Grand Lodge of the State of New York Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York Harry S. Truman Mar 8, 2017 | Grand Lecturer's Blog Brother Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman served as the 33rd President of the United States (1945–53), coming to office on the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the last months of World War II. He is known for launching the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, for leading the Cold War against Soviet and Chinese communism through the Truman Doctrine and NATO, and intervening in the Korean War. In domestic affairs, he was a moderate Democrat whose liberal proposals were a continuation of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, but the Conservative-dominated Congress blocked most of them. Truman served as a United States Senator from Missouri (1935–45) and briefly as Vice President (1945) before he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He presided over an unexpected surge in economic prosperity as America sought readjustment after long years of depression and war. His political coalition was based on the white South, labor unions, farmers, ethnic groups, and traditional Democrats across the North. Truman was able to rally these groups of supporters during the 1948 presidential election and win election to a presidential term in his own right. Truman was born in Independence, Missouri, and spent most of his youth on his family’s 600-acre farm near Independence. In the last months of World War I, he served in combat in France as an artillery officer with his National Guard unit. After the war, he briefly owned a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri, and joined the Democratic Party and the political machine of Tom Pendergast. Truman was first elected to public office as a county official in 1922, and then as a U.S. Senator in 1934. He gained national prominence as chairman of the Truman Committee, formed in March 1941, which claimed to find and correct problems such as waste and inefficiency in Federal Government wartime contracts. Germany surrendered on Truman’s birthday, just a few weeks after he assumed the presidency, but the war with Imperial Japan raged on and was expected to last at least another year. Truman approved the use of atomic bombs to end the fighting and to spare the hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese lives that would inevitably be lost in the planned invasion of Japan and Japanese-held islands in the Pacific. Although this decision and the numerous issues that arose as a result of it remain the subject of debate to this day, it was one of the principal factors that forced Japan’s unconditional surrender. Truman’s presidency was a turning point in foreign affairs, as the United States engaged in an internationalist foreign policy and renounced isolationism. Truman helped found the United Nations in 1945, issued the Truman Doctrine in 1947 to contain Communism, and got the $13 billion Marshall Plan enacted to rebuild Western Europe. The Soviet Union became an enemy in the Cold War. Truman oversaw the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and the creation of NATO in 1949, but was unable to stop Communists from taking over China. When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, he sent U.S. troops and gained UN approval for the Korean War. After initial successes in Korea, however, the UN forces were thrown back by Chinese intervention, and the conflict was stalemated throughout the final years of Truman’s presidency. Known as the 33rd President of the United States of America, Harry S. Truman is also known within Masonic circles as one of the most dedicated men to have joined its ranks. He was a member of a large number of Orders, often while serving in the role of United States Senator, Vice President, and even while serving as the President. “One day in late 1908, a cousin of my mother came to the farm to look at some stock. I noticed a Masonic pin on his coat, and told him I had always wanted to be a member. A few days later he brought me an application for membership in Belton Lodge No. 450 at Belton, Missouri. On February 9, 1909, I received my first degree.” – Harry S. Truman Initiated as an Entered Apprentice in 1909, he took to the Craft like a duck to water. A serious student of history, he absorbed as much of the traditions as he could within a short time. Truman in his memoirs described how he became “letter perfect in [the ritual of] all three degrees.” An example of his dedication to the Craft was seen when he qualified and was elected as the Junior Warden of his Lodge in 1910. By the following year, he was a key brother in organizing the Lodge at Grandview, Missouri, and went on to serve as its Worshipful Master under dispensation. He then became its first recorded Master when it became a chartered Lodge. Side Note: Both of Brother Truman’s grandfathers were members of the Fraternity, but his father was not a member. Truman’s brother Vivian, belonged to Grandview Lodge as did several of his nephews. His sister, Mary Jane, was very active in the Order of the Eastern Star in Grandview and in Missouri, serving as the Worthy Grand Matron of the State in 1950. President Truman was an honored guest at her installation. He had entered the Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection and Chapter Rose Croix in Kansas City in 1912 and completed the Scottish Rite Degrees in 1917 before going on active duty. In 1919, through the York Rite, President Truman received the Chapter and Council degrees in Kansas City. In 1923, he was also honored as a Knight Companion of the Red Cross of Constantine in Mary Conclave, Kansas City. President Truman was created a Noble of the Mystic Shrine in Ararat Temple, Kansas City in 1917. He served as Orator of the Temple in 1933 and Second Ceremonial Master in 1934. After his election to the United States Senate that year, he had to resign from the divan line due to his Grand Lodge and official duties. He was appointed District Deputy Grand Master and Lecturer for the newly formed 59th Masonic District in 1925, serving until 1930. Shortly after this, he entered the Missouri Grand Lodge line and served the state as Grand Master in 1940-41. He was only the second Masonic President to serve as a Grand Master. It was during Mr. Truman’s term that the Missouri Lodge of Research was reorganized. He served as Master of that Lodge in 1950, while he was President. Although President Truman’s primary Masonic interest was the Blue Lodge, he did belong to most appendant bodies. In the Scottish Rite, he was honored by being coroneted as a 33* Honorary, in October, 1945. This was for his service to this country and to Freemasonry. He was the, only President to that time to be accorded this honor. He was awarded the Gourgas Medal by the Northern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite for “notably distinguished service in the cause of Freemasonry, humanity or country.” On 26 December 1972, Harry S. Truman passed to the Grand Lodge beyond.

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