He was a great historian." On one occasion, Chiles recalled an argument among the children about the Dalton Gang: "Harry came in-we got the history mixed up ourselves-but Harry came in and straightened it out, just who were the Dalton brothers and how many got killed. Truman, he said, "read more history than anybody. The rest of us just read Jesse James, these little paperback books." As a boy, his poor eyesight limited his ability to play sports or enjoy many outdoor activities, so he spent much of his time reading.Ī grade school and high school classmate of his at Independence High School, Henry Chiles, recalled seeing "Harry go home many a time with two or three books on weekends, and I guess by Monday he had them all read.
Harry Truman’s lifelong love of history began at an early age. But what has not been examined comprehensively are the lessons that Truman learned from history: those he learned in school, those he learned in life, and those he drew upon to make decisions during his political career, especially as President.
Harry Truman’s interest in history is well documented. As a student of Truman has put it, Truman "internalized" history and looked to the past almost reflexively whenever a problem or issue arose. It provided him ethical and moral guidance and was a tool that he used to make decisions, most notably as President of the United States during his two terms of office, 1945–1953. For Truman, history had a meaning that went beyond a casual interest. Truman thought, wrote, and spoke about history. Drawing on newly discovered archival material and extensive interviews with Truman’s own family, friends, and Washington colleagues, McCullough tells the deeply moving story of the seemingly ordinary “man from Missouri” who was perhaps the most courageous president in our history.–Memoirs by Harry S. The last president to serve as a living link between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, Truman’s story spans the raw world of the Missouri frontier, World War I, the powerful Pendergast machine of Kansas City, the legendary Whistle-Stop Campaign of 1948, and the decisions to drop the atomic bomb, confront Stalin at Potsdam, send troops to Korea, and fire General MacArthur. In this riveting biography, acclaimed historian David McCullough not only captures the man-a more complex, informed, and determined man than ever before imagined-but also the turbulent times in which he rose, boldly, to meet unprecedented challenges. Truman is one of the greatest of American stories, filled with vivid characters-Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Wallace Truman, George Marshall, Joe McCarthy, and Dean Acheson-and dramatic events. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian. The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S.
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