Product Description

This is a biography of Harry S. Truman, the thirty-third President of the United States. The author highlights the origins, the youth and the steady political climb of Truman, showing that what emerged eventually was a shrewd, ambitious and committed politician. The book is based on research in the Truman Library and the use of hitherto unused primary sources. It clearly demonstrates that Truman actively sought the presidency.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1042090 in Books
• Published on: 1996-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 520 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Ferrell, author or editor of eight previous books on Truman (Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944) here presents a prodigiously researched and engrossing study of the 33rd president. Born and raised in Missouri, Truman (1884-1972) began his political career as a county judge backed by Kansas City's powerful Pendergast machine, which also supported his successful race for the U.S. Senate in 1934. A compromise candidate for vice president in November 1944, Truman became president five months later when Franklin Roosevelt died. Clearly an admirer, Ferrell presents his subject as an honest man of the people as well as a shrewd politician-not someone who just happened to be on the scene but a man who actively sought the presidency. He defends Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the quickest way to end WWII and details Truman's upset election victory of 1948 and his subsequent presidency, when the U.S. became involved in the Korean War. His description of Truman as a devoted husband and father agrees with earlier accounts.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
An estimable biography that portrays Truman, the patron saint of beleaguered pols, as an ordinary American but an extraordinary president. As narrative, this biography cannot begin to compete with David McCullough's Truman (1992). However, historian Ferrell (Indiana Univ., Bloomington; Ill-Advised, 1992, etc.) partly makes up for this with his mastery of Truman sources (he has written or edited eight previous books on the president) and his shrewd analysis of the workings of executive power. He shows how Truman, with his Missouri twang and his background as the product of Kansas City's Pendergast machine, seemed smaller than life, even grubby, compared to the patrician FDR. But he believes that Truman surpassed his predecessor in decisiveness, veracity, and stamina. Unpretentious and optimistic, Truman was temperamentally well equipped to lead the nation as it was being challenged by communism abroad. Yet Truman, now one of our most beloved presidents, saw his approval rating dip to only 23% a year before he left office--one point lower than Richard Nixon's when he resigned. Ferrell attributes this at least partly to depleted energy, but other factors may have come into play, such as his loyalty to corrupt cronies, a GOP congressional bloc that saw the opportunity to gain political capital by Red-baiting, and his method of dealing solely with a few congressional leaders. Ferrell's portrait differs significantly in only two ways from the current wisdom: He portrays a president who thought more deeply, both before and long after the fact, about the ramifications of dropping the atomic bomb than he is generally given credit for; and he makes a bigger issue of Truman's addition of his wife, Bess, to his senatorial payroll (an ethical lapse that he feared would doom his chances for the vice presidency in 1944). An incisive study of a gutsy underdog who rose to the occasion. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Objective bio, complement to McCullough
Poor Ferrell. Did anyone realize there was a second scholarly biography of Truman published in the 90s? Ferrell presents a different Harry Truman than David McCullough. His Truman is less romantic and less the accidental president. Where McCullough seems to put Truman on a pedestal, Ferrell presents a more realistic view. McCullough captures much of Truman's day-to-day thoughts and actions through his letters to Bess and Margaret, which obviously provides much greater insight into the President's personality, while Ferrell captured them through the comments and diaries of staff and contemporaries. While still portraying him as an honest and very capable (and underrated) president, he does not shy away from discussing his missteps and weaknesses.

I think a perfect example of the juxtaposition of the two authors is how each describes how the Marshall Plan got its name. McCullough says Truman wanted to give General Marshall credit for his ideas; Ferrell says Truman knew a bill called the "Truman Plan" would never make it past the Republicans in Congress. Both statements are probably true, but each author has a different emphasis.

Ferrell provides good analysis on world and national events happening around Truman with some interesting digressions and observations, such as with Stalin, Korea and its aftermath, McArthur, etc.. In fact, it becomes more of a history book than a biography of Truman. Because of this emphasis, the reader does not discover the real Truman, what drove him, his intimate thoughts and fears, etc. Bess, Margaret, and Mama Truman are bit players in this bio, although there were core to Truman.

Truman's 1948 election win was indeed result of a miraculous 11th hour great burst of energy by the incumbent president, but Ferrell does not shrink from showing Truman as the typical politician, slinging a little mud and showing partisanship against the 80th Congress, which he lambasted publicly and complemented privately (they passed the "Truman doctrine" and were as good with New Deal legislation as their predecessors and successors).

Despite his reserved countenance and mousy presentation, Truman was his own man. He stood up to Pendergast, FDR, labor, big business, domineering cabinet members, and McArthur. He was the true moderate ... while busting the miners and railroad union strikes, threatening to draft them to stop the strike, he also fought "Big Steel" and vetoed Taft-Hartley. Ferrell sets straight Truman's record on civil rights giving it the credit it never really received. Truman was the true vote-your-conscience legislator. Ferrell closes with the last couple of years of the second administration, which were ripe with scandal, although not the result of improprieties from Truman himself.

If one can only read one Truman bio (and has the time to digest), read McCullough's tome. That author obviously reveres Truman, but is still a balanced account, and is more comprehensive and personal. That recommendation does not, however, discredit Ferrell, especially if one is more interested in the United States under Harry Truman than Truman the man.

An Overlooked Gem
Robert Ferrell has been the foremost Truman scholar for several decades. His culminating work is this fine, well-researched, analytically compelling biography. It was supposed to be the definitive work on Truman. But David McCullough published his magnum opus first. I wish that Professor Ferrell had received a fraction of the well-deserved acclamation heaped on McCullough. The two works are complementary. Ferrell does not match the rich narrative sweep of McCullough but makes up for it with critical analysis and placing Truman and his presidency in historical context, both in terms of change and continuity. If you liked "Truman" you will appreciate "Harry S. Truman: A Life" and may find it ultimately more satisfying.

The Man from Indepnedence in the World.
"Harry S Truman" is an edifying biography of the Man from Independence, from his days as a boy until his retirement and death in Independence. Throughout this biography, Ferrell does an excellent job of covering the main events in Truman's life as well as undertaking in-depth analysis of various issues and decisions with which Truman was concerned. This biography serves, not only as an interesting character study, but also as a view into the other figures of history with whom Truman interacted as well as a view into the general history of his day. I recommend this book to all who have an interest in Truman or his era.