Book Review: "Harry Truman--by Margaret Truman"; Or why prosecution of war profiteers is important

At a flea market recently I picked up the biography of Harry Truman by his daughter Margaret Truman. The critics have always dismissed these type of biographies as light weight "puff" books that are not worth much. I did not expect much. I have been pleasantly surprised.

You may remember that Harry Truman owed his rise to fame as the chairman of The Truman Commission, the committee that investigated and prosecuted war profiteers during World War II. The findings of his committee were sensational for the time.

One passage in the book struck me; " My father, watching the mushroom growth of army-camps, the multiplication of battleships and merchant ships, the retooling of thousands of factories for war work, became more and more worried about this vast national effort. He feared it would either collapse into chaos, or produce mass disillusion, when its inevitable corruption and mismanagement was revealed to a shocked public. He knew from his memory of World War I days, that this was what had happened in the early 1920,s. Congress had waited until after the war to start digging into the contracts between the government and businessmen, and the stench that emerged had played no small part in creating the cynical amoral mood of the twenties."(Pp.138)

When I was a youngster in the 1950'a, I discovered that the basement of the apartment building that my grandmother owned was used as a "speakeasy" during the 1920's. Liquor was illegal during those days, so I needed some detail. My parents and grandparents provided no detail on any of the fun of the roaring 20's. I needed some history books to fill me in.

Anyway, call me pretty naive, but I never have seen a writer use cause and effect to describe WHY the prosecution of corruption DURING a time of war is so important. We are being set up with news stories at the present time that are telling us that...well....reconstruction of Iraq is going poorly...in fact all the money has been disappearing?.......

Is the moral chaos of the 1920's just around the corner? Do you know how to dance the charlston? Where is Harry Truman when we need him?

I leave it up to you. You make the call.