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Harry Truman — Transcript

by M L · 2,416 words · 353 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:01Okay, so here I am recording this. It's
0:05night time. My family's in the house. So
0:07if you hear screams and cries of pain in
0:09the background,
0:11just ignore it. So tonight,
0:15uh, I want to also al also I just want
0:17to pause. I have a horrible habit of
0:19looking at myself instead of the camera.
0:21So I I I'm I'm really sorry about that.
0:24So tonight I want to talk about Harry
0:25Truman. And basically Harry Truman as
0:30his work um basically in foreign policy.
0:33So Harry Truman was was kind of a
0:35surprise president in some ways. He came
0:37to office after FDR dies in office.
0:40Right? So FDR dies at April of 1945 and
0:44he's been reelected to an unprecedented
0:46fourth term. Four terms in office for
0:49Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And by the
0:52last term he was really sickly. he was
0:55suffering and basically he's has a brain
0:57hemorrhage when he's getting his
0:59portrait to draw take drawn uh and he
1:02collapses and Harry Truman is becomes
1:05the next president and Harry Truman is
1:06kind of a surprise individual. Harry
1:08Truman I have tremendous admiration for
1:10him because he comes up kind of from
1:11nothing. He's such a surprise. In fact
1:14grew up in Independence, Missouri. He
1:16wore these big glasses. I wore huge
1:18glasses when I was a kid, which is of
1:20course why I'm not in the NFL because I
1:21couldn't play high school football
1:22because my glasses were so big. I could
1:24be in the NFL right now if my vision I'm
1:26just kidding. But I wore big glasses,
1:28huge glasses back in the 80s. And if
1:31you've seen pictures of glasses in the
1:3280s, you know that you could start a
1:34fire on your face
1:37with those glasses. Truman was like
1:39that. So basically, he wasn't able to be
1:40in athletics and so he would spend a lot
1:42of time reading books. He plays piano.
1:44He um is just a good guy growing up. He
1:47goes and works in a bank after he
1:48graduates for a while in Kansas City.
1:50Comes home to help his dad on the farm.
1:53Really, Truman's life changes when he
1:54goes and fights in World War I with the
1:56artillery. And he comes back and he gets
1:58involved in politics thanks to basically
2:01a corrupt political organization, the
2:03Pinderg machine. There was these these
2:05political machines that were corrupt
2:06that would basically buy votes so that
2:09they control the money coming in as
2:11revenue and skim this revenue off the
2:13top. And so basically he's able to be
2:15elected under this corrupt regime, the
2:17Pentag. And he's 48 years old and it
2:21looks like his time in office is up.
2:23He's done a great job in office, but
2:24basically his time in office is up and
2:26and it looks like he is going to to at
2:2848 he's been a county commissioner,
2:31built this beautiful courthouse, came in
2:34on time, under budget on on budget, but
2:38Truman looked like he was it was done.
2:40And then Pinterast asked Truman if he
2:42would be senator. basically because the
2:43other I think two other people have been
2:44asked and they didn't want to. So So
2:46Truman says sure I'll I'll run for
2:48senate and he's elected and to the US
2:51Senate, the US Senate. I'm not talking
2:53about like a state senate, the United
2:56States Senate. And he gets there. They
2:57call him go along get along Harry or the
2:59senator from Pendric. But people began
3:01to notice how hard Harry worked. Harry
3:05is reelected for a second term in a
3:06hard-fought election. And in the second
3:08term, Truman will basically take over
3:11this committee that is looking at
3:15ways that
3:17large um
3:20basically the individuals are ripping
3:23off the government in World War II
3:24because remember World War II breaks out
3:26and the government is sending money
3:28everywhere. And it's it's again if you
3:30think about this in a really corrupt,
3:32sinister, cynical way, it's a great way
3:34to kind of rip the government off. you
3:36can kind of overcharge the government
3:37and assume because so many contracts are
3:38going out they won't be caught. So
3:40Truman is the head of this senatorial
3:42Truman committee. They called it the
3:43Truman Committee and Truman will
3:45investigate graft and ways different
3:47companies rip off the government and
3:49he's known for his fairness. He
3:50basically makes his name. It's really
3:51ironic. Truman comes to national
3:55prominence, if you would, as a senator
3:58fighting corruption, who ironically was
4:01erupt elected
4:03through a corrupt machine back in 1934.
4:08And so Truman becomes the vice
4:10presidential nominee. He can unite a lot
4:12of people from the Midwest.
4:15And he was honestly terrified that FDR
4:17was going to die. He saw FDR, one of the
4:20the the signs that FDR was getting
4:21sicker. FDR used to always mix drinks,
4:23kind of a cocktail hour in the
4:25afternoon. If you've seen that movie
4:27Cocktail with Tom uh Tom Cruz and
4:30Elizabeth Shu, you know, they're
4:31throwing stuff around. This is me at
4:32night here at my house. I mix cocktails
4:34for my
4:36five-year-olds. Usually milk, sometimes
4:38a little chocolate milk, sometimes some
4:40hot tea. It's so good. And so he FDR
4:44would mix these cocktails, but his hands
4:45would shake so badly that he couldn't do
4:47this. And that was really when Eleanor
4:48realized, wow, this he's so sick because
4:50he he would mix the drinks. Uh you could
4:53tell physically that FDR the the stress
4:56of running the war was getting to him.
4:59But Truman
5:01uh becomes a vice president. FDR is
5:03reelected for a fourth term. Fourth
5:05term. Fourth term. And as he's reelected
5:09for a fourth term, he you know he dies.
5:11When he dies, Truman is in the Senate.
5:13He was actually, you know, the the the
5:14the vice president has two real jobs.
5:18Number one, replace the president and
5:20number two, presside over the Senate and
5:22break any ties. And Truman has has been
5:24through the day in the Senate. He
5:26basically was writing a letter home to
5:27his mom, bored during some kind of
5:30debate that was going on. It was kind of
5:31the equivalent of playing Candy Crush,
5:33you know, right there. He didn't but he
5:35was he was he was there but it was a
5:39bill over western waterways I think
5:42something like that and then afterwards
5:45he's with a group of friends they called
5:47it the uh the board of education they
5:48were they were drinking I mean not like
5:50heavily drinking but just like but
5:52casually drinking there and and the call
5:54comes in to this place I think it was
5:56Sam Raburn's off that's not right it was
5:59it was an office of
6:01uh so I'm again I'm not going to redo
6:03this but basically basically the these
6:04leaders were there and this this board
6:06of education. Um and so the call comes
6:09in and they say, "Hey, we need to talk
6:12to the vice president." And so Harry
6:14gets the phone and says, "Yes." And
6:16Harry Truman's just kind of face goes
6:18goes white and he says, "Jesus Christ
6:21and Andrew Jackson." That was what he
6:23said. And then he kind of drops the
6:24phone, says, "Got to go, boys." runs
6:26through Cong runs through the Congress,
6:29grabs his hat, goes to the White House
6:31without any kind of escort, gets to the
6:33White House, goes up the elevator, is
6:35greeted by Elanor Roosevelt,
6:37and Eleanor Roosevelt basically, you
6:40know, she's there and Truman comes to
6:42her immediately says, Elanor, I'm so
6:43sorry about your loss. What can I do for
6:46you? And Elanor Roosevelt said, "No,
6:48Harry, it's what can we do for you?" And
6:51so Truman becomes president. Truman
6:53didn't know about the Manhattan Project.
6:54They brief him on this. Truman now has
6:56to deal with and and and is the one who
7:00gives permission to drop the atomic
7:02bomb, two atomic bombs in in uh in
7:04Japan. And then Truman is faced with
7:07this new cold war, right? This this new
7:10animosity between with the Soviet Union
7:12and Stalin. Stalin had promised free
7:14elections, especially in Poland, and
7:16then had not granted these free
7:17elections. and you have these two major
7:22political ideologies coming together.
7:26Um,
7:28and it becomes a time of tremendous
7:29tension. I mean, tremendous tension. And
7:32so, Truman is over this. And Truman is
7:34going to be over several things.
7:35Basically, this whole policy of
7:36containment, containing the growth of
7:38communism. Truman is going to see the
7:40Truman doctrine where where we will go
7:43in and protect Greece and Turkey because
7:46uh the British are no longer basically
7:47able to. we will prevent minorities from
7:50armed subjugation. Um Truman is going to
7:53be involved in the Marshall Plan. The
7:55Marshall Plan gives 13 billion billion
7:59dollars to Western Europe and we they
8:02even tried to give this some of this
8:03money to Eastern Europe. The Soviets
8:06said no yet.
8:08And um and so it's really important. So
8:11let me just say this about the Marshall
8:13Plan. That's a lot of money and that's
8:14got to go through Congress. It's not
8:15like Truman can pull out his wallet and
8:17say, "Hey, here's 13, write a check for$
8:1913 billion." How many zeros is that? He
8:22can't do that. It's got to come through
8:24Congress. Truman wants to do this, but
8:26they use George Marshall. George
8:27Marshall is one of the most bel he's
8:30Secretary of State. He's one of the most
8:31beloved leaders
8:34u who's helped lead the country during
8:36World War II. And it's called the
8:37Marshall Plan because it's Marshall who
8:38goes through commerce. And we do this
8:40also something else. And I think the
8:42book says this, I don't know. The
8:43Marshall Plan signifies that America is
8:45going to be involved in the rest of the
8:47world. This is not going to be like
8:49after World War I. We're not going to
8:50kind of back off
8:52um and collaborate and listen.
8:56United States is back with a brand new
8:57addition.
8:59We're not going to do that. We're going
9:01to basically be involved. And there are
9:03actually questions. How much good did
9:04that money do? I mean, this doesn't come
9:06out in the phone book, but did this
9:08money do any good? But but who knows
9:10about that? But it was what it said
9:12about America. Last thing I mean there's
9:16so many things that happened with
9:17Truman. But the before one of the last
9:19few things is Stalin basically Germany
9:22is put under
9:25four countries, four different zones.
9:27The Soviet zone, American, British and
9:29French zones. And so is Berlin. Berlin
9:32is deep in the heart of the eastern
9:35zone. But Berlin as a city also is
9:37divided up in these four zones. So you
9:39have kind of an east Berlin and a west
9:40Berlin. But Berlin, West Berlin is deep
9:43in East Germany, if if that makes sense.
9:48So uh so what Stalin does is he
9:51basically cuts off West Berlin, the
9:53three democratic zones in West Berlin.
9:55He cuts it off. He cuts electricity off.
9:57He cuts supplies off. And Truman now,
10:00this is 1948. This is three years after
10:01the end of World War II. And Truman now
10:04is looking at the possibility of World
10:05War II. I mean this is this is not this
10:08is not good. So Truman has some options.
10:10Option one,
10:13abandon Berlin.
10:15Uh a lot of people said it wasn't worth
10:18it. War World War II wasn't worth it. Uh
10:21people were were scared about this. No
10:23one wanted to go back to war. So number
10:24one, abandon it. Number two, he's got a
10:26nuclear weapon. He's got atomic bombs.
10:28And the Soviet Union does not have them.
10:29They do not get atomic bombs till 1949.
10:33One more year. So he could drop a an
10:36atomic bomb. He could he could use
10:38nuclear weapons. We've used them before.
10:42Number three, use conventional weapons
10:45to go through
10:48um East Germany and plow through there
10:51and open up Berlin through force. And
10:54number four is what Truman does. Truman,
10:56it's brilliant. Truman will basically
10:57fly in supplies for almost a year. Fly
11:00in supplies. It's called the Berlin
11:03Airlift. And it is a tremendous thing.
11:05And eventually Stalin quietly reopens
11:07the city and it's a win. But it shows
11:10you that Truman, this this this guy who
11:12was kind of thrust into this leadership,
11:15has to deal with all of these tremendous
11:19foreign issues. Truman
11:21is not going to get as many things
11:23passed domestically. Truman is going to
11:26be so much stronger on civil rights than
11:29FDR. And I don't have time to go into
11:31all the reasons for that, but Truman
11:33really came out really, really strong
11:35for civil rights. It's Truman who's
11:36going to desegregate the armed forces.
11:39Um, he's going to try to end pole tax.
11:42He's going to try to end he's going to
11:44try to create a federal lynching law.
11:45Think about this. We talked about
11:46lynching before. It's 1948. I'm getting
11:50closer to the camera. This is kind of
11:51scary. It's 1948 and then and the the
11:54South still refuses to have a federal
11:58lynching law. Why? I ask as if you could
12:01reply because they don't want to lose
12:03control in the states
12:06because the idea is
12:09real justice might not they could still
12:12prevent actual justice from coming into
12:14the states. This is 1948
12:18and in fact last thing I want to talk
12:19about in the 1948 election the greatest
12:22political upset until what just happened
12:25in 19 uh what year is this? 2016
12:30uh the Democratic Party split into three
12:32different factions and one of the
12:33factions was a southern Democratic party
12:35that basically their only main plank
12:37they were called the Dixierats and
12:39they're going to split and they want to
12:40throw this thing into the House of
12:42Representatives that there's no chance
12:43they're going to win the election. The
12:44Dixierats they they nominated Strom
12:46Thurman but they they knew they couldn't
12:48win the election but they wanted to
12:49cause havoc splits the Democratic party
12:52and no one thinks Truman can win in
12:541948. Um, but of course we know that
12:57Truman does win and everyone will talk
13:00about that until they talk about what
13:03happened when Donald Trump wins in 2016.
13:06An even greater political upset, even
13:08greater surprise. So, thank you very
13:10much.

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