Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
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Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72  ·  rating details  ·  282 ratings  ·  105 reviews
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 Appl...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published May 1st 2009 by Chicago Review Press (first published 2009)
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Mahlon
Mahlon rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Nobody
Recommended to Mahlon by: Amazon
Harry Truman was an Ex-President before being one made you rich and famous. He left office in 1953 with no pension, Secret Service protection, or the prospect of being able to command exorbitant speaking fees on the rubber chicken circuit. He did get the expected book deal, but according to him, only netted $37,000. This may seem like a lot, especially in 1953, but evaporates quickly when you consider that Truman himself was expected to pay all expenses connected to his Ex-Presidency including $...more
Luke
Luke rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: People who really love H. Truman; folks from Missouri
Neither a bad book or an especially well-written one, but left me wanting more. Historical context is left lacking in favor of a grinding attention to detail (How much gas did the Trumans purchase? What did they order for dessert?), while the author's own stories of retracing the Trumans' route are at best gratuitous.

It is interesting to see what a popular reception Truman enjoyed on the trip, and the discussion of the finances of ex-presidents is also interesting. However, I would hav...more
Mrs. Foley
This is a very enjoyable book about Harry Truman and his wife and their cross-country road trip soon after his presidency was over. Really shows how things have changed!

Review from Library Journal:
In the summer of 1953, back in Missouri after leaving the White House six months before, Harry and Bess Truman loaded up their new Chrysler and headed out, like thousands of their fellow citizens, on a summer vacation. Public radio reporter Algeo chronicles this unlikely excursion ...more
David
David rated it 3 of 5 stars
offbeat book in which the author relives a 1953 post-presidential Harry and Bess Truman road trip driving from Missouri to DC and back. Stayed where they stayed, ate where they ate, etc. Reading experience was a little disjointed in that the ostensible digressions about people and places (ups and downs of Truman's relationships with Hoover and Ike; role of Truman in securing a pension for ex-Presidents; origins of the Interstate highway system; history of the Mason-Dixon line......) were often...more
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 ...more
Randy
Randy rated it 2 of 5 stars
Matthew Algeo really didn't have a book. Harry and Bess Truman's road trip the year after he left the Presidency is, at best, a magazine article. But Mr Algeo vamps for 236 pages and makes it into hard cover. It is a great story and Harry Truman is an entertaining character. From the POV of 2010 it is inconceivable that an ex-President of the US of A could load his new Chrysler with luggage and head off for Washington DC, Philly and NYC and back again without an entourage of Secret Service and p...more
Richard Lollar
Richard Lollar rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: anyone who wants to know more about the Trumans or that small slice of time in history
Recommended to Richard by: It is on our discussion group list for April
That Harry was as out of touch with reality as all other former presidents when they leave office. To imagine they could drive around the country incognito after all the press exposure they had during the years in both state and federal office is just silly. Harry finally accepted the glare of the media was too strong for him to repeat this sort of journey, but then he didn't realize how limited his time with us was.

This is a charming look back to how things were in 1953 when Ike was...more
Judy
Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars
Okay, I admit it, I'm just wild about Harry. Harry Truman is one of my favorite presidential personalites and this book made me like him even more. Harry Truman was the last president to leave office without a pension and without Secret Service protection. All he had was a small Army pension for his service in World War I and an advance from a publisher for his memoirs. In June 1953, Bess and Harry Truman, just six months after leaving the White House, packed their Chrysler New Yorker and le...more
Iva
Iva rated it 4 of 5 stars
After Truman's presidency ended in 1953, he and his frumpy (and grumpy)wife Bess took a roadtrip of 2,500 miles. They went from Independence, MO to Washington DC and to NY and then back to Independence where they settled. Harry said he liked road trips as recreation as much as reading. They were actually cash poor as there were no pensions or perks for ex-presidents. (There was no Secret Service either, though Lyndon Johnson later convinced them to have protection in their home.) This is a mo...more
Janet
Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Patty
Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars
Very interesting and fun to read. I feel as if I am in the back seat of Harry's big black car traveling the highways back in the early 50's.
Linda
Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: non-fiction
I'm not a fan of politics or history, so it's no small thing that I found this book to be absolutely charming. I knew I had to read this as soon as I read an advance review, because in today's world, it's inconceivable that a former president would pack up the Chrysler, grab the wife, and hit the road. Can you picture George & Laura waiting in the drive-thru line for boneless wings at Wendy's before cruising onto I-70? Me, neither.

But that's what Harry and Bess did. (Well, they d...more
Anna
I’m not sure if this is adorable or insufferable, or a combination of both, but when I’m reading a fact-based book that I like at all, I can’t stop interjecting salient (or not) points into conversation; it’s almost a tic, as my brain rushes to juxtapose newly absorbed information with whatever it is I and my interlocuters are discussing.
So here’s some stuff I babbled about while reading this chatty, charming travelogue about a road trip just-ex-president Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, t...more
Mary Anne
This was an interesting story about Harry Truman and his wife Bess and their life after the presidency. It was a much simpler time and I learned a lot about the life of an ex-president in that era. There were no pensions or perks to be had - not even secret service protection. In fact, the Trumans had very little money - just a small pension from his Army days that came nowhere near to meeting the expenses he incurred as a former president. Harry refused to commercialize his status and lived...more
Bonnie
Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars
Read this back in May but am adding because it kind of goes along with the K Blows Top book as far as interests go and it is definitely one I'd like to recommend! Did you know that when Harry Truman returned to Independence after his term as president that he didn't even have a presidential pension? He just had a very small military one and he was not a wealthy man. In the spring he and his beloved Bess got in their new car and decided just took off on a road trip to Washington and New York whe...more
Julie
Interesting topic to describe drive Harry Truman took with his wife Bess from Independence Missouri to the East Coast. Author had a good storytelling concept to compare what Truman saw in the 1950s to the landscape today. However, the author could have done more with his observations - they tended to be just surface descriptions of the places he stopped without much reflection or insight. Also, it seemed that the author didn't have enough material to fill the book just by comparing his drive wit...more
Jennifer
On one of our Maryland to Colorado road trips, which we do at least once per year, we visited Truman's home in Independence. As soon as I saw their kitchen, I loved the Truman's. So, this book was a summer must read for me: the Trumans and road trips.

Algeo combines a recounting of the Truman's experiences along the way, at least those which are documented; tales of the towns they passed through; a discussion of Truman as former president; and his own encounters following Truman's ...more
Turi
This is a case where the cover pulled me in, and I ended up really liking the book. What a great photo - Harry Truman driving himself and his wife around, after his presidency. And that's pretty much the focus of the book - a road trip that the Trumans took the year after Harry stepped down from office. Algeo does a wonderful job giving great details about the trip, who the Trumans saw, where they stayed, etc. - and then following up on it with a road trip of his own, retracing the Trumans' s...more
LynnB
This book is an entertaining account of Harry and Bess Truman's road trip in the summer of 1953. I enjoyed the anecdotes about their trip. The information placing it in historical context added much to the story.
Where the book missed for me was the author's recounting of his personal repeat of the Truman trip, as too many of the places were gone and it just didn't add much to the story.

I love the fact that Truman just considered himself a regular person who happened to be Pres...more
Catherine
Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Truman fans
The book offers an entertaining account of Harry and Bess Truman's road trip that took place in June and July of 1953. Algeo compiled many amusing and/or interesting anecdotes from the Truman's trip and also some lightly informative historical sidelines.

Where the book faltered for me was the author's recounting of his--as near as he could come to--replication of the Truman's trip. The book felt a bit too padded out and the writing scattered and unorganized. I think the Truman's ad...more
Kay
Kay rated it 5 of 5 stars
This was a delightful book to read!! Personality wise [not politically:] plain speaking, down to earth Harry Truman has always been my favorite president. The book relates a road trip Harry and Bess took five months after he left office from Independence to the East coast. It was funny and also contained a lot of history. The author retraced their trip and attempted to sleep and eat at the same places the Trumans did. This was a time when ex Presidents were not escorted by the secret servic...more
Paula
This book combined two of my favorite topics - Road Trips and U.S. Presidential History. The author did a great job of weaving these two topics together as he wrote of Harry & Bess Truman's road trip from Independence, MO to Washington, D.C. immediately following his presidency. The book gave insider information about the politics of the time as well as teaching us about the beginnings of America's love of road trips. The author followed the exact route taken by Truman and tried to stop at th...more
Heather
SWE Book Club Sep/Oct 2009

Fun, fun, fun! It's a quick and easy read, and if you like mid-20th century history/nostalgia, you'll love this. Also gives a new perspective of what happens to someone after they leave the White House (I kept thinking about the song in White Christmas with the lyrics "...what do you do with a General, when he stops being a General?"), as well as the personal relationships between different presidents and their families/cabinets (ie, Truman and E...more
Margaret Sankey
Truman, the last ex-President to lack a pension and secret service protection, and believing that he could return to being a normal citizen, took a 3,000 mile road trip in his brand-new 1953 Chrysler New Yorker. This is a humanizing look at Truman the lead-footed driver, critiquer of road construction, generous tipper at diners and adoring husband (when offered a special showing of Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, he looked at Bess and refused, saying "Real Gentlemen Prefer Grey Hair"). He...more
Beth
Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars
This was a fun book. It describes the road trip that Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, took in 1953 from their home in Independence, MO to Washington, DC, Philadelphia & New York City. The trip was undertaken in the year after Truman lost his reelection bid to Eisenhower. Truman was a great car lover and he was "given" (he probably paid $1 for it) a brand new Chrysler by the company which was used for the trip. Harry & Bess tried very hard to travel "incognito," but they k...more
The Library Lady
Reading this, I kept forgetting it was non-fiction for adults rather than perhaps a juv/YA work, and that's NOT a derogatory remark! Algeo's writing style is lively and far more readable than most books of this ilk would be.

There is a good deal of explanation of the mores and world view of the times than I needed, perhaps another reason it felt like a book for younger readers. But I suspect a lot of people reading it may need some of that information,and it is not done in a way that...more
kenpen
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure by Matthew Algeo is the story of a road trip that Harry and Bess Truman took shortly after leaving the White House in the early 1950s.

Truman's trip was the last of its kind. Afterwards, subsequent ex-presidents have had much closer Secret Service detail that wouldn't allow the flexibility and freedom the Trumans experienced.

The Trumans drove from Missouri to DC and then to New York City, where their daughter Margaret lived. Along the way the...more
Kressel Housman
I’d classify this book as “history lite,” and I mean it as a compliment. It chronicles of the 19-day road trip Harry and Bess Truman took shortly after Harry left the presidency, so it’s a mix of “standard” history (McCarthyism, Cold War politics, etc.), human interest (the reminiscences of a Pennsylvania state trooper who almost gave Harry a ticket), and tidbits that fall somewhere in between (the birth of the motel industry in America). The two central themes were the Trumans’ attempt to trave...more
Chris
Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars
I was surprised on how good this book turned out to be. I wasn't expecting very much out of a book about a three week jaunt in a car, but since Harry Trueman is becoming one of my favorite presidents, I could not pass on the oportunity to learn more about Harry.

The author interjects historical backrounds on not only Harry, but on the places he visited on his roadtrip. I found this to be most entertaining. It also gave more background into Harry and his family and one feel's that t...more
Laura
Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars
This is a perfect example of the sort of "time travel" a good history story should be. You feel like you're there, along for the ride with Harry & Bess. Plus the author gives you insight in what's at the locations that the Trumans stopped at today. You can imagine just what it must have been like for the couple as they took their 19-day trip. And it almost makes you long for the opportunity to do the same yourself. A perfect time-capsule in book form!
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When he's not writing his own biography in the third person, Matthew Algeo writes about unusual and interesting events in American history.

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure is his second book. His first, Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles - "The Steagles" - Saved Pro Football During World War II, won the 2006 Nelson Ross Award for outstanding pro football hist...more
More about Matthew Algeo...
The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth Last Team Standing: How the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles-- The "Steagles"--Saved Pro Football During World War II

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