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Museum Store Company : The Finest Selection of Historic and Museum Jewelry, Art History Replicas and Museum Reproductions! Own a Piece of History...Give a Piece of History (tm) MuseumStoreCompany.com | |  | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths | Home » » » » » Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip | | | | | | | Description: | | On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito. In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman’s plan to blend in went wonderfully awry. Fellow diners, bellhops, cabbies, squealing teenagers at a Future Homemakers of America convention, and one very by-the-book Pennsylvania state trooper--all unknowingly conspired to blow his cover. Algeo revisits the Trumans’ route, staying at the same hotels and eating at the same diners, and takes readers on brief detours into topics such as the postwar American auto industry, McCarthyism, the nation’s highway system, and the decline of Main Street America. By the end of the 2,500-mile journey, you will have a new and heartfelt appreciation for America’s last citizen-president. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Matthew Algeo | | Hardcover:
| 272 pages | | Publisher:
| Chicago Review Press | | Publication Date:
| May 01, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1556527772 | | Product Width:
| 1.56 centimeters | | Product Height:
| 2.31 centimeters | | Product Weight:
| 0.01 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.1 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.1 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 88 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 88 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
80 of 84 found the following review helpful:
 RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "DAD... HARRY TRUMAN'S OUT IN FRONT. DO YOU WANT ME TO HAVE HIM MOVE HIS CAR?"Jun 16, 2009
By Rick Shaq Goldstein
"*SHAQ*"
This book is so uniquely fascinating it is in a class by itself! It combines historical political content and world news... it includes world events that President Harry Truman effected in an expertly sequenced presentation... it gives an unabashed look at the way *WE-THE-PEOPLE-OF-THE-UNITED-STATES* really were in the 1950's which was probably the last decade of true innocence. It gives an intimate look at the private being of one of the twentieth century's most influential characters... and it is *ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS*... in a humor that doesn't really revolve around any jokes. The humor is actually the unadulterated absurdity of a trip that not only is completely impossible to happen today... but probably impossible to ever take place in the rest of recorded time.
Former President Harry S. Truman... a mere few months after leaving office... decides to take a "road-trip" with his loving wife Bess in their new 1953 Chrysler New Yorker from Missouri to Washington D.C... to Philadelphia for his first post-Presidential speech... and then to New York for some sightseeing... and then back to Missouri. The reader will be made aware of some shocking doses of reality... which is what makes this so darn funny. At that point in time former Presidents were *NOT* provided with any secret service protection... and former Presidents got absolutely *NO* pensions. When Harry left the White House he had to get a loan in order to survive. "A chain of clothing stores offered him a job for a hundred thousand dollars a year as a "sales manager". The author chronicles the Truman's road trip in exquisite detail and you will chuckle out loud when the former Commander-In-Chief stops in small coffee shops and less than elegant hotels... and the response of everyday people... when after multiple double-takes... recognize the former President. Harry consistently shows why he was a President of the people. He shook hands with everyone... signed autographs... took his morning walks with reporters walking with him... and taxi drivers beeping at every corner yelling... "HI HARRY!" And of course Harry waved back. He would stop and pose for pictures with everyone once they were able to close their gaping mouths that had dropped open in shock. Here is a man walking down the street who had made the decision to drop "the bomb" during the war... desegregate the military... fire MacArthur... helped form the United Nations... and more... having a meal in a booth at the Princess Diner in Frostburg, Maryland. In addition... during the time encompassed by his trip... landmark news continues to occur that were ripple effects of his Presidency... such as the execution of convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Along with the folksy human side of Harry... the reader will be educated with Harry's true personal and political opinions regarding household names such as his feelings toward JFK then a young senator. "KENNEDY EMBODIED THE KIND OF ELITIST SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT THAT TRUMAN DESPISED. FURTHERMORE, TRUMAN NEVER CARED FOR KENNEDY'S FATHER, THE HAUGHTY AND OVERBEARING JOE KENNEDY, WHOM TRUMAN HAD ONCE THREATENED TO THROW OUT A HOTEL WINDOW FOR BELITTLING FDR." Harry also truly hated Richard Nixon.
The way Harry's former staff felt about him was eloquently displayed in a toast made in his honor by Dean Acheson who among other things said about his former boss: "AND WHAT WE ALL KNEW WAS THAT, HOWEVER HOT THE FIRE WAS IN FRONT, THERE WOULD NEVER BE A SHOT IN THE BACK. QUITE THE CONTRARY! HE STOOD BY US THROUGH THICK AND THIN, ALWAYS EAGER TO ATTRIBUTE SUCCESSES TO US AND ACCEPT FOR HIMSELF THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAILURE..."
Truman's favorite author was Mark Twain and he "kept a framed copy of his favorite Twain quote on his desk in the oval office: "ALWAYS DO RIGHT! THIS WILL GRATIFY SOME PEOPLE AND ASTONISH THE REST."
You will definitely be astonished by this book!
37 of 41 found the following review helpful:
A Most Excellent Read!Apr 13, 2009
By P. W. Johnston
In the age of paparazzi and the 24-hour news cycle, the thought of a U.S. president traveling sans security and often going unrecognized is simply astonishing. Matthew Algeo's account of the Trumans' trip is astonishing in its own right.
Constantly entertaining, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, HARRY TRUMAN'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE is an extraordinary book. Equal parts history and travelogue, Algeo beautifully paints a picture not just of the famously in love Harry and Bess, but of a rapidly changing America in the mid-20th Century. And by recreating the Trumans' journey himself, Algeo shows us just how much things have changed in the last half-century.
For a fascinating, truly unique read, I highly recommend this book.
23 of 27 found the following review helpful:
An excellent adventureMar 26, 2009
By Jos M. Hohmann
I was 11 years old when this trip took place, and yes, people actually did drive for "the fun of it" back then. The story was a nice mixture of life in the '50s and a look at Harry Truman's unique personality. Lots of Presidential and other trivia (from turnpikes to tailfins) await the reader, as well.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 NostalgiaSep 19, 2009
By Stephen T. Hopkins
If you've ever doubted that a decent book can be written about anything at all, give a chance to Matthew Algeo's book, Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip. Algeo describes a 1953 road trip that Harry and Bess Truman took from Independence, Missouri to Washington, on to New York, and back to Independence after Eisenhower became president. Harry did all the driving in a vehicle that's almost a character in the book: a black 1953 Chrysler New Yorker. Algeo retraced the Truman's route, and added a quirky dimension to the book by inserting his own experiences at some of the stops along the way, and what happened to some places in the intervening decades. This book presents a great image of 1953, with a decent dose of nostalgia, and personalization by the insertion of Algeo's current experience of this route. The pictures helped, mostly because every time I saw a photo Harry Truman's wide smile, especially when behind the wheel of the New Yorker, I found myself leaning into a grin of my own.
Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Bess rode shotgunApr 01, 2010
By J. Green
When Harry Truman left the White House in 1953 he returned to what he anticipated would be normal life in Independence, Missouri. That summer, however, he and his wife returned to Washington for a speech and decided to make it a road trip and drive themselves in his new Chrysler - no secret service, no reporters, no fanfare. Even though Truman left office with an abysmal 22% approval rating he was recognized and enthusiastically greeted at almost every stop. Police chiefs and sheriffs sometimes assigned protection while the Trumans were in their county and Harry was pulled over a few times. They stayed in motels and were hounded for autographs and photos by diners in restaurants, gas station attendants, and the press. Harry graciously obliged.
This is a fun little book (230 pages) that retraces Truman's route with numerous detours to explain the politics, geography, and social conditions of the time. Author Matthew Algeo also recounts his own adventure following the route - what restaurants and hotels are still there and what they're like now, what's replaced them, and his experiences visiting some of the same people who greeted Harry along the way (some even invited him to eat and spend the night in their homes). This isn't serious or heavy history - it's a light-hearted and short diversion - but it ought to be perfect summer or vacation reading. It's amusing and insightful and offers a window into a more quaint and friendly era.
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