Truman's Day

An unlikely pick as Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1944 running mate, Harry S Truman would become president and win an unlikely re-election. With the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the day January 20 was destined to be a recurring day of significance in the life of the President from Missouri.

On January 20, 1945, Truman would be inaugurated as the 34th Vice President. After Roosevelt's death in April 1945, his ascension to the Oval Office as the 33rd President, his stunning re-election in 1948, Truman would be inaugurated for a second term on January 20, 1949; the first televised presidential inauguration.

Four years later, after attending Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration, Truman boards a train and heads home to Independence, MO on January 20, 1953.

It would be exactly 8 years before Truman returned to the nation's capital to attend John F. Kennedy's January 20, 1961. It was on January 20, 1966 that Truman, at his namesake presidential library, announced the formation of the Harry S. Truman Center for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem.

Sources

• Harry S Truman Library & Museuam. “The 1949 Inauguration of President Harry S. Truman Historical Facts At-A-Glance.” Accessed January 17, 2011. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/quiz/inaug.htm.
• The Presidential Timeline Project of the Learning Technology Center (The University of Texas at Austin). "Harry S Truman." Accessed January 17, 2011. http://www.presidentialtimeline.org/html/timeline.php?id=33