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The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century
In April 1945, after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all.
Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact. Truman ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the cold war and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth century―his 1948 "whistlestop campaign" against Thomas E. Dewey.
Robert Dallek, the bestselling biographer of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was during his tenure that the United States truly came of age.
- Sales Rank: #232957 in Books
- Brand: Dallek, Robert/ Schlesinger, Arthur Meier (EDT)/ Wilentz, Sean (EDT)
- Published on: 2008-09-02
- Released on: 2008-09-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .63" w x 5.50" l, .65 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 208 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Noted presidential biographer Dallek (An Unfinished Life) turns his skilled pen to the man from Independence. In brisk prose and with the confidence of his vast knowledge of the era, Dallek interprets the life of the simple man who, having unexpectedly and with little experience assumed the presidency when FDR died, surprised everyone by so skillfully shouldering huge burdens. In his day, that meant ending the war with Japan (by authorizing the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki), ordering American troops to repel the invasion of Korea, firing Douglas MacArthur and facing down the Soviets. It also meant protecting the New Deal from erosion, dealing with striking labor and taking unprecedented steps to desegregate the government and armed forces. Just listing these achievements makes clear why Dallek, like other historians, places Truman high on the list of American presidents. Like so many other biographies in the splendid American Presidents series, Dallek's little book is now the best starting point for knowledge of Truman's life and for an astute assessment of his career. (Sept. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
The first paragraph of Dallek’s yeomanly contribution to the American Presidents series pontificates that, with the Roosevelts and Wilson, Truman is one of the “great or near-great” twentieth-century presidents. What follows suggests that he was the best of those four, anyway. FDR had told him nothing, even of the atomic bomb that he would have to decide whether to use. He got no immediate credit for his administration’s real achievements, such as the Marshall Plan. His party fractured beneath him when he headed the ticket in 1948. He got blamed for FDR’s failings, such as employing the Communists Joe McCarthy demagogued about, and for an early career beholden to crooked Kansas City Democrat Tom Pendergast. That he very quickly adapted to wartime leadership, prevailed in 1948 by sheer energy and common-man appeal, seized initiative against security risks before Congress did, and was the clean cog in Pendergast’s machine went largely unappreciated almost until his death. Dallek leaves little doubt that you must disagree with Truman philosophically to consider him less than a damn good president. --Ray Olson
About the Author
Robert Dallek is the author of several bestselling presidential histories, including Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power; An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963; and the classic two-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, Lone Star Rising and Flawed Giant. He has taught at Columbia, Oxford, UCLA, Boston University, and Dartmouth, and has won the Bancroft Prize, among numerous other awards for scholarship and teaching. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Most helpful customer reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Nice brief bio of Harry Truman
By Steven Peterson
Harry S. Truman's life story in a short, accessible biography. That's the premise of The American Presidents Series, and this is one of the most recent entrants in the stable. The late Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. was the series editor. In his introduction to each book in this series, he says (Page xvi): "The men in the White House express the ideals and values, the frailties and the flaws, of the voters who send them there. It is altogether natural that we should want to know more about the virtues and the vices of the fellows we have elected to govern us. As we know more about them, we will know more about themselves."
The book begins by noting that, traditionally, the 20th century presidents deemed to be great or near great include: Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. The "Preludes" section notes that (Page 1): "On the face of things, Truman's high standing is surprising. . . . Truman was notable for his ordinariness."
The book begins with his family background, his early years, his service in World War I, his early (failed) effort at a haberdashery business, and his decision to move into public life. The book well describes his moral dilemmas at one point: the corrupt Pendergast organization was willing to sponsor him for elective office. What would he do? Eschew the support of the machine? Or use its support and still try to stay clean? He did the latter and his political career began. By the way, to give a sense of The American Presidents' series, we come to see how and why FDR selected Truman as his Vice-Presidential partner by page 15!
Truman's time in the White House. . . . We see him reflecting on whether or not to use the atomic weaponry against Japan. We see him trying to adjust to the Post-World War II Cold War/Iron Curtain era. We see him trying to navigate between left and right in domestic politics, and sometimes seeming to drift. One intriguing line (Page 37): "And yet Truman was disinclined to confront the country with the emerging dangers he saw from Soviet aggression. . . ." This is a subtheme of the book, with the author, Robert Dallek, noting that on a number of occasions, Truman seemed to back off confronting difficult issues. It creates, in fact, a tension within this volume between the author commenting that Truman warranted his high rating by historians and then noting his occasional avoiding tough issues.
The story of his unexpected victory in 1948 over Thomas Dewey, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and his rapidly deteriorating public approval. . . . It's all here, including his active post-presidential career.
A very nice brief introduction to Henry Truman. This book has motivated me to consider buying one of the larger biographies of the subject and exploring his life more deeply. . . .
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
A gem by a master historian
By Keith Wheelock
Professor Robert Dallek's HARRY S. TRUMAN is an illuminating and exhilarating read both for those deeply steeped in the Truman story and for those to whom Truman is a little-known figure. Dallek employs politics as the underlying theme that traces both Truman's career and the volatility of an American public that, not infrequently, can swerve far off the course of common sense and of appreciation for the real-world complexities of both domestic change and international vital interests. Dallek's succinct essay provides me valuable insights into the current Tea Party aberration.
Biographer Dallek, who has exhibited keen insights into the personalities and politics of FDR, Nixon, JFK, and LBJ, and Reagan, brings similar acumen to assessing Truman-- the man, the politician, and the president. As a teenager, I stayed up late watching the 1948 election in which Truman confounded the professional pollsters. I am familiar with many of the two dozen books upon which Dallek depends for many of his core facts and anecdotes, including McCullough's TRUMAN, Hamby's MAN OF THE PEOPLE: A LIFE OF HARRY S. TRUMAN, George H. Gallup's THE GALLUP POLL, 1935-1971, and Merle Miller's PLAIN SPEAKING: AN ORAL BIOGRAPHY OF HARRY S. TRUMAN.
I have taught Truman in a college course for nearly twenty years. I am astonished by how accurately Dallek, in 153 pages, synthesizes many complex events. I feel humbled at how often Dallek provides a succinct factual and political insight that had escaped me in my 60+ years of learning about Truman. Most important, Dallek provides a comprehensive, credible assessment of a man and president who, too frequently, has been misunderstood and, years ago, trivialized.
Truman, during his initial decades, seemed a most unlikely person ever to earn a Time cover story, much less the American presidency. His early adult years could be considered a failure, except for his distinguished WW I military service. His love of history, biography, and politics commenced at an early age. His association with Tom Pendergast obliged him to engage in distasteful patronage, while maintaining his personal financial integrity. His improbable ascent from being `Pendergast's boy' in the U. S. Senate to the White House came from his political loyalty, his conscientious work ethic that, among other things, saved the U. S. billions in military contract waste, and from his own personal integrity.
As Dallek illustrates, Truman was no saint, except when it came to personal financial scrupulousness and to women--his wife and mother in law seemed as much comfort to him as was Mary to Abraham Lincoln. Truman often felt frustration. At times he confined this to his diary or to letters that he wrote and then never mailed (his strong hatreds included General McArthur and Richard Nixon). On occasion, when he expressed this anger publicly (his letter to the music critique who panned his daughter's singing is a classic example), Truman diminished his stature and effectiveness.
From an early age, Truman appreciated the nature of politics. During a troublesome period of his presidency, he wrote his daughter that an effective president needed to be "a liar" and a "double-crosser." [Were these qualities he had learned from observing FDR in action?] What comes through clearly in Dallek's account is Truman's basic decency. Despite his many downs and ups, Truman always had a capacity swiftly to get back on track. He also was a quick learner, as evidenced from how he handled his presidency, after the initial freshman months.
Dallek describes several of Truman's core visions. From the outset of his presidency, he sought to rejuvenate the New Deal program. Then, and after the 1948 election, he was stymied both by the mood of the country and by the conservatism of Congress. Several of his boldest moods were a mixture of politics and personal beliefs: the recognition of Israel; his fight against John L. Lewis and his veto of the Taft-Hartley bill, and his Executive Order desegregating the military.
Since Gallup Polls commenced in 1935, no president, including Nixon, has so consistently scored as low as Truman during office. Truman departure from the White House in 1953 was lamented by few. In a brief epilogue, Dallek describes why, nearly sixty years later, Truman is ranked among America's near-great presidents. His Cold War actions, in retrospect, are now generally applauded. Especially after Watergate, his personal integrity became warmly applauded. His concerns for the average American were addressed in subsequent legislation, from LBJ and, most recently, Obama. He was faced with some of the most vexing domestic and international problems that ever confronted an American president. Most historians now agree that Harry `The Buck Stops Here' Truman served his country uncommonly well.
HARRY S. TRUMAN is part of The American Presidents series, initially edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and now by Sean Wilentz. So far I have only read one other book in this series: Charles Peters' LYNDON B. JOHNSON, which I also found superb (see my Amazon review).
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A President in Perilous Times
By Robin Friedman
With the death of President Franklin Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Vice-President Harry Truman (1884 -- 1972) became the 33d president of the United States. Truman served through what would have been virtually the entirety of Roosevelt's fourth term and then won an upset victory over Thomas Dewey in 1948 to serve a term on his own. There was little in Truman's background that seemed to prepare him for this responsibility. The reasons for the ailing Roosevelt's selection of Truman remain obscure, as the two men were not on good terms. Truman faced many challenges while in office and, with the passage of time, appears to have met many of them. Robert Dallek offers an excellent overview and assessment of Truman's presidency in this short biography "Harry S. Truman"(2008) written as part of the American Presidents Series edited by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Sean Willentz. Dallek has written extensively on the modern presidency, with books about Johnson, Kennedy, Nixon and Kissinger, among others.
Many of the books in this series devote substantial space the the pre-presidential life and career of their subjects. Dallek covers Truman's formative years in a dense, quick single chapter. Raised in rural Missouri, Truman entered politics through the notorious Pendergast machine and ultimately was elected and relected to the Senate before Roosevelt chose him for the vice-presidency. The brisk treatment of Truman's early life allows Dallek to focus the reader's attention where it belongs: on Truman's eventful and difficult presidency.
Besides using the extensive public record, Dallek draws upon Truman's letters, diary entries, off-the record comments, drafts and other documents of a private character to round out a portrayal of a complex individual and era. Truman was thrust unprepared into the presidency. At times, he appeared to waffle in an attempt to chart a middle course based on consensus. When he did so, Truman frequently pleased nobody. At his best, Truman led decisively. He tried to act, Dallek, argues, for the good of the country rather than for any interest group and he expected the same of others.
Besides the well-known statement that "the buck stops here", Dallek offers other Truman quotations that are more insightful. For example, in 1946, in the face of public opposition to price controls, Truman in an undelivered draft speech criticized the opposition for "following Mammon instead of Almighty God" and for having "gone over to the powers of selfishness and greed". After leaving the presidency, Truman expressed sympathy for President Herbert Hoover who, like Truman himself, had to face seemingly intractible difficulties. In considering his time in office, Truman wrote that leadership required "a president who can make up his own mind, who isn't afraid of controversy". Truman continued: "our country has never suffered seriously from any acts of the president that were truly intended for the welfare of the country; it's suffered from the inaction of a great many presidents when action should have been taken at the right time. He has to keep reminding people that a good president must do more than just believe in what he says -- he must act on what he believes."
Truman faced momentous foreign and domestic issues, and he was greatly unpopular during much of his time in office. Immediately upon taking office, Truman oversaw the surrender of Germany, and he made the decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war with Japan. He also authorized the development of the hydrogen bomb. In the face of division within his administration, Truman recognized the State of Israel. In the late 1940s, Truman became involved in a war in the quagmire of a war in Korea, where he was criticized by both the hawks and doves of the day. The Korean War led to Truman's climactic but justified decision to fire General Douglas MacArthur for insubordination.
In domestic affairs, Truman supported a liberal agenda, including civil rights legislation and universal health insurance; but these proposals lacked Congressional support. Early in his presidency, Truman stood down the labor union leader John Lewis. In 1952, near the end of his tenure, Truman tried to seize control over the steel mills as a result of a labor dispute. The Supreme Court declared this attempt outside the scope of presidential power.
Truman is best-known for his actions in the face of Soviet agression following WW II. He developed the Marshall Plan for the relief of Europe. Over the course of his presidency, the "containment policy" for controling the spread of communism was developed and implemented. Trying to steer a course between isolationism and war, the containment policy substantially remained in place until the end of the Cold War. Dallek regards it as Truman's greatest achievement. Truman also had to face domestic issues regarding claimed communist influence, including among other things the red-baiting tactics of Senator Joe McCarthy.
When Truman left office, his administration faced severe criticism over Korea and over allegations of corruption and cronyism. His party had been in power for a long time. With the gaining of historical perpective, Truman's presidency has become highly regarded by many historians, including Dallek. His book shows a determined, honest, and gifted leader with flaws who tried to act in the public interest in a difficult time and in many crucial matters succeeded. Dallek's book is highly useful in thinking about Truman's presidency and about presidential leadership.
Robin Friedman
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