The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World

The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World – by A. J. Baime

Looking at the cover of this book, you can easily miss the subtitle which includes “…and the Four Months That Change the World…”. This is important because this is not a complete biography of Harry S. Truman.  This is a book highlighting how one of the most unlikely persons in history ended up as Commander in Chief of the U.S.A. during the most perilous, tumultuous time in the country’s history.  The four months that this book details lays a solid argument that the events that happened truly did change the world, and how fortunate Americans should be that Harry S. Truman went from basically being a Nobody to a President who was able to bring the ghastly second world war to an end. He was also able to do this at least one year before most experts thought possible.

Although, again, not a biography, author A.J. Baime does give us enough of Truman’s background to paint a picture of this rather odd duck.  Harry Truman was never anything spectacular.  When one looks at his portrait, it’s safe to say that his personality matches his image. A small, quiet, unassuming introvert, his only skill as a young man is as a struggling farmer in his rural Missouri. He tries several business ventures, but those are all doomed to failure as well. Curiously, there’s one event in young Truman’s life that history shows us that the man had some sort of potential. He becomes a captain and commander of an infantry brigade during World War I, and quickly earns the support of his subordinates as he leads them through war-stricken France without a single casualty inflicted on his unit during combat.

Upon return, his heroics are brought to the attention of Kansas City Political “boss” Tom Pendergrast. Before you know it, Truman is serving as a county judge in his Missouri hometown. Then, with political connections, it seems that he’s quickly vaulted as an unlikely choice for United States senate. Such things don’t happen without help from somewhat dubious political connections.

The story gets stranger when FDR chooses Truman for his VP running mate in 1944. One wishes they could be a fly on the wall during the Democratic Convention as this decision was being made.  Most people rightly assumed that Roosevelt was already dying, and that whomever the VP would be, would be promoted to the head role sooner rather than later. Again, this makes you wonder if those in power really thought this through.  Sure, Truman was probably the safest bet to share the ticket with FDR (his popularity wasn’t undisputed in 1944, and there wasn’t a staunch guarantee he would be elected for a fourth term), but the fact that everyone in political power knew FDR was at death’s door still seems to make one raise their eyebrows of the eventual choice. Truman?

So less than four months after Roosevelt is sworn in for a fourth term, he dies. Truman is overwhelmed at the thought of his new job; as is everyone else.  He quickly becomes a student of world affairs out of necessity. These are not ordinary times. Although victory over Germany is basically guaranteed within a matter of weeks, the situation in Japan is not quite as clear.  Most feel that the U.S. will eventually prevail, but not without many more deaths and many more years of fighting.  Add to the fact that the U.S.’s new ‘ally’ Joseph Stalin is also a tyrant, isn’t going to make anything easier.  The allies are victors in Europe, but Stalin and Truman (along with Churchill) have much different ideas as to what to do with conquered Europe.

The bulk of this book seems to focus on the “Big 3” during their Potsdam conference in 1945. Truman shows he may be the new kid on the block, but he’s no pushover and won’t cave to this bully of a tyrant.  Also, Truman knows about the secret “Manhattan Project” that is essentially his ace up the sleeve during the conference.  We read an awful lot about the atomic bomb in these pages, and author Baime does a great job telling the story of the testing, preparation, and eventual deployment of the bomb.

It should be noted that these two events – the Potsdam Conference and the atomic bomb, really did go hand in hand. Without Truman’s weapon, the conference could have very possibly have gone in a completely different direction. As the subtitle of this book states, the events really did “change the world”.  Baime also spends a fair amount of time talking about the moral issue of using such a weapon. Like most historians, the author comes to the conclusion that as evil as the atomic bomb was, it was the lesser of two evils when contrasted against the alternative of a full force invasion of Japan that would have prolonged the war for at least an additional year.  (One statistic in the book that stood out: Some estimates stated that the U.S. would lose twice as many lives during the last, hypothetical, year of the war as they had lost during the entire conflict from 1941-1945).

The author adds a nice epilogue to the book as well. Since we don’t get the whole Truman story here, author Baime briefly mentions other monumental events during Truman’s latter years as president including the Berlin Airlift, the surprising 1948 presidential election, Korea, and the eventual sacking of Douglas MacArthur.  The Douglas MacArthur event deserves an entire book, though, of its own (I would recommend H.W. Brands “The General and the President).

So, no, not an exhaustive biography of the man nor his presidency, but an excellent account of how such an ordinary unassuming fellow surprised many and eventually brought the most horrific war in history to a close while minimizing the damage for his countrymen.  Very easy to read and digest as well.