Truman

“Where Harry and his father found common ground was in the sociability and excitement of politics. Among the happiest of all Harry’s boyhood memories would be the big Democratic picnics every August at Lone Jack.”

McCullough describes the young Truman as his mother’s favorite, whereas his sister was his father’s. However, from a young age, Truman and his father got along on the subject of politics. It was he who introduced the future president to the Democratic Party. These moments were formative of his upbringing and outlook.

“Politics sure is the ruination of many a good man. Between hot air and graft he usually loses not only his head but his money and friends as well. Still, if I were real rich I’d just as soon spend my money buying votes and offices as yachts and autos. Success seems to me to be merely a point of view anyway. Some men have an idea that if they corner all the loose change they are self-made successful men.”

Writing to his future wife Bess in 1913, Truman expressed his view of the drawbacks of politics despite his interest in that field. The letter was written when he worked on a farm after his father’s poor financial decisions. He was conscious of not having much money. However, he was aware of the limits of using wealth as a measure of success. McCullough calls this text a “remarkable letter” (87).

“That he chose to go, almost from the moment of Wilson’s call to Congress for a declaration of war in April 1917, was his own doing entirely and the turning point in his life.“

Both Truman and the biographer McCullough describe World War I as a major turning point in Truman’s life. Truman was rejected from West Point due to poor eyesight, and he disliked guns. However, he considered going to war in this context an act of patriotism. This was his first experience of having responsibility for the lives of others, which later shaped his leadership style in politics. He also gained, McCullough says, “new confidence in himself” (139). The perception of Truman by those around him also changed significantly. For example, Bess wanted to marry him immediately before he departed.

“He was a grown man, thirty-three years old, middle-aged nearly, by the time of the Great War, the event which, more than any turn of the calendar, marked the end of the old century and the beginning of something altogether new. His outlook, tastes, his habits of thought had been shaped by a different world from the one that followed after 1918.”

Truman’s new life began after World War I as he entered politics in the 1920s. However, McCullough suggests that Truman remained a 19th-century man with 19th-century attitudes and tastes. For example, he displayed little interest in new, popular authors and music, fashionable movements, like Freudian psychology, and certain technological innovations like the typewriter. World War I proved to be a formative, character-building experience for Truman, but his personality was more at home in the pre-war world.

“I believe in the brotherhood of man; not merely the brotherhood of white men, but the brotherhood of all men before the law […] If any class or race can be permanently set apart from, or pushed down below the rest in political and civil rights, so may any other class or race when it shall incur the displeasure of its more powerful associates, and we may say farewell to the principles on which we count our safety.”

Civil rights were a major domestic subject for Truman as a senator and president. This statement is part of his speech delivered in Sedalia, Missouri in 1940 in front of a mostly white audience. However, the author reveals that, in private, Truman continued to use racial stereotypes and slurs and “did not favor social equality for blacks,” only legal equality (290).

“Yet overall the committee’s performance was outstanding. It would be called the most successful congressional investigative effort in American history. Later estimates were that the Truman Committee saved the country as much as $15 billion. This was almost certainly an exaggeration—no exact figure is possible—but the sum was enormous and unprecedented, and whatever the amount, it was only part of the service rendered. The most important ‘power’ of the committee was its deterrent effect. 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.”

The Truman Committee, officially known as the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, was a bipartisan group created in 1941 upon Truman’s initiative. The Committee investigated spending linked to national defense during World War II and, according to McCullough, saved not only money but also lives. It was, once again, war, that allowed Truman to gain the respect of his peers in the Senate and grow as a politician.

“But on hearing of T.J.’s death, Truman decided at once that he would attend the funeral. He took off for Kansas City in an Army bomber and was among the several thousand mourners who filed past the bier at Visitation Catholic Church. He was photographed coming and going and paying his respects to the family, all of which struck large numbers of people everywhere as outrageous behavior for a Vice President—to be seen honoring the memory of a convicted criminal. Yet many, possibly a larger number, saw something admirable and courageous in a man risen so high who still knew who he was and refused to forget a friend.”

Truman was initially known as the senator from Pendergast because of his loyalty to TJ Pendergast, a political powerhouse operating behind the scenes in Missouri, who had helped his political career as a county judge and then as a senator. However, Pendergast also engaged in illegal activities and was convinced of tax evasion. Indeed, the Pendergast link was harmful to Truman’s political career from that point on. However, Truman decided to attend his funeral because he felt gratitude even though the public reception was mixed.

“’Good God, Truman will be President,’ it was being said everywhere. ‘If Harry Truman can be President, so could my next-door neighbor.’”

Truman was sworn in as president on April 12, 1945, immediately after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death. Even though Truman knew of Roosevelt’s health problems, he was in shock over his death and so was much of the country. Because Truman was of ordinary background and relatively inexperienced as compared to other politicians at that level—and considerably less experienced than Roosevelt—some questioned his ability to lead the country at such a difficult time. After all, the US was one of the three key Allies in World War II fighting on multiple fronts. However, McCullough shows that Truman adjusted to these new circumstances and performed well under tremendous stress.

“I know that Japan is a terribly cruel and uncivilized nation in warfare but I can’t bring myself to believe that, because they are beasts, we should ourselves act in that same manner. For myself I certainly regret the necessity of wiping out whole populations because of the ‘pigheadedness’ of the leaders of a nation, and, for your information, I am not going to do it unless it is absolutely necessary.”

Truman ordered nuclear weapons strikes against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. He wrote this letter to a hawkish Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. of Georgia, on August 9. The bombings were far more destructive than imagined, and most of the victims were civilians. Despite his authorization of using such weapons, Truman seems to have believed he was doing what was necessary to save American lives. However, many historians suggest that the Soviet entry into Manchuria before the Nagasaki bombing played a decisive role made these devastating weapons unnecessary. On August 10, Japan offered unconditional surrender. 

In just three months in office Harry Truman had been faced with a greater surge of history, with larger, more difficult, more far-reaching decisions than any President before him. Neither Lincoln after first taking office, nor Franklin Roosevelt in his tumultuous first hundred days, had had to contend with issues of such magnitude and coming all at once.”

In his first hundred days—taking office after Roosevelt’s death in April 1945—Truman had to deal with victory in Europe in May, the Allied Potsdam Conference and the establishment of postwar order in Europe in July, the successful nuclear tests in New Mexico, and the decision to use the atomic bomb that summer. Truman had little preparation for this role and had to act on the spot. For this reason, McCullough calls Part Three “To the Best of My Ability” (420).

“But nothing so highlighted Truman’s ambivalence about relations with the Soviets as events surrounding the speech given by Winston Churchill at Fulton, Missouri, in the first week of March 1946, a speech Truman had encouraged and that he knew about in advance and approved of, despite what he later said.” 

In early 1946, Winston Churchill toured the United States. At a stop at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, the former British leader delivered his now-famous “Iron Curtain” speech. In it, he disparaged the Soviet Union for exerting control over Eastern Europe. Truman applauded the speech. However, the media accused Churchill of causing turmoil in Soviet-American relations. Truman, surprised, backtracked claiming he was unaware of the contents of Churchill’s speech in advance. McCullough believes that this incident demonstrates Truman’s indecision in the early days of the Cold War. 

“Inwardly Truman was an extremely frustrated, resentful, and angry man, worn thin by criticism, fed up with crises not of his making and with people who, as he saw it, cared nothing for their country, only their own selfish interests.”

Having rallied behind their president during the war, the country started paying greater attention to domestic problems after 1945. As the victory euphoria died down, Truman was faced with economic problems, such as mining strikes, and having his national health insurance plan rejected. Political in-fighting prevented progress, while the big business selfishly cared about the bottom line rather than the country’s best interests. Here McCullough shows us the complexities of Truman’s character and his frustrations behind the façade of a consistently hardworking leader.

“Dean Acheson, who could be extremely hard, even contemptuous in his judgment of men he did not consider his equals, had described Truman, after Roosevelt’s death, as straightforward, decisive, honest, and if inexperienced, likely to learn fast.”

Dean Acheson, Truman’s Secretary of State (1949-1953) and an architect of the early Cold War American foreign policy, was a highly educated and experienced statesman. He spoke highly of Truman in the early days of his presidency highlighting his consistent, hardworking character. The latter was an important endorsement. After Truman’s retirement, the two became good friends.

“At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

On March 12, 1947, Truman delivered a speech before Congress that articulated what is known today as the Truman Doctrine. The immediate circumstances of this speech were the need to provide economic aid to Turkey and Greece to prevent communist oppression in those countries. The overarching goal, however, was to challenge the Soviet Union and its influence, real or perceived, all around the world. The Truman Doctrine was thus global in nature and demonstrated the rise of the US to superpower status after World War II.

“‘Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make these Republicans like it—don’t you forget that.’ Not until this moment had anyone used the word ‘win’ as though he meant it.”

The media and political experts predicted a Dewey victory in the 1948 presidential election. Yet it was Truman who was reelected by a significant margin in one of the most famous upsets in US history. In Chapter 13, the author traces the systematic way in which Truman campaigned as an underdog by meeting over three million people across the country and traveling by train. It was at the Democratic National Convention in July of that year that Truman spoke of winning when not many believed it was possible.

“‘There is considerable political advantage to the Administration in its battle with the Kremlin,’ James Rowe had written in his effort to outline a political strategy for 1948. ‘In time of crisis the American citizen tends to back up his President.’ So by such reasoning, the Berlin crisis, if kept in bounds, was made to order for Truman. Yet in nothing he said or wrote is there a sign of his playing the situation for ‘political advantage.’”

Here, James Rowe, a lawyer describes the overarching strategy for 1948. In June 1948, the Soviet Union began blockading Berlin over the question of the Western countries introducing a new currency in West Berlin, which the Soviets believed undermined the postwar order established in 1945. In turn, the US initiated the Berlin Airlift delivering supplies to the city. This tense situation in international relations would have benefitted Truman’s reelection. However, according to McCullough, Truman perceived this situation as a “trial by fire” rather than an advantage (768).

“It wasn’t Harry Truman the politician who won, it as Harry Truman the man.”

The 1948 election is considered one of the greatest upsets in American history. The author details how Truman campaigned by traveling across the country for over a month by train and meeting millions of people. In his view, the president did best by talking to the voters directly. He was very relatable because of his character and his middle American, farming background. As a result, it was not his track record as a politician but his personality that secured an unlikely election victory.

“He was a man with much to be pleased about, and at age sixty-four, after nearly four years in office and the most arduous political campaign ever waged by a President, he looked as he said he felt, ‘fit as a fiddle.’ His personal popularity, according to the latest polls, had bounced back up to 69 percent, as high as it had been in three years.”

The author describes Truman’s deserved status as a popular leader at the time of being sworn into office in January 1949. In McCullough’s view, the President earned this status through hard work much as he had done his entire life. For a brief time—until the next political crisis—Truman was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

“Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and fairness.”

Truman’s inaugural address on January 20, 1949, was dedicated to foreign policy. Here, he describes his perception of the differences between the United States and its Cold War rival, the Soviet Union. This focus on foreign policy defined the trajectory of American politics as the country got involved in more conflicts around the world such as the Korean War described in the following chapter.

“The furor of the MacArthur crisis had taken a heavy toll. It had spread confusion and increasing doubt about the war in Korea, increasing skepticism about the leadership in Washington and particularly about the President himself.”

General MacArthur led American troops in Korea in the early stages of the Korean War (1950-1953). Truman fired him in 1951 for insubordination. However, there is debate regarding the validity of MacArthur’s military decisions and his attempt to expand the conflict to fight China. This internal crisis with international repercussions deeply affected the public and made it question the country’s foreign policy and leadership, especially because MacArthur was popular.

“If ‘victory’ in Korea meant risking a world war—a war of atomic bombs—Truman would settle for no victory in Korea. That was the line he had drawn. There was a substitute for victory: it was peace. And he would stand by his policy of limited war for that specific objective.”

The Korean War (1950-1953) was one of the biggest challenges to Truman since the end of World War II. The war occurred in the context of the Cold War with multiple participants such as China backing North Korea, and the US backing South Korea. There was a significant risk of escalation into a global conflict and the threat of using nuclear weapons. In the end, rather than committing more American troops to East Asia, Truman supported an armistice.

“American casualties in Korea were now far less than in the first year of the war. Still every week meant more death and suffering. Korea was consuming lives and resources, poisoning American politics, devastating Truman’s presidency. No one wanted the war ended more than he. According to the polls, half the American people favored using the atomic bomb to get it over with. And though determined to keep to his policy of restraint, even he had his own fantasies about the ultimatum he might hand the Soviets.”

Truman’s final years in office were engulfed by the seemingly multiplying crises in different parts of the world—the Berlin blockade and the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War. These crises were linked to the American foreign policy of global engagement underpinned by the Truman Doctrine. As a result, Truman had to manage the American war effort in Korea and the public opinion at home. Here, we see that in his private thoughts, he blamed the Soviet Union rather than his own foreign policy program.

“‘I must confess, sir,’ Churchill went on, ‘I held you in very low regard then. I loathed your taking the place of Franklin Roosevelt.’ He paused. ‘I misjudged you badly. Since that time, you more than any other man, have saved Western civilization.’”

Churchill and Roosevelt had a close relationship in the framework of the Grand Alliance during World War II. When Roosevelt suddenly died in April 1945, Truman, a novice in foreign policy, had to complete his predecessor’s war effort. Many underestimated his ability to do so—and to lead America—yet he proved them wrong, as this frank admission from Churchill demonstrates.