Truman

by David McCullough

I rarely end up with many notes from audiobooks. A few scattered impressions.

Truman read constantly, even as a kid. The Bible, Shakespeare, Plutarch. He played the piano - page 61 lists pieces and composers (Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg). He was kind of racist, being of the opinion that “negroes should be in Africa, yellow men in China, and white men in Europe and America” (86). Dapper, drove a fancy car, ran a haberdashery after WWI. A hard worker with the gift of gab.

Born in 1884, he was in his thirties in WWI, when he served as a field artillery officer.

He was part of the political machine run by “Boss” Tom Pendergast in Kansas City. Although this became a political liability, Truman was loyal to those who had helped him.

When running for reelection, he went on an extended train tour of a large part of the country. Those on the train could see the reaction of people to Truman, but reporters completely dismissed him and thought Dewey was a shoe-in. Reminds me of Trump in 2016.

He kept a good humor no matter what personally stresses he was under. I admire this.