The Watchdog
How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two
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*WINNER OF THE 2024 HARRY S. TRUMAN BOOK AWARD*
The story of how a little-known junior senator fought wartime corruption and, in the process, set himself up to become vice president and ultimately President Harry Truman.
Months before Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that the United States was on the verge of entering another world war for which it was dangerously ill-prepared. The urgent times demanded a transformation of the economy, with the government bankrolling the unfathomably expensive task of enlisting millions of citizens while also producing the equipment necessary to successfully fight—all of which opened up opportunities for graft, fraud and corruption.
In The Watchdog, Steve Drummond draws the reader into the fast-paced story of how Harry Truman, still a newcomer to Washington politics, cobbled together a bipartisan team of men and women that took on powerful corporate entities and the Pentagon, placing Truman in the national spotlight and paving his path to the White House.
Drawing on the largely unexamined records of the Truman Committee as well as oral histories, personal letters, newspaper archives and interviews, Steve Drummond—an award-winning senior editor and executive producer at NPR—brings the colorful characters and intrigue of the committee’s work to life. The Watchdog provides readers with a window to a time that was far from perfect but where it was possible to root out corruption and hold those responsible to account. It shows us what can be possible if politicians are governed by the principles of their office rather than self-interest.
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NPR senior editor Drummond debuts with a robust examination of Harry Truman's efforts to fight corruption, fraud, and waste as the American economy shifted into high gear before and during WWII. "Virtually unknown" outside his home state of Missouri, then Senator Truman recognized the need for oversight after investigating complaints about a new army camp being built in the Ozarks. He next made an inconspicuous tour of military sites in several other states ("just a small man in a nice suit and a crisp fedora, wandering around and taking notes"), where he saw the same "waste, inefficiency, incompetence, profiteering." After obtaining President Roosevelt's approval, Truman launched the Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in March 1941. Drummond packs the narrative with juicy tidbits from the committee's more explosive hearings, and details dustups within the Democratic Party as it issued one damning report after another. Peppered throughout are excerpts from Truman's letters to his wife and daughter, which shed a tender light on his rise to national prominence. Though Drummond slips into hagiography at times, he makes a convincing case that the Truman Committee showed "what could be accomplished by honest, aggressive, bipartisan inquiry aimed at protecting the public interest." It's a spirited and thorough reconsideration of Truman's legacy. Photos.
