Truman Committee

Senators, counsel, witnesses, and visitors at a 1943 meeting of the Truman Committee. Senator Harry S. Truman is at the center.
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Harry S. Truman
Senator from Missouri
33rd President of the United States
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The Truman Committee, formally known as the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, was a United States Congressional investigative body, headed by Senator Harry S. Truman.[1] The bipartisan special committee was formed in March 1941 to find and correct problems in US war production with waste, inefficiency, and war profiteering. The Truman Committee proved to be one of the most successful investigative efforts ever mounted by the U.S. government: an initial budget of $15,000 was expanded over three years to $360,000 to save an estimated $10–15 billion in military spending and thousands of lives of U.S. servicemen.[2][3][4] For comparison, the entire cost of the simultaneous Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bombs, was $2 billion.[5] Chairing the committee helped Truman make a name for himself beyond his political machine origins and was a major factor in the decision to nominate him as vice president, which would propel him to the presidency after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[6]

Truman stepped down from leadership of the committee in August 1944 to concentrate on running for vice president in that year's presidential election. From 1941 until its official end, in 1948, the committee held 432 public hearings, listened to 1,798 witnesses and published almost 2,000 pages of reports.[3] Every committee report was unanimous, with bipartisan support.[7]

  1. ^ McCullough 1992, p. 259
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Daniels224 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Hamilton, Lee H. (2009). "Relations between the President and Congress in Wartime". In James A. Thurber (ed.). Rivals for Power: Presidential–Congressional Relations. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-74256142-7. Over seven years (1941–1948) the committee heard from 1,798 witnesses during 432 public hearings. It published nearly two thousand pages of documents and saved perhaps $15 billion and thousands of lives by exposing faulty airplane and munitions production.
  4. ^ Farley, Karin Clafford (1989). Harry S. Truman: the man from Independence. J. Messner. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-67165853-3.
  5. ^ "Manhattan Project: CTBTO Preparatory Commission".
  6. ^ "March 1, 1941 – The Truman Committee". United States Senate. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  7. ^ McCullough 1992, p. 318