 He was born in Lamar, Missouri  He moved to Harrisonville when he was 10 months old  In Harrisonville his family bought a farm and started farming

 His family moved to Independence, Missouri when he was six years old, so he could attend the Presbyterian Sunday School  When he was eight he started attending traditional school  As a boy, Truman was interested in music, reading, and history, which was all encouraged by his mother

 He got up at five every morning to practice the piano, which he studied twice a week until he was fifteen  He graduated from Independence High School in 1901  After he graduated Truman worked as a timekeeper on the Santé Fe railroad, sleeping in hobo camps near the rail lines

 He then worked at a series of clerical jobs, and was employed briefly in the mailroom of the Kansas City Star  He returned to the Grandview farm in 1906

 he courted Bess Wallace and proposed to her in 1911  She turned him down  Truman said that before he proposed again, he wanted to be earning more money than a farmer did

 Truman had been turned down for appointment to the United States military Academy at West Point, which was his childhood dream, because of poor eyesight  He then enlisted in Missouri National Guard in 1905, serving until  At his induction, his eyesight had been an unacceptable 20/50 in the right eye and 20/40 in the left  The second time he took the test, he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart`

WWith American participation in World War I, Truman rejoined the National Guard HHe was sent to Camp Doniphan, near Lawton, Oklahoma for training WWhen he was at Fort Sill, he met Lieutenant James Pendergast, nephew of Thomas Joseph Pendergast, a Kansas City political boss, which was a connection that was to have a profound influence on Truman's later life

 Truman became an officer, and then battery commander in an artillery regiment in France  His unit was, Battery D, 129thField Artillery, 60th Brigade, 35th Infantry Division  During a sudden attack by the Germans in the mountains, gunners started to run away; Truman got them to obey orders by using profanity

 Roosevelt wanted a new vice president knowing that he might not survive through his 4 th term  He decided that Truman was the right man for the job  Truman didn’t campaign for the vice presidency  Truman and Roosevelt won 432 to 99 in the electoral college vote

 Truman’s vice presidency was quite uneventful  He rarely met with Roosevelt to discuss issues  His vice presidency was also very short because of Roosevelt's death  His vice presidency only lasted for 82 days

 When assuming presidency he told all of FDR’s cabinet to stay in place  Truman ended WWII by deciding to drop the atomic bombs on Japan  At the end of the war Truman was intent on decreasing expenses on the military as quickly as possible  He served another term and left office in 1953

FarmerSoldier Haberdashery Owner Court Judge U.S. SenatorVice PresidentPresident

Roosevelt and Truman Dewey and Warren Thurmond and Wright 303 electoral votes 57.1% of vote 189 electoral votes 35.6% of vote 39 electoral votes 7.3% of vote

 man man  man#Boyhood_and_farming man#Boyhood_and_farming  al.php?year= al.php?year=1948