Harry S. Truman

== Vice presidency (1945) ==
{{See also|1944 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection}}
{{multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical|width=220
| image1   = Truman-Mother-LIFE-1944.jpg
| alt1     =
| caption1 = Truman visits [[Martha Ellen Young Truman|his mother]] in [[Grandview, Missouri]], after being [[Democratic vice presidential nomination of 1944|nominated the Democratic candidate for vice president]], July 1944.
| image2   = RooseveltTruman1944poster.jpg
| alt2     = election poster from 1944 with Roosevelt and Truman
| caption2 = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]]–Truman poster from [[1944 United States presidential election|1944]]
}}

Roosevelt's advisors knew that Roosevelt might not live out a fourth term and that his vice president would very likely become the next president. [[Henry A. Wallace|Henry Wallace]] had served as Roosevelt's vice president for four years and was popular on the left, but he was viewed as too far to the left and too friendly to labor for some of Roosevelt's advisers. The President and several of his confidantes wanted to replace Wallace with someone more acceptable to Democratic Party leaders. Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman [[Frank C. Walker]], incoming chairman Hannegan, party treasurer [[Edwin W. Pauley]], Bronx party boss [[Edward J. Flynn|Ed Flynn]], Chicago Mayor [[Edward Joseph Kelly]], and lobbyist George E. Allen all wanted to keep Wallace off the ticket.{{sfn|McCullough|1992|pp=373–378}} Roosevelt told party leaders that he would accept either Truman or Supreme Court Justice [[William O. Douglas]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Democrats Press 'War Chief' Issue; Second Place Open |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/440720convention-dem-ra.html |access-date=August 28, 2023 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref>

State and city party leaders strongly preferred Truman, and Roosevelt agreed.{{sfn|Burnes|2003|p=131}} Truman had repeatedly said that he was not in the race and that he did not want the vice presidency, and he remained reluctant.{{sfn|Burnes|2003|p=131}} One reason was that his wife and sister Mary Jane were both on his Senate staff payroll, and he feared negative publicity.{{sfn|Burnes|2003|p=131}} Truman did not campaign for the vice-presidential spot, though he welcomed the attention as evidence that he had become more than the "Senator from Pendergast".{{sfn|Dallek|2008|pp=14–16}} Truman's nomination was dubbed the "Second [[Missouri Compromise]]" and was well received. The Roosevelt–Truman ticket achieved a 432–99&nbsp;[[United States Electoral College|electoral-vote]] victory in the election, defeating the Republican ticket of Governor [[Thomas E. Dewey]] of New York and running mate Governor [[John Bricker]] of Ohio. Truman was [[Fourth inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt|sworn in]] as vice president on January 20, 1945.{{sfn|Dallek|2008|pp=15–17}} After the inauguration, Truman called his mother, who instructed him, "Now you behave yourself."<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/truman-harry.htm U.S. Senate: About the Vice President | Harry S. Truman, 34th Vice President (1945)]</ref>

Truman's brief vice-presidency was relatively uneventful. Truman mostly presided over the Senate and attended parties and receptions. He kept the same offices from his Senate years, mostly only using the Vice President's official office in the Capitol to greet visitors. Truman was the first vice president to have a Secret Service agent assigned to him. Truman envisioned the office as a liaison between the Senate and the president.{{sfn|McCullough|1992|pp=333–336}} On April 10, 1945,<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf Occasions When Vice Presidents Have Voted to Break Tie Votes in the Senate], [[Senate Historical Office]], [[United States Senate]], p. 7.</ref> Truman cast his only [[List of tie-breaking votes cast by the vice president of the United States|tie-breaking vote]] as president of the Senate, against a [[Robert A. Taft]] amendment that would have blocked the postwar delivery of [[Lend-Lease Act]] items contracted for during the war.<ref>[[Harold Foote Gosnell]], ''Truman's Crises: A Political Biography of Harry S. Truman'' (Greenwood Press, 1980), p. 212: "On only one occasion did [Truman] break a tie, and this was when his negative vote defeated a Taft amendment to the Lend-Lease Act which would have prevented postwar delivery of lend-lease goods contracted for during the war."</ref><ref>[[Robert C. Byrd]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VL4QcQR-W6YC&pg=PA534 Senate, 1789–1989, Vol. 1: Addresses on the History of the United States Senate]'' ([[Government Printing Office]], 1988), p. 534: "In his eighty-two days as vice president, he had the opportunity to vote only once—on an amendment to limit the Lend-Lease extension bill. The vote was tied, and Truman voted no, which, in a sense, was unnecessary since the bill would have died even without his vote."</ref> Roosevelt rarely contacted him, even to inform him of major decisions; the president and vice president met alone together only twice during their time in office.{{sfn|Dallek|2008|p=16}}

In one of his first acts as vice president, Truman created some controversy when he attended the disgraced Pendergast's funeral. He brushed aside the criticism, saying simply, "He was always my friend and I have always been his."{{sfn|Oshinsky|2004|pp=365–380}} He had rarely discussed world affairs or domestic politics with Roosevelt; he was uninformed about major initiatives relating to the war and the top-secret [[Manhattan Project]], which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb.{{sfn|U.S. History|2012}} In an event that generated negative publicity for Truman, he was photographed with actress [[Lauren Bacall]] sitting atop the piano at the [[National Press Club (United States)|National Press Club]] as he played for soldiers.<ref>{{cite news|last=Schwab|first=Nick|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2014/08/13/lauren-bacall-and-harry-trumans-piano-moment-led-to-bigger-things|title=Lauren Bacall and Harry Truman's Piano Moment Led to Bigger Things|work=US News|date=August 13, 2014|access-date=December 17, 2016}}</ref>

Truman had been vice president for 82&nbsp;days when President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945.{{sfn|U.S. History|2012}} Truman, presiding over the Senate, as usual, had just adjourned the session for the day and was preparing to have a drink in [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]] [[Sam Rayburn]]'s [[Hideaway (U.S. Senate)|office]] when he received an urgent message to go immediately to the White House, where [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] told him that her husband had died after a massive [[cerebral hemorrhage]]. Truman asked her if there was anything he could do for her; she replied, "Is there anything we can do for {{em|you}}? For you are the one in trouble now!"{{sfn|Truman Library|2012h}}{{sfn|McCullough|1992|p=425}}{{sfn|Goodwin|1994|p=478}} He was [[First inauguration of Harry S. Truman|sworn in as president]] at 7:09&nbsp;p.m. in the West Wing of the White House, by Chief Justice [[Harlan F. Stone]].<ref>Paul Ham, ''Hiroshima Nagasaki'', p. 68</ref>