Why has Harry Truman been rehabilitated?

[Col. Roosevelt]

When Harry Truman left office in 1953, he was polling at an abysmal 22% approval - lower than Nixon at the very height of Watergate. The Korean War, which he got us involved in, was locked in a very bloody stalemate and 33,000 American troops had died in under 3 years of fighting with no end in sight. He was so despised that he lost in a landslide victory in the NH primacy to Estes Kefauver (who won 19,000 votes to Truman's 5,000), and Truman promptly pulled out of the race. At the time, his administration was seen as corrupt (he used Executive Privilege to protect members of his administration from having to testify before Congress), soft on Communism (China had been "lost" under his administration), and not very effective - not many bills of his Fair Deal program passed. Not only that, but it can be argued that Truman began the Cold War or at the very least, made it much more tense than it had to be.

Yet, today, Truman's unpopularity and the bloody stalemate that Korea was in 1952/1953 is forgotten and today Truman is celebrated as being among America's greats, as the rowdy "Give 'em Hell, Harry" maverick president from Missouri. None of his failures are truly remembered much today, and only his successes - mainly in his first term - are.

Why has Truman's legacy been so whitewashed?

[Col. Roosevelt]

Korean War was justified, Losing China was not his fault, and the cold war was justified , communism had to be contained at all costs

The Korean War was basically the same as Vietnam: Keeping a divided country from going fully Communist. Why is Korea justified and Vietnam isn't?