Tuman Library's Fun Program

[katarn]

The Truman Presidential Library in Independence, apart from storing many his hundreds of thousands of documents and being his resting place, also houses a simulation center targeted towards teens.

https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whdc/

A group comes to their recreated West Wing and spends a day presuming the roles of Truman and some cabinet members as they devise/advise a solution to the day's problem. The Center does a good job of not pulling facts, and the facilitators only lead the kids along enough to a) help them get where their strain of thought is slowly going, b) dissuade them from a terrible idea like nuking Berlin, or c) being slower than the students themselves on some points. They split the day into meetings to resemble a presidential schedule, and have mock press conferences where Truman defends his decisions. For all but probably two of the meetings, the facilitators aren't involved at all, but their involvement can prove detrimental to the most active students.

Examples of scenarios for those who won't click the link:
The End of the British Mandate in Palestine
The Soviet Blockade of Berlin
Addressing Postwar Civil Rights in the Armed Forces

[Ex-California]

The first thing I would do is use the existing nuclear arsenal to put the Soviets to bed before they could develop their own.

[TheReal_ND]

The first thing I would do is use the existing nuclear arsenal to put the Soviets to bed before they could develop their own.

This is the only correct answer

[Hwen Hoshino]

The first thing I would do is use the existing nuclear arsenal to put the Soviets to bed before they could develop their own.

This is the only correct answer

How would you hit the place where they developed the nukes?

[TheReal_ND]

They hadn't developed them. Iirc they didn't figure it out until they imported former German scientists after the war, who were indeed, very close to figuring it out.

[Hwen Hoshino]

They hadn't developed them. Iirc they didn't figure it out until they imported former German scientists after the war, who were indeed, very close to figuring it out.

Okay how would you prevent it by nuking?

[TheReal_ND]

I mean first of all I wouldn't have helped the commies like FDR was so fond of doing along with """Great Man of History""" Churchill.

From there the timeline just kind of goes off on its own.

But in a serious response, I suppose as Truman, I would have been much more tough on Russia when I realized they weren't honoring their agreement to not annex Poland. I would have gone right down to risking full war again while we had the advantage. But hindsight is 20/20 and they may have got the bomb anyway.

Look up the Yalta agreement. I think FDR cucked on that and that's when things got out of hand.

[Hwen Hoshino]

I mean first of all I wouldn't have helped the commies like FDR was so fond of doing along with """Great Man of History""" Churchill.

From there the timeline just kind of goes off on its own.

But in a serious response, I suppose as Truman, I would have been much more tough on Russia when I realized they weren't honoring their agreement to not annex Poland. I would have gone right down to risking full war again while we had the advantage. But hindsight is 20/20 and they may have got the bomb anyway.

Look up the Yalta agreement. I think FDR cucked on that and that's when things got out of hand.

I doubt you could have had the manpower for your war.

[TheReal_ND]

Ok

[katarn]

Faced with Britain's withdrawal from Palestine on 15 May, what do you do as Truman? (At the Library the scenario is set as 12 May)