Truman, Harry S.

(1884–1972)

   Thirty-second president of the United States. No American president had as direct an impact on Jewish history as Truman. As vice-president, he succeeded Franklin D.Roosevelt when the latter died in office. To the general surprise, the former senator from Missouri proved a forceful occupant of the White House, capable of taking tough decisions. In the plain language he himself used, Truman was endowed with ‘guts’, and until his death the press affectionately referred to him as ‘Give-’em-hell Harry’. As a senator, Truman had shown sympathy for Jewish suffering in war-torn Europe and for Zionist aims. After Hitler’s defeat, he obtained congressional authority for 200,000 Jewish survivors in the Displaced Persons camps to be admitted to the United States. He also pressed the British government to allow a hundred thousand of the DPs into Palestine - a request angrily rejected by the British foreign secretary, Ernest BEVIN.

   At the United Nations in 1947, the United States supported the proposed partition plan for Palestine. When its details were being worked out at Lake Success, it was suggested that the Negev be cut off from the future Jewish state. Dr WEIZMANN went to Washington and saw the president, who personally instructed the US delegation that the Negev should remain within the Jewish boundaries.

   On 14 May 1948, a few minutes after Israel’s proclamation of independence came into effect, the White House announced to the press that ‘the United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel’. This was a personal decision of the president, overruling the State Department. With Israel staggering under the burdens of mass immigration in 1951–2, President Truman obtained for it from Congress close to $140 million in loans and grants.

   After his retirement in 1952, Truman continued to take a keen interest in the progress of Israel, and intervened on its behalf at critical moments. A village near Lydda, and a forest, were named after Truman. As a mark of the special regard for him in Israel, President SHAZAR was the only foreign head of state to attend the memorial service for him, held in Washington in January 1973.