Harry Truman was the new man after FDR.
“Fill His shoes?” asked the news, or “simply lower the bar?”
Victory in Europe was virtually won,
But the fight with Japan was not yet done.
At Potsdam where Atlee and Stalin met Harry,
They found a plain man who proudly would carry
The American banner with martial aplomb.
To end the war he dropped the bomb.
He saw the need to be international
And embraced the U. N., a policy rational.
The Truman Doctrine took on Soviets;
The Marshall Plan excused Europe its debts.
Through NATO, the airlift, and Korea
He claimed to make the world much freer.
At home he showed the same lack of fear
And stood by his motto: “The buck stops here.”
A friend of labor and civil rights,
Attacked by Repubs and soutern whites,
He fooled the pollsters in ’48,
Then lost the headlines tro apostles of hate.
The Fair Deal was encore to the New Deal, so
What turned the nation to Senator Joe?