Give 'em Hell Harry

Over the weekend, I watched a two part biography about Harry S. Truman. I would suggest to any and all, that you watch this remarkable story if you get the chance, it is really great. The origin of the title of this story was unknown to me before I watched this special.

By 1948, President Harry Truman was far from a popular figure in America. He had ascended to the office only a few short weeks after being elected Vice President in 1944.

Truman was a virtual unknown politician to most of the country. He was selected as the running mate for political convenience. It was a well known fact, that Truman was not close to Roosevelt. In fact, Roosevelt had not even bothered to tell Truman about the secret "Manhattan Project," which was building our first atomic bombs.

Regardless of these factors, when Roosevelt passed away suddenly only 82 days into his fourth term, Harry S. Truman, of Missouri immediately became the 33rd President of the United States.

Many of you already know much of what happened after that. He took over the reins of power and led the country to final victory in World War II. He expedited the end of that war by issuing the toughest order any president had ever had to give. Harry used two atomic bombs against Japan to force and end to that war.

The rest of his term was spent trying to turn America's economy back from war to peace time. He also had to deal with the increasing threat of the Soviet Union. It was during this time that the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift were ordered by him.

No one gave President Truman much of a chance of winning a second term in 1948. Even his wife expressed her doubts to others. Harry, however, never flinched once in his belief that he would win.

Some of his troubles were within his own party.

Truman had taken a hard stand to implement "civil rights" for blacks in America. He would later integrate the armed forces for the first time in our history.

Because of this stance, many democrats from what was once known as the "solid south," bolted from the party after his nomination. They went on to form a new southern party known as the "Dixiecrats."

Harry made his acceptance speech on July the 15, 1948, in Convention Hall in Philadelphia. The building was not air conditioned and the heat was oppressive. Most of the democrats there did not think they had any chance of winning, and they were in a depressive mood.

Because of many delays, Truman did not get to take the stage for his speech until 2 a.m. Again the delegates there, and the media were not expecting much from Harry. Were they ever wrong.

Harry had worn his best white linen suit and he looked really fresh. He immediately accepted the nomination and thanked the convention.

Then he set the tone for the speech with his next paragraph.

"I want to thank this convention for its unanimous nomination of my good friend and colleague, Senator Barkley of Kentucky. He is a great man, and a great public servant. Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make these Republicans like it -- don't you forget that!"

President Truman went on to give one of the most firey speeches in history. He lambasted his opponents and appeared to enjoy the fight to come.

The origin of the term "give 'em hell Harry," is unclear. Some writers claim they gave Harry that tag in the press pool meeting after the speech. Another version is that in a campaign speech in Harrisburg, Ill., a supporter in the crowd yelled out during the speech, "Give 'em hell Harry!" Truman replied, "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they think it's Hell."

In any case, the words stuck, and forever after Harry S. Truman was known as "give em hell Harry." I suspect, he enjoyed the term. At least he never seemed to run from it.

Harry's birthday was recently celebrated on May the 8th. Harry would have been 124 years old. In a recent poll, Harry S. Truman was rated the 7th most popular and important of our presidents.

That was not always the case. During his second term, he led us into the Korean War. This war like many of our recent conflicts was not very popular. When Harry left office in January of 1953, he had one of the lowest public favor ratings in our history.

The times and history have changed the way he is remembered. David McCullough, famed historian and writer told this story in the television special that best explains how his image changed.

McCullough's father was a Republican who did not like Truman. When Harry won the election in 1948, McCullough's father said, "that things were going to be really bad for the country with that Truman back in office again."

He goes on tell how in later years when things seemed to be really bad in the 70s, his father then stated, "I sure wish we had another leader like Harry Truman!"

That sums it up for me, too.

I wish we had another Harry Truman. Someone who would fight for what he believed, and really knew how to "give 'em Hell!"