Talking with Harry: Candid Conversations with President Harry S. Truman / Edition 1

by Ralph E. Weber, Ralph Edward Weber

Overview

In his eight years as president from 1945-1953, Harry S. Truman made some of the most important decisions in U.S. history, particularly in foreign policy matters. This book contains transcripts of conversations with Truman from taped interviews in 1959. The probing questions and straightforward answers cover a wide variety of domestic and foreign policy issues ranging from civil rights in the South to using the atomic bomb on Japan. This book provides a vivid portrait of Truman, 'warts and all.' Through his answers to questions, the threads of his political loyalty, bluntness, frustration, decency, thrift, humanity, and humor become a tapestry of his presidential character. His intense pride and manner surface especially as he explains bitter political and domestic controversies, as well as foreign policy decisions. These interviews reveal Truman's bedrock foundation of deeply held political beliefs as he gives thoughtful answers to queries about major political issues. In addition, he discusses American presidential history; Congressmen such as Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson; Supreme Court Justices; and dozens of other well-known political leaders, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Adlai Stevenson, and John F. Kennedy. In similar fashion, he describes numerous foreign leaders, including Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Winston Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek. Evident as well is his firm loyalty to the United States, his family, his friends, and the Democratic Party. Truman also divulges some of his personal dislikes, particularly of political opponents such as Richard M. Nixon and, for over a decade after 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, his personal resentments are more than matched by his fair-minded judgments of former President Herbert Hoover, American farmers, laborers, and racial groups. Discovered by Ralph Weber at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, the interviews were originally to be used as background for Truman's book, Mr. Citizen (1960), but most of Truman's obs

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780842029216
Publisher:	Scholarly Resources, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	388
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 8.94(h) x 1.01(d)

About the Author

Ralph E. Weber is professor of history at Marquette University.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xi
	Editor's Note	xv
	Prologue: The Atom Bomb	1
Session 113
Session 221
Session 331
Session 443
Session 557
Session 665
Session 785
Session 8103
Session 9117
Session 10127
Session 11141
Session 12151
Session 13163
Session 14193
Session 15217
Session 16239
Session 17265
Session 18283
Session 19305
Session 20323
	Biographical Directory	341
	Bibliography	367
	Index	373

What People are Saying About This

Thomas E. Hachey

Talking with Harry vividly reflects President Truman's strong, confident, and independent nature and provides a compellingly candid, often entertaining, and frequently perceptive analysis of people and events during a critical era in American history. Ralph Weber has skillfully edited the reflective and revelatory ruminations of an American giant in a truly transformational era. Reading these commentaries is like eating cashews. Once you begin, it is very difficult to stop.
—(Thomas E. Hachey Executive Director for Irish Programs and Chaired Professor of History Boston College)

Walter LeFeber

Ralph Weber's fascinating discovery gives us the unvarnished Truman passing judgment on everything from Ancient Rome to nineteenth-century politics, dropping the atomic bombs, Adlai Stevenson ('he's a Republican and doesn't know it'), practices of New York City bankers ('an outrage, just an outrage'), and why Midwesterners eat beef well-done while Easterners like it rare ('only coyotes and predatory animals eat raw beef'). In addition, Truman reveals his immense affection for FDR and Earl Warren and his seething dislike for Dwight D. Eisenhower and many historians. These are unusually expressed opinions from a unique American political mind.
—(Walter LaFeber Noll Professor of History Cornell University)

Thomas G. Paterson

In these 1959 interviews, Truman reflects on history, the office of the presidency, partisan politics, and Cold War issues. Candid, quick to the point, and judgmental, Truman serves up unvarnished criticisms of Stevenson, Eisenhower, Nixon, and MacArthur, and he denounces the Russians as the 'worst barbarians' and Communist China as 'Frankenstein.' These well-edited conversations reveal Truman at his best-and his worst.
&3151;(Thomas G. Paterson Author of On Every Front: The Making and Unmaking of the Cold War)

Ben Procter

Talking with Harry: Candid Conversations with President Harry S. Truman is exactly what the title implies. In twenty oral history sessions in the fall of 1959, President Truman reflected upon his role in history-to the enlightenment and enjoyment of twentieth-century U.S. historians. These interviews cover the important decisions that confronted Truman, ranging from dropping the atom bombs to the enforcement of the Truman Doctrine to the removal of Douglas MacArthur. The ex-President also evaluates the principal national and world figures during his tenure in office as well as the major domestic and foreign problems that he dealt with. In short, these conversations are a 'must' for those who wish to understand this period ofAmerican history. We are deeply indebted to Weber for producing this record of a great American president. (Ben Procter, Texas Christian University)

Editorial Reviews

Talking with Harry vividly reflects President Truman's strong, confident, and independent nature and provides a compellingly candid, often entertaining, and frequently perceptive analysis of people and events during a critical era in American history. Ralph Weber has skillfully edited the reflective and revelatory ruminations of an American giant in a truly transformational era. Reading these commentaries is like eating cashews. Once you begin, it is very difficult to stop.

Thomas E. Hachey

In these 1959 interviews, Truman reflects on history, the office of the presidency, partisan politics, and Cold War issues. Candid, quick to the point, and judgmental, Truman serves up unvarnished criticisms of Stevenson, Eisenhower, Nixon, and MacArthur, and he denounces the Russians as the 'worst barbarians' and Communist China as 'Frankenstein.' These well-edited conversations reveal Truman at his best—and his worst.

Thomas G. Paterson

Talking with Harry: Candid Conversations with President Harry S. Truman is exactly what the title implies. In twenty oral history sessions in the fall of 1959, President Truman reflected upon his role in history-to the enlightenment and enjoyment of twentieth-century U.S. historians. These conversations are a ‘must’ for those who wish to understand this period of American history. We are deeply indebted to Weber for producing this record of a great American president.

Ben Procter

Transcripts of interviews with Truman taped in 1959. The interviews were originally intended to be used as background for Truman's 1960 book, <-->but in the end, most of his taped observations weren't included. Truman's answers cover many of the domestic and foreign policy issues he faced as president from 1945 to 1953, including civil rights in the South and the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan. He also discusses presidential history and his experiences with well-known political figures and foreign leaders. Weber (history, Marquette U.), who found the tapes at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, includes an introduction, annotations, brief bibliographies of the people Truman talked about, and a section of photographs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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