Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Tag Archives: harry s truman

Book review: The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman, the bomb and the four months that changed the world

By Paul Walter | Mon 18th February 2019 - 3:27 pm

While in Washington DC, I made a pilgrimage to the large “Prose and Politics” bookstore in Connecticut Avenue NW. As one would expect, it was bursting with political books. I would have quite happily walked away with an entire wheelbarrow load of books, if my airline baggage weight limit had allowed it. In the end, I bought one paperback, which was “The Accidental President” by A.J.Baime about Harry S. Truman’s first four months as President in 1945. I was not disappointed. It is a brilliant book – a real page turner. By coincidence, Harry Truman lived with his family from 1941 until 1945 (including for the first few days of his Presidency) at 4701 Connecticut Avenue, which I passed on my way to the bookshop.

Harry Truman took over as US President in the most extraordinary circumstances. A.J.Baime quotes a Boston Globe reporter who wrote that Truman’s elevation to Vice Presidential candidate in 1944 was “one of the most amazing stories in American democracy”, adding:

It is the story of an average man, swept to dizzy heights against his will, a little bewildered by it all and doubting whether it is really true.

Continue reading »

Posted in Books | Also tagged hiroshima and usa | 5 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

A plea from a member – more ambition and less equine pacification please… (Nick Baird)
Will the real Green party that cared about people and planet please stand up? (Kobe Bibbon)
We need better conversations on AI and the environment (Josh Matthews)
How to spot a Racist (Ben Rich)
Councils must help music – so music can help their communities flourish (Charlie Clinton & Josh Matthews)

Advert

Recent Comments

Nick Baird
The problem in 2019 was "Vote Lib Dem, Get Jeremy Corbyn", as was being illegally fly-posted around Cheltenham on polling day.......
David Wright
The problem in 2019 wasn't that we were going to "rejoin the EU if we won", but that we were going to do so without another referendum first, something we'd bee...
Sarah
I am glad to hear that Charlie and others are pushing Ed for change. He’s ignored the stagnant polls and the frustration among MPs for far too long. He’s be...
Hywel
Well, looks like the first shots have been fired. Interesting fact, the leaders who led the Lib Dems to their previous two high water marks (Ashdown 97 and K...
Tristan Ward
"Badenochs ............ is now moving her party on economic and defence policy" To those criticising the party leadership 1 They have been talking about...