Harry S. Truman was born in Missouri on May 8, 1884. He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Vice President for just 82 days before Roosevelt died and Truman became the 33rd president. Truman had taken office at a very difficult and dangerous time, right after the death of a very popular President and was almost a complete unknown to the American people. Despite the situation, he acted decisively, both to continue Roosevelt’s work to end the war and to make the presidency his own. Under his command, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs, the first to be used in warfare, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, effectively ending the war (History 1). For many Americans, Truman's legacy as the nation's leader centers on these controversial
