Photo By Lawrence Brooks | White House Decision Center director Matt Reeves talking with the FY25 LDP class in...... read more read more
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Beginning on April 12, 1945, with the untimely death of the United States longest tenured Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman was thrust into the role as the country’s 33rd president. It was just a mere 82 days into his vice presidency and Roosevelt’s record fourth term.
As history denotes, Truman took the reins of the country in arguably one of the most perilous moments for not only America, but the world. According to Dr. Matt Reeves, director of the white house decision center at the Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, this moment and many others during his unlikely presidency, made Truman and his cabinet members no strangers to making critical decisions in emergent situations.
“There are five topics from Truman’s presidency that we have folks simulate when they visit the White House Decision Center. They’re Japan, Berlin, Palestine, civil rights and Korea,” Reeves said. “We take primary source documents from the Truman administration and use them to invite folks from the community to simulate history and to face some of the challenges of the Truman administration and see how they would address those challenges, given similar documentation that the administration had at the time.”
Primary source is industry jargon for the federal classifications those documents held in 1945, which ranged from Top Secret to Secret intelligence. To add visual and environmental symmetry, the WDHC is set in a full replica of the actual West Wing.
Having this aesthetic is meant to heighten the pressure for participants of the historical simulation, which also contributes to the primary purpose for the program: a reimagined team building exercise that encourages participants to leverage their skills in areas like negotiations or critical analysis and informed decision making under a condensed time frame, adding additional pressure to the situation.
Reeves said these components of the program are by design.
“So, it is very real and very in-depth. But it also leaves space for people to bring themselves and their own processes in, as they try and address the critical nature of these situations,” he said. “The hope is, that it is not totally overwhelming to the point where it causes folks to lock up or get into a gridlock. But the need to answer some of these questions is urgent. When folks are in leadership roles, you don't have an infinite amount of time to make a perfect decision.”
Enter the 12 selectees for the Kansas City District’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, fiscal year 2025 Leadership Development Program, who, sometimes deal with an immense amount of pressure when making critical decisions that could affect the lives of tens of thousands of people who live in vicinity of the complex projects they may work on or manage. That’s whether USACE completing million-dollar military construction projects or emergency management missions when infrastructure fails, or major flooding arises.
The group of Department of the Army civilians and future leaders within USACE, took a stab at the “Ending the War with Japan” simulation in December, as part of the curriculum for this year’s program. The Japan simulation involves how to end World War II and the great debates around the best course of action for Imperial Japan’s surrender.
Each participant was chosen to be a member of the either the 1945 Joint Chiefs of Staff, presidential advisors or President Truman himself. It was this eight-man team that made the world altering decision to use nuclear weapons to force Japan’s surrender. To date, it is the only instance in world history where a weapon of this magnitude was deployed in an armed conflict. Historians have estimated that between 150,000 to 246,000 people, who were mostly civilians, were killed.
Michael Mansfield is a hydraulic engineer for the Kansas City District and FY25 LDP member, who was chosen to play the role of President Truman. He said going through this simulation as the Commander-in-Chief gave him a greater respect for leaders around him who sometimes must make decisions in precarious situations.
“This scenario has taught me a lot about managing crisis’s and through the rest of this LDP program, I want to have more empathy for my senior leaders, especially when I know they’re making decisions that I generally don't have all of the information for,” he said.
Mansfield also admitted that his 30-plus page intelligence package was quite intimidating, since it was stuffed with details from land invasion strategies to casualty projections. What defined the moment for him the most, he said, was his ability to live with his decision to not drop the atomic bomb after having all the information from his seven advisors.
This is despite the fact he instantly became the self-proclaimed, “odd man out.”
“Even though Truman and I may have the same sources of information, I couldn't allow for the targeting of civilians. It’s just something that I can't compromise. So, I'm comfortable with it provided that it is based off one of those immovable values,” he said.
Kody Kemerling, project manager for the district’s Military Programs Branch, was given the role of Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal. He said despite his experience leading troops since he is a retired officer from the U.S. Army, the amount of pressure to decide in an emergent situation of this magnitude, was intense.
But it was the teamwork and valuing others input that helped everyone accept the final decision, even if they disagreed.
“We're all-seeing different things and we may understand it from a different perspective. So, let's talk it through as a group because getting everybody together is going to help us get to the right decision,” he said.
For others in the LDP program like Jessica Alexander, an environmental engineer who cosplayed as Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, the experience was more about what she learned that can help her improve her performance for USACE, their partners and stakeholders.
“Big decisions impact the little decisions. That’s why Truman relied on his group to feed him information by asking everyone to brief him, and made sure everyone was represented. That’s something I can apply to my everyday work when problems emerge,” she said.
Moving into 2025, the Kansas City District’s LDP program is kicking into high gear, with a trip to Washington D.C. to visit with lawmakers just over the horizon. From the performance he witnessed from the class back in December, Reeves believes, this group is ready to lead.
“I'm very glad that the sorts of precise thinkers that I saw on display during this LDP session, are the ones that will be making technical decisions in the field for our federal government,” Reeves said.
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2025 17:10 |
| Story ID: | 490581 |
| Location: | INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI, US |
| Hometown: | KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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