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When the Buck Stops With You: Harry S. Truman on Leadership

Published by the Penguin Group (USA) Inc., New York, NY, 2004. (292 pages.)

Author Alan Axelrod

ISBN: 1-59184-028-7

This book is the latest in a genre that best-selling author, historian and business writer Alan Axelrod has made his own—business advice gleaned from historic leaders. Axelrod’s previously published Elizabeth I, CEO and Patton on Leadership were BusinessWeek bestsellers. A more recent volume, Nothing To Fear: Lessons in Leadership from FDR (published in 2003) and now this latest book on Truman are similarly arranged, using quotes from these two memorable American presidents to illustrate important leadership lessons.

In When the Buck Stops With You, Axelrod uses a variety of original sources—Truman’s letters to family members, staff and constituents; speeches both before, during and after his presidency; memoranda to Congressmen and Cabinet heads, newspaper anecdotes, and Truman’s own diary and memoirs. Each example gives a slightly different insight to the man who steered America’s ship of state through the treacherous waters that brought an end to World War II and began the decades-long journey known as the Cold War.

For those unfamiliar with this period of U.S. history, a brief background will help explain the political, social and leadership environment Truman found himself in when Franklin D. Roosevelt died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945. Only 82 days earlier, Truman had come into the vice presidential position following FDR’s precedent-setting fourth term re-election. Roosevelt had selected John Nance Garner as vice president for his first two terms, but the two later split over what Garner viewed as FDR’s too-liberal policies. Roosevelt replaced Garner with Henry A. Wallace (his former Secretary of Agriculture—a key New Deal position). Ironically, during Roosevelt’s fourth campaign, Wallace was viewed by the Democratic Party as being too liberal, especially in light of Roosevelt’s waning health. Truman, viewed by many as a plain-spoken farm boy from Missouri, had garnered a good reputation serving in the U.S. Senate since 1935 and was chosen as Wallace’s non-controversial replacement.

The ten years Truman had spent in the Capitol, however, could not have prepared him for the role he would be forced into at FDR’s death. Axelrod emphasizes the kind of character-exemplifying decisions Truman made throughout his life that would help him lead the nation at such a perilous time. Truman, the last American president to serve without a college degree, dutifully left a budding career in banking when his family needed him to return and help run the farm. Truman, just as dutifully, volunteered for the Army when the United States joined in World War I, although his age (33) and bad eyesight could have easily earned him deferment. He saw heavy action at Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse –Argonne in France as the captain of a field artillery unit, where he learned what it meant to be a leader, and where Axelrod says, “he found he had an aptitude for leadership as well as an affinity for the responsibility it brought” (p.5).

After WWI, Truman and an Army friend opened a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri only to struggle as the business collapsed in the postwar recession of the early 1920s. Truman learned from his failure, as well as successes. He went on to garner a position in local politics, similar to county commissioner, where Axelrod says he “built a reputation for scrupulous honesty, selfless public stewardship, and skillful, no-nonsense management that was instantly and impartially responsive to the needs of the people.” (p.6) And he accomplished all this in a machine-politics town where graft and racketeering were common.

Farmer, soldier, business owner, politician, senator, even loving husband and devoted father; all these were roles that Truman filled skillfully, yet as he took over the reins of power at FDR’s death he had to recognize his unfortunate circumstances in this premier leadership role. He had met with FDR only twice in his 82 days of service; the president had never formally briefed him or in any way prepared him for this change. He had been told absolutely nothing about the Manhattan Project—America’s development of the atomic bomb--and while the war in Europe had almost been won, the war in the Pacific was still grinding on. Decisions would have to be made soon about this world-changing weaponry. All the other national and world leaders involved were on the “inside track” while he had been, and still was for most purposes, an outsider with only the outsider’s information. He was also in the unenviable position of having to fill the shoes of a nationally beloved hero. Roosevelt was practically worshiped by many Americans who viewed him as the savior that had pulled the country through the Great Depression and World War II.

“To say that Truman ‘rose to the occasion’ is a pallid understatement,” Axelrod says. “Following a great leader in a time of unparalleled danger, the new president became a great leader in his own right.” (p.9)

Throughout twelve chapters with such informative titles as “Set the Best Example,” “Do the Right Thing,” and “Use the Best Part of the Day,”

Axelrod gives vital examples to prove his point. Some of the key themes to Truman’s leadership lessons are the expected: defining and attaining worthwhile goals, creating consensus and common cause, making decisions and managing time. Others have a unique “Give ‘em Hell Harry” spin to them, like “riding the tiger” which details enduring, surviving and mastering your job; or “unstuffing the stuffed shirts” which is penetrating pretense (“i.e. cutting through the crap” per Axelrod.) The 156 different leadership lessons that the author assigns to various Truman quotes cover the gamut of objectives, obstacles and observations connected to the servant-leader role. Evidence Truman’s perception of this from a personal memorandum he wrote:

“…A great politician is known for the service he renders…No young man should go into politics if he wants to get rich or if he expects an adequate reward for his services. An honest public servant can’t become rich in politics. He can only attain greatness and satisfaction by service.” (p. 269)

Axelrod adds: “Service is the essence of all effective leadership. Looked at linguistically, this may seem a paradox. For service shares its linguistic root with servant, which would seem at the very opposite end of the spectrum from leader. Great leaders, like Truman, either refuse to recognize any such paradox or are simply undisturbed by it. For them, leadership and service are synonymous.”

Some Truman quotes appear to describe the mundane or the obvious, but Axelrod uses them to illustrate various leadership concepts. For example when Truman observes in his diary, “It seems there’s somebody for supper every night,” Axelrod details how very much is packed into any single day of the president’s life, and then uses this as a time management lesson. (p. 282)

More Truman-esque is this quote, “Nobody, not even the president of the United States, can approach too close to a skunk, in skunk territory, and expect to get anything out of it except a bad smell.” This was part of a conversation between Truman and his advisors concerning how to counter Joseph McCarthy’s Red-baiting Communist-accusing smear campaign. Axelrod uses the quote to remind leaders that “To remain effective, a leader cannot afford to use improper or unseemly methods to defeat the opposition, even if—indeed, especially if—these are the methods of the opposition itself. “ (p.245)

This book is an easy read and has beneficial, though not ground-breaking, advice for people in a variety of leadership roles—industry, non-profit, public service, education and family relationships. The book could be used effectively in a “Leadership Lesson of the Day” format for six or seven months, or the topics would make excellent brief discussion starters for leadership training programs. Most, if not all, the topics have been addressed in many other management textbooks and leadership how-to’s, but it is still very interesting to see how the author weaves in the historical thread. It is even more compelling to see how one man’s character and leadership principles, recorded in his own words, directed a nation at a very difficult time.

Reviewed by: Jan McCauley

Jan McCauley is an American history and government instructor at Tyler Junior College. She obtained her BA degree in journalism from Texas A&M University (1979), and her MA degree in interdisciplinary studies of history, political science and journalism from the University of Texas at Tyler (2002). She has spent the majority of her career in the marketing, advertising and public relations field. She may be reached for comments on this review at mccauley78@cox-internet.com

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