Customer Reviews
Unsupassable Biography
I thought of Truman as a dull subject for a biography but I was very wrong. McCullough's portrait is of a Jeckel and Hyde: mild mannered in one personae but in another was as aggressive as a pit bill. In psychiatric terms he would be termed an obsessional character. The portrait is so deeply researched that each page overflows with glimpses of Truman that allow the reader to draw the conclusion the author is driving at. In the process you get a great history of the USA from about 1815 (when his family moved to Missouri) to l955 . Is there a Nobel Prize for biographies?
massive, yes, but often surprizingly thin and sentimental
This huge biography tells the story of a truly remarkable man, who rose from humble origins as a farmer and failed haberdasher - he was the last president not to have gone to college - to enter office at one of the most difficult junctures in the 20C, when the map of the world was being re-shaped after WWII. Though a history buff, he was thrust into power with little preparation and after virtually no contact with FDR, whom he served as VP for only 3 months. That Truman then achieved greatness and made astonishingly wise and shrewd decisions is rightfully the stuff of legend.
Unfortunately, though this volume is thick enough to stop a bullet, I was continually diappointed with it. Rather than concentrating on the events that threatened to engulf Truman, McCullough undertakes the task of promoting him as a downhome, commonsensical kinda guy who exemplified some American ideal, i.e. that allowing someone from the heartland to take over government was a really good thing. I found this approach sentimental, defensive, and superficial, like a Ron Howard version of a very complex man.
I would have been much happier if the book covered Truman's momentous decisions is greater detail. To mention a few: the use of the atomic bomb in Japan, the defense of Europe against communism (both militarily and economically, in opposition to the isolationism that was creeping back), the beginning of "loyalty" requirements in the government (and his failure to fight Joe McCarthy), and the Korean War (a "limited war" that did not seek "total victory", setting a new precedent). Instead of exploring these with any depth - and they dominated American politics and diplomacy for the next 50 years and even do today - McCullough briefly mentions them and then asserts that Truman pretty much did the "right thing" in his homespun wisdom and simple faith in himself and the American system. That is not good enough.
What we get is a sanitised version of Truman the man, as he coped with these challenges. Unfortunately, I didn't get the feeling that I was learning much about him, except that he was perservering, modest, and naturally wise. You get no real window into his mind and very little of the dirt, except to justify that he somehow grew beyond it (which apparently he did): but he was a machine politician from the notoriously corrupt Pendergast Kansas City, his lack of education may have led him to make some serious misjudgments whose consequences we may never be able to judge. and he showed serious signs of cracking under the stress of it all. In a nutshell, McCullough liked him too much and hence lost the critical distance that a serious biographer needs. This feels almost like a work of propaganda, or a PR effort rather than a genuine work of scholarship.
Perhaps the work of Robert Caro has set the bar too high for every biography that follows. Or perhaps McCullough is a reflection of the American self-satisfaction - the softball approach that perpetuates nostalgia for a time that never existed - that so grates on more skeptical Europeans. Alas, I found this biography mediocre, just not meaty enough.
One of the Best Accidents that have hit the White House
A good solid read on HST and his rise to the Presidency. It just goes to show that America will always produce the right man for the job when the chips are down. Mr. McCullough does a good solid job on telling the story about the Man from Independence. I especially like his section on how after many Failures, Harry finds his place with the Pendergast Machine without losing his honor. If you want a good read on Harry then this is a good palce to start.
