THE MAKING OF A NATION - a program in Special English by the Voice of America. (MUSIC)The House of Representatives of the Congress closed for business early on the rainy afternoon of April twelfth, nineteen forty-five. The House Democratic leader, Sam Rayburn, stepped down from his chair and invited a friend to come by his office for a drink. Be there around five oclock, Rayburn said. Harry Truman is coming over. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet in Yalta, 1945 The Second World War was not yet over. But it was a quiet afternoon in Washington. President Franklin Roosevelt was in the state of Georgia. He was resting after his recent trip to Yalta to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The presidents wife, Eleanor, was at the White House, working on a speech supporting the new United Nations organization. Vice President Harry Truman was at the Senate. But he was not interested in the debate. He spent most of his time writing a letter to his mother and sister back in the state of Missouri. When the debate finished, he went to the office of House leader Rayburn to join him for a drink. It was an afternoon Truman would never forget. VOICE TWO: Rayburn and his other friend were talking in the office before Truman arrived. Suddenly the telephone rang. It was the White House. A voice asked whether Vice President Truman had arrived yet. No, Rayburn replied. Tell him to call the White House, the voice said, as soon as he gets there. Truman entered a minute later. He immediately called the White House. As he talked, his face became white. He put down the phone and raced out the door to find his car. VOICE ONE: Truman arrived at the White House within minutes. An assistant took him up to the private living area for the president. Missus Roosevelt was waiting for him there. Harry, she said to Truman, the president is dead. Truman was shocked. He asked Missus Roosevelt if there was anything he could do to help her. But her reply made clear to him that his own life had suddenly changed. Is there anything we can do for you? Missus Roosevelt asked the new president. You are the one in trouble now. VOICE TWO: Within hours, the world knew the news. Franklin Roosevelt was dead. Americans were shocked and afraid. Roosevelt had led them since early nineteen thirty-three. He was the only president many young Americans had ever known. Who would lead them now. The answer was Harry Truman, the vice president. Truman had been a surprise choice for vice president. Delegates at the Democratic presidential convention of nineteen forty-four chose him to be with Roosevelt only after considering several other candidates. Roosevelt and Truman easily defeated their Republican Party opponents. And, when Roosevelt died, Truman became president. VOICE ONE: Harry Truman Truman lacked the fame, the rich family, and the strong speaking voice of Franklin Roosevelt. He was a much simpler man. He grew up in the central state of Missouri. Truman only studied through high school and some night-time law school classes. He worked for many years as a farmer and a small businessman, but without much success. Truman had long been interested in politics. When he was almost forty years old, he finally won several low-level jobs in his home state. By nineteen thirty-four, he was popular enough in the state to be nominated and elected to the United States Senate. And he won re-election six years later. VOICE TWO: Most Americans, however, knew little about Truman when he became president. They knew he had close ties to the Democratic Party political machine in his home state. But they also had heard that he was a very honest man. They could see that Truman had strongly supported President Roosevelts New Deal programs. But they could not be sure what kind of president Truman would become. VOICE ONE: History gave Truman little time to learn about his new job. In one of his first weeks as president, Truman signed a paper on his desk without reading it completely. Only later did he learn that his signing the paper had stopped the shipment of American goods to Britain under the lend-lease program. Trumans mistake caused problems for people in both the United States and Britain. But it also taught the new president how much power he now had, and how carefully he must use it. VOICE TWO: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima The most important power he now possessed was the power of atomic weapons. And, soon after he became president, he faced the decision to use that terrible power or not. Truman understood the tragic importance of using atomic bombs to end World War Two. Yet he firmly believed that using such bombs was the only way to force Japan to surrender. So in August, nineteen forty-five, he gave the orders to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war in Europe had ended several months earlier. Truman met in Potsdam, Germany, with British Prime Mi