by Shawn Borin

Created on: February 02, 2009

Presidential history differs from the other disciplines of history in that from the moment a president takes office his legacy and background are under scrutiny. As soon as a president first walks through the front door of the White House, scholars, especially historians, begin to look into a president's childhood and early career for any indication of how and why this person became President of the United States, as the massive amount of resources dedicated to Harry Truman and his presidency exemplify. Historical analysis of Harry Truman began in 1945, the year Harry Truman took office. Over the years Harry Truman has been one of the most written about and quoted presidents, despite departing from the White House with one of the lowest job approval ratings in history. As Robert Ferrell, a leading Truman historian, stated, " the trend of opinion was down, with the nadir coming in 1951 when, as is well-known-historians always cite itTruman received a lower popularity rating than did Richard M. Nixon on the verge of impeachment."

Harry Truman for many years has been understood as three separate legacies: Harry Truman and the coming of the Cold War which includes Truman's use of the atomic bomb and foreign policy decisions as a whole; Harry Truman the politician which includes the election of 1948 as well as Truman's handling of domestic issues; and Harry Truman the man and personality.
Harry Truman has no more controversial and polarized legacy than his decisions that led to the coming of the Cold War. The Cold War began during Harry Truman's presidency and historians have analyzed Truman's Cold War actions from two different directions: Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb at the end of World War II and Truman's dealings in post war foreign policy.
From the moment the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, historians have reviewed Truman's decision-making process. A very polarized argument has developed. One group argues Harry Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb because of the military recommendations offered to him at the time. In 1947, Harry Truman's Secretary of War at the end of World War II, Henry L. Stimson, published an article titled, "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb." Stimson explained and defended the administration's explanation on why Truman decided to use the atomic bomb. Stimson's article is important because it defined the argument that defended Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb for now sixty years.
In 1960, Herbert Feis published

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