I agree that America got lucky in Harry Truman. He turned out to be a good man for the job. But there wasn't much in his previous experience to indicate that he would.
Another excellent analysis by Brands! Historical analogies are never (or rarely) exact, but in many ways Henry Wallace was the Bernie Sanders of his time.
To my mind, not enough is known, written or said now days about John Nance Garner. As a proud Texan and heir to the Democratic Convention that first nominated Cactus Jack as Vice-President, I believe he crystallized the reality of the office when he pithily described it, perhaps first sitting at the poker table in his suite in the Hotel Washington overlooking the Treasury Building with one of many glasses of bourbon in his hand.
Thank goodness for serendipity in American politics.
I wonder if President Biden in the coming Democratic Convention will send a letter to the Convention Chairman stating that if he were a delegate he would vote to re-nominate Vice-President Harris for another term while privately supporting Truman. But chance or Providence gave us Harry S. Truman as the 33rd President, whom I claim was the right person for the office at the right time.
The penultimate sentence should have read “I wonder if President Biden in the coming Democratic Convention will send a letter to the Convention Chairman stating that if he were a delegate he would vote to re-nominate Vice-President Harris for another term while privately supporting someone like Truman.”
I agree that America got lucky in Harry Truman. He turned out to be a good man for the job. But there wasn't much in his previous experience to indicate that he would.
Another excellent analysis by Brands! Historical analogies are never (or rarely) exact, but in many ways Henry Wallace was the Bernie Sanders of his time.
To my mind, not enough is known, written or said now days about John Nance Garner. As a proud Texan and heir to the Democratic Convention that first nominated Cactus Jack as Vice-President, I believe he crystallized the reality of the office when he pithily described it, perhaps first sitting at the poker table in his suite in the Hotel Washington overlooking the Treasury Building with one of many glasses of bourbon in his hand.
Thank goodness for serendipity in American politics.
I wonder if President Biden in the coming Democratic Convention will send a letter to the Convention Chairman stating that if he were a delegate he would vote to re-nominate Vice-President Harris for another term while privately supporting Truman. But chance or Providence gave us Harry S. Truman as the 33rd President, whom I claim was the right person for the office at the right time.
Errata
The penultimate sentence should have read “I wonder if President Biden in the coming Democratic Convention will send a letter to the Convention Chairman stating that if he were a delegate he would vote to re-nominate Vice-President Harris for another term while privately supporting someone like Truman.”