Truman- The Accidental President

As I continue on this journey, I have strayed a bit from the Barnes and Noble list. Jean Edward Smith's book on FDR was fascinating and may be one of the best I have read so far. I have now decided I will not be deviating from the list anymore.

Here is the list of the Presidents that I have read:

1) Washington
2) John Adams
3) Jefferson
4) Madison
7) Jackson
18) Grant
32) FDR
34) Eisenhower
36) LBJ

In addition staying with books on the B&N list, I have now decided to go in order. The bouncing around during different periods of time is getting confusing. I decided to go with Truman through Obama, back to Hoover (31). An obvious advantage is you learn about the same events and people multiple times. In the FDR book, I learned about JFK's father becoming ambassador to Great Britain. I will save Trump for last, as I figured I am living through his presidency and things are changing on a daily basis.

For Truman, B&N recommends Accidental President by A. J. Baime.

As I am reading the books my mind starts to wander, what did I learn in school about the Presidents. For Grant, I remember learning he was a drunk, terrible General and awful President. After reading Ron Chernow's book on Grant, these are the furthest things from the truth. (Tease for future blog post.)

For Truman, I remember the following;

• The S as his middle initial stands for nothing
• The phrase, the buck stops here
• He is from Independence, Missouri
• Succeeding FDR as President when FDR died in office
• He ordered dropping two atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII
• 1948 election where the press wrongly predicted Dewey beat Truman

While all of this accurate, there is more to the story. To understand the story, you need to learn how Truman became President. Truman described himself becoming President as an accident.

Truman was born in 1884 in a rural town in Missouri. He graduated high school in 1901 in Independence where he met his future wife Bess. His family had no money for college and he worked various jobs including his family farm. He had a few failed business ventures with no real direction on what he wanted to do with his life.

He served in WWI. He was approached by a local political boss named Tom Pendergast. Tom helped Truman win an election to become a county judge. elected to the US Senate in Interesting choice as Truman was not a lawyer. Truman was ultimately elected to the US Senate in 1940. Pendergast ultimately went to jail. Truman survived his association with Pendergast as Truman had no ties to the crimes Pendergast was committing.

This leads us to the 1944 Presidential election. FDR was running for a fourth term. It was pretty common knowledge in Washington D.C. that if FDR won the election, he would more than likely finish the term. This made the VP in the 1944 election a very sought-after position. Everyone except Truman. Truman did not want to be VP. His wife and daughter did not want him to accept. the Truman family enjoyed their quiet life in D.C.

FDR asked Truman to be VP. Not because he was the best choice. He would hurt FDR the least. It proved to be a successful choice.

April 12, 1945. This is the day FDR died. Truman was thrust into the role of President. A job he did not want. Baime does a masterful job in the book focusing on the first four months of his presidency. The decisions Truman had to make would shape the future of the world that are being felt to this day.

Setting the stage in April 1945. D Day occurred ten months prior. The war was going on in two fronts. Europe and the Pacific.

During the first four months of his Presidency the following occurred:

• United Nations is created
• Hitler dies and Germany surrenders
• Allied troops liberate the Nazi death camps
• Potsdam conference - negotiations with Russia and Great Britain
• Two atomic bombs are dropped on Japan
• August 14th Japan surrenders

As I was reading book, my mind drifted back to school and what I learned about the end of WWII. I knew the bad guy in Hitler lost. What I learned in this book, was the cunning and deceitful actions of Russia. Russia was needed to defeat the Germans. Unfortunately, Russian had intentions of spreading Communism to China and across Europe.

At the Potsdam conference, negotiations focused on various topics. The main focus was occupation of Germany. it was decided, the British, US and Russia would each get a section. This ultimately led to the creation of East and West Germany with East Germany being run by the Communist Party until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.

Truman was notified in the early days of this Presidency of the Manhattan Project. The top-secret project to create an atomic bomb. Only a handful in the government knew about the project. Billions of dollars were secretly approved to fund the project. Members of Congress didn't even know the budget they were approving funds to develop an atomic bomb.

The decision to use the atomic bomb. One man, Harry S. Truman, ultimately made the decision to drop the bombs on Japan. You have a vision in your mind that Truman was in an office with a box with a little red button on it. he would press the button and the order would go out. This is not how it happened. Truman had given the order and left it up to the military commanders to carry out the attack Weather was a factor in when the bomb would be dropped. Relentless firebombing had previously taken place so the bomb needed to be dropped on an area of Japan untouched by the fire bombs. You can make an argument that the devastation and innocent lives lost by the fire bombs is much worse that the attack on Pearl Harbor

Truman would defy odds and win the 1948 election over Dewey. In 1952, he briefly sought the Democratic nomination but pulled out after losing one of the first primaries. 

Many historians debate Truman's legacy. When he left office in 1953, he was wildly unpopular. After reading this book, I am grateful for the very hard difficult decisions that he made that saved the world from having WWIII.

Ten books completed for a total of 5,453 pages. Next up JFK.