Truman (David McCullough)

McCullough's book is written about a different sort of president in a different time in a different way. I've read biographies on Reagan that were hostile or nit-picked his policies. Not one "historian" has written an unfailingly celebratory book of Reagan. But McCullough makes no critical argument against Truman. I counted only five or six SENTENCES where he even said something negative. He glossed over scandals during the Truman administration, or Truman's blind eye to communist influence in government. He cherry picks the big decisions like the atomic bomb, the Berlin Airlift, his feelings for civil rights, his "decisions" in the Korean War.. but even then he gives credit to Truman for MacArthur's plan to land at Inchon. Every military advisor Truman had was against that plan, but MacArthur was right and victorious--yet McCullough gives Truman credit because he bucked his advisors and gave Mac the go ahead. Mac doesn't get the credit for his daring and historic battleplan. ... Read more

This is a great book, as you come to expect from McCullough. What I took away from the book was a sense of how differently we choose our Vice-Presidents today compared with only 50 years ago (FDR hardly knew him and when Roosevelt died, Truman was in the dark about almost everything) and what a different array of personalities gravitated to politics back then. HST struck me as a street-fighter who had a deep respect for the office he held. He often justified his anger at someone by saying, he can do/say/imply that to Harry Truman, but NOT to the President of the United States! History has been kind to Truman, and so was McCullough, but you got a real sense of his humanity: his impetuousness, his anger, his petulance, his impatience. He didn't care about being portrayed as perfect. It's funny that some still call the sequence of wars against creeping communism (Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Afghanistan) the Truman Doctrine.

One of the best biographies of a President ever written. You will discover that Harry S. Truman was smarter, and more complex and not just a simple haberdasher from Missouri. You will also discover why historians consider him to be one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th century. Truman was a man of honesty and conviction, he was thrust into power during one of the most turbulent times in American history. He faced decisions that rarely any man has ever had to make. McCullough does a great job of taking you into the heart of Truman.

"Truman" is a great book. I just finished reading it and I found that it gave an excellent view of the life and times of this great American President. McCullough is an excellent writer who makes history truly come alive. The author at the end of the book claims that Truman was an ordinary, yet a very unordinary man at the same time. This is very true, you would have to be unordinary to seek the Presidency with all of the hazards of the job! McCullough's book really helped justify most of Trumans actions as President. Until a few years ago, most people regarded Truman somewhat as a pariah, McCullough really put Truman's presidency in its proper historical place. Another irony about Truman: he was very political but at the same time he was not a politician. This was the direct opposite of his predecessor, F.D.R., who was the commensurate politician. Truman always took the long view when it came down to foreign policy, he never exposed himself to what was politically expedient at the tim... Read more

I'm fascinated by the idea of Truman, who was basically a regular guy from the midwest, sitting down to negotiate with Churchill and Stalin. It blows my mind to think of the influence this man had on the world we live in today. McCullough's best book, and that's saying a lot.