Skip to main content
Harry Truman

Harry Truman

11 4.7
The 33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953 who allows the use of atomic bombs on Japan
  • proper noun
  • /ˈhæri ˈtruːmən/
translation icon : Harry S. Truman
  • The United States planned to grant Egypt technical assistance under the auspices of President Harry Truman's Point Four Program following anti-foreigner riots in Cairo in early 1952.
  • President Harry Truman

Examples

  • President Harry Truman once said, "No one nation alone can bring peace."

    Academic text (2007)
  • After visiting the site and talking to the president, in February 1941, then-Senator Harry Truman proposed the creation of a special committee.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Cabinet members informed Harry Truman about the bomb after he became president.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Advisors to President Harry Truman could not justify sending U.S. troops to die in what they thought would be a losing battle.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Both appear to identify with its moderate to liberal wing, as did former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman.

    Academic text (1992)
  • In 1947, confronting a new challenge from abroad, Harry Truman carried out a historic reorganization of the U.S. national security structure.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Shortly after the Soviet nuclear test of a fission weapon, President Harry Truman approved plans to develop thermonuclear, or fusion, weapons, which have far greater destructive power.

    Academic text (2009)
  • PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): President Harry Truman (left) meets with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion (right) and Abba Eban.

    Academic text (2010)
  • At first glance, the Left's hostility to the CIA seems all the more puzzling because it was not only created by a Democrat, President Harry Truman, but began its existence in 1947 as a bastion of an Eastern liberal elite.

    Academic text (2009)
  • President Harry Truman made the decision to use atomic bombs on Japan during World War II.

Synonyms

Truman
vsHarry Truman
553 3.9

The 33rd president of the United States who led the country at World War II's end and ordered atomic bombs

uses the given name form rather than the short surname alone
President Truman
vsHarry Truman
7 3.8

Leader of the United States from 1945 to 1953 who ordered atomic bombs to be dropped on Japan

uses the same person name but without the formal title
Harry S. Truman
vsHarry Truman
1 4.6

The 33rd United States President who led the country after World War II and started the Cold War

uses a shorter name form without the middle initial
Harry S Truman
vsHarry Truman
3.7

The 33rd President of the United States who led after World War II and used atomic bombs on Japan

uses a shorter version omitting the middle initial entirely

Surface Forms

Morphology

Harry + Truman

This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; the meaning (that he was the 33rd U.S. President and his actions) is referential and not compositionally built from the parts 'Harry' and 'Truman'. Knowing the constituent words as names does not allow a B1 learner to infer the biographical or political meaning, so the expression is unpredictable and must be learned as a lexicalized reference.

Etymology

Harry Truman belongs to the man who suddenly became the '33rd President' of the United States after Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945. He had to make very hard choices, like deciding to use the first atomic bombs on Japan, so his name is remembered as a leader who made tough, final decisions.