McCullough challenges a commonly held view of history that Harry S Truman was nothing more than a common man of mediocre abilities who became President almost by accident, and owed his political success to his loyalty to the Democratic party and the Kansas City political bosses. Instead, the author acquaints the reader with a highly intelligent, competent and complex man, and a highly principled politician whose ability to judge the character of others enabled him to select outstanding men like Dean Acheson and George Marshall to serve in his administration; a Chief Executive capable of making some of the most momentous decisions of the twentieth century, such as ordering the use of the atomic bomb against Japan in 1945, integrating the Armed Forces in 1948, and firing General Douglas MacArthur in 1951.
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"Truman" is above all a fair and balanced portrait of one of the most unique and greatest of American Presidents. This extraordinarily well written book is destined to be the biography of Harry S Truman against which all others will be measured.
The review of this Book prepared by Mike Powers
