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]
^McCullough 1992, p. 259
^Cite error: The named reference Daniels224 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abHamilton, 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.
^Farley, Karin Clafford (1989). Harry S. Truman: the man from Independence. J. Messner. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-67165853-3.
The TrumanCommittee, formally known as the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, was a United States Congressional investigative...
Clifton Truman Daniel (born June 5, 1957) is an American writer and public relations executive who is the oldest grandson of former United States President...
The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledges American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated...
"Dewey Defeats Truman" was an incorrect banner headline on the front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune (later Chicago Tribune) on November 3, 1948, the...
stood up in March 1941 as the "TrumanCommittee," is the oldest subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental...
Aircraft Carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). President Jimmy Carter arranged to borrow the sign from the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum...
Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a public university in Kirksville, Missouri. It had 3,636 enrolled students in the fall of 2023 pursuing degrees...
election upsets in American history, incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman defeated heavily favored Republican New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, and...
described the committee as a mechanism for an after-action review. The committee's mandate is analogous to that of the TrumanCommittee in the 1940s,...
Elizabeth Virginia Truman (née Wallace; February 13, 1885 – October 18, 1982) was the wife of President Harry S. Truman and the First Lady of the United...
production and deployment, to the extent that it was investigated by the TrumanCommittee, which turned in a scathing report. This contributed to the decline...
nothing) attracted scrutiny from several Congressional auditors. The TrumanCommittee that investigated wartime waste and fraud attempted to audit the project...
not to follow when he led the TrumanCommittee, which investigated military appropriations during World War II. Truman stated that he did not want to...
named after Richard Russell Jr., signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in 1946, and entered the federal government into schools' dietary programs...
Truman Day is a commemorative holiday to celebrate the birth of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States. It is celebrated on May 8 in...
investigation by the House Committee on Armed Services chaired by Carl Vinson. While the dispute was settled in favor of the Truman administration, the outbreak...