The Accidental President

The man nobody knew, dropped into the most chaotic year in modern history.

How I Ended Up Here

I was going to get a biography of Winston Churchill and ended up with this book. Some people don't read the backside of a book before they buy it — I apparently don't even read the front cover. 😂

I have this idea that I would like to read a biography of each American president, but I think the idea of having done it is more appealing than the process itself. 🙃

The Man Who Wasn't Ready

Truman was Vice President when Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. He was put in office in what might be the most eventful year of recent political history. Roosevelt was one of the most beloved presidents of all time and the only one to run for four terms. Truman had big shoes to fill — and no one really knew who he was.

A Reader From the Start

He started reading at age five and read a lot. He studied the heroes of history and was a fan of Plutarch — who I'm yet to read. As a child, he got a high fever from an infectious disease. There was no aspirin back then, so children with fevers were cooled by ice. The Truman family had no ice, so they covered him with snow. He became paralyzed for almost a year and spent all that time reading books. That's all he could do. This is how he started his political education, without knowing it.

The Weight of 1945

He gave the order to use the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Franklin Roosevelt's famous quote — "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" — belonged to a different era. Truman's era was about decisions no human should have to make.

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." — Oppenheimer, remembering lines from the Bhagavad Gita after the first test of the atomic bomb, codenamed "Trinity."