Harry Truman inaugural address: Jan. 20, 1949

Truman's inaugural address came as the world began its recovery from World War II, and underscored the split in values between democratic and communist philosophies, which he called out as a "false philosophy".

[Perrosiutico]

I was only 21 days old; born New Year's Eve 1948. Glad to see this because I don't remember it.

[ferabra]

First ever televised inauguration. You can tell by the image and sound it's not movie. It's actually impressive to have good footage of events 71 years ago. Don't you ever wonder what Washington's inaguration would look like on 4k TV? or Lincoln's? This is the closest you'll ever get.

[christopherthorkon]

Pretty amazing -- this is a video signal (probably filmed by kinetoscope) but looks very lifelike for an image from 1949.

[morambamoirangthem]

Why the audio is much better than Eisenhour’s inaugural address ‘53

[chrisyates]

Point 4, a key marker in the history of world development.

[Svetashev]

2020. This is the 9th of 100 speeches that I'm watching to make my research on public speaking. The previous one was JFK's inaugural address. As I go on, I get attached more and more to the content. I'm trying to stay indifferent and avoid any emotional involvement, though it gets harder with every new speech. Before I picked up these speeches almost randomly, but now I want to follow a chronological order and see at least one speech of each American president. Unfortunately, a couple of centuries ago we didn't have such amazing technologies as we have now, so the most interesting political puppets are beyond my reach.
I enjoy listening to Truman especially when he talks about the differences between communism and democracy and gets angry attaching "false" philosophy. His attempt to mock the ideals that he's never bothered himself trying to understand looks very comical. Today, I have a discussion with my friends and one of them said that the best public speakers are comedians. I don't know why, but watching comedians often makes me sad, whereas politicians almost always compel me to laugh heartily.

[bradyfry]

Was this the first televised inaugural address?

[lakecountynaturalist]

Greatest President ever. He took no BS from anyone.

[allthingstravon]

the word used back then should've been fascism and not communism

[sifumerrybongomoo]

He sounds like The Amazing Criswell. spooky

[edward]

2:56 "unless they are black, brown, yellow, gay, or female."

[rogerhoward]

I am a republican but i have always admired president Truman

[ADAMSIXTIES]

Would be 136 today. The buck stops here. I remember when he died, Dec. 26th, 1972. They broke into the TV show I was watching with a Special Report. Remember those? Now every news show says "Breaking News" for every little news item...or even none at all!

[oneuniverse]

Throughout the comments section, I have been witness to views expressed by multiple users attacking Truman's decision to detonate the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I would therefore like to provide some clarification as to the context of that decision and to offer a defense of it.

The reason Truman made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was because he recognized the vast human cost that Operation Downfall would have entailed. Since the beginning of the war, not a single Japanese company had ever surrendered to the Americans in their struggle to maintain control over Pacific islands, so it logically follows that the Japanese military apparatus would fight to the death in the struggle to keep a foreign power off of the Japanese home islands. Before his decision to drop the atomic bomb, Truman had ordered a military commission to provide an estimate of the amount of lives that such an invasion would cost; the results he obtained from that commission, in terms of both military and civilian lives, vastly outnumbered the lives that were ultimately lost due to the atomic bombs.

Bombing cities (which, of course, are full of civilians), as you probably know, has been nothing new, whether in terms of the entire scope of history or during the Second World War alone (Battle of Britain, firebombing of Dresden). The firebombing campaign against Tokyo overall cost many more lives than the atomic decimation of Hiroshima. The times necessitated that a "shock" be delivered to the Japanese citizenry and the imperial government such that it would bring a swift conclusion to the war, and Truman recognized that detonating atomic bombs, no matter the civilian cost, would bring upon that goal.

[Biancalovestosew]

My grandma was a little girl when he was President

[yourmomwards]

The guy behind him standing still, is giving some serious negative vibes...

[chetpomeroy]

Roughly two years later, President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur, which was a wise and prudent move by the President. During the Korean War, the General wanted to use nuclear weapons on the army of Red China, north of the Yalu River.

[Miguellahablios]

In far east country, they never forget the favor of America. Unofficial father of the nation.

[thmistral]

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie

[johnrohlfs]

GET the men AND WEmen out of THY Arizona