American ExperienceSeason 10, Episode 2 of 9 : Truman (Part 2)
After Harry Truman's unlikely rise to the presidency, he would face so me of the biggest crises of the century. Truman would end the war with Germany; use the atomic bomb against Japan; confront an expanding Sov iet Union; and wage war in Korea -- all while the woman he adored, his wife Bess, refused to stay in the White House and play the role of Fi rst Lady. On the homefront, Truman was the first president to tackle c ivil rights issues for blacks -- a move that would prove controversial when campaigning for his second term. His unpredictable win over Thom as Dewey in the presidential elections of 1948 proved to Truman that h e had finally separated himself from FDR's shadow. However, his second term brought another war and battles with Congress to pass health car e and civil rights legislation. Exhausted after his second term, Truma n relinquished the presidency and retired to Independence, Missouri, w here he lived as a popular and well-loved citizen. In later years, he would receive recognition for all his accomplishments and come to be a dmired as a gritty American original.
