Truman (1997)

The American Experience documentary on our 33rd President. I’ve long been a fan of Truman, owing now doubt in part to the 1995 HBO produced bio-pic of the same name, staring Gary Sinise. However recently in a book of Gore Vidal essays I came across a more critical reading of Truman, in which ‘Give’em Hell Harry’ is cast as the primary enabler in the rise of the ‘National Security State’ and the start of post World War II American Empire. However its hard not to like Harry Truman, he didn’t set out for power, it was reluctantly thrust upon him, and in his small town, every-man American kind of can-do way, he was determined to “do my damndest”. If some of Truman’s policy decisions have impacted America in a negative way (as no doubt some have), I think its in the same vain as one documentary commentator described the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan, ‘this was a good, loving man, who did one of the most terrible things in human history’. I simply don’t sense malice from Truman, a little bit of naivete if anything (for example the initial liking he took to Josef Stalin at Potsdam), his heart was in the right place, and I think much of his legacy must still be counted as a positive one (such as racially integrating the armed forces, recognizing Israel, firing General McAruther before he started World War III, that kind of thing). This documentary is a good, largely informative discussion of the Presidents life, despite short comings like next to no talk about the establishment of the national security council, or how his exaggerated anti-communism only enabled the likes of Joe McCarthy, plus it didn’t even touch on the assassination attempt. All in all though, a good introduction or refresher on how one of the most unassuming of men changed the course of world history. 4 out of 5.