David McCullough

Truman

The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian. The life of Harry S. Truman is one of the greatest of American stories, filled with vivid characters—Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Wallace Truman, George Marshall, Joe McCarthy, and Dean Acheson—and dramatic events. In this riveting biography, acclaimed historian David McCullough not only captures the man—a more complex, informed, and determined man than ever before imagined—but also the turbulent times in which he rose, boldly, to meet unprecedented challenges. The last president to serve as a living link between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, Truman’s story spans the raw world of the Missouri frontier, World War I, the powerful Pendergast machine of Kansas City, the legendary Whistle-Stop Campaign of 1948, and the decisions to drop the atomic bomb, confront Stalin at Potsdam, send troops to Korea, and fire General MacArthur. Drawing on newly discovered archival material and extensive interviews with Truman’s own family, friends, and Washington colleagues, McCullough tells the deeply moving story of the seemingly ordinary “man from Missouri” who was perhaps the most courageous president in our history.

Jeni Enjaian

A review from my old blog...

I cannot believe that I finished this book today. Pretty much the whole day has been devoted to reading all 992 pages.

Once again I learn much more about a President that previously I knew very little. This book as opposed to Mornings on Horseback spends the bulk of the time covering Truman's time as vice president(brief) and as president. I wish though that McCullough had spent more time talking about Truman's background.

Perhaps he did not spend that much time because there just isn't as much information as there is with Theodore Roosevelt. The two men come from completely different social backgrounds and there's just more information for the upper class than there is for the lower class.

Overall this book was a tremendous read and a very good exhibition of David McCullough's talent, very long but very good.

Bryan Alexander

This biography is charming as can be. Truman appears as a fascinating and attractive human being: decent, honest, irascible, daunted, energetic. It's exciting and heartening to see him face challenge after challenge. There's also the appeal of a pre-TV politician, one neither glamorous nor slick. The pre-VP days are also fascinating and well-depicted.

Personally, I enjoyed this for another reason. I love reading familiar history from perspectives I don't know as well. Since I knew more about FDR and the Eisenhower years than about Truman, this was illuminating for me. It's a good way to think through the post-WWII Cold War, civil rights, technological change, etc.

However, the book's charm is part of its weakness. David McCullough sees Truman as making some mistakes, but never allows serious criticism to emerge. He views the rise of a vast national security state uncritically, save for a brief twitting about the Loyalty Act. The 1952 seizure of steel mills appears logical, and its defeat merely a personal setback. In setting up this positive view McC. also glosses over allies and inspirations - Wilson appearing a terrific hero, for example.

Truman

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