Harry S. Truman's 1949 Inauguration Speech

President Harry S. Truman, who became president following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, shocked the country with his defeat of Republican Thomas Dewey. The country had gotten through the end of World War II and faced a Communist Soviet Union. “Each period of our national history has had its special challenges,” Truman said in his inaugural address in 1949. “Those that confront us now are as momentous as any in the past. Today marks the beginning not only of a new administration, but of a period that will be eventful, perhaps decisive, for us and for the world.”