Elections: Harry S Truman

Quote of the Day:

The buck stops here! - Harry S Truman

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. - Harry S Truman

Day 14 VoCaBulary:

campaign

age

alien

candidate

endorsement

experience

governor

federal

Harry S Truman: 

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States. Truman was born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri. After FDR died in office, Truman became presidency. Harry S. Truman was only Vice President for 82 days. President Roosevelt died and Harry became the president of the United States. He served from 1945 to 1953. In 1945 Truman authorized dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, ending World War II. Truman made some very important decisions which helped the countries of Europe feed their people and to be free and have democracies. These decisions were the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Truman also started the United Nations and NATO. In our country, he decided to give men of all races the right to have good jobs in the Army, Navy and Air Force and to work together rather than to be in separate groups. This was called Desegregation of the Armed Forces. He also pushed for other civil rights reforms. Truman won the next election for office, although it had been widely predicted that he would lose.  In 1950 he sent troops to South Korea to help protect against invading communuist North Korean troops, starting the Korean War. Truman died on December 26, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Discovering Elections:

Find out one interesting thing about each president that we have studied this week.

By the time Harry S Truman graduated from high school, he had read all 2,000 books in the public library -- including the encyclopedias!

Everybody knows Theodore Roosevelt loved to go hunting, but he loved my dogs even more.

Franklin D Roosevelt's mother, Sara, really must have loved her dogs. When she went on vacation, she would mail them postcards.

Grover Cleveland was president two separate times -- #22 and #24!

Whom did President Harry S Truman have to campaign against when he ran for president of the US?

Harry S Truman campaigned against Thomas E. Dewey, J. Strom Thurmond and Henry Wallace in 1948.

Only two government officials are chosen by our entire country—which ones are they?

The President and the Vice-President are the only officials chosen by the entire country.

What happens when the political conventions are over and the parties have chosen their national candidates?

The final campaign gets under way after the major parties choose their candidates. The race for the White House is front-page news for the next few months. The candidates go out on the road again, meeting and greeting the voters. During this time, they give hundreds of speeches and interviews. It is during this period that presidential debates take place, too.

What other kinds of elections will be held on this coming election day?

Senators, House of Representatives

What is the Federal Election Commission?

In 1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) - the law that governs the financing of federal elections. The FEC is an independent regulatory agency, and its duties are to disclose campaign finance information, enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and oversee the public funding of presidential elections.

What is public funding of presidential elections? How does the public fund presidential elections? Describe the conditions that must be met for a candidate to be eligible to recieve public funding for a presidential election. Are American tax dollars used to finance the election funding?

Public funding of Presidential elections means that qualified Presidential candidates receive federal government funds to pay for the valid expenses of their political campaigns in both the primary and general elections. National political parties also receive federal money for their national nominating conventions.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund, as it is properly called, is the government's way of largely financing the race for the White House. Candidates who meet eligibility requirements and agree to limits on campaign spending qualify for matching funds from the pot of money.

To qualify for public funding, Presidential candidates and party convention committees must first meet various eligibility requirements, such as agreeing to limit campaign spending to a specified amount. Once the Federal Election Commission determines that eligibility requirements have been met, it certifies the amount of public funds to which the candidate or convention committee is entitled. The U.S. Treasury then makes the actual payments from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. This fund consists of dollars voluntarily checked off by taxpayers on their federal income tax returns.

But checking the box won't affect your taxes either way.

Checking "yes" won't add to your overall tax payment. And checking "no" won't get you a bigger refund.

What in invloved in becoming a professional campaign worker? What does this career involve? How do you begin in this career?

After the political conventions are over and national candidates have been chose, what happens next in a presidential election?

What is happening next in Campaign 2012? Describe this week's or month's event in your area.