Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

Very fun book to read about one of my favorite Presidents. Makes the reader feel like you're getting details of grandpa and grandma's most recent trip, right down to the restaurants they visited and what they had to eat. Especially enjoyable was hearing of Bess' direction to Harry that he keep the speed down.

One very wonderful story about one of our greatest Presidents. A story about a President that will never happen again and confirms the way the man lived his life.

This book is so uniquely fascinating it is in a class by itself! It combines historical political content and world news... it includes world events that President Harry Truman effected in an expertly sequenced presentation... it gives an unabashed look at the way *WE-THE-PEOPLE-OF-THE-UNITED-STATES* really were in the 1950's which was probably the last decade of true innocence. It gives an intimate look at the private being of one of the twentieth century's most influential characters... and it is *ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS*... in a humor that doesn't really revolve around any jokes. The humor is actually the unadulterated absurdity of a trip that not only is completely impossible to happen today... but probably impossible to ever take place in the rest of recorded time. Former President Harry S. Truman... a mere few months after leaving office... decides to take a "road-trip" with his loving wife Bess in their new 1953 Chrysler New Yorker from Missouri to Washington D.C... to Philadelphia for his first post-Presidential speech... and then to New York for some sightseeing... and then back to Missouri. The reader will be made aware of some shocking doses of reality... which is what makes this so darn funny. At that point in time former Presidents were *NOT* provided with any secret service protection... and former Presidents got absolutely *NO* pensions. When Harry left the White House he had to get a loan in order to survive. "A chain of clothing stores offered him a job for a hundred thousand dollars a year as a "sales manager". The author chronicles the Truman's road trip in exquisite detail and you will chuckle out loud when the former Commander-In-Chief stops in small coffee shops and less than elegant hotels... and the response of everyday people... when after multiple double-takes... recognize the former President. Harry consistently shows why he was a President of the people. He shook hands with everyone... signed autographs... took his morning walks with reporters walking with him... and taxi drivers beeping at every corner yelling... "HI HARRY!" And of course Harry waved back. He would stop and pose for pictures with everyone once they were able to close their gaping mouths that had dropped open in shock. Here is a man walking down the street who had made the decision to drop "the bomb" during the war... desegregate the military... fire MacArthur... helped form the United Nations... and more... having a meal in a booth at the Princess Diner in Frostburg, Maryland. In addition... during the time encompassed by his trip... landmark news continues to occur that were ripple effects of his Presidency... such as the execution of convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Along with the folksy human side of Harry... the reader will be educated with Harry's true personal and political opinions regarding household names such as his feelings toward JFK then a young senator. "KENNEDY EMBODIED THE KIND OF ELITIST SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT THAT TRUMAN D

This is a very entertaining book, written in a breezy style, although the author obviously put a lot of work into researching and reenacting the Trumans' trip. Not only do you get the full story of the road trip, but the author takes you on very interesting digressions about life in the 1950s. Harry Truman comes across as the kind of guy you'd like to have take a long road trip with.

In the age of paparazzi and the 24-hour news cycle, the thought of a U.S. president traveling sans security and often going unrecognized is simply astonishing. Matthew Algeo's account of the Trumans' trip is astonishing in its own right. Constantly entertaining, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, HARRY TRUMAN'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE is an extraordinary book. Equal parts history and travelogue, Algeo beautifully paints a picture not just of the famously in love Harry and Bess, but of a rapidly changing America in the mid-20th Century. And by recreating the Trumans' journey himself, Algeo shows us just how much things have changed in the last half-century. For a fascinating, truly unique read, I highly recommend this book.

I was 11 years old when this trip took place, and yes, people actually did drive for "the fun of it" back then. The story was a nice mixture of life in the '50s and a look at Harry Truman's unique personality. Lots of Presidential and other trivia (from turnpikes to tailfins) await the reader, as well.