Give ’em hell, Harry

It’s challenging enough to not remember President Harry S. Truman simply through the prism of “FDR’s successor”. It’s nearly impossible to not fall into the trap of discussing his role in ending the second World War and stumbling toward the Korean War. His terms in office so saturated with conflict, he is often quoted by Americans in pride as we reference his resolve and willingness to make, and live with, impossible decisions. But little is discussed of his other accomplishments, challenges, and failures.

Early in the 2020 quarantine, I read a great piece on President Truman by H. W. Brands, one of my preferred historians, titled The General and the President. Not solely focused on the 33rd President, it instead dives into the tumultuous, fractious relationship between Truman and General Douglas MacArthur. The two suffered through much together, disagreeing frequently and publicly, and Brands’ work is definitely worth your time.

Prior to that book, I hadn’t spent much time living with Harry Truman. The 20th century’s second interwar period hasn’t dominated my own studies like our fledgling country’s war for independence. But I absolutely enjoyed diving into the personal dynamic between these two titans whose legacies formed alongside our nation’s emergence as the dominant nation in the Western world.

So, since March 2020, I’ve been a little more attuned to the frequency of Harry Truman quotes. Including the other night when one of his lines sprung forth from the dialogue of a hit television show, seemingly penned for just this moment in our modern republic’s growth:

Considering the martial themes that bookend President Truman’s tenure, it’s not a stretch to think most would read these words and assume he was bolstering the spirits of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines heading to the far East. How often do we hear “Give ’em hell, Harry” and make the same jump? We are now so generationally removed from that event we can easily overlook the incident occurring in the 1948 presidential election and referencing incidents of opposition from Republicans.

Similarly, the quote above leaps at us not from a call to arms, but a rather (admittedly only by machismo comparison) boring economic report to Congress.

On January 8, 1947, Truman was tasked with delivering a special message to Congress on the President’s First Economic Report. If you click on that link it will take you to the website for Truman’s Presidential Library and you can dive into the nitty gritty with old 33. Assuming you may not want to travel down that particular rabbit hole, here’s the skinny:

In 1946, Congress passed the Employment Act geared toward placing the burden of economic stability and inflation management squarely on the shoulders of the federal government; implementing such tools as a council of economic advisors for the President and a Joint Economic Committee for Congress.

I’m not going to spend this post boring you to tears over the Employment Act of 1946. But let’s talk about seizing a moment.

Go back up, and re-read the quote on that graphic. What does it say to you? Does it spur an idealism in you? Does it make you want to march with Truman or against him?

Here’s Truman, in the afterglow of stunning victory over the Axis powers, and before becoming mired in the Korean peninsula pushing against the tide of a militant China. He’s in the midst of reporting to Congress that more people are employed in America than ever before (great news). But he’s doing it while announcing the first data set developed by new, untested tools. And in the second line of the speech he begins painting a rather grim picture:

“Yet in the minds of a great many of us there is a fear of another depression, the loss of our jobs, our farms, our businesses.”

What does he do? Does he dwell on this sense of doom and gloom? No – he gives us hell and reminds us of our national pride. Our quote from the graphic above is sentence 3. He reminds us we have a spine, we hold the keys to innovation and that our work ethic is unmatched. Chills.

This coming week, we gather as a nation to celebrate a peaceful transition of power in a ceremony that, while evolving drastically over the generations, holds the same promise it did when Jefferson assumed the reins of the executive on March 4, 1801. Much like that day in the beginning of a new century, President Truman had – and President-Elect Biden has – a moment to call us together.

Certainly we will continue our disagreements and squabbles. Undoubtedly this weekend and inauguration day will see sparks fly through the continued factional activity advanced by tribalism. But we have a moment to remember our founding principles and to live up to them.

We were not formed into a union through fear, but hope. We did not hide from our oppressors or traitors in the past, but rose to meet their challenge. We have not fallen comfortable in our success but striven generation after generation to reach new heights, including the heavens themselves. And always, we’ve put our shoulders to the wheel and accomplished the job at hand.

Go give ’em hell.