Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito.
 
In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman’s plan to blend in went wonderfully awry. Fellow diners, bellhops, cabbies, squealing teenagers at a Future Homemakers of America convention, and one very by-the-book Pennsylvania state trooper--all unknowingly conspired to blow his cover. Algeo revisits the Trumans’ route, staying at the same hotels and eating at the same diners, and takes readers on brief detours into topics such as the postwar American auto industry, McCarthyism, the nation’s highway system, and the decline of Main Street America. By the end of the 2,500-mile journey, you will have a new and heartfelt appreciation for America’s last citizen-president.
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Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito.
 
In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman’s plan to blend in went wonderfully awry. Fellow diners, bellhops, cabbies, squealing teenagers at a Future Homemakers of America convention, and one very by-the-book Pennsylvania state trooper--all unknowingly conspired to blow his cover. Algeo revisits the Trumans’ route, staying at the same hotels and eating at the same diners, and takes readers on brief detours into topics such as the postwar American auto industry, McCarthyism, the nation’s highway system, and the decline of Main Street America. By the end of the 2,500-mile journey, you will have a new and heartfelt appreciation for America’s last citizen-president.
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Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

by Matthew Algeo
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

by Matthew Algeo

Hardcover

$24.95 
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Overview


On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito.
 
In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman’s plan to blend in went wonderfully awry. Fellow diners, bellhops, cabbies, squealing teenagers at a Future Homemakers of America convention, and one very by-the-book Pennsylvania state trooper--all unknowingly conspired to blow his cover. Algeo revisits the Trumans’ route, staying at the same hotels and eating at the same diners, and takes readers on brief detours into topics such as the postwar American auto industry, McCarthyism, the nation’s highway system, and the decline of Main Street America. By the end of the 2,500-mile journey, you will have a new and heartfelt appreciation for America’s last citizen-president.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781556527777
Publisher: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date: 05/01/2009
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 9.22(w) x 6.24(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

About The Author

Matthew Algeo is a public radio reporter. His first book, Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles—"The Steagles"—Saved Pro Football During World War II, won the 2006 Nelson Ross Award for best pro football historiography. For more information, visit www.trumanroadtrip.com.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

1 Washington, D.C., Inauguration Day, 1953 5

2 Independence, Missouri, Winter and Spring, 1953 19

3 Hannibal, Missouri, June 19, 1953 39

4 Decatur, Illinois, June 19-20, 1953 57

5 Indianapolis, Indiana, June 20, 1953 75

6 Wheeling, West Virginia, June 20-21, 1953 85

7 Frostburg, Maryland, June 21, 1953 99

8 Washington, D.C., June 21-26, 1953 111

9 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 26-27, 1953 133

10 New York, New York, June 27-July 5, 1953 141

11 Pennsylvania (or, Abducted), July 5-6, 1953 165

12 Columbus, Ohio, July 6-7, 1953 181

13 Richmond, Indiana, July 7, 1953 193

14 Indianapolis, Indiana, July 7-8, 1953 203

15 St. Louis, Missouri, July 8, 1953 211

Epilogue 217

Postscript 227

Afterword 233

Acknowledgments 239

Sources 241

Bibliography 245

Index 257

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"One of the Best Books of the Year." —Washington Post

"An engaging account . . . Well-researched."  —Wall Street Journal

“Now, this is what’s called a road trip.” —In Transit, New York Times travel blog

"Matthew Algeo recalls [my grandparents'] memorable trip beautifully and with the sense of humor it deserves."  —Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of Harry S. Truman

"Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure resonates Aaron Copeland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man'—brassy, bright, energetic, brief and declaratively American."  —Washington Times

"Enlivened by Algeo"s endeavors to see the places where Truman stopped, this is an engaging historical sidebar."  —Booklist Online

“Algeo chronicles this unlikely excursion in great and wonderful detail. . . . [An] enchanting glimpse into a much simpler age.” —Library Journal

“An absolutely wonderful book.” —Virginian-Pilot

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