Truman was born on May 8th, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. He's the second child of John Anderson Truman a livestock trader and wife Martha Ellen Young Truman a housewife. The"S" in his name does not stand for anything, it was given to him by his grandfathers because they couldn't agree on a suitable middle name. He has a younger brother and sister, JohnVivian (1886–1965) and Mary Jane Truman (1889–1978).
At 11 months they moved to his grandparents home in Grandview Missouri until he was Six when his family moved again this time to 
Independence, Missouri where Harry attended the Presbyterian Church Sunday School. He Didn't attend an actual school until he was Eight. Harry loved history and the arts. He woke up every morning and practiced piano. Twice a week he practiced with a local music instructoruntil he was fifteen. Truman also read 4-5 books a week, mostly those involving war and/or biographies on the worlds greatest leaders. After he graduated from High School in 1901 he worked at some office jobs. In 1906 he moved back to Grandview for about a 10 year period. He soon found love with Bess Wallace and in 1911 he proposed to her, she turned him down. He now turned his focus to making more money than a farmerwould. BACK TO TOP
Truman soon enlisted in the Missouri National Guard. Although he had poor eyesight (20/50 in his left & 20/400 in the right) Truman memorized the exam sheet cheating his way in. He was sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma for training where he ran the camp store. he gained help from a Jewish friend Sergeant Edward Jacobson and Lieutenant James M. Pendergast, the nephew of a Kansas City politician Thomas Joseph Pendergast.
He was soon chosen to be an officer, then commander in an artillery regiment when he got to france. Truman commanded the Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, 60th Brigade, 35th Infantry Division and under his guidance they didn't lose a life. 
After the war Truman went back to Missouri and re-proposed to Bess Wallace they got married on June 28, 1919. They conceived a daughter, Margaret who was born on February 17, 1924. Due to the success of his store at Fort Sill Truman opened A men's clothing store with Edward Jacobson. A month before they were married Truman & Jacobson was opened in downtown Kansas Cit. The store was successful for a couple of years, then due to a downfall in farming economy, which Truman blamed on the policies of the republican party. After the bankruptcy Truman and Jacobson attended Washington College while paying off the debt they consumed.
In 1922, Truman was elected as a judge of the County Court of Jackson County, Missouri with help from war buddy Tom Pendergast's political team. He was defeated for re-election ion 1924, however he ran again in 1926 and was re-elected as the presiding judge and re-elected again in 1930. During his term he won some personal acclaims for his works in office.
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In the 1934 election Pendergast's democratic organization chose Truman to run for Missouri's open United States Senate seat. His campaign as a New Deal Democrat in support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt was very successful. Truman defeated Tuck Milligan the brother of federal prosecutor Maurice M. Milligan during the Democratic primary, then Truman crushed the Republican Roscoe C. Patterson by nearly 20 percent!
Most took Truman's canadicy as a joke, saying that he's a puppet for Pendergasts organization. Although Truman did present his New Deal political patronage through Boss Pendergast, he insisted that he was independent on his votes. Truman had his standards and he stood by them whole-heartedly, even when pressured by the kingpin of Missouri politics.
Milligan began a massive investigation into the 1936 Missouri gubernatorial election that elected Lloyd C. Stark, Milligan discovered that Pendergast skipped out on paying federal taxes between 1927 and 1937. He also had managed a fraudulent insurance scam. Then he went after Senator Truman's political patron. Pendergast pled guilty in 1939 and received a 15-month sentence and a $10,000 fine. Stark, who had received Pendergast's blessing in the 1936 election, turned against him in the investigation and eventually took control of federal New Deal funds from Truman and Pendergast.
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Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 23, 1941, Senator Truman made a statement: "If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word." Both liberals and conservatives alike were spooked by his outward suggestion of America backing Nazi Germany, Truman quickly backtracked.
He soon acquired some renoun when his preparedness committee (better known as the "Truman
Committee") exposing a scandal including fraud and mismanagement of the military. He got a lot of attention for his aid of common-sense and cost-saving measures for the military. Even though some felt alarmed that the Committee would hurt war morale, it was considered a success and is reported to have saved at least $11 billion. In 1943, his work as chairman earned Truman his first appearance on the cover of Time Magazine. (He would eventually appear on nine Time covers and be named the magazine's Man of the Year in 1945 and 1949.) Truman due to his hard work and impartial work was now a National symbol.
