Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61245 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Highly Entertaining, and highly inaccurate
When I first read "Plain Speaking" over fifteen years ago, I immediately thought that it was one of the best and most entertaining political books I'd ever read. And if I had to rate "Plain Speaking" on the sheer delight you get from reading it, I'd easily give it six stars instead of five. Unfortunately, recent research by historians at the Truman Library has revealed that at least some of Truman's statements in "Plain Speaking" were never spoken by Mr. Truman, but were entirely the products of Merle Miller's imagination. As a result, while "Plain Speaking" is still a wonderful read if you've got a few free hours, it is no longer taken as serious "history" by researchers and historians. "Plain Speaking" isn't a traditional, full-length biography of Truman, instead it is a brief "oral biography" of the man, presumably spoken in Truman's own words. Merle Miller, a veteran journalist, visited the ex-President in 1962 and taped a series of interviews with him. His hope was that he could sell these interviews to a TV network. But since no network ever bought the rights, in 1973 Miller simply printed the interview transcripts and turned them into this bestselling book. Miller clearly admired Truman, and as a result his questions are often partisan and/or favorable - Miller is certainly no Sam Donaldson or Connie Chung when it comes to doing "tough" interviews! In one question Miller asks Truman "Are they {the Republicans} just stupid?", and Truman gives a typically partisan response. Even so, many of Truman's replies to Miller's questions are delightfully blunt and laugh-out-loud funny: "I didn't fire General MacArthur because he was a dumb son-of-a-*****, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals...", etc. Over the course of the book Truman bluntly critiques Eisenhower, Henry Wallace, Douglas MacArthur, and even John F. Kennedy (whom Truman dryly calls "the boy" and matter-of-factly claims had his 1960 nomination and election victory "bought" for him by his sinister father, Joseph Kennedy). It's hard not to admire Truman and find him to be a refreshing change from the modern politician who calculates every word and lies constantly. Unfortunately, it turns out that at least some of Truman's statements were fake - they were nothing more than figments of Merle Miller's imagination. Truman even wrote a letter to Miller in which he strongly criticized Miller's "inaccuracies" in quoting him, and threatened a lawsuit if Miller ever tried to release the interview transcripts as factual (Miller waited until after Truman's death in 1972 to publish this book, thus making sure that Truman wasn't around to point out that a good deal of "Plain Speaking" is fiction, not fact). The fact that Miller ignored Truman's complaints and went ahead with this book's publication - and then presented himself as one of Truman's greatest admirers - leads me to give "Plain Speaking" no more than three stars. I suspect that Truman himself would be appalled at how Miller successfully passed this book off as an accurate portrait of what he said in the interviews. "Plain Speaking" is a great read, but as accurate history it is sadly lacking, and the reader should always keep this in mind.

A Historical Masterpeice
This was a very good book. This book outlines how a man of very humble beginnings became the President of the United States. One of the more interesting parts was Truman's rise from a machine politician to a national figure. Also,I found amazing some of the historical roads that Truman had a role in traveling. His shaping of the world after World Wat II through the Marshall Plan was very readable. His role with Israel was also very noteable. His firing of General Mcarthur was laid out in great detail. I also liked reading his feelings and opinions about various political figures that we have come to know. Before this book I didn't have an opinion about Truman. After I read this book I became mightily impressed with Harry Truman. An excellent book.

A Fascinating Look at the words of a President
A compilation of interviews with President Truman originally intended for a television series, _Plain Speaking_ offers some interesting insights into the mind of Harry S Truman. I'm not sure this is necessarily a good thing, as Truman was a man of strong convictions who had little patience for those with opposing views, based on his own words.

That doesn't hurt the book, however, as presumably the reader is looking to learn more about what drove Truman. But Merle Miller's severe case of hero-worship of the President does tend to get grating, as it would appear, based on this book, that Miller believes the country would have been better off to elect Truman President-for-Life, because he apparently could do no wrong, and Miller wants to be sure the reader understands this. Miller's hagiography aside, however, the book's primary focus remains on Truman's words, and those are well worth reading.

You may not consider Truman a great President or even a great man after reading _Plain Speaking_, but it will be hard not to respect Truman's willingness to say what he thought. Anyone looking to understand Harry Truman should start here, to hear things in his own words.