The makeup crew deserve a lot of credit for the fantastic job they did on Gary Sinese and Diana Scarwid, especially the aging. Both actors truly captured the spirit of Harry and Bess.
The program did not provide any basic background on Bess Wallace Truman, that she was actually far above Harry's station in school and in the community, but that he never wavered over many years of courtship in his plans to marry her. It was truly an extraordinary love affair. His step- mother, though, always thought Bess had married down, even when they were in the Whitehouse!
What an ordinary and yet extraordinary person Truman was. The show conveys some of this. I hope it inspires viewers to read more about him, both David McCullough's very readable bio and Merle Miller's wonderful Plain Speaking.
The campaign of '48 is perhaps the most interesting part from a contemporary perspective because Truman's descriptions of the Republican Party and Congress sound so much like today, but better articulated. While history doesn't always repeat itself, the GOP certainly does.
There are some inaccuracies in the film. The worst is the statement that Truman was going to join the Klu Klux Klan, but Pendergast dissuaded him. This is absurd because the KKK in Jackson County was "a Republican adjunct," according to Truman - they didn't support Democrats.
The one time Truman lost a campaign was because of KKK opposition: his 1924 campaign for re-election as county judge. He heard they were holding a meeting and he went: "I got up and told them exactly what I thought of them. Got down off the platform, walked right down through the center of them, and started home."
Now, that's Truman in a nutshell. Too bad Thomas Rickman didn't put it in the film.
The portrayal of his relation with Pendergast is sort of accurate. Truman awarded all of the road work contracts to the low bidder, as he said; the film suggests there was a $10,000 favor to Pendergast, which I don't believe. Truman said Pendergast never asked him to do a dishonest thing.
Pendergast did ask him to attend a meeting with paving contractors who believed they deserved the work because they were local. Truman told them he would award the contracts to the lowest bidders, regardless of whether they were local or out of state. Said Truman: "... afterward Tom Pendergast said to me that I was to go ahead and carry out my commitments as best I saw fit, and that is what I did." (P. 120, Plain Speaking.) They were good, solid roads, too, unlike some elsewhere.
Instead, Rickman seems compelled to play up the stereotype of the evil political boss, even if it means making up facts. What Truman did do was fill some patronage jobs with Pendergast boys, but that's politics. One of the finest things Truman did was attend Pendergast's funeral; it showed real character.
The film provides a good outline of the historical decisions he faced: Korea, Gen. MacArthur, Sen. McCarthy. And I am glad to see mention of his beef with Eisenhower over his treatment of Gen. Marshall.
The film makes an important point about the Bomb, that we already were able to kill as many or more people in cities with massive conventional bombing runs. And his little speech about how he couldn't face the families of soldiers later if he didn't use it was straight out of Plain Speaking, which is good.
It would have been nice to have had a scene where he ordered Gen. Marshall to allow the plan to rebuild Europe, which was really Truman's plan, to be called "The Marshall Plan," so called because it was presented in a speech by Marshall. Marshall didn't want the public attention, and Truman didn't want the plan politicized by having his name on it. It says a lot about Truman. And he brought President Herbert Hoover out of mothballs to help administer relief aid.
There is a lot of cynicism about politics today. Harry Truman was an exceptionally fine person who became a senator and president. He is an inspiration for politicians to speak their mind honestly and directly. In some ways, Joe Biden embodies those characteristics, but there are others in office, local, state and national, who are good, honest people.
Harry Truman showed that it is possible in politics to be honest and do the right thing, as you see it.
Note: HBO's Warm Springs, about FDR's battle with polio, was much better done. But then it covered a much narrower time frame.
The program did not provide any basic background on Bess Wallace Truman, that she was actually far above Harry's station in school and in the community, but that he never wavered over many years of courtship in his plans to marry her. It was truly an extraordinary love affair. His step- mother, though, always thought Bess had married down, even when they were in the Whitehouse!
What an ordinary and yet extraordinary person Truman was. The show conveys some of this. I hope it inspires viewers to read more about him, both David McCullough's very readable bio and Merle Miller's wonderful Plain Speaking.
The campaign of '48 is perhaps the most interesting part from a contemporary perspective because Truman's descriptions of the Republican Party and Congress sound so much like today, but better articulated. While history doesn't always repeat itself, the GOP certainly does.
There are some inaccuracies in the film. The worst is the statement that Truman was going to join the Klu Klux Klan, but Pendergast dissuaded him. This is absurd because the KKK in Jackson County was "a Republican adjunct," according to Truman - they didn't support Democrats.
The one time Truman lost a campaign was because of KKK opposition: his 1924 campaign for re-election as county judge. He heard they were holding a meeting and he went: "I got up and told them exactly what I thought of them. Got down off the platform, walked right down through the center of them, and started home."
Now, that's Truman in a nutshell. Too bad Thomas Rickman didn't put it in the film.
The portrayal of his relation with Pendergast is sort of accurate. Truman awarded all of the road work contracts to the low bidder, as he said; the film suggests there was a $10,000 favor to Pendergast, which I don't believe. Truman said Pendergast never asked him to do a dishonest thing.
Pendergast did ask him to attend a meeting with paving contractors who believed they deserved the work because they were local. Truman told them he would award the contracts to the lowest bidders, regardless of whether they were local or out of state. Said Truman: "... afterward Tom Pendergast said to me that I was to go ahead and carry out my commitments as best I saw fit, and that is what I did." (P. 120, Plain Speaking.) They were good, solid roads, too, unlike some elsewhere.
Instead, Rickman seems compelled to play up the stereotype of the evil political boss, even if it means making up facts. What Truman did do was fill some patronage jobs with Pendergast boys, but that's politics. One of the finest things Truman did was attend Pendergast's funeral; it showed real character.
The film provides a good outline of the historical decisions he faced: Korea, Gen. MacArthur, Sen. McCarthy. And I am glad to see mention of his beef with Eisenhower over his treatment of Gen. Marshall.
The film makes an important point about the Bomb, that we already were able to kill as many or more people in cities with massive conventional bombing runs. And his little speech about how he couldn't face the families of soldiers later if he didn't use it was straight out of Plain Speaking, which is good.
It would have been nice to have had a scene where he ordered Gen. Marshall to allow the plan to rebuild Europe, which was really Truman's plan, to be called "The Marshall Plan," so called because it was presented in a speech by Marshall. Marshall didn't want the public attention, and Truman didn't want the plan politicized by having his name on it. It says a lot about Truman. And he brought President Herbert Hoover out of mothballs to help administer relief aid.
There is a lot of cynicism about politics today. Harry Truman was an exceptionally fine person who became a senator and president. He is an inspiration for politicians to speak their mind honestly and directly. In some ways, Joe Biden embodies those characteristics, but there are others in office, local, state and national, who are good, honest people.
Harry Truman showed that it is possible in politics to be honest and do the right thing, as you see it.
Note: HBO's Warm Springs, about FDR's battle with polio, was much better done. But then it covered a much narrower time frame.