Book: Truman by McCullough

[Erudite]

Title: Truman
Author: David McCullough
Genre: Biography
Pages: 990
Suitable for everyone

This is a FANTASTIC book! McCullough is a master writer of history. It took me over a month to find the time to get through the 990 pages, but in the end, I cried when Truman died, because I knew him so well; he was like my Grandpa or something.

This is the biography of President Harry S. Truman. It starts with a brief history of his grandparents and parents in Missouri. His grandpa knew Brigham Young and traded with him across the plains even, but McCullough starts there because we need to understand that Truman was very tied to his past and his past is what made the man.

Truman was a soldier, at 33, in WWI. He was a judge in Missouri for awhile and then was elected to the Senate. In his second term, he created the "Truman Commission" which looked into the flagrant overspending going on in gearing up for WWII. In that role, he became nationally known and liked and was then put on the ticket as Vice President when Roosevelt was running for a 4th term. He was vice president for 83 days before Roosevelt died. Within two months of becoming President, he had to make the decision to drop the bomb on Japan and attend the peace conferences at Potsdam. After the war he dealt with serious labor issues when there were massive strikes. He was the main mover behind the Marshall plan which created prosperity in Europe after the War. He is the author of the Berlin Airlift. He pushed through NATO and created the United Nations, both of which were conceived by Roosevelt, but not implemented until Truman. He is the creator of the Truman Doctrine, which lead to the "war" in Korea and said that we wouldn't let Communism be forced on any people anywhere. In a short 8 years, he did more than anyone else, including Roosevelt, to pivot the entire world from 19th century provincialism to 20th century modern thinking.

Reading biography is one way to really put a personal touch on history as it happens. Truman was President during an extremely critical period of history and I think we have not had a President with so much integrity since him. I HIGHLY recommend this book. I'm going to buy it for my own library and give it as presents to others. It was a fascinating, riveting, important book that everyone should read.

PS there is a movie called Truman which is based on the book. We watched it over the weekend and were very disappointed. No movie could possible cover a 990 page book with the needed depth, but the movie is nearly unintelligable unless you've read the book and even then it was a little confusing. Don't substitute the movie for the book...you'll just be confused.