Truman, Harry (1884–1972)

BASED ON HIS early life as a Missouri farmer, cattleman, and failed investor, Harry Truman seemed an unlikely candidate for the highest political office in the United States. On April 12, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR, 1882–1945) died at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, after winning an unprecedented fourth term in November 1944. In that election, Truman had been on the ticket with Roosevelt for the first time. After only a few weeks as vice president and with insufficient time to settle into politics on such a large scale, Truman became the 33rd president of the United States.

One of Truman's major tasks as president was to continue Roosevelt's war on white-collar crime, particularly the ban on war profiteering and the fight against ...