The most recent US president without a college degree is Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States. He was born in Lamar, Missouri, but grew up in Independence, Missouri, where he attended the Independent High School and graduated in 1901.
To continue his academic journey, Truman enrolled in a business school in Kansas City, Spalding’s Commercial College. However, he dropped out before he could finish his program and so, he did not get a degree.
Critics would argue that Truman’s lack of a formal college education impacted his political ambitions and career. Instead of consistently pursuing education, Truman invested his time into working several jobs, including working on his family’s farm and working as a bank clerk. All these experiences provided him with practical knowledge and a strong work ethic.
Truman’s military service
Truman was 33 years old when World War I started. He joined the military to serve the nation—an easy transition, as he had enlisted as a member of the Missouri National Guard 10 years before the war started.
Truman’s time in the military, coupled with his popularity and great leadership skills, paved the way for his entry into politics. After the war, Truman married Bess Wallace. They both returned to Missouri, where he ran a haberdashery—a business that was later affected by the post-war recession.
Harry Truman’s political career
Truman’s military and local Missouri connections helped launch his political career, which started as a county judge in Jackson County, Missouri, in 1922. 12 years later, in 1934, Truman was elected as a US Senator from Missouri, a position he filled till 1945. As a serving senator, Truman gained national recognition for his leadership of the Truman Committee—a committee that investigated waste and war corruption in wartime defense contracts.
In 1945, Truman was named Vice President for Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Roosevelt suddenly passed shortly after this, so on April 12, 1945, Truman assumed office as President of the United States. This was in the final months of World War II.
Despite Truman’s lack of a college degree, he faced some of the most challenging problems and decisions in US history, including the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan, the end of World War II, and the beginning of the Cold War.
