ABSTRACT
In 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt, caught between forces favoring James Byrnes and Henry Wallace, kept his counsel for a long time before finally turning to Harry S Truman, a man respected in the Senate but virtually unknown elsewhere, as a compromise. As for the big issues, Truman knew about as much as any other careful newspaper reader. The President's death caught Truman entirely by surprise. Truman's first memory was of laughter. His early family life sounds warm and happy. Truman's world view shaped itself first around the religion-of-the-deed he imbibed at home. His character was clearly active-positive. Truman entered the Presidency as a Roosevelt Democrat. He is most interesting in the final analysis for what he might have been. Had Truman grown up less sanguine, less full of laughter, more discouraged by the troubles he encountered, he might have made use of politics to palliate some inner bitterness.
