My in-laws gave me this excellent gift for my birthday. They knew I would appreciate it because I had earlier exposed them to David McCullough’s writing through John Adams. I had also read The Wright Brothers.
They say McCullough “paints with words,” and they’re right. After reading these 1000 pages about Truman, I feel exhilarated as if I had been there experiencing the man’s energy and determination.
McCullough also does well to sense Truman’s relevance to my generation. I was raised at the tail end of the Cold War, so it is very interesting to read about the President who established its beginning. My generation may stumble under the burden of the social safety net, so it is interesting to see the perspective of a simple farmer from the 19th century who was adamant that people born in the 20th century should benefit from the technology and wealth of the 20th century.
This book motivated me as a reader. Up until WW1, Truman worked on his grandfather’s farm, and received no university education. But he read a lot. And then into the army in WW1, and then into local and federal politics, and then into the Presidency, people were continually impressed my how his life of reading had served him well.
The book motivated me to exercise. Truman kept himself disciplined to walk, swim, do sit-ups, etc., very regularly. People were continually impressed by his vigor and his flat belly. There is a funny story about President FDR with his staff, trying to decide on a VP candidate, knowing that FDR would likely die within his next term. The staff wanted Truman, and their most convincing point was that Truman was obviously young. They hid the fact from FDR, that Truman was actually only 2 years younger than him. Truman’s fitness made his age an easy thing for them to hide. When I was nearing the end of the book, I happened to watch President Obama’s final presidential 60-Minutes interview. Obama confessed that one of the things that surprised him the most about the presidency was the need for physical endurance. You just don’t think that a man sitting behind a desk would experience much physical strain. But even Truman started to weaken in his last months in office.
The book motivated me to pay attention to the people around me. Being of a humble background, Truman excelled at making most everyone he met feel important: from top generals and world leaders down to poor people in crowds.
The book motivated me to believe that unexpected things can happen if I will believe in them and work for them. Everyone expected him to lose his election in 1948, everyone except he himself. He believed he could win, and he worked very hard for it, but he worked with peace in his heart. He would go from town to town, usually speaking to hundreds of thousands of people at multiple sites in one day, and he would sleep peacefully on his train between stops. He ran his staff ragged in that campaign. When the results were coming in, he was sounds asleep.
The book gave me more convincing proof that my character will matter more than my power. Truman had studied the lives of great leaders long before he ever gained a position of leadership, and he knew that ultimately, people will respect good character, so he had better not compromise his convictions. His greatest hero was Robert E. Lee. I’ve been impressed by reading about Lee several times this past year, so I think I had better get myself a good biography about him. Truman was also shaped by reading Plutarch’s Lives, which I will hopefully read or listen to on Librivox.org sometime before too long. McCullough points out that Truman led his country at a time when the culture was abandoning the notion that great men make history. Truman had not given up on the notion, and his life is a strong argument for it.
That said, the book also gave me further proof that history is precarious, when it is viewed on its own. A little tilt this way or that and everything can change. In an even bigger sense, the Bible teaches that history is in God’s hands, to shape as he pleases, in spite of people’s ambitions or goals. It was such strange “chance” that put Truman into the presidency, and that put into his hands the shaping of the rest of history. A lesser man than Truman would easily have let Europe starve, and would have let the Cold War go hot, etc. I am increasingly convinced that God purposed to raise up the USA as the leader on the world stage — though not to excuse the many evils they have committed as a world power. As the world around me worries so much about President Trump, I am comforted by the sense that if God chose to exalt the USA, he can also choose to humble them (and us too) if he sees fit.
Another big lesson about leadership is that Truman saw his role primarily as a “decision maker.” He kept a clean desk and didn’t feel crushed if a particular decision turned out to be the wrong decision. He knew that the best he could give his country were clear, decisive decisions. Often, those decisions cost him popularity and political capital, but he was convinced that history would prove him right. Overall, it has.
As much as I like Truman, there is still a variety of things about him that disappointed me. He swears a lot, for one thing, although he keeps it hidden from the public. He is a Mason, which McCullough is open about but doesn’t really explore. And as fun as it is to read about him cursing the Republicans up and down, I don’t think I would have felt very impressed by his bellicose disposition if I had been there at the time.
Nevertheless, I came away with a sense of just how much Truman enjoyed politics, and how he made it seem like and art and like honest work. It did make me feel more motivated to engage in political issues — in our broader society and in my local and denominational circles — and to do it in clean but vigorous ways.
To close, I want to encourage everyone who gets worked up by US political issues in the news, to read this book. It is a lot healthier and a lot more accurate to learn about US politics from 70 years of distance.
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