Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure

Overview

A unique and stately journey captured

From Missouri to New York and back again, this recounting of an amazing journey chronicles the road trip of a former president and his wife and their amusing, failed attempts to keep a low profile. Diners, bellhops, and cabbies shouted out “Hiya, Harry!†whenever they recognized the former president, and, out for his daily constitutional on the streets of New York, Harry even stumbled into the sidewalk shot of the newly launched Today show. Along the way there are brief detours into relevant topics, such as the postwar American auto industry, McCarthyism, the development of the nation’s highway system, and the decline of Main Street America. By the end of the 2,500-mile journey, readers will have a new and heartfelt appreciation for America’s last citizen-president.

Reviews

"With deliberate detours, this book is a portal into the past with layers of details providing unusual authenticity and a portrait of the president as an ordinary man." —Publishers Weekly

"Matthew Algeo recalls [my grandparents'] memorable trip beautifully and with the sense of humor it deserves." —Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of Harry S. Truman

"Enlivened by Algeo"s endeavors to see the places where Truman stopped, this is an engaging historical sidebar." — Booklist Online

"An engaging account . . . Well-researched." —Wall Street Journal

"Combines . . . history with the ever-popular road book, researching, duplicating, and reporting in detail on the last trip the Trumans took, driving their new Chrysler to Washington, and back to Independence." —Max J. Skidmore, author, After the White House: Former Presidents as Private Citizens

"Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure resonates Aaron Copeland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man'—brassy, bright, energetic, brief and declaratively American." —Washington Times

"Algeo has done a first-rate job of piecing together the trip . . . a fascinating reading experience." —Jackson Free Press

"Charming and engrossing." —Riverfront Times

Author Biography

Matthew Algeo is a public radio reporter and the author of Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles—“The Steaglesâ€â€”Saved Pro Football During World War II.