Harry S. Truman

The American Presidents Series: The 33rd President, 1945-1953

The American Presidents

Robert Dallek; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors

Times Books

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The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century

In April 1945, after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all.

Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact. Truman ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the cold war and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth century—his 1948 “whistlestop campaign” against Thomas E. Dewey.

Robert Dallek, the bestselling biographer of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson’s observation that the presidency is a “splendid misery,” but it was during his tenure that the United States truly came of age.

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Chapter One  

Preludes

Of the eighteen twentieth-century American presidents, beginning with William McKinley and ending with Bill Clinton, only four currently have claims on great or near- great leadership: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.

Perhaps in time Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton may join this elite group, but at this juncture such a judgment is premature.

On the face of things, Truman’s high standing is surprising.

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About the Author

Robert Dallek; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors

Robert Dallek is the author of several bestselling presidential histories, including Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power; An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963; and the classic two-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, Lone Star Rising and Flawed Giant. He has taught at Columbia, Oxford, UCLA, Boston University, and Dartmouth, and has won the Bancroft Prize, among numerous other awards for scholarship and teaching. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Robert Dallek
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Sean Wilentz

Geraldine Dallek
Robert Dallek

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Harry S. Truman
The American Presidents Series: The 33rd President, 1945-1953
The American Presidents
Robert Dallek; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors

Hardcover

Hardcover
Henry Holt and Co.
Times Books
September 2008
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780805069389
ISBN10: 0805069380
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 208 pages, Includes a black-and-white frontispiece
$23.00
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Unabridged Compact Disc
Macmillan Audio
September 2008
Unabridged Compact Disc
ISBN: 9781427205438
ISBN10: 1427205434
Audio Run Time: 6:00
$29.95

Unabridged Digital Audio

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Unabridged Digital Audio
Macmillan Audio
September 2008
Unabridged Digital Audio
ISBN: 9781427205445
ISBN10: 1427205442
Audio Run Time: 6:00
$14.95

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Henry Holt and Co.
Times Books
September 2008
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429998109
ISBN10: 1429998105
208 pages
$10.99
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