Customer Reviews

Famous Americans: Story of Harry S Truman [VHS]

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In this tape, the concentration is on the time Harry S. Truman was president. There is a little background on his life in Missouri, almost exclusively as an adult but it basically begins when Truman was selected as a compromise for vice-president on the Democratic ticket in 1944. There is nothing about his actions as a senator or as vice-president; the story really begins on the day Franklin Roosevelt died.
What is emphasized is the humble strength of the man, how Truman managed to remain a man with humble roots from Missouri yet walk tall and tough on the world stage. Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill dismissed Truman as a secondary figure when the three of them met at Potsdam, students of history will look on with understanding at the video of Joseph Stalin sitting at the conference table almost arrogantly smoking a cigarette.
From that point on, the crises just kept coming with strong, measured and effective responses from Truman. There was the Truman Doctrine of aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent communist takeovers, the massive Marshall Plan of aid to western Europe that brought half a continent back from the brink of despair, the measured response of the Berlin airlift, and the decision for military action against the communist forces in Korea. Finally, there were some of his other actions, the desegregation of the U. S. military and the firing of General Douglas MacArthur.
Unpopular while in office, Harry S. Truman has consistently been ranked in the top ten of all-time greatest presidents, he did more to achieve the United States victory in the Cold War versus the Soviet Union than any other president. No person can watch this tape and not be impressed by how good a man and president he was. The United States was lucky that this accidental president was the right man at the right place at the right time.

Along with Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman was probably the most important president of modern times. Truman's policies had a huge impact on our nation. Some of those policies still impact our nation today. The fall of communism and its aftermath, the atomic age, the way the United States deals with less fortunate nations, as well as the way it deals with aggression by and from other nations, the civil rights struggle -- all of these things were begun or set in motion during the Truman administration.

This particular video gives a fine general overview of the events in which Truman had a direct role (the Berlin Airlift, the dropping of the atomic bomb, the Marshall Plan, the firing of General MacArthur, etc.). However, like so many other videos dealing with Truman and his times, it doesn't delve enough into the actual speeches that the man made. While Truman was not the most eloquent or charismatic speaker in the world, students of American history, such as myself, need to hear his actual voice and see his bodily movements. Those things are what make Truman real and show what he was like as a human being, as opposed to being a name and a photograph in a history book. Not one video has come out that has accomplished this, in my opinion.

Various pertinent film clips are shown while a narrator recounts the events and mood of the time. This narrator also makes it clear how important a president Truman was. I agree with him but, again, I want to see more clips of Truman's speeches. I don't want someone to tell me his opinions of Truman or his policies. I want to make up my own mind. There should be one video source where a person can go to have nothing but the important speeches Truman made (and there were many) in their entirety.

This video, like so many other videos dealing with President Truman, falls short.