You know you’re a great presidential biographer if your work substantially moves the needle on how that president is viewed. That’s exactly what master biographer David McCullough did here. It amazes me how many people tell me they’ve read this book.

I even enjoyed the early section on his family background as it touched on several exciting events that happened around Missouri. His family history is colorful to say the least. Hard workers though they were, they could lose money with the best of them. Strangely enough, that’s exactly how it was for Truman himself. He failed in so many ways, lost so much money while having as strong a work ethic as any president I’ve read about, and got to middle age without ever hitting his stride. Had he not fallen in with the shady Pendergast machine he likely never would have. That association would always plague him, but he wouldn’t have a political career in the first place without it.

What is even more startling is how honest he was and how he managed to keep that reputation throughout his career. He is one of the rare politicians that earned that reputation. He had a very high ethical standard as well. He is the only Democratic president of the 20th century they can list avoiding a whole slew of sins that all the rest of them committed.

There was something real about him. He was who he was. He was incredibly practically minded. Perhaps you should say it was Providence itself that brought him into office at that moment in history. It could be said because that good practical nature came in handy. He was intelligent, but occasionally, I wondered if he could be a bit naïve. He had his limitations, but was one of those rare people who knew what they were. His lack of pride and hubris was perhaps his most compelling trait.

He clearly had much exposure to Christianity. He did profess to believe in it on many occasions. Perhaps the only thing that McCullough didn’t know how to uncover was whether or not it was a deeply personal faith or not. It was hard to tell whether or not he was more of a moralist than a Christian, but we will give him the benefit of the doubt by several statements that he made, and several actions he did like kissing the Bible at his swearing in.

Pretty much an afterthought on the presidential ticket of an ailing, dying FDR, no one even thought to bring him up to speed on the most pressing issues of the war. He was not prepared the day FDR died, and he openly admitted it, which was so refreshing, and yet acquitted himself quite well to see the war through to the end. He will always be the president who dropped the atomic bomb, but it clearly made sense to him from even a moral level. There weren’t many voices around him tell him not to do it either. Those voices didn’t arise till later on. He was sobered a bit more about it later as well.

His stratospheric poll numbers dropped quickly after his success with a war won quickly in his term. I personally appreciated the way he handled the Soviet Union. Just as he should have with a major WW2 ally, he gave them a chance. His domestic policies are not to my taste, but he was fairly successful in pushing them. In my view, he perfected the whole “we are for the people and Republicans are for Wall Street.” What stands out is how passionately he believed it. For many, that is just playing the game of politics, or strategy if you will; but in his simple way he was a true believer.

Perhaps his greatest political feat was pulling off his unexpected reelection in 1948. It’s almost as if he was the only person who thought he could win. He never wavered and shocked his opponents and friends.

That second term had several challenges, chiefly the Korean Conflict. I’m not a fan of the UN, but I agree with his stance overall. He set the ground rules for the Cold War and that made it possible for handling Communism without it becoming a hot war. His firing of the legendary MacArthur was a bold move too and I feel likely the correct one.

By the end of his term, Truman showed a few cracks in his amazing vitality. There were a few episodes of pettiness that were surprising, but no failings that would sully his overall reputation as a decent guy who wasn’t too big for his britches.

I wonder if McCullough exaggerated his conflict with Eisenhower. I sure hope so. It never struck me that McCullough liked Eisenhower as he described him as being unduly ugly to Truman. The two men had worked well together before.

His retirement years showed that Truman was perhaps the most “common man” modern president and tremendously likable. I don’t think he liked the work of any of his successors, but that may be only the cantankerousness of an old man. As much as I dislike his progressive domestic policies ( he was pretty good on foreign policy), I think he’d be one of the few presidents of the Twentieth Century I feel I could have related to enough to share, say, a meal or a long chat. I believe I like him personally more than professionally in some cases, or is that just attributed to master biographer McCullough swaying me? In any event, the book is majestic as presidential biographies go.

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