Harry S. Truman/Bibliography

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This Bibliography is a selective list of the more important scholarly works about Truman.

Historiography

• Ferrell, Robert H. Harry S. Truman and the Cold War Revisionists. 2006. 142 pp. excerpt and text search
• Geselbracht, Raymond. "Creating the Harry S. Truman Library: The First Fifty Years," Public Historian, 28 (Summer 2006), 37–78.
• Hartmann, Susan M. "The 1948 Election and the Configuration of Postwar Liberalism" Reviews in American History 28.1 (2000) 105-111 in Project Muse
• Heller, Francis H., ed. The Korean War: A 25 Year Perspective (1977), essays by scholars
• Heller, Francis H., ed. The Truman White House: The Administration of the Presidency, 1945-1953 (1980), essays by scholars
• Heller, Francis H., ed. Economics and the Truman Administration (1981), essays by scholars
• Kirkendall, Richard S. ed. Harry's Farewell: Interpreting and Teaching the Truman Presidency (2004) essays by scholars
• Kirkendall, Richard S., ed. The Truman Period as a Research Field: A Reappraisal 1972 (1974)
• Tull, Charles J. "The State of the Art in Truman Research," in William F. Levantrosser, ed. Harry S. Truman: The Man from Independence (1986), 1-31 aides. online edition
• Walker, J. Samuel "Recent Literature on Truman's Atomic Bomb Decision: a Search for Middle Ground." Diplomatic History 2005 29(2): 311-334. Issn: 0145-2096 Fulltext: Ebsco

Biographies

• Burnes, Brian. Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times (2003); popular biography; excerpt and text search
• Cochran, Bert. Harry S. Truman and the Crisis Presidency (19730, 432 pages; portrays a cynical courthouse politician
• Donovan, Robert J. Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1945-1948 (1977); Tumultuous Years: 1949-1953 (1982), good, detailed 2-vol political history by well-informed journalist
• Ferrell, Robert H. Harry S. Truman: A Life (1994), brief overview
• Fleming, Thomas J. Harry S. Truman, President (1993) for middle school audience.
• Gosnell, Harold Foote. Truman's Crises: A Political Biography of Harry S. Truman (1980)
• Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History. 2nd ed. 1996, 443–458. ISBN 0-684-80471-9
• Hamby, Alonzo L. Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman (1995), very well received scholartly biography excerpt and text search
• Hamby, Alonzo L. "Truman, Harry S."; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000
• Kirkendall, Richard S. Harry S. Truman Encyclopedia (1990)
• McCullough, David. Truman. . ISBN 0-671-86920-5 best-selling biography; Pulitzer Prize excerpt and text search
• Miller, Richard Lawrence. Truman: The Rise to Power (2002), critical evaluation emphasizing corruption of Pendergast machine

Foreign policy

• Appleman, Roy E. South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (June-November 1950) (United States Army in the Korean War) (1960); official U.S. Army history, online version
• Beisner, Robert L. Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (2006), 800pp; a standard scholarly biography; covers 1945-53 only
• Benson, Michael T. Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel (1997) online edition
• Blair, Clay The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950-1953, Naval Institute Press (2003) revisionist study that attacks Truman and top Army leaders for near-criminal incompetence
• Divine, Robert A. "The Cold War and the Election of 1948," The Journal of American History, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jun., 1972), pp. 90-110 in JSTOR
• Frazier, Robert. "Acheson and the Formulation of the Truman Doctrine" Journal of Modern Greek Studies 17#2 (1999), pp. 229-251 online at Project Muse
• Gaddis, John Lewis. "Reconsiderations: Was the Truman Doctrine a Real Turning Point?" Foreign Affairs 1974 52(2): 386-402. ISSN 0015-7120
• Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. (2005). 382 pp. excerpt and text search
• Hogan, Michael J. A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945-1954 (2000) excerpt and text search
• Ivie, Robert L. "Fire, Flood, and Red Fever: Motivating Metaphors of Global Emergency in the Truman Doctrine Speech." Presidential Studies Quarterly 1999 29(3): 570-591. ISSN 0360-4918 online edition
• Lacey, Michael J. ed. The Truman Presidency (1989), major essays by scholars
• Matray, James. "Truman's Plan for Victory: National Self Determination and the Thirty-Eighth Parallel Decision in Korea," Journal of American History 66 (September, 1979), 314-33. in JSTOR
• Merrill, Dennis. "The Truman Doctrine: Containing Communism and Modernity" Presidential Studies Quarterly 2006 36(1): 27-37. ISSN 0360-4918
• Offner, Arnold A. "'Another Such Victory': President Truman, American Foreign Policy, and the Cold War." Diplomatic History 1999 23(2): 127-155. ISSN 0145-2096
• Ojserkis, Raymond P. Beginnings of the Cold War Arms Race: The Truman Administration and the U.S. Arms Build-Up (2003) online edition
• Pelz, Stephen. "When the Kitchen Gets Hot, Pass the Buck: Truman and Korea in 1950," Reviews in American History 6 (December 1978), 548-55. Online at Project MUSE
• Pierpaoli, Paul G. Jr.; Truman and Korea: The Political Culture of the Early Cold War. University of Missouri Press, 1999 online edition
• Smith, Geoffrey S. "'Harry, We Hardly Know You': Revisionism, Politics and Diplomacy, 1945-1954," American Political Science Review 70 (June 1976), 560-82. in JSTOR
• Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards. The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, And the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (2006) excerpt and text search
• Wainstock, Dennis D. Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War (1999) online edition
• Walker, J. Samuel. Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan (1997) online complete edition; excerpt and text search
• Walker, J. Samuel. "Recent Literature on Truman's Atomic Bomb Decision: A Search for Middle Ground" Diplomatic History April 2005 - Vol. 29 Issue 2 Pp 311-334 fulltext in EBSCO

Domestic policy and politics

• Dean, Virgil W. "Charles F. Brannan and the Rise and Fall of Truman's 'Fair Deal' for Farmers." Agricultural History 1995 69(1): 28-53. Issn: 0002-1482
• Dean, Virgil W. An Opportunity Lost: The Truman Administration and the Farm Policy Debate. 2006. 275 pp. excerpt and text search
• Derickson, Alan. "'Take Health from the List of Luxuries': Labor and the Right to Health Care, 1915-1949." Labor History 2000 41(2): 171-187. Issn: 0023-656x Fulltext: in Taylor and Francis, Swetswise, Ingenta, and Ebsco
• Donaldson, Gary A. Truman Defeats Dewey (1998)
• Farhang, Sean, and Ira Katznelson. "The Southern Imposition: Congress and Labor in the New Deal and Fair Deal," Studies in American Political Development (2005), 19: 1-30; online edition
• Freeland, Richard M. The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism: Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, and Internal Security, 1946-48 (1989), revisionist
• Fried, Richard M. Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective. 1990. online complete edition; excerpt and text search
• Gardner, Michael R. Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks. (2002) 296 pp.online edition
• Hamby, Alonzo. Beyond the New Deal: Harry S. Truman and American Liberalism (1973), highly influential study
• Hartmann, Susan M. Truman and the 80th Congress (1971) online edition
• Heller, Francis H. Economics and the Truman Administration (1982) excerpt and text search
• Karabell, Zachary. The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election (2001) excerpt and text search
• Koenig, Louis W. The Truman Administration: Its Principles and Practice (1956) online edition
• Komarek de Luna, Phyllis. Public versus Private Power during the Truman Administration: A Study of Fair Deal Liberalism. Peter Lang, 1997. 253 pp.
• Lacey, Michael J. ed. The Truman Presidency (1989), major essays by scholars
• Lee, R. Alton. Truman and Taft-Hartley: A Question of Mandate. University of Kentucky Press, 1966 online edition
• Leuchtenburg, William E. The White House Looks South: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson. (2005). 668 pp.
• Levantrosser, William F. ed. Harry S. Truman: The Man from Independence (1986). 25 essays by scholars and Truman aides. online edition
• McCoy, Donald. The Presidency of Harry S. Truman (1984), standard scholarly survey excerpt and text search
• Marcus, Maeva Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power (1994) online edition
• Phillips, Cabel. The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession (1966), by a journalist who interviewed many key players
• Pierpaoli, Paul G. Jr. Truman and Korea: The Political Culture of the Early Cold War. University of Missouri Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8262-1206-9. focus on the homefront online review
• Ryan, Halford R. Harry S. Truman: Presidential Rhetoric (1993) online edition
• Theoharis, Athan. The Truman Presidency: The Origins of the Imperial Presidency and the National Security State (1979), revisionist
• Theoharis, Athan. Seeds of Repression: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of McCarthyism (1977), revisionist
• Thompson, Francis H. The Frustration of Politics: Truman, Congress, and the Loyalty Issue, 1945-1953. 1979. 246 pp.
• Vaughan, Philip H. "The Truman Administration's Fair Deal for Black America." Missouri Historical Review 1976 70(3): 291-305. Issn: 0026-6582

Primary sources

• Bernstein, Barton J., Ed. The Truman Administration: A Documentary History (1966); 2nd edition published as Politics and Policies of the Truman Administration (1970), revisionist
• Council of Economic Advisors, Economic Report of the President (annual 1947- ), complete series online; important analysis of current trends and policies, plus statistcial tables
• Ferrell, Robert H. ed. Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess Truman, 1910-1959 (1983)
• Ferrell, Robert H. ed. Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (1980).
• Merrill, Dennis. ed. Documentary History of the Truman Presidency, (1995- ) 35 volumes; available in some large academic libraries.
• Miller, Merle Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974)
• Neal, Steve. ed. HST: Memories of the Truman Years. (2003)280pp; long excerpts from 20 oral history interviews (some of which are online at the Truman Library site).
• Neal, Steve. ed. Miracle of '48: Harry Truman's Major Campaign Speeches & Selected Whistle-Stops (2003); 43 speeches
• Truman, Harry S. Memoirs 2 vol (1955). vol 1 online
• Truman, Margaret. Harry S. Truman. (1973). memoir by his daughter
• Truman, Harry S. The Autobiography of Harry S. Truman edited compilation of excerpts by Robert H. Ferrell (2002) excerpt and text search
• The Public Papers of the Presidents contain most of Truman's public messages, statements, speeches, and news conference remarks. Documents such as Proclamations, and Executive Orders

Others

• American Experience: Truman (2006), from PBS
• "Classic President Harry S Truman Films: 1945-1965 (2006) 40 newsreels, 101 minutes