A Review by Monica West, Monica Reads
Harry S. Truman served as President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. He was sixty years old and Vice President when Franklin Delano Roosevelt died and the war and the country moved on according to the Constitution.
“The Trials of Harry S. Truman” by Jeffrey Frank reveals a very sociable man who loved to debate and loved the back and forth wrangling involved in political adventures. He was smart and social and loved to talk. Politics suited him.
He had been in the military and maintained the friends that he made from his time in the military. He had not been briefed by the President on what was happening regarding the Manhattan Project, the building of the atom bomb.
On April 25, 1945, Truman was briefed about all that was happening. Secretary of War Henry Stimson and General Leslie R. Groves talked with President Truman. They spent 45 minutes trying to explain the power of this new device as it had not been tested.
“The Trials of Harry S. Truman” needs to be read to appreciate the war time threats and fears and how it all played out by ordinary people living in a dark, secret, fearful time of a world at war about to end. You will greet and meet President Truman and his wife Bess and daughter.
You will meet people with names you already know and see how they interacted. This book is a personal glimpse of a time, place and real people who had the deaths of thousands on their minds and how they reacted.
I was amazed at how they lived and worked. Even today we are finding out different aspects of the men and women of that time. History comes alive and it is not what you might expect.
Go to the library and learn about this time in history. It well might help you make a little more sense of the times we live in. I am amazed we have survived as long as we have.
Monica West reviews books for InDepthNH.org. Monica is known for her love of history and her lifelong love for reading. She has a bachelor’s degree in History, with a minor in English. “My years of reading for leisure and pleasure have given me the insight to read a book and analyze the author’s baggage, cargo and ability to write the language of his/her mind and utilize the gift of prose to educate and entertain the reader. Go get a book, read it and enjoy the adventure.”
