Moreover, Truman was a man who had seen the horrors of battle, up close and in person. He was a Captain of arty in WWI.
For Truman, the decision was simple:
Consideration 1: Which path led to the fewest American lives being lost?
Consideration 2: Which path led to the fastest end of the war?
I believe that if we had a POTUS who had a fancy-pants Ivy League education, they would have turned this into a naval-gazing moment, complete with a pre-fabricated sob story to tell the press. Fortunately for the US, we had a guy who had been an infantry soldier, a dirt farmer, had spent long hours in the Missouri sun looking at the rear end of a mule while he was pushing a plow through the dirt, then had been a haberdasher and a failed businessman before getting into politics. Truman might have been a Democrat, but he was arguably the last of the common men of that party to become POTUS.
You are right on. Some of the wisest men I have ever known were simple dirt farmers . . . not highly educated or learned, but still very wise . . . . It is very surprising how much of an education you can get staring at a mules rear-end all day. We have way too many educated idiots running around this country.
I propose that an Ivy League degree should now disqualify you from elected office and government service.