Truman

Near the end of Truman's presidency, Winston Churchill came to visit and remarked, "THe last time you and I sat across the conference table was at Potsdam, Mr. President. I must confess sir, I held you in very low regard then. I loathed your taking the place of Franklin Roosevelt." He paused. "I misjudged you badly. Since that time, you more than any other man, have saved Western civilization."

Churchill wasn't alone in his doubts about Harry Truman. A common man from Independence, Missouri, Truman became President at a key historical moment in the midst of World War II. In the first few months as President, he made the decision to drop atomic bombs in Japan and negotiated an end to the war with Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam. Truman show more also dealt with labor unrest at home, the rise of the Cold War, the Korean War, and more. McCullough covers these events in just the right amount of detail, and each detail is chosen carefully. While the length of the book may seem daunting, the story never drags. This is a beautiful portrait of an intriguing period of history, and it made me want to read more about many of the supporting players (Churchill, Stalin, Bess Truman, McCarthy, Eisenhower, MacArthur, etc.).

Besides describing a fascinating slice of history, McCullough also provides us with insight into Truman the man. As a Missourian by birth, I recognized Truman's honesty and plainspokenness. People knew where they stood with Truman. But at the same time, Truman was anything but a simple man. As McCullough concludes, "The homely attributes, the Missouri wit, the warmth of his friendship, the genuineness of Harry Truman, however, appealing, were outweighed by the larger qualities that made him a figure of world stature, both a great and good man, and a great American president." But McCullough doesn't avoid Truman's faults - his connections with the Pendergast bosses, his unquestioned loyalty to those from back home, and his occasional temper. What we get in this biography is a complete picture of the man and the times in which he led. show less

Author David McCullough’s writing flowed with an ease and clarity that made this biography of Harry S Truman read like a novel. It captured the complexity beneath Truman’s common man simplicity, his capacity to grow and ‘prove equal to tasks seemingly too large for him’ and brought a sense of drama to the events and accomplishments of his presidency. For me, the greatest revelation was in how limited Truman's options were when he made the decision that ended WWII and that he later refused to consider using nuclear weapons against China during the Korean war.
Overall, this was an outstanding portrait of an extraordinary man and a fascinating overview of a pivotal time in American and world history. Reading it has been my evening show more quiet time companion for several months now and I am genuinely going to miss it. show less

I actually put this book down for months about halfway through, even though it made me respect Truman a lot more than I did before. Why didn't I race through it? You see, I had been recommended this book after reading Robert Caro's superlative The Years of Lyndon Johnson series, my current gold standard for biographies. Truman was a walk-on character in Caro's books but he seemed like an interesting guy, and David McCullough, who is a fairly well-known historian (the recent John Adams miniseries was an adaption of one of his many award-speckled works), won a Pulitzer in 1993 for this thousand-page epic. While it was a fairly impressive biography, I have a few nits to pick. Firstly, it skips over a lot of context that would really enrich show more the book, like more details of the fight over Truman's attempts to introduce national health insurance. Given that this defeat is still having tectonic effects on American politics, its relative neglect was unforgivable, and there were a few other points where I felt that McCullough was passing up the big picture. Secondly, at the same time it's chock full of minutiae that feel pointless, like McCullough is just tossing in diary entries for the heck of it. Obviously he's too talented of a historian to do that so maybe it's just me, but see for yourself. Thirdly, McCullough is extremely interested in the personal habits of a guy who, in my honest opinion, is just not that interesting. I came away thinking Truman was an upstanding guy and a good President, but he doesn't exactly leap off the page. Fourthly, McCullough tosses in just a bit too much of that eye-rolling stuff about how Midwesterners and their homespun small-town Missouri heartland values just can't cotton to those snake-eyed Yankee city boys from back East and blah blah blah. I can't stand that shit, even if apparently that's what Truman was actually like. So I found it simultaneously too brief and too bloated, without the soaring epochal arcs I had hoped for. But it was pretty good overall, and it was certainly faithful to its underrated subject. show less

Because Truman's life is well-documented around the time of his presidency, it is no surprise that McCullough's biography thinly covers Truman's childhood and coming-of-age stage of life. The bulk of the biography centers around Truman's careers; starting with his early venture as a clothing store owner, an eastern judge, a senator, and of course, finally, president of the United States. Having said that, I appreciate biographies that peel back layers of a person's lifestyle and personality, for better or worse. To know that Truman harbored bigoted thoughts and beliefs was startling but logical, considering the time of his upbringing. Even though he thought of himself as a good-for-nothing American farmer, he also believed he would show more amount to something great one day. Indeed, he would go from being a businessman with a failing men's clothing store to earning a seat as an eastern judge and then state senator before becoming president. Not bad for a good ole boy.
As a president, Truman faced enormous difficulties, trials, and tribulations. Only seventy-seven years ago, this sitting president had to endorse anti-lynching legislation. We can't forget his decision to definitively end World War II, how he handled Palestine, the threat of communism, and our nation's involvement in Korea. Not to mention he survived a pretty serious assassination attempt.
McCullough's coverage of the second campaign, where Dewey was the well-known favorite, was riveting and read like a thriller. Also, it should be noted that McCullough wrote with astounding detail. I could picture Stalin drawing the heads of wolves with a red pencil while talking with Secretary Marshall, trying to save Western Europe. show less

Bizarrely readable for its thousand pages, even when McCullough is harping on how healthy Truman is. Focus never departs from the subject, even though it must have been tempting to digress into analysis of the atomic bomb, the Korean war, life after the Presidency, etc. When there is conflicting information, McCullough often quotes both sources, and indicates which seems more accurate, which makes him seem trustworthy as a biographer. Although I should admit I never once looked at the endnotes or bibliography (992 pages is quite enough!).

How does one write a meaningful review of a 992-page book that covers a broad swath of United States history? David McCullough doesn’t waste a word as he writes about Harry Truman the Man, who was devoted to his family and loyal to his friends, and Harry Truman the President, who loved his country and served it to the best of his ability. One would be mistaken to think that there were two different versions of Harry Truman. His equal allotments of humor, humility, and high-mindedness governed both the private and public sides of his life. His response to questions from reporters on his first day of becoming the 33rd President of the U. S. (and the 7th VP thrust into office after the sudden death of the President) was typical: “Boys, show more if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don’t know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.”

Truman faced many challenges that shaped history during his two terms in office. He is probably best known for the decision to use atomic force to expedite the end of WWII. He was also responsible for fostering the Civil Rights movement, establishing Israel as an independent nation, and instituting NATO, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan. He even got involved in renovating the White House which was in danger of being condemned. One of the biggest thorns in his side was North Korea and the resulting “police action” as he preferred to call the war against Communist invasion. He also didn’t like the prevailing term of “Cold War” and called his relationship with Stalin “the war of nerves.” Truman was sustained through all this turmoil by a quote from another Missourian, Mark Twain: “Always do right! This will gratify some and astonish the rest.”

After spending many hours reading this fine Pulitzer winning work by McCullough, I am proud to call myself a Missourian. Truman worked hard to be a decent man doing the decent thing. I personally enjoyed the references to Harry Truman as a reader. Since I am addressing fellow book lovers, I’ll conclude with Harry’s idea of heaven according to his daughter Margaret: “…to have a good comfortable chair, a good reading lamp, and lots of books around that he wanted to read.” A fine ending to a fine life. Harry Truman died on December 26, 1972 at age 88 in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his wife Bess, who died ten years later, are buried in the courtyard of the Truman Library located in their beloved Independence, Missouri. show less

There aren't many American presidents of whom I would read a thousand-page biography. Thomas Jefferson, probably. Lincoln, certainly. And Harry Truman. This book reinforced my belief that Harry Truman was a decent, ordinary man who improbably rose to the presidency at a time when the nation faced an unprecedented string of crises and decisions. His political beginnings with the Pendergast Kansas City machine were inauspicious, but once he became a U.S. Senator he distinguished himself by his hard work and integrity while chairing a committee investigating wartime expenditures and excesses. His work put him in line to be selected for the vice-presidency when FDR ran for his 4th term in 1944. In a short time, FDR's sudden death put Truman show more in the White House, where he was forced to learn and grow in the job during a time of crisis as no president had before, except perhaps Lincoln.

McCullough ably and exhaustively portrays Truman as the man, the politician and the president. Truman had his faults and bad decisions. He grew up with somewhat racist attitudes, but ordered the desegregation of the U.S. military and fought for other civil rights. He held Joe McCarthy in fine contempt, but instituted a Loyalty program to head off Republican charges of being soft on communism. And I think he erred in not detonating a demonstration A-bomb on a deserted atoll rather than dropping the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. But his cool head kept us from a nuclear war with the Soviet Union and China over Korea, and he bravely fired the very popular Douglas McArthur for undermining American policy when his own popularity was tanking. Truman now is seen as one of our greatest presidents, an assessment I agree with. I also think he was a fine fellow whom I would have liked to know. show less