President Truman’s Monumental Decision: The Acceptance of the United Nations’ Partition Plan for Palestine

Abstract

This essay analyzes the decision of President Harry Truman to accept the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. It analyzes the role of the international community in the creation of this plan. This includes the United States Department of State, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the Arabs of Palestine, the Arab League, and the newly-minted United Nations. Furthermore, it details the roles of Truman’s domestic advisers, his personal beliefs, and his desire to win re-election in 1948 in the scope of the situation unfolding in Palestine. This document explains what led President Truman to support the UN Partition Plan; specifically, it will seek to understand why Truman made his decision against the advice of his allies and his foreign policy advisers and to make the decision that he did.