TrumanThe Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. 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 life of Harry S. 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. 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. 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. 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. |
Contents
28 | |
58 | |
Soldier | 99 |
5 | 141 |
6 | 231 |
9 | 427 |
The Buck Stops Here | 561 |
Turning Point | 626 |
Fighting Chance | 794 |
Iron | 870 |
Commander in Chief | 939 |
Final Days | 1022 |
Citizen Truman | 1098 |
Acknowledgments | 1173 |
Bibliography | 1269 |
1319 | |
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Acheson Alben Barkley American Army asked Barkley battery began Berlin Bess Blair House Byrnes called campaign Canfil Charlie Ross Churchill Clark Clark Clifford Clifford committee Communist conference Congress crowd Dean Acheson Democratic Dewey election farm father felt Franklin Roosevelt friends going Grandview Hannegan Harriman Harry Truman Harry Vaughan Harry’s Henry Wallace Independence J. B. West Jackson County Jacobson John Truman Kansas City knew Korea later letter Lilienthal looked MacArthur Margaret Marshall meeting miles military Missouri morning mother National nearly never night Noland o’clock once party Pendergast political President President’s remembered reporters Republican Russians Secretary seemed Senator Truman Soviet speech staff Stalin Stimson stood Street talk tell things thought Tom Pendergast took town Truman told turned United Vaughan vote Wallace wanted Washington weeks West White House wrote York
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Page 56 - For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be ; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales ; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'da ghastly dew From the nations...