Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Allen C. Browne
Taken: November 29, 2015
Caption: Harry S. Truman
Additional Description: This 1945 portrait of Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) by Jay Wesley Jacobs hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

"This portrait was painted just after Harry Truman became president following Franklin Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945. It was an unlikely ascension, and in many ways Truman seemed unprepared for the job. He had risen to the Senate owing largely to his ability to get along and go along with Democratic interests. Roosevelt had chosen Truman to replace incumbent Vice President Henry Wallace because he was reliable and middle-of-the-road. On hearing of FOR's death, Truman said that he felt like 'the moon, and the stars and all the planets' had fallen on him, but he resolved to do his best. In the summer of 1945, he faced the daunting task of ending the war in the Pacific and negotiating with an increasingly belligerent Soviet Union. Facing Soviet expansionism, he crafted the Marshall Plan, the strategy that helped rebuild war-torn Europe. In office, Harry Truman demonstrated a pragmatic flexibility that earned him the respect of both his contemporaries and historians." -- National Portrait Gallery
Submitted: September 5, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p397687
File Size: 1.093 Megabytes

To see the metadata that may be embedded in this photo, sign in and then return to this page.