A review by lakecake
Truman by David McCullough

5.0

David McCullough is a master, plain and simple. Who else could make a 992 page paperback biography compulsively readable? I knew essentially nothing about Harry Truman before reading this biography, and now I think he might be my favorite president. Truly a man of the people, who never let the highest office in the country go to his head, Truman made difficult decisions that would have crippled other men within the first four months of his presidency. While not all of his policies were popular during his time, most have been shown to be the right course of action in hindsight. His decision to use the atomic bomb to end World War II lay heavily on conscience, and because of that he was reluctant to ever use it again. Because of this, even with public outcry growing, he refused to use the atomic bomb or the newly developed H-bomb in Korea. Truman was a man of his principles, who put the good of the nation and the people who lived in it before the good of his own public image. I think all of our modern leaders could learn some valuable lessons about public service by following the example of Harrison S. Truman.