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Harry S Truman

Harry S Truman
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Jay Wesley Jacobs, 1898 - 1968
Sitter
Harry S. Truman, 8 May 1884 - 26 Dec 1972
Date
1945
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 102.1 × 81.6cm (40 3/16 × 32 1/8")
Frame: 120.3 × 100 × 2.2cm (47 3/8 × 39 3/8 × 7/8")
Topic
Harry S. Truman: Male
Harry S. Truman: Law and Crime\Lawyer
Harry S. Truman: Politics and Government\Vice-President of US
Harry S. Truman: Natural Resource Occupations\Agriculturist
Harry S. Truman: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Captain
Harry S. Truman: Law and Crime\Judge
Harry S. Truman: Politics and Government\President of US
Harry S. Truman: Politics and Government\US Senator\Missouri
Harry S. Truman: Congressional Gold Medal
Portrait
Place
United States\District of Columbia\Washington
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of the William T. Kemper Foundation
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.2014.14
Exhibition Label
Upon learning of President Franklin Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman told reporters he felt as if “the moon, the stars, and all the planets” had fallen on him. That summer, faced with the daunting task of ending the war in the Pacific, Truman directed the use of devastating nuclear bombs against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ushering in the atomic age and a race for states, particularly the Soviet Union, to develop similar weapons. After the war, he signed the United Nations Charter to help prevent future conflicts. Confronting an increasingly belligerent Soviet Union, Truman endorsed the Marshall Plan, a program that aimed to rebuild war-torn Western Europe, and helped form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective security alliance.
Truman’s approval rating declined during his second term as he faced crises at home and abroad. When he left office in 1953, the United States was embroiled in the Korean War, and his reputation had sunk to a record low. Over time, however, Truman has grown to be better appreciated for both his pragmatic flexibility as well as his honesty. He is also known for his efforts to end racial discrimination in the U.S. military.
Cuando Harry Truman supo de la muerte del presidente Franklin Roosevelt el 12 de abril de 1945, dijo a la prensa que sentía como si se hubieran caído sobre él “la luna, las estrellas y todos los planetas”. Ese verano, ante la abrumadora tarea de acabar la guerra en el Pacífico, Truman autorizó el uso de bombas nucleares contra las ciudades japonesas de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, dando inicio a la era atómica y la carrera armamentista de las naciones, sobre todo la Unión Soviética. Tras la guerra, firmó la Carta de las Naciones Unidas para evitar conflictos futuros. Ante una Unión Soviética cada vez más belicosa, Truman endosó el Plan Marshall para ayudar a reconstruir a Europa Occidental, asolada por la guerra, y participó en la creación de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN), una alianza de seguridad colectiva.
En su segundo período, su índice de aprobación bajó en medio de crisis nacionales y exteriores. Al fin de su mandato en 1953, el país estaba inmerso en la Guerra de Corea y su reputación había caído como nunca. No obstante, con el tiempo se le ha llegado a apreciar por su flexibilidad pragmática y su honestidad, así como sus esfuerzos por eliminar la discriminación racial en las fuerzas armadas de EE.UU.
Provenance
The artist; Lawrence Wood Robert, Jr.; his daughter, A. Birney Robert
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
America's Presidents (Reinstallation September 2017)
On View
NPG, West Gallery 210
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