Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman. On the Campaign Trail at Old Greenville. , U.S. Senate candidate Harry S Truman visited Greenville on October 2, 1934, during a campaign swing through southeastern Missouri. Her gave speeches that day along U.S. Route 67 at the county courthouses in Fredericktown, Greenville, and Popular Bluff. Truman went on to win the bruising Democratic primary in 1934 and the general election. He became an ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was a supporter of F.D.R.'s "New Deal' program and projects including the Wappapello Dam., Before rushing off for his next speech in Popular Bluff, Truman posed with his campaign staff outside Polk's Service Station along U.S. Route 67, enjoying a cold soda. During construction of the Route 67 Expressway, archaeologist recovered Coca-Cola and Orange Crush bottles from the roadside ditch there, identical to those Truman is holding., As the war loomed in 1940, Truman was narrowly re-elected to the Senate. While he supported the war efforts, Truman also headed a special Senate committee charged with investigating wasteful defense spending and it was in that role he rose to prominence., President Roosevelt chose Harry S. Truman to be his running mate in 1944, but Truman served as Vice President for only 82 days. On April 12,1945, he was summoned to the White House where Eleanor Roosevelt gave him the grave news, "Harry, the president is dead." Within hours, Harry S. Truman took the oat of office and became the thirty-third President of the United States., (Sidebar at top) , Harry S. Truman began his political career in 1922, when he was elected as a judge (county commissioner) in Jackson County, Missouri. He twice won election to the U.S. Senate before becoming Franklin D. Roosevelt's Vice President in 1944. In 1945, following Roosevelt's death, Harry Truman became the 33rd President of the Untied States. Truman was then elected President, narrowly defeating Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election., (Caption of photo on the left side): , Urso W. George, U.S. Senate candidate Harry S. Truman and Mat Murray near Polk's Service Station along U.S. Route 67 at Old Greenville, October 2, 1934. Bently Morrow was the photographer and Truman is holding both his own soda bottle as well as Morrow's., (Caption for photos on the right side): , Judge Harry S. Truman speaking in front of the courthouse at Old Greenville, October 2, 1934, during his first campaign for the U.S. Senate (left). Bentley Morrow, and one of Truman's campaign aids posed with Truman's sound car before that speech (right).