Plain Speaking

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Look at the words of a President
Review: A compilation of interviews with President Truman originally intended for a television series, _Plain Speaking_ offers some interesting insights into the mind of Harry S Truman. I'm not sure this is necessarily a good thing, as Truman was a man of strong convictions who had little patience for those with opposing views, based on his own words.

That doesn't hurt the book, however, as presumably the reader is looking to learn more about what drove Truman. But Merle Miller's severe case of hero-worship of the President does tend to get grating, as it would appear, based on this book, that Miller believes the country would have been better off to elect Truman President-for-Life, because he apparently could do no wrong, and Miller wants to be sure the reader understands this. Miller's hagiography aside, however, the book's primary focus remains on Truman's words, and those are well worth reading.

You may not consider Truman a great President or even a great man after reading _Plain Speaking_, but it will be hard not to respect Truman's willingness to say what he thought. Anyone looking to understand Harry Truman should start here, to hear things in his own words.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Look at the words of a President
Review: A compilation of interviews with President Truman originally intended for a television series, _Plain Speaking_ offers some interesting insights into the mind of Harry S Truman. I'm not sure this is necessarily a good thing, as Truman was a man of strong convictions who had little patience for those with opposing views, based on his own words.

That doesn't hurt the book, however, as presumably the reader is looking to learn more about what drove Truman. But Merle Miller's severe case of hero-worship of the President does tend to get grating, as it would appear, based on this book, that Miller believes the country would have been better off to elect Truman President-for-Life, because he apparently could do no wrong, and Miller wants to be sure the reader understands this. Miller's hagiography aside, however, the book's primary focus remains on Truman's words, and those are well worth reading.

You may not consider Truman a great President or even a great man after reading _Plain Speaking_, but it will be hard not to respect Truman's willingness to say what he thought. Anyone looking to understand Harry Truman should start here, to hear things in his own words.

Rating:
Summary: Blunt, Honest and Right on the Money: Truman Tells All
Review: During the height of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, a rock group put out a hit song, "America Needs You, Harry Truman." Then, as now, people wistfully wished for a president like "Give 'em Hell, Harry."

Miller's oral biography will show you why. Truman didn't pull his punches when he told you how the cow ate the cabbage. He's blunt, honest, and right on the money.

"I wouldn't kick a friend who was in trouble, no matter what it might do to win me votes," he says at one point. Such a high degree of loyalty and ethical conduct is truly refreshing to read, especially in this day of media-saavy, image-conscious -- and often plastic -- professional politicians.

As the song says, "Harry, come back and save the land you love." This book should be required reading for presidential candidates, and one hopes they would follow Truman's example of integrity and old-fashioned values.

Rating:
Summary: A One of a Kind Biography of a President!
Review: Harry Truman late in life telling it like it was. Here is Harry Truman speaking his mind and speaking the truth about politics and history. Through a series of interviews conducting by Miller, we see the true and great Harry S. Truman, the last regular person to be President. I especially enjoyed Truman's views on the Chinese Nationalists (Chiang Kai-shek) and on MacArthur and Eisenhower. A Great book. If Harry Truman is not your favorite President after reading this book, you might be from another planet. A Great read!

Rating:
Summary: False quotations discredit fascinating account
Review: Having just read another biography of Truman, I was reminded of Plain Speaking and of the newspaper articles a year or two ago which discredited this book. An historian actually checked out some of the most colorful quotations attributed to Truman by Miller and found Miller had either altered the real Truman statements or dressed them up to make them more colorful. The historian listened to Miller's own tapes - which are, as I recall, at the Truman Presidential library - and was astonished at what he found. He had no agenda to discredit Miller; he had initally simply wanted to hear Truman's voice making the statements and to also gather fuller context. So, while most of what Miller recorded is accurate, the intellectual dishonesty of manufacturing quotes is unforgiveable.

Rating:
Summary: I'm Usually Not a Harry Truman Fan, But...
Review: I'm not a Harry Truman fan but PLAIN SPEAKING:AN ORAL BIOGRAPHY OF HARRY TRUMAN is sensational!!! President Harry Truman was a bit of a hothead--it wasn't necessary for him to drop atomic bombs on Japan--and Truman never got over the public's love of Dwight Eisenhower, but even so this "oral biography" of Harry Truman is sensational!

I first read PLAIN SPEAKING while in college taking an English class over years ago, and it's still a book I think about often. Why? Well, like Theodore Roosevelt before him, Harry Truman was dead square, a President who you didn't have to guess where he stood--he'd let you know!

Merle Miller is pretty interesting himself, and his insight as a midwesterner--"I moved away from Iowa to get away from people like him (Truman)" is funny and fascinating. Miller does a super job with details like describing Truman's childhood, and even discusses Truman's ideas about morality like "the things that ruin a man." And Miller doesn't shy away from asking Harry Truman about The Bomb, and even suggests at the end of one chapter that while Truman may not have done any major second guessing about The Bomb, he "had obviously given the matter a lot of thought."

So what made Harry Truman special? CHARACTER!!! Merle Miller brings that out loud and clear! Truman wasn't fancy, but he got the job done, and without a lot of confusion about whether he was involved in covert operations overseas, bugging the White House, or soliciting sex from his female employees! (In fact, Miller suggests that Truman's knowledge of women was limited to his sisters, his wife, and his mother!)

As you read PLAIN SPEAKING, Merle Miller gradually becomes a Harry Truman fan, and so will you!

Chari Krishnan RESEARCHKING [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Most Under-rated President in American History
Review: Merle Miller takes us through a "blow-by-blow" account of actual conversation with not only Mr Truman, but with those close to him. From his times as a businessman during the Depression thru his times as a judge, on to his appoiintment as Senator, right on to the Presidency itself. It changed my life!

Rating:
Summary: a strange book
Review: Shipwrecked at my parents' (without my own stuff), I have been time-travelling in their library. This is an odd gem -- originally conceived as a David Susskind TV show, then printed as a Watergate antidote -- and a compelling read.

I can't speak to the issues of authenticity on this quote here and that quote there. Most in my generation formed their opinions of Truman during the Cold War, which forced us to pigeon-hole the man in categories that have not withstood the test of time.

Was he ready to become President in 1945? I think this book will convince you that he was, that this country was well-served by Roosevelt's peculiar anointing.

Truman didn't like Ike. He never forgave him for not defending George Marshall from the McCarthyites; plus, Ike cut Truman completely out of the loop (as FDR did Hoover). This was a personal thing, and Truman carefully avoids undercutting the policies of his successors.

Truman was a student of the Presidency. He held the office in high regard. In this fact lies the secret of his stepping into FDR's shoes, swiftly and with assurance. Quite an original.

Rating:
Summary: A Historical Masterpeice
Review: This was a very good book. This book outlines how a man of very humble beginnings became the President of the United States. One of the more interesting parts was Truman's rise from a machine politician to a national figure. Also,I found amazing some of the historical roads that Truman had a role in traveling. His shaping of the world after World Wat II through the Marshall Plan was very readable. His role with Israel was also very noteable. His firing of General Mcarthur was laid out in great detail. I also liked reading his feelings and opinions about various political figures that we have come to know. Before this book I didn't have an opinion about Truman. After I read this book I became mightily impressed with Harry Truman. An excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Entertaining, and highly inaccurate
Review: When I first read "Plain Speaking" over fifteen years ago, I immediately thought that it was one of the best and most entertaining political books I'd ever read. And if I had to rate "Plain Speaking" on the sheer delight you get from reading it, I'd easily give it six stars instead of five. Unfortunately, recent research by historians at the Truman library has revealed that at least some of Truman's statements in "Plain Speaking" were never spoken by Mr. Truman, but were entirely the products of Merle Miller's imagination. As a result, while "Plain Speaking" is still a wonderful read if you've got a few free hours, it is no longer taken as serious "history" by researchers and historians. "Plain Speaking" isn't really a history of Truman, instead it is an "oral biography" of the man, presumably spoken in Truman's own words. Merle Miller, a veteran journalist, visited the ex-President in 1962 and did a series of interviews with him. His hope was that he could sell these interviews to a TV network. But since no network ever bought the rights, in 1973 Miller simply printed the interviews and turned them into this bestselling book. Miller clearly admired Truman, and as a result his questions are often partisan and/or favorable - Miller is certainly no Sam Donaldson or Connie Chung when it comes to doing "tough" interviews! In one question Miller asks Truman "Are they {the Republicans} just stupid?", and Truman gives a typically partisan response. Even so, many of Truman's replies to Miller's questions are delightfully blunt and laugh-out-loud funny: "I didn't fire General MacArthur because he was a dumb son-of-a-*****, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals...", etc. It's hard not to admire Truman and find him to be a refreshing change from the modern politician who calculates every word and lies constantly. But it is difficult to forgive Miller for simply "making up" many of Truman's quotes from his imagination, and Truman himself wrote a rather pitiful letter to Miller complaining about Miller's "inaccuracies" in quoting him. The fact that Miller ignored Truman's complaints and went ahead with this book's publication - and then presented himself as one of Truman's greatest admirers - leads me to give "Plain Speaking" no more than three stars. I suspect that Truman himself would be appalled by how Miller passed this book off as an accurate portrait of what he said in the interviews. "Plain Speaking" is a great read, but as accurate history it is sadly lacking, and the reader should always keep this in mind.