The Decision of the Century On August 2, 1945, Harry S. Truman made the toughest decision of his life. He knew that if he made the right decision, he would save hundreds of thousands of American lives. In making this decision, he would also be responsible for the deaths of hundreds and thousands of Japanese lives. If he made the wrong decision, the war would drudge on as the death count rose higher and higher as each new battle was fought. Japan would not surrender unconditionally, as the United States wanted. With Germany already beaten, the United States was not about to back down. No one knows whether or not he made the right choice, but he did, in fact, bring an end to World War II.World War II’s basic statistics qualify it as by far the greatest war in history in terms of human and material resources expended. In all, 61 countries with 1.7 billion people, three-fourths of the world’s population took part. A total of 110 million persons were mobilized for military service, more than half of those by three countries: USSR (22-30 million), Germany (17 million), and the United States (16 million). For the major participants the largest numbers on duty at any time were as follows: USSR (12,500,000); U.S. (12, 245,000); Germany (10,938,000); British Empire and Commonwealth (8,720,000); Japan (7,193,000); and China (5,000,000).Harry S. Truman was born May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. He was named Harry after his uncle, Harrison Young. His parents, John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman, wanted to honor both of Harry’s Grandfathers when they were deciding on a middle name for him. The only problem was deciding which one, Anderson Shippe Truman or Solomon Young. His parents finally decided to name him Harry S. and let the S stand for both of Harry’s grandfathers’ names. Before Harry S. Truman became the thirty-third President of the United States, he had many jobs which included: rail...
