Roosevelt & Truman
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) was the 32nd President of the United States, from 1933 to 1945, and the only president elected four times. He was elected in a landslide in the 1932 presidential elections, a few years after the Great Depression. To alleviate the ordeal of the Great Depression, Roosevelt promised a "New Deal", a series of federal programs, work projects, and regulations that included the creation of federal student aid, Social Security, and means-tested welfare programs.
After the attack of Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt obtained a declaration of war against Japan, and the United States became Japan's primary challenger in the Pacific theater of World War II. Roosevelt's third term was essentially dominated by World War II, and he authorized Project Manhattan, the development of the first nuclear bomb. The United States experienced rapid economic growth because of war spending and industry, getting it out of the Great Depression.
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was Roosevelt's Vice President, and upon Roosevelt's death in office in 1945, became the 33rd President of the United States, from 1945 to 1953. He assumed the Presidency on April 12, less than a month before Nazi Germany officially surrendered, limiting his role in the European theater of World War II.
Harry Truman continued the Manhattan Project that President Roosevelt created while in office, with the first successful nuclear detonation test (called "Trinity") occuring on July 16, 1945. When notified of the successful test, Truman wrote, "We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark."
In August 1945, Japan refused to surrender. Truman knew an Allied invasion of mainland Japan would be imminent, but such an invasion would be very dangerous, costly, and kill a projected 250-500 thousand American soldiers. With this in mind, Truman approved the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 respectively. On August 9, the Soviet Union invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria and, the next day, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces.