 Instead, he took the recommendation of Democratic National Committee chairman Robert E. Hannegan and choose Harry S. Truman.Despite his differences with Roosevelt, Barkley faced no serious challengers in the 1944 Democratic primary and defeated his Republican challenger, Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney James Park, by a vote of 464,053 to 380,425.On April 11, 1945, US forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp, established in 1937, where at least 56,545 people died.