Truman

Truman by David McCullough

Before I read Truman, my favorite presidential biography was Edmund Morris’ The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.  I found it ironic that this one eclipsed Morris’ epic as my favorite since Theodore Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman were such different individuals.  To be blunt, Roosevelt was an incredibly exciting character - especially prior to becoming president.  Truman, to be equally blunt, was not.  He was actually kind of a boring human being.  So why did I enjoy this 1,100 page epic so thoroughly?  A large part was due to McCullough’s writing.  This was such an immense joy to read.  The author knows exactly just how much detail to spend on the events of this man’s life, that you get the impression that any retrospective he would pen about any individual would be incredibly interesting.

That’s not to say Truman’s story should be ignored.  This was an incredible figure of the United States history, and he quietly went out and accomplished many milestones for the United States when the country needed a president to do just such.  It’s easy to forget that this man was a crucial part of the Potsdam conference at the end of the European conflict, the decision to drop the secret atomic bomb to end World War II, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the formation of Israel, the creation of NATO, and the (most would argue) correct decision to enter the Korean “Police Action” - although he would end up firing the beloved Douglas MacArthur right in the middle of the conflict.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that Harry Truman never really wanted to be president.  That seems so bizarre in our modern world of power and demagoguery that someone could rise to the highest office in the free world with such a lack of ambition.  Truman doesn’t even try to enter national politics until he’s 50 years old!  Helped with local Kansas City “boss” Tom Pendergast (meaning it was essentially Pendergast and company that decided who would get elected), he’s propels from being a local county judge to the United States senate.

His career as a senator was mostly inconsequential until World War II began.  When the war started, he was asked to lead up the Committee of Military Affairs, which essentially eliminated profiteering and wasteful spending during a time when the country was asked to kick up its defense spending up several notches.  He began to accumulate a reputation of being an incredibly likable fellow, yet tough and uncompromising.  Without going into too much detail, he’s asked to replace Henry Wallace as Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President during the election of 1944.  Even though FDR had served three terms already, this election is going to be a tough one, and the Democrats need someone on the ticket with FDR who’s not necessarily substantial, yet mild and meek enough not to rock the boat.  I found this to be a bit puzzling, since Roosevelt was already very sick, and although the public didn’t know it (no CNN back then, remember), he didn’t seem to have much life left in him.  Sure enough, Roosevelt passes away after about 100 days into his last term.

So now, the most unlikely person is thrust into the role of Chief Executive.  It’s incredibly humorous to read Harry’s thoughts about this job.  Although he doesn’t want it, he’s more than capable of doing what needs to be done, and an awful lot needs to be done.  Usually, when I read presidential biographies, the pages devoted to the time spent in the high office are the least interesting.  There’s only so much I can read about labor strikes, inflation, controversial bills, and egos on Capitol Hill without becoming a bit disinterested.  This is one of the main strengths of this book - that the author knows just how much information to fill the pages to keep things interesting without making a biography sound like a dissertation.

A highlight of the book for me was the “Whistle Stop” campaign for the Presidential election of 1948.  Although Truman really didn’t want the office, he did well enough to feel he was up to the job, yet everyone in Western Civilization seemed to think he had no choice against the Republican challenger, New York Governor Thomas Dewey.  The campaign and race was the perfect illustration for the “Tortoise and the Hare” tale, which ultimately led to a Truman victory, despite the famous Chicago Tribune headline boner.  Truman simply refused to give up, continuing to meet people in town after town, whereas Dewey was essentially a fat cat who didn’t feel the need to campaign aggressively and essentially handed a win over to the sitting president.

When the Korean War begins (known as a “Police Action” or “The Conflict”), the public is very fickle.  At first, everyone rallies around their Commander in Chief, but then when the reality of war hits (i.e. soldiers die), people want to get out of Korea, and get out fast.  Leading the military over in Southeast Asia is General Douglas MacArthur.  MacArthur is everything that Truman is not, (big ego, wanting a lot of headlines, thinks he’s infallible, etc.) and it’s no surprise that the war between these two individuals makes more headlines than the actual war itself.  Truman has no choice but to fire the General of the Army.  This turns out to initially be political suicide, yet after hearings in the Senate, it’s essentially proven that Harry was, once again, right all along.

Truman has no desire to run again in 1952, and General Dwight Eisenhower is elected as the next Commander in Chief.  It’s a bit ironic since many wanted Ike to run for President as far back as the conclusion of World War II (including Truman), yet no one knew much about the man – even if he was a Republican or a Democrat.  As 1952 draws closer, Truman meets with Eisenhower – trying to convince him that he should be the next Democratic President of the United States.  Initially, Ike is disinterested, yet somehow, sometime later, he changes his mind.  Only to Truman’s chagrin, he runs as a Republican.  Despite this, Truman still feels Eisenhower is the best for the job, yet the relationship between these two men is strangely very strained during the rest of their lives.  Truman always wonders (as we do) exactly why.  Regardless, Truman is happy to leave Washington, and the book gives us minor details about Harry’s later years up until his death in 1972.

A great asset that the author had when compiling this work was a vast amount of personal correspondence from Truman that survived.  There are masses of letters (many intentionally never sent) that sums up the man’s personality very well.  The man was very devoted to his mother, his sister, his wife, and his only daughter.  We see many personal diversions from the everyday office with his family affairs, and it’s all very refreshing.  I found myself chuckling out loud during many of the retellings of Truman’s writing and his thoughts.  One I remember was in response to the famed “Give ‘em Hell Harry!” moniker.  Truman claimed: “I never gave anyone hell, I simply told them the truth….which everyone THOUGHT was hell.”

I couldn’t help but wonder how wonderful it would be to have a man like Truman in office again.  Despite your politics, it should would be nice to have a president that really didn’t want the job, but gave it the best he could offer and, for the most part, never really gave a rip about what the polls said about him.  This book was a bit lengthy at over 1,100 pages.  There were times near the end that I thought it could have been summarized a bit more.  There seemed to be a bit too much detail on the renovations of The White House (it was falling in disrepair during Truman’s administration, and he had to move across the street in the Blair house), but this could have been that, like the job itself, things simply aren’t as interesting after one has been the leader of the free world.

I wish that every president in our nation’s history could have such a thought out, easy to read detail of their entire life.  Well worth the accolades.