The Regular Dude Who Became President

Mr. Beat tells the story of the most "average" dude to ever become president. As it turns out, he probably wasn't so average after all.

Produced by Matt Beat and Beat Productions, LLC. All images/video by Matt Beat, Shannon Beat, Dean Davison, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines. Music by @ElectricNeedleRoom, (Mr. Beat's band), Otis McDonald, Bad Snacks, Dan Henig, and Ofshane. Creative commons credits: Kbh3rd and Karen Montgomery.

Sources/further reading:
Truman by David McCullough
The Presidency of Harry S. Truman by Donald R. McCoy
Truman’s Triumphs- The 1948 Election and the Making of Postwar America by Andrew E. Busch
Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman by Alonzo L. Hamby
Harry S Truman: The American Presidents Series: The 33rd President, 1945-1953

Related videos:

Join this channel to get access to perks:

For business inquiries or to send snail mail to Mr. Beat:

How to support and donate to my channel:
Subscribe to @iammrbeat & hit the notification bell 🔔
Subscribe to my second channel: The Beat Goes On

Connect with me:

Merch:

Affiliate Links:

#ushistory #truman #presidents

“Three things ruin a man…Power, money, and women. I never wanted power, I never had any money, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.”

That was a quote not from me, Mr. Beat, but from a dude who was never supposed to be president. But he was!

A dude who never even sought to be a LEADER, but who history FORCED to be one of the greatest leaders in American history.

A dude who failed at multiple business ventures and even went bankrupt.

A dude who, after he was president, moved back into the same house he lived in back when he went bankrupt, and then went into debt again because his only income was an Army pension of $112.56 a month. That’s less than $1300 a month in today’s money.

A dude who never wanted the job, and a dude who no one had heard of before he was 50 years old.

Here is the story of Harry Truman, the most average person to ever become president.

0:00 Introduction
1:16 Growing up in Missouri
6:25 Ground News sponsorship
8:16 Farm Life
11:03 War Hero
14:34 Getting Political
17:12 Mr. Truman Goes to Washington
21:56 In Through the Back Door
37:23 Retirement
41:30 Exceeding Expectations

Corrections:
41:11. He was admitted to the hospital on December 5th. He died on December 26th. I'm sorry about that.

[iammrbeat]

Which U.S. president should I cover next?

Correction: I misspoke at 41:11. He was admitted to the hospital on December 5th. He died on December 26th. I'm sorry about that.


Don't forget to try out Ground News!

[metek]

"I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth and they think it's hell."
Harry S Truman

[noncreativeguy]

Being the leader of the first country to develop nuclear weapons, it’s interesting to think that Harry Truman was for a brief time the most powerful person in human history.

[bernardkam]

Truman holding the Newspaper saying "Dewey defeats Truman" is one of my favorite pictures ever. I remember that picture from my history book and it stayed with me all these years. And thank you Mr. Beat for the video. I always liked Truman a lot but I never really thought about just how much he shaped the world we live in today. Not bad for a man who never wanted to be

[Black_Caucus]

Harry Truman being heavily in debt makes him the most relatable president of all time in my book.

[EKSUCKNOGSTEEDS]

45:24 " No young man should go into politics if he wants to get rich or if he expects adequate reward for his services" that is the single greatest quote by any politician

[FlagrantFemboy]

If I had a nickel for every person who had poor eyesight yet wanted to join the military so badly they studied the eye chart to pass the eye exam, I’d have a lot of nickels.

[Killerkraft]

The case of 'we never knew how good we had it' in terms of presidency

[AmyLove-lxiu]

Truman being unpopular during his time as president but being praised as being one of the greatest presidents after he passed away proves how ahead of the time he was.

[thebasedone]

My grandmother lived near Truman when he retired she said he was sometimes on his porch and would wave at her on her way to school. She once even threw her shoe into his back yard so he could talk to him. My friend’s father has similar stories about seeing him on his way to school. IDK what my point is, but truman is a beast

[kali]

"No, I fired MacArthur because he didn't respect the office of the Presidency, not because he was a dumb sonovabitch, although he was. But that's not against the law for Generals."

We really need another Harry Truman in office today. He said what he meant and did what he thought was right. That's rare in any President.

[DennisMSulliva]

He was a man of honor. He paid off his debts from the failed store, He could have used bankruptcy to avoid paying.

[anthonydivon]

The irony his mother was a confederate sympathizer and her son would be the president to desegregate the United States military history is truly a great teacher

[premiergeneralmiller]

If only he had been able to get the "Fair Deal" passed. He'd probably be in contention for a top 3 spot of greatest Presidents.

[alonkatz]

You know, sometimes, it's better to have more average, "lame" or boring people in these places. We are often so focused on the extraordinary that we don't realize that what we already have is actually not that bad. Truman, for all his flaws, was exactly that, and I hope we see more of common sense politicians like him in the future.

[ryans]

“Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it.” -Plato

[sat]

I thought the biggest blemish of Oppenheimer was portraying Truman as just a carefree "good ol' boy." Yes, he could be obstinate, but he was whip-smart and had a firm character.

[genericyoutubeaccount]

Unfortunately, no president has had the stones to fire their generals when they fail. None of the generals responsible for losing the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan ever lost their jobs. Truman received so much blowback for firing MacArthur that no American President has dared exercise the right of relief since.

Several generals were relieved during WW2. Relief did not mean that you lost your job forever. Relief was merely a recognition that you had done a poor job and would be given a second chance later if you proved yourself again at a lower level of command. General Patton was relieved of command twice. Unfortunately, the USA has lost the ability to reprimand its generals.

[IrishmanGFS]

Truman is my absolute favorite. A true common man that climbed up to the top. He didn't use any of his offices to enrich himself. And quietly retired and did not abuse his former title to get wealth that way.

[vegamineral]

Personally, I like Truman and think that he was not just one of the most consequential presidents in history, but one of the most consequential humans in history, simply because he chose to use the atom bomb, which is actually something that I support even though its considered a highly controversial move. If you think about it, even if Truman himself was unaware of the impact it would have, we are the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons in a war. That statement comes with a huge underlying sentiment that cannot be understated, the fact that we proved to humanity that we had the audacity to do it at least once, is probably the very reason why the cold war remained cold and why nuclear weapons have never been used in hostility again ever since. The fact that he chose to use them once (particulalry at a time where no other country even had one to retaliate with and mutually assured destruction didn't exist) was a wicked power move that I think is largely credible for why the US has continued to be such a massive superpower for the last 80 years and possibly saved millions of lives by demonstrating how powerful and destructive they were, at the cost of killing hundreds of thousands. And it was one of those opportunities that was ripe for the picking because there is no other time in which that could have been done to reap those benefits without repercussions. The fact that all of the world's other empires had just fallen apart during the war while the US was unscathed and the USSR had still yet to develop their own, there would never be another moment like that to establish yourself as a superpower. Like I said, he may not have realized what he had done when he did it, but in my opinion I think it was the right move and one that could have possibly spared the world a WW3 (or at least considerably delayed it)