Dear Harry: The Truman Administration Through Correspondence with Everyday Americans. - Review - book review

Dear Harry: The Truman Administration Through Correspondence with Everyday Americans. By D.M. Giangreco and Kathryn Moore. Stackpole Books, 1999. 512 Pages. $34.95. Reviewed by Lieutenant Colonel Albert N. Garland, U.S. Army, Retired.

On 12 April 1945, following the death of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, former U.S. Senator and Roosevelt's Vice-President, became the 33d President of the United States. Truman was virtually unknown to most of the U.S. populace, despite his sterling work as chairman of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, popularly known as the Truman Committee.

In putting together this book, the authors selected "letters, telegrams, and postcards... almost exclusively from the files of the Harry S Truman Library in Independence, Missouri" to show how the people of the country reacted to the many major events that occurred during President Truman's nearly eight years in office. As such, this is not a scholarly history of that administration; it does offer, rather, a peek into the nation's soul, a peek offered freely by the people themselves. (The authors could have added that they used a number of inter-White House staff memoranda and the results of several special studies.)

The book is divided into 10 chapters, each dealing with one or several subjects, Only three of the chapters are used for a single subject: Chapter 6, the relief of General MacArthur; Chapter 7, the atomic bomb; and Chapter 8, The Korean War; although there is some overlap in all of the chapters, a good amount of the material on Truman's decision to use the bomb against Japan is in Chapter 10. (Giangreco has written on this subject in an earlier effort for a professional military journal.)

The authors have provided enough historical material in each chapter to explain the proper settings at the times decisions were made.

For some reason, perhaps for levity, the authors conclude each chapter, regardless of its contents, with a query concerning whether or not the annual egg roll at the White House, which had been discontinued in 1939 because of the outbreak of World War II, would be held, and an answer to those queries by a White House staff member. The answer at the end of each of the first nine chapters was No. At the end of Chapter 10, after the Eisenhower administration had taken over, the answer was Yes.

As one who lived through those times, I thoroughly enjoyed comparing my feelings at the time with those of my fellow citizens. Of course, I was in the military service during the Truman years and may have had a different view of the events as they unfolded. But I was convinced then, as I am now, that few of our presidents took office under more trying conditions or faced more serious problems both at home and abroad than did Harry Truman. His was an administration seemingly buffeted by crisis after crisis, and I believe he handled each at least as well as any of our succeeding presidents could have done. Many of Truman's decisions were criticized; in fact, most of them were, with negatives usually far outnumbering positives. In particular, his decision to integrate the armed forces and the Federal Civil Service in 1948 drew heavy criticism, as did his decision to recognize, in the same year, the new state of Israel.

But the most severe criticism came with his decision to relieve General MacArthur in 1951. Probably no Truman decision received as much criticism as this one, even though much of it had died down within six weeks. Here is one example: "One of the first telegrams to arrive at the White House was dispatched by a Phoenix, Arizona, department store owner and future Senator.... Simple and eloquent, it summed up what many Americans were thinking: 'How Stupid can you get?'" It was signed, Barry Goldwater. (I might say I agreed with the President's move.)

There are a few minor editorial glitches, which the authors have kindly called to my attention. These in no way affect the value of the book. But in one area I disagree with the authors' belief that Truman, in the years immediately following the end of the war in 1945, conducted a "dogged rear-guard action to minimize the impact of defense cuts." Just the opposite was true. Truman used his Secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson ("Louie Defense" to us) as a point man to gut the military services, thereby reducing the defense budget. It was not until the Soviets made their move against Berlin in 1948 that the administration's thinking changed. It was too late; we went to war in Korea with a poorly trained and equipped military force and paid a high price for the neglect.

Still, I recommend this book to you. It gives flavor to the times. It brings back memories of the many problems we faced after World War II, and how many were solved. But there were others that are still around; for example, Truman believed in some form of national health service. Each president faces and will face his own set of problems and his own crises. Truman's actions, reactions, and decisions present a good guide to follow.

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