This book is a provocative, forcefully argued, and thoroughly documented
reassessment of President Truman's profound influence on U.S. foreign
policy and the Cold War. The author contends that throughout his
presidency, Truman remained a parochial nationalist who lacked the
vision and leadership to move the United States away from conflict and
toward détente. Instead, he promoted an ideology and politics of Cold
War confrontation that set the pattern for successor administrations.
This study sharply challenges the prevailing view of historians who have
uncritically praised Truman for repulsing the Soviet Union. Based on
exhaustive research and including many documents that have come to light
since the end of the Cold War, the book demonstrates how Truman's
simplistic analogies, exaggerated beliefs in U.S. supremacy, and limited
grasp of world affairs exacerbated conflicts with the Soviet Union and
the People's Republic of China. For example, Truman's decision at the
Potsdam Conference to engage in "atomic poker" and outmaneuver the
Soviets in Europe and Asia led him to brush aside all proposals to forgo
the use of atomic bombs on Japan.
Truman's insecurity also reinforced his penchant to view conflict in
black-and-white terms, to categorize all nations as either free or
totalitarian, to demonize his opponents, and to ignore the complexities
of historic national conflicts. Truman was unable to view China's civil
war apart from the U.S.-Soviet Cold War. Belittling critics of his
support for the corrupt Guomindang government, he refused to negotiate
with the emergent PRC. Though he did preserve South Korea's independence
after North Korea's attack, he blamed the conflict solely on
Soviet-inspired aggression, instead of a bitter dispute between two
rival regimes. Truman's decision to send troops across the 38th parallel
to destroy the North Korean regime, combined with his disdain for PRC
security concerns, brought about a tragic wider war.
In sum, despite Truman's claim to have "knocked the socks off the
communists," he left the White House with his presidency in tatters,
military spending at a record high, McCarthyism rampant, and the United
States on Cold War footing at home and abroad.
