Part 4 Chapter 12 Summary

The Republican victory in the 1946 fall elections was in many ways good for Truman. There were new leaders in the House and Senate: Arthur Vandenberg, Joe Martin, and Robert Taft. The new faces and political dynamics freed Truman up for the first time to be his own man, no longer under the shadow of Roosevelt.

One of the best decisions he ever made as President was to replace Secretary of State Jim Byrnes, with General George Marshall. Marshall was an extremely measured person and never disloyal to Truman. He improved the morale of the State Department.

Truman struggled with getting David Lilienthal confirmed as head of the Atomic Energy Commission. Many of the Republicans in the Congress believed Lilienthal was too liberal, too leftist for the job, despite the moving speech he gave about how much he believed in democracy and...