Townhall.com
Victor Davis Hanson
May 29, 2018

When President Harry S. Truman left office in January 1953, most Americans were glad to see him go. Since the introduction of presidential approval ratings, Truman's 32 percent rating was the lowest for any departing president except for that of Richard Nixon, who 21 years later resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

Americans were tired of five consecutive Democratic presidential terms. The Depression and World War II were both over, and people wanted a different sort of leadership that could jump-start the economy.

The outsider Truman had been an accidental president to begin with. When an ailing President Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented fourth term in 1944, worried Democrat insiders panicked. They feared that far-left-wing Vice President Henry Wallace might end up president if Roosevelt died in office.

Party pros replaced Wallace with the obscure Truman, a Missouri senator. They assumed that if worse came to worse, the non-entity Truman would be a token caretaker president.

Earlier, Truman had been immersed in scandal, owing to his ties to corrupt Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast.

When Truman took office after Roosevelt's death in April 1945, he knew relatively nothing about the grand strategy of World War II. No one had told him anything about the ongoing atomic bomb project.

But for the next seven-plus years, Truman shocked the country.

Over the objections of many in his Cabinet, he ordered the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan.

Over the objections of most of the State Department, he recognized the new state of Israel.

Over the objections of the Roosevelt holdovers, he broke with wartime ally the Soviet Union and crafted the foundations of Cold War communist containment.

Over the objections of many in the Pentagon, he integrated the armed forces.

Over the objections of some of his advisers, he sent troops to the Korean peninsula to save South Korea from North Korean invasion.

Over the objections of civil libertarians, he created the CIA.

Over the objections of most Americans, he relieved controversial five-star general and American hero Douglas MacArthur of his duties.

Naturally, there were widespread calls in the press for Truman to resign and spare the country any more humiliation.

Truman swore. He had nightly drinks and played poker with cronies. And he shocked aides and the public with his vulgarity and crass attacks on political enemies. Truman mocked the widely respected Sen. William Fulbright as "Half-bright."

In the pre-Twitter age, Truman could not keep his mouth shut. When a reviewer for the Washington Post trashed Truman's daughter's concert performance, Truman physically threatened him.

"It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful," Truman wrote in a letter to critic Paul Hume. "Someday I hope to meet you. When that happens, you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!"

Truman like to trash national icons -- including the military that had just won World War II. He reportedly said of MacArthur's firing: "I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail."

Truman was supposed to be slaughtered in the 1948 election. Roosevelt's holdover New Dealers made fun of his Midwestern parochialism. Democrats had blown up the party during the 1948 nominating convention. Left-wingers, who could not stomach Truman, broke off and supported the progressive Henry Wallace as a third-party candidate. Democratic segregationists, who hated Truman's military integration order, ran Sen. Strom Thurman as a fourth-party Dixiecrat alternative. Thurman promised to keep the South racially segregated.

In the general election, polls predicted an easy win for Republican challenger Thomas Dewey. Instead, Truman won by a comfortable margin.

With Truman's second term due to expire, Democrats forgot his "the buck stops here" pragmatism. Instead, they returned to elite progressivism and nominated Adlai Stevenson, a liberal's liberal.

Stevenson lost both the 1952 and 1956 elections to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, a national icon. For all his criticism of Truman, Ike governed more or less as Truman did.

It took a half-century for historians to concede that the feisty Truman had solid accomplishments, especially in foreign affairs. Even his vulgarity was eventually appreciated as integral to the image of "Give 'Em Hell" Harry. But if he'd had access to Twitter, or had a Robert Mueller to hound him, the loose-cannon Truman likely would have self-destructed in a flurry of ad hominem tweets.

An obsessed special prosecutor would have followed Truman's checkered pre-presidential career all the way back to Kansas City to uncover likely unethical behavior.

Yet in the end, Truman proved successful because of what he did -- and in spite of what he said.

Link

I agree that the similarities between Trump and Truman are striking. I have wondered when this would become public discourse.

In reference to the article, Truman was definitely becoming widely appreciated by Americans no later than the 1970s. It didn't take 50 years for common sense people to understand Truman was a very good President.



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quote:

Originally posted by TigerDore:
I agree that the similarities between Trump and Truman are striking. I have wondered when this would become public discourse.

In reference to the article, Truman was definitely becoming widely appreciated by Americans no later than the 1970s. It didn't take 50 years for common sense people to understand Truman was a very good President.



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I have read extensively about Truman, drove up to Independence. MO a while back to visit his home and spent 3 days in his library/museum. While I can’t say I admire his political leanings, I have come to admire him and the way he dealt with the cards he was dealt. The last President who did not graduate from college, he was an avid reader, a history buff.

We are lucky he was picked by Roosevelt to the VPness in the 4th term. For years, I thought what a shock it must have been to hustle over to the WH and be told that Roosevelt was dead, but now I think he had to have known it was coming, sooner or later, not as much of a shocker as many have portrayed it.

Truman was also a Colonel in the reserve and served in combat in WWI. He tried to go on active duty at the start of WWII but was told he was too old. He was also an active 32 degree mason. My wife’s grandfather was his lecturer and best friend.

Re: “Truman swore. He had nightly drinks and played poker with cronies. And he shocked aides and the public with his vulgarity and crass attacks on political enemies.”

‘There is a story that when Harry Truman was speaking at a Grange convention in Kansas City, Mrs. Truman and a friend were in the audience. Truman in his speech said, “I grew up on a farm and one thing I know—farming means manure, manure, manure, and more manure.”

At this, Mrs. Truman’s friend whispered to her, “Bess, why on earth don’t you get Harry to say fertilizer?”

“Good Lord, Helen,” replied Mrs. Truman, “You have no idea how many years it has taken me to get him to say manure.”’

He was a great man. We need more like that, great men.

quote:

Over the objections of many in the Pentagon, he integrated the armed forces.

The results of this action may have done more to advance true civil rights than anything else ever done by the government in the 20th century.

And he survived an attempt to kill him by Puerto Rican separatists. Quite a shootout!

HST was one of the very few Democrats I have admired.

flashguy

A Kansas City corruption back ground, a failed business venture, no College education, somewhat hen-pecked by his wife who hated Washington.

IMO, HST was one of the most admired 20th Century Democrat POTUS. He did much to unfuck FDR's dealings with the Soviets.

Were it not for poor handling of the Korean War, he might have served another Presidential term.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
A Kansas City corruption back ground, a failed business venture, no College education, somewhat hen-pecked by his wife who hated Washington.

IMO, HST was one of the most admired 20th Century Democrat POTUS. He did much to unfuck FDR's dealings with the Soviets.

Were it not for poor handling of the Korean War, he might have served another Presidential term.

OTOH, a successful artillery officer in WWI, a successful county judge (like commissioner, not a judicial office) for several terms credited with building a great many good roads in the county, President of National Old Trails Asociation, 10 years in the Senate with a growing reputation, chaired a committee investigating war contracting looking for corruption, waste, fraud, and excess profits to great effect.

It is true he had the patronage of the Pendergast organization, but I have never seen any reason to believe Truman participated in any of it, other than awarding some local jobs.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
And he survived an attempt to kill him by Puerto Rican separatists. Quite a shootout!

Very well described here:

https://www.amazon.com/America...ds=american+gunfight

I walked through his house once.

I love this story as told by his grandson Clifton Truman Daniel:

quote:

...my favorite story is about the man whose car blew a tire on Delaware Street, right in front of the house. Not knowing where he was or whose house he was approaching, the man walked through the unlocked gate and up to the front door where he rang the bell. Grandpa answered in his shirtsleeves.

"Can I use your phone, please?" the man said. "I have a flat."

"Sure," Grandpa said. "Come on in."

The man called a local mechanic, who said it would take 20 minutes or so to get to him.

"I'll wait outside," he told Grandpa.

"Nonsense," Grandpa said. "Have a seat. Relax."

As far as we know, they spent the next 20 minutes chatting amiably in the living room. When the tow truck arrived, the man stood, shook Grandpa's hand, and thanked him for his hospitality.

"Not at all," Grandpa said, showing the man out. "It was nice talking to you."

The man got halfway down the front steps before he stopped and turned.

"I hope you won't take offense," he said. "But you look a lot like that son of a bitch Harry Truman."

"No offense at all," Grandpa said with wide grin. "I am that son of a bitch."

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I love this story as told by his grandson Clifton Truman Daniel:

quote:

...my favorite story is about the man whose car blew a tire on Delaware Street, right in front of the house. Not knowing where he was or whose house he was approaching, the man walked through the unlocked gate and up to the front door where he rang the bell. Grandpa answered in his shirtsleeves.

"Can I use your phone, please?" the man said. "I have a flat."

"Sure," Grandpa said. "Come on in."

The man called a local mechanic, who said it would take 20 minutes or so to get to him.

"I'll wait outside," he told Grandpa.

"Nonsense," Grandpa said. "Have a seat. Relax."

As far as we know, they spent the next 20 minutes chatting amiably in the living room. When the tow truck arrived, the man stood, shook Grandpa's hand, and thanked him for his hospitality.

"Not at all," Grandpa said, showing the man out. "It was nice talking to you."

The man got halfway down the front steps before he stopped and turned.

"I hope you won't take offense," he said. "But you look a lot like that son of a bitch Harry Truman."

"No offense at all," Grandpa said with wide grin. "I am that son of a bitch."

That’s my favorite Truman story as well. I stood on the very steps that man stood on when it happened when I visited Independence about a year and a half ago.

I have to think that few things tickled Truman more than that.