reports them. A financial disclosure gives ranges, shown as such.
- 1952$100,000Total
- President of the United States statutory salary[3]
- $100,000
Life phases1
One octagon for each phase of the life of Harry S. Truman. Each of the eight axes is scored 0 to 5 against a written rubric from documented evidence, with its source; an axis without evidence is a gap, not a zero. There is no total and no ideal shape: it is a profile, not a ranking. Appearance and personality are not axes, because they cannot be scored from evidence.
President, 1945-19531945–1953Ended World War II, launched the Marshall Plan and NATO, desegregated the armed forces, and left office unpopular after the Korean War, the steel seizure and corruption scandals.
No total and no ideal shape: a longer spoke means more of that axis, so a long Misconduct spoke is more documented misconduct.
Scores, rubric and sources
- 01Education2 of 5
- High confidenceGraduated Independence High School (1901), attended a commercial college for about a year and night law classes at Kansas City Law School 1923-1925 without a degree; the only president since McKinley without a college degree.[1]Highest attainment by then: 1 secondary school, 2 some college, 3 bachelor's degree, 4 master's or professional degree, 5 doctorate.
- 02WealthNo evidence
- Net worth or income against the national thresholds of the time: 1 below the median household, 3 top 5%, 5 top 0.1%.
- 03Position5 of 5
- High confidence33rd president; elected in his own right in 1948 and head of state through the end of the war and the Korean War.[6]Scope of the role held: 1 entry level, 3 senior manager or legislator, 5 head of state or government, or the top role of a major institution.
- 04Public standing3 of 5
- Medium confidenceGallup average job approval of 45% (high 87%, low 22% in February 1952, the lowest Gallup mark for a sitting president until Nixon matched it).[7]Public approval or favourability where it was measured: 1 under 20%, 3 35 to 50%, 5 over 65%.
- 05HealthNo evidence
- Documented health where an examination or disclosure exists: 5 no documented concern, 1 a serious documented condition.
- 06Misconduct3 of 5
- Medium confidenceIn Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that his April 1952 seizure of steel mills lacked statutory or constitutional basis. A 1950 Senate (Kefauver) investigation and internal revenue resignations touched subordinates rather than Truman personally.[1]The documented legal and ethics record within the phase, as in the misconduct meter: 0 none documented, 1 only matters resolved in their favour, 2 an open matter, 3 one finding, 4 two or three, 5 four or more. More is more documented misconduct.
- 07Social good3.5 of 5
- Low confidenceExecutive Order 9981 (1948) required equal opportunity in the armed forces and EO 9980 barred discrimination in federal hiring; the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 admitted over 400,000 refugees; Housing Act of 1949. Offset by the atomic bombings (about 135,000 killed immediately) and the Korean War (over 30,000 Americans killed).[6]Assessed effects of what they did in the phase on health, safety, education, rights and the environment, from official statistics or peer-reviewed evidence: 0 clearly harmful, 2.5 mixed, 5 clearly beneficial.
- 08Economic good3 of 5
- Low confidenceDemobilization cut military spending from 39% of GNP (1945) to 5% (1948); Marshall Plan allocated $12.4 billion and European industrial productivity was 35% above 1938 by 1952; Fair Deal economic proposals were largely blocked and Taft-Hartley passed over his veto. No unemployment or inflation figures in the sources opened.[6]Assessed effects of what they did in the phase on efficiency, growth and fiscal sustainability, from CBO and peer-reviewed evidence, as in the good-for-society reading: 0 clearly harmful, 2.5 mixed, 5 clearly beneficial.
Health, weight and religion appear only where the person, their physician or a reputable outlet has published them; each links to its source.