The biography of Harry Truman was one of the most compelling stories in American history. Especially since Truman grew up in a small town in Missouri and fought an uphill battle all the way to the U.S. Presidency. His predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was arguably the most popular President in history, and he was thrust into the position of leadership while having to make some of the most difficult decisions in history regarding World War II and the newly invented atomic bomb. This isn’t a history lesson on Harry Truman, even though I think everyone should take the time to read about him; this is focused on the lessons I learned from Harry Truman’s life in his wonderful biography by the late David McCullough.
Action Over Indecision
Indecision is a fatal flaw many people deal with today, and it’s an even larger detriment to have indecision as a leader. The first lesson I learned from Truman is that no matter how chaotic things get, when every decision feels like the wrong one, you still make a decision and immediately begin to take action towards it. Indecision guarantees failure.
President Truman was keen on moving forward and not fretting during difficult situations. During the Korean War, when he received terrible news that his “End the War” offensive would fail and the Chinese communists would not surrender, he took action head-on and didn’t waste one second sulking or complaining.
“For the staff, watching him, the moment was extremely painful. Unquestionably, as he had said, it was the worst news he had received since becoming President. But then he seemed to recover himself, sitting up squarely in his high-backed chair. ‘We have got to meet this thing,’ he said, his voice low and confident. ‘Let’s go ahead now and do our jobs as best we can.’”
David McCullough
The plan to keep moving forward when situations become difficult can be applied to any adversity we face in life.
“Ted Marks would remember him everlastingly on the move. ‘If one thing did not work—he’d get into something else right away. He was never idle, always operating.’”
David McCullough
Like President Truman, when the going gets tough, just keep moving forward and take action.
Maintain Your Demeanor
When you get a new job or position, initially, you may feel imposter syndrome, like you are outmatched or don’t belong. In moments like this, Truman thrived in maintaining his demeanor and believing in himself that he was the right man for any situation.
When Truman first came to the Senate, people mocked his size, accolades, and small-town background. He had every right to have an inferiority complex, yet he put his head down and continued to outwork everybody.
In our lives, it is normal to have imposter syndrome when we feel out of place or find ourselves as the rookie. Truman teaches us not to forget that we belong, and everyone else was in our same position at some point. Work harder than everyone in the room and have the demeanor that you belong.
Live the Reading Life
In all my writing and reading of biographies and history, the thing that the majority of great people in history had in common was their passion for reading. They knew the value of reading and prioritized it in their lives. Harry Truman was no stranger to this. His cousin Ethel Noland would recall her cousin Harry being the most prolific reader she knew, always carrying a book with him and what they would call a “bookworm.”
It is harder than ever today to have a good reading habit like Harry Truman because we have distractions and temptations everywhere. Truman didn’t have a smartphone vying for his attention 24/7, but we should still see the benefits it gave Truman as a motivator to read more.
“In the evenings, he would turn to his books and become wholly immersed. ‘You could talk to him if he were reading and you wouldn’t get an answer.’ Indeed, Margaret could not recall her father sitting down quietly at home without a book in his hand.
David McCullough
A good way to have a reading habit like President Truman is to always have a book handy for when the opportunity arises to get a quick reading session in. Places like your nightstand, the office, and the living room are great locations to have a book you can pick up at any time.
You may be asking yourself how Truman gained this reading habit, and it’s a worthy strategy that all parents should implement, or even if you don’t have kids, you can implement it to improve your own reading. The strategy is to surround yourself with books.
“Matt and John Truman both wanted books in the house. John kept loose change in a tray from an old steamer trunk, to save for a set of Shakespeare. Harry would never recall being bored, ‘not once,’ he said, because ‘we had a houseful of books.’”
David McCullough
Just like Harry’s parents surrounded him with books growing up, you can surround yourself or your family with books so that when boredom hits, reading can become the default activity instead of picking up an electronic device or turning on the TV. Just like you should surround yourself with people you aspire to be like, surround yourself with things you want to participate in, and increase the friction of the things you want to avoid.
The Power of Adversity
Everyone wants to live a stress-free life, we want everything to work out exactly how we want, yet this type of life offers no growth. Growth requires adversity, and adversity as a young adult makes you grow up quickly. When Harry Truman left for France as a member of the U.S. Army to fight in World War I, he was still a boy, but returned as a man.
“More importantly, he was not the same man who left for France only the year before. The change was astounding. He had new confidence in himself. He had discovered he could lead men and that he liked that better than anything he had ever done before. He found he had courage—that he was no longer the boy who ran from fights—and, furthermore, that he could inspire courage in others.”
David McCullough
We don’t need to go to war to face adversity and grow, but we do need to be challenged. If our lives become too comfortable, we must present ourselves with our own challenges; this can be training our bodies, learning a new skill, or stepping outside of our comfort zone.
Ego is the Enemy
A great lesson from Truman is that ego will stop you from doing things the right way and for the right reasons. How often do we choose the wrong path simply to protect our pride? How many learning opportunities are missed because we were too embarrassed to say “I don’t know”? You’d be surprised how much people are willing to teach you and take you under their wing when you show humility and the desire to learn.
Truman took pride in never allowing his ego to get in the way of doing what was right for the country. Some politicians fear doing this because they will lose support or popularity, but the opposite happened to Truman; he was one of the few politicians who received support from the opposing party because they knew what kind of man he was.
The Republican Party decided to help Truman rather than make being President more difficult than it should be. They knew Harry would do the same for them. Gaining the respect of the enemy is the highest honor.
Even in his final days as President, Truman never allowed his ego to get the best of him and even though he felt that Eisenhower had switched sides on the Democratic party at the last minute and dealt a great blow to them, he still honored his successor and offered whatever support he could because he knew the fate of the country was the most important thing.
“With no hesitation or the least sign of bitterness, Truman immediately invited Eisenhower to the White House to discuss the turnover of power. He was determined, as he wrote to the general, to guarantee ‘an orderly transfer of the business of the executive branch.’ The gesture was unprecedented, and to those around Truman a vivid example of his ability to separate his personal feelings from the larger responsibilities of his office. He would do all he could to help the new President. He only wished someone had done as much for him.”
David McCullough
Harry Truman always put his ego aside for the greater good.
Integrity in Private
It’s easy to be honest when everyone is watching. What about if you knew you could get away with it? Ironically, because he wasn’t known for his honesty, Missouri political boss Tom Pendergast gave Harry some of the best advice on honesty. He lectured him that very few men stay honest if given the opportunity to cheat and get away with it. Harry took this lesson to heart when he became Jackson County judge and presided over paving the country roads throughout Missouri. This was a great opportunity for Truman to gain political power by awarding contracts to certain companies that would help him politically, yet he stayed honest and was fair in every dollar he spent. The funding was hard-working taxpayer money, not his own, to be used for political influence. This even went against some of his biggest supporters (Pendergast-linked companies), yet he still did the right thing. This takes an incredible amount of honesty when it would be so easy to get away with it while gaining an advantage.
This is what it means to be honorable: will you do the right thing when no one is watching?
Even before he was in politics, Truman displayed his utmost honesty. Alongside army buddy Eddie Jacobson, they opened a men’s clothing store. After a successful start, economic depression forced the store to close down, leaving Truman with substantial debt. Friends and family advised Truman to file for bankruptcy, as most defunct businesses do, but his values would not allow him to do this. He felt that he owed that money to the banks that had entrusted him with it, and eventually repaid it in full, down to the last cent.
This is the kind of honesty that is valuable, when honorable choices are made when no one is looking. When the easy way out would bring you no judgment, yet you still do the right thing.
The Power of Work Ethic
Finally, the most impressive lesson I learned from Harry Truman, which is something all individuals are capable of, is the power of a work ethic. There is absolutely no excuse not to have it; it’s the one thing you can do, regardless of your circumstances. You can be the President of the United States or be working a dead-end job for minimum wage, you can still work hard at it and do it to the best of your abilities. My favorite story is Truman’s reelection campaign, where he faces off against the heavily favored Thomas Dewey, who actually gave FDR a competitive race in the previous election compared to his usual landslide victories. Dewey was so heavily favored over Truman that he ran a very lax campaign, with victory believed to be a foregone conclusion.
“President Truman rode the Magellan for over 33 days across the United States to speak to and meet as many people as possible in order to win reelection. He was relying on the one advantage he had over everyone: the ability to outwork his competition.”
David McCullough
Truman did the opposite of Dewey, running a rigorous campaign across the country, shaking every hand and speaking to as many people as he could. He narrowly edged out Dewey, and many believe the difference was the extra work Truman put in. There were many circumstances when Dewey would not give hopeful spectators the time of day because he was too busy or felt it unnecessary since victory was in hand. This was his downfall.
This is the work ethic we should all strive for; the circumstances are irrelevant. We should have a work ethic in everything we do.
An Ode to David McCullough
Creator: Shawn Miller | Credit: Shawn Miller
The late David McCullough does an excellent job capturing Harry Truman’s life in full while simultaneously making a 1000+ page biography feel like an easy read. Never once did the readability of the book falter, and I spent many moments hoping for a small window of time to jump back into the life of Harry Truman. There are many more lessons to learn from President Truman; these are just the ones that resonated with me in my first reading of him. I hope to hear what some of the lessons you walk away with when reading Truman by David McCullough.
Truman’s life is proof that character sustains leadership. The lessons are there for anyone willing to study them.
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Book Ponder focuses on the incredible power of reading, and even though stand-alone articles like these are unique ideas, I like to credit any books that inspired or gave me the resources for the idea.
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