A massive biography that (for me) was a real slog at times. I finally powered through the ending. The end of Truman's presidency and his time afterward was much more interesting to me than all the politics leading up to it and during the first half.

I admire a lot about Truman, and I think he was also nearsighted about a lot of things. Aren't we all.

https://bestpresidentialbios.com/2016...

“Truman” is David McCullough’s 1992 biography of the 33rd president. It was the first comprehensive biography of Truman and earned the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in the Biography category. McCullough is a highly-acclaimed author and historian who is probably best known for his 2001 biography of John Adams. He is currently working on a book about the early settlers of the Northwest Territory tentatively titled “The Pioneers.”

True to its reputation, this biography is remarkably lively and engaging for a hefty 992-page tome. McCullough once again demonstrates himself to be an expert storyteller, crafting a fascinating and articulate narrative that generally reads more like fiction than actual history.

A decade in the making, this well-researched biography began to cement Truman’s reputation as something more than a simple man of inferior talent who survived politics only by riding coattails and affiliating himself with powerful political bosses. McCullough works assiduously, but not obtusely, to demonstrate Truman’s optimism, diligence, perseverance and unshakable moral compass…as well as his intrinsic talent for politics.

There are too many praiseworthy moments in this book to mention, but among the best are the discussion of Truman’s military service during WWI, chapters reviewing Truman’s time in the U.S. Senate, description of the covert maneuvering which resulted in Truman’s selection as FDR’s fourth-term VP and the review of Truman’s 1948 Whistle Stop tour. McCullough also adroitly compares and contrasts FDR’s personality with Truman’s (their differences far outweighing their similarities, of course).

Beginning with Truman’s ancestry and moving deliberately (though not speedily) to his death, this is more a “popular” biography than a rigorous academic or analytical examination of his politics and personality. And although McCullough is occasionally critical of Truman’s actions, this is very likely a biography that Truman would have appreciated and enthusiastically endorsed.

Ironically, my least favorite sections of the book were its beginning and its end. While Truman’s humble roots are hardly unimportant to McCullough’s thesis, I found the narrative involving his lineage and early years slow to ramp up. And the eighty or so pages describing his post-presidency seemed relatively uneven and unexciting…but this later period of his life lacks large moments and critical decisions, so it is unsurprising the final chapter suffers by comparison.

Overall, however, David McCullough’s “Truman” proves one of the best presidential biographies of the 164 I’ve read thus far. It is wonderfully animated, thoughtfully revealing, consistently engaging and surprisingly lively. If the hallmark of a great presidential biography is providing a comprehensive (and fascinating) understanding of its subject – and bringing to life the broader history of the era – then David McCullough’s biography of Harry Truman could hardly be more successful.

Overall rating: 4½ stars

This was quite a book, written by quite an author about quite a man. I was totally over the top in my admiration for both Mr Truman as well as David McCullough. What a job he did bringing Harry S. Truman to life for generations to come. To read about Mr Truman made one feel proud and fortunate. Our country was so lucky to have had a man like Mr Truman in control of our government during this, a most unnerving time of our history.

Harry Truman's downhome goodness and ability to see matters in a clear headed fashion certainly made him a President of not only substance but also one that possessed ultimate courage and self denial. Mr. Truman immersed himself fully in the principle of what was good for the common man, not what was good for Mr. Truman. His thoughts were always on his country and of course his family took precedence in his life. He bore leadership as a true leader, not afraid to make decisions that might not always hold him in the public opinion's good graces. He was true to his friends and staff who idolized him and he in return was a friend to the end. He would always stand up for friends and principles no matter what public opinion said. He believed that his job was to be decisive and lead this country to the best of his ability. He was a man of the people and he relished any time he could be with his people. He was modest and never let the position he was in dictate the person he was. Faced with the weight of the world problems, he moved forward in a just and thoughtful way that could not be faulted. He believed in a job well done and surely his job was well done.

David McCullough has spectacularly captured this man in the book. He makes the reader admire, respect, and feel loyalty to this leader. You can tell through the writing that McCullough himself felt a high level of admiration for Mr Truman. I can't say enough about the man that Mr. McCullough made me aware of. I thank him for his writing of this true American patriot, loving father, husband, and ultimately a man of ideals so high that it would be hard for anyone to follow in his path. The buck did definitely stop there and I, for one, am totally thankful that it did.

Excellent read for lining up all the threads of a great leader's life in a narrative that flows like the story from a novel. Even at 1,000 pages, so much history passed through Truman's hands that major events such as the decision to bomb Hiroshima and the Korean War have to slip by with only a few pages. What comes through as a thread in the whole tapestry is the fundamental decency of the man, a pragmatism typical of farmers who face diverse challenges day by day, and a core belief in fairness for all and a distaste for wealthy privilege. His empathy for the poor was based on his own experience of the farming life and early business failures. His racist language is downplayed in relation to his efforts as president to support a Jewish State and steps toward civil rights. His political origins through the Pendergast machine in Kansas City taught him how to use and live with a patronage system, but it also seems to have given him enough knowledge of corruption and monied power to make his name exposing corruption as a senator and to be vigilant about influence buying while a president. Got to appreciate a fellow who hated Hoover and McCarthy from the get go. He saw enough war as an artillery captain in World War 1 to hate war, but was effective enough at it to inform his role as Commander in Chief during both the end of World War 2 and the Korean War. Despite a conception of Truman as hot tempered, his restraint was often remarkable. For example, the impulse to fire McArthur immediately for pushing in the media for a war with China was tempered by waiting for assessment of his value from a military perspective by the Joint Chiefs.

One of the late David McCullough's best, 'Truman' is a biography of America's 33rd president. The author does a thorough job of compiling the key events of Truman's life, particularly his 'accidental' presidency, against the background of astounding change in the first half of the 20th century. As always, McCullough demonstrates that he has mastered an incredible amount of research material while organizing it into a very readable narrative that is quite hard to put down -- despite the nearly 1,000-page length of the book.

Few presidents have made as many pivotal decisions or faced the number of history-changing events as Harry Truman -- the final five months of World War II, the Potsdam conference, the birth of atomic warfare, the post-war nationwide rail strike, the Marshall Plan, the partition of Palestine and the creation of Israel, the Czechoslovak coup d'etat, the Berlin Airlift, war in Korea and the relief of Douglas MacArthur, the formation of NATO, the reorganization of the U.S. defense establishment and the wartime government seizure of the steel industry. Truman faced these issues with determination, honesty, directness, and complete faith in his administration and the fundamental common sense of the American people.

McCullough summed up Truman's story on the last page:

He was the kind of president the founding fathers had in mind for the country. He came directly from the people. He was America. In his time, in his experience, from small town to farm to World War in far-off France in 1918; from financial failure after the war to the world of big-city machine politics to the revolutionary years of the New Deal in Washington to the surge of American power during still another terrible World War, he had taken part in the great chronicle of American life as might have a character in a novel. There was something almost allegorical about it all: The Man of Independence and His Odyssey.

If Truman's life was an American Odyssey, then McCullough was his Homer. He combined broad research and interviews with an engaging prose style to create a comprehensive, detailed, and easily-readable look at the life of the 33rd President of the United States. At 992 pages of text (the Simon & Schuster 1st edition), it never dragged or seemed padded. McCullough's Truman clearly demonstrates his standing, alongside Jean Edward Smith, as one of the two leading biographers of illustrious figures in American history. Harry Truman deserved a biographer of David McCullough's skill and stature. Truman is certainly Five Star material in my library.

"Truman" is like a balm to the soul given the endless sewage spewing from Trump and his sycophants. Honesty, modesty, loyalty, diligence, and thoughtfulness are the first first words that come to mind to describe HST after reading "Truman." How I miss those qualities in a president.

After struggling through the first chapter on Harry's family background, I found "Truman" hard to put down. David McCullough is such a great writer and has the sources to back him up. I grew up hearing my father frequently exclaim Truman's most well-know sayings, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen" and "The buck stops here." He recently told me Truman remains his favorite president (and the first that he can remember). Truman is now in my top five.

McCullough does not describe Truman as an "accidental president," but in many ways he was. Few thought he would be nominated as FDR's vice president in 1944. Reading "Truman" leads me to conclude that the two qualities that catapulted him were his competence running the Senate's "Truman Commission" (military procurement oversight) and inoffensiveness to the Democrats' key constituencies.

I thought McCullough went into just the right amount of detail about Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan (about 20 pages) and Truman's election in 1948 (a full chapter), which remains the biggest come-from-behind presidential election victory of all time.

McCullough did not go into enough detail about the lengths the Truman Administration went to try keep China from going Communist (other than that he dispatched Gen. George Marshall), given that "losing China" (as if it was America's to lose) would become a key element in McCarthy/Nixon's Commie witch hunt.

I also wish McCullough had gone into more detail about the origins of the Korean War, especially given that Truman himself points to it as the biggest decision he faced during his presidency. In particular, McCullough states, "Describing the perimeter of American interests in the Pacific in an extemporaneous speech at the National Press Club in January [six months before the outbreak of war], [Secretary of State] Acheson had not even included Korea. (The charge made later that the speech had thus inspired the Communist attack on South Korea would prove groundless)" (p. 777). I have a problem with McCullough's parenthetical statement as most Korean War specialists would insist Acheson was signaling that the U.S. would not intervene if the North attacked the South. Unfortunately, McCullough does not try to defend his statement or provide a footnote to substantiate it.

I had been lugging the "Truman" behemoth around for over 25 years. I bought it during grad school because of my study of Korea. One advantage of waiting so long to read it was that I could read Smith's brilliant "FDR" (2007) first. It is the perfect lead-in as it literally ends with Truman being sworn in. It also helps you appreciate just how different Truman was from FDR, or as one of Truman's more colorful aides put it, it was like the difference between "caviar" and "ham and eggs." You also develop a better understanding of some of the key individuals that served both presidents, like Stimson, Marshall, Ike and Gen. MacArthur. Most interestingly, Churchill comes across as a much heavier drinker in "FDR" than in "Truman."

My main reason for giving four rather than five stars is that at least 100 pages should be cut. I thought Edmond Morris's 800+ pages on TR before he became president was just right, but 340 pages is too much for Harry. I would also delete detailed dinner menus and the section on corruption scandals during Truman's second term as they were trivial in significance.

Having read "John Adams" first, I couldn't help but wonder why McCullough focused on these two presidents for his most fulsome biographies. They seemingly have even less in common than FDR and Truman. I suspect it is that both had such compelling relationships with their families and a key friend (Jefferson for Adams and Acheson for Truman). We can appreciate these relationships because McCullough could pour through and quote from the THOUSANDS of letters each one left. In contrast, Jefferson, Madison and many others remain enigmatic. For example, we still have no idea what Jefferson thought of his mother or his wife, not to mention his favorite slave mistress.

So what's next? First I want to tell you what I will not be reading. I found a copy of Hamby's "Man of the People" (1994) at one of my libraries for $1. Steve had noted that Hamby provides a great assessment of Truman, but after an hour I determined the book adds almost nothing. After taking a break to read "The Final Founding Father" (Monroe), as a result of Steve's reviews I plan to read "Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life" and "Eisenhower: The White House Years." I'll also read "Acheson" when I make my second presidential bio pass through. I had also put "American Cesar" on my list, but MacArthur comes across so poorly in "Truman" that I am having second thoughts...

I’m still trying to finish my 52 Books Around the USA Challenge for 2013. With only a handful of books left, I’m eager to get through them and move on to the 2014 challenge. And my Missouri pick, Truman, all 1117 pages of it, kept staring at me from the bookshelf. Okay. I admit I have been putting this off. It’s big. It’s intimidating. And was Harry S. Truman all that interesting of a President? The answer, I soon found out, was yes!

I challenged myself to read it next, and I wasn’t disappointed. It took me almost three weeks, but I should have known that David McCullough could not write a book that wouldn’t interest me. Did I mention it won the Pulitzer?

From the background of Truman’s family (which the genealogist in me adored), to his early political career, I enjoyed getting to know Harry S. Truman, personable and heroic bookworm. He had old family values – took care of his loved ones, got a good education and gave back to his country and community. And if that’s not interesting enough for you, throw in shady political backers, and now there’s a story!

His rise to the Vice Presidency was shocking, and then came the biggest stunner of all – the death of FDR leaving the helm of the United States in his hands. As a World War II buff, this was the part I couldn’t put down. The strategies of war, dealings with Churchill and Stalin - it doesn’t get any better than this. In fact I thought this would be the peak of the book for me. But there were some more areas that fascinated me.

As a President used to political support on both sides of the aisle during wartime, Truman seemed shocked and dismayed when his domestic agenda was rejected by both democrats and republicans alike. I was stunned that he assumed he would receive support of a massive spending bill when the US had just taken on billions in wartime debt. In fact, despite his likeability, his job performance on the home front following the war was dismal, according to polls. The man used government as a tool to force the public to behave the way he wanted them to. He used price controls, taxes, and intervention in labor disputes. I laughed when he said he wanted to draft the railroad workers if they continued to strike. Only it wasn’t funny because he was serious.

Lucky for us, his handling of foreign affairs was much better. He provided the assistance needed to help rebuild Europe following the war, and recognized the Soviet threat and worked to halt Communist aggression.

The politics of running for re-election was interesting, but I also enjoyed his post-Presidential life. McCullough is very thorough, and he knows what to include for an interesting and thoughtful biography. Very impressive!

A terrifically well written and interesting book about a man mis-remembered in so many ways.

THE LONGEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!

A remarkable biography that made me immerse with great pleasure in the magic of reading. The story seemed to float out of the pages and reveal a long gone now era, a host of characters defining it and a great man.

Mostly forgotten these days and mentioned only by historical revisionists when criticising the decision about the atomic bomb and the start of the cold war, Harry S Truman was very successful in his time and he is highly regarded by scholars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histori...

He was really one of a kind.
Born in a farming family in Midwest, he had a good early education, enjoying reading and taking classical piano lessons. Because his father went bankrupt, Harry, who failed to enrol to West Point because of his poor sight, couldn’t study at a college, couldn’t even keep a job in the town, and had to go back to the farm to help his family.
If it wasn’t for the first world war, he might have spent his entire life as a farmer, but (despite his poor eyesight) he joined the army, fought bravely as an artillery Capitan.
The war experience gave him self-confidence and decided to give up working at the farm and to enter local politics.
“He had discovered he could lead men and that he liked that better than anything he had ever done before.
He found he had courage—that he was no longer the boy who ran from fights—and, furthermore, that he could inspire courage in others.”
Being a freemason and making a lot of friends in the army helped. The Kansas City Democrat leader saw his potential and directed the local democrat machine to help Harry be elected as Jackson County judge (an administrative court). Later, he held other higher administrative elected jobs.
Harry, a workaholic, proved to be incorruptible and an efficient administrator. He even found the time to enrol in night courses at the Kansas City School of Law.
In 1934, at the age of 50, again with the backing of the local democrat leader, he was elected senator. Viewed initially with suspicion by some, he gained the respect of most of the senators by hard work and good nature. After the start of the war, he chaired the Committee on Military Affairs, the most successful congressional investigative effort in American history. Later estimates were that the Truman Committee saved the country as much as $15 billion.
“Fear of investigation or public exposure by the committee was enough in itself to cause countless people in industry, government, and the military to do their jobs right, thereby, in the long run, saving thousands of lives.”
At the election of 1944, despite not being Roosevelt’s initial choice, the leading democrats reached the conclusion that he was the best qualified for the job of the vice president.
And as time would tell, everything considered, the system, bosses, and all had produced an excellent choice.
Many knew Roosevelt was in bad health, so they expected Harry to become the president at some point.
Since taking office, Truman had met with the President exactly twice, except for Cabinet meetings, and he had been told anything at all about President’s politics, including the Yalta conference. Truman had not even met the new Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius.
So, when Roosevelt suddenly died on April 12, 1945, Truman became President during a world war and without any time to adjust (as the presidents-elect have from November to January).
“Mrs. Roosevelt stepped forward and gently put her arm on Truman’s shoulder. “Harry, the President is dead.” Truman was unable to speak. “Is there anything I can do for you?” he said at last. “Is there anything we can do for you,” she said. “For you are the one in trouble now.” ”
Firstly, he had to deal with the war effort. He met Stalin at Potsdam, liked him as a leader but realised, more than Roosevelt did, that Stalin had no wish to accept any agreement that threatened the control he already had, wherever the Red Army stood. Try as he might, Truman could make little or no progress with Stalin.
And since neither Stalin nor Molotov ever tried any tricks or subtleties, but only held stubbornly to their own line, the President’s inexperience in diplomacy did not greatly matter after all.
The biggest decision was the one of using the atomic bombs and he was in agreement with all the advisors, military high command and cabinet members.
“Truman made no decision because there was no decision to be made,” recalled George Elsey, remembering the atmosphere of the moment. “He could no more have stopped it than a train moving down a track…. It’s all well and good to come along later and say the bomb was a horrible thing. The whole goddamn war was a horrible thing.”
For his part, Truman stated later: The final decision of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let there be no mistake about it. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubt that it should be used.
After the war, he had to deal with multitudes of events, probably more than any other president.
His accomplishments include:
- the creation of the United Nations
- the aid to Greece and Turkey
- the Truman Doctrine (not an abrupt, dramatic turn in American policy, but a declaration of principle, a continuation of a policy that had been evolving since Potsdam)
- the Marshall Plan (“When Clifford urged that it be called the Truman Plan, Truman dismissed the idea at once. It would be called the Marshall plan, he said. More than once in his presidency, Truman would be remembered saying it was remarkable how much could be accomplished if you didn’t care who received the credit.”)
- the Berlin Airlift (one of the most brilliant American achievements of the post-war era and one of Truman’s proudest decisions, strongly affecting the morale of Western, non-Communist Europe, and the whole course of the Cold War, as well as Truman’s own drive for re-election)
- the recognition of Israel
- the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington after much hard, skilful negotiations by Secretary of State Acheson.
- committing the American forces in Korea, “the supreme test,” as he called it
- upholding the principle of civilian control over the military
- the strongest statement on civil rights heard in Washington since the time of Lincoln, accepting the risk to his re-election posed by the split in the Democrat party and the creation of the Democrats, “Dixiecrats”, whose platform called for “the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race.” (Asked why he was breaking with the Democratic Party now when Roosevelt had made similar promises as Truman on civil rights, Strom Thurmond responded, “But Truman really means it.”)
- Point Four Program Fair Deal’ Plan for the World (a call for the US to share its "know-how" and help nations develop with technical assistance)

“His most important accomplishments were in world affairs. Yet he could rightly point with pride to the fact that the post-war economic collapse that everyone expected never happened, that through government support 8 million veterans had been to college, that Social Security benefits had been doubled, the minimum wage increased.
There had been progress in slum clearance, millions of homes built through government financing. Prices were higher, but incomes, for the most part, had risen even more. Real living standards were considerably higher than seven years earlier.
Truman had failed to do as much as he wanted for public housing, education, failed to establish the medical insurance program he knew the nation needed, but he had battled hard for these programs, and set goals for the future.
He had achieved less in civil rights than he had hoped, but he had created the epoch-making Commission on Civil Rights, ordered the desegregation of the armed services and the federal Civil Service, done more than any President since Lincoln to awaken American conscience to the issues of civil rights.”
He was against FBI intrusion into civil liberties and he dismissed Senator McCarthy’s divisive “anti-communist” campaign.
He was human and he made mistakes but they were few and far between in comparison with his accomplishments.

His greatest political vindication was his re-election in 1952. After 16 years of Democrat presidents, the country was ready to elect a Republican and he also had to face splits in his party – the Dixiecrats and the left-wing Socialist Democrats.
Among professional gamblers, the betting odds against Truman on the average were 15 to 1 but he never faltered, he trusted his ideas and he campaigned endlessly, all over the country, he was listened to by large crowds, and finally, he convinced the electorate, winning against the greatest odds in the annals of presidential politics.
“It wasn’t because he was a skilled politician that he won. He was a good politician…a sensible politician…. But that wasn’t why he was elected President…. It was the remarkable courage in the man—his refusal to be discouraged, his willingness to go through the suffering of that campaign, the fatigue, the will to fight every step of the way, the will to win….
It wasn’t Harry Truman the politician who won, it was Harry Truman the man”.

He was his own man but he always listened to other opinions and he surrounded himself with men of high quality (alas, as a man of his time, he did not nominate any women in his cabinet) such as George C. Marshall (a figure of flawless rectitude and self-command whom he admired as no other public figure, no one he had ever known, not Roosevelt, not Churchill, not anyone) and Dean Acheson the most important member of Truman’s Cabinet.

He treated all with respect and he was genuinely interested in others’ lives. As a result, the loyalty of those around Truman was total and would never falter.
In years to come not one member of the Truman White House would ever speak or write scathingly of him or belittle him in any fashion. There would be no vindictive “inside” books or articles written about this President by those who worked closest to him.
He always liked people and he was appreciated throughout his life by the people he worked with.
According to George Marshall, it was “the integrity of the man” that would stand down the ages, more even than the courage of his decisions.
To Dean Acheson, Truman’s salient quality was his vitality. Here was “a man overflowing with life force, with incurable curiosity…no brooding image in a history book…[but] vigorous, powerful…full of the zest of life, the Captain with the Mighty Heart.”

An uplifting story of an admirable man and a dedicated statesman, a captivating read.

Been quite an undertaking to read this huge book but who would have thought that a 992 page political biography could be so fascinating.
Before starting this, all I knew about Harry Truman was that he was the president who took over from FDR at the end of WW2 and made the decision to use the atomic bomb. But if you google rankings of US presidents, he ranks very high (top 10)so I was intrigued to find out why that was.

It is hard to think of a book that I have learnt more from - I now know how he came to power (an amazing story - he was a farmer for years, then owner of a haberdashery store that went bust, 50 years old before he became a senator and very much a compromise candidate for the vice-presidency when he was 60 years old, then becoming president after Roosevelt died, just 82 days after that)and all about the post war years where he had to make so many momentous decisions, that arguably helped to avoid World War 3. Not sure in this day and age that such an ordinary guy could become president again but astonishing how he coped under the pressure by always trying to do what was right and by building a great team around him. The story of the 1948 election is also extremely interesting and it's worth reading the book for that alone.

It is also all written in a very engaging way - I spent many a late night staying up reading this into the small hours.

Highly recommended - now off to find more by this author and also some more presidential biographies in general.