The Accidental President is a well-written account of President Harry S Truman’s first four months in office, spanning the period between FDR’s death and the end of WWII. Even with a seasoned president at the helm this would have been a critical time in US and world history which to me is why a reluctant VP stepping up to make some of the most crucial decisions in history is fascinating to read about. It’s rare to find an author who can explain historical events and timelines this clearly and also describe historical figures so well they come across as convincingly real human beings. Easily 5 stars. ( )

This book is an excellent read. For anyone who wants to know more about the intrigue of Washington, DC and how FDR ran the White House and the WWI war effort, this book is a must read. Baime reveals to the reading the character and ethical backbone of Harry S. Truman the man, the leader, and the husband and father who assumed the reigns of government at an unbelievable difficult time in this nation's history. As I have been reading this ebook, my father's words about HST kept ringing in my head, "History will be kind to HST and reveal the caliber of this man and his character. The press was not nice to him during his time in office, but history will bear out who he was and what he did for our country." ( )

This book covered the Truman presidency from the death of FDR to the surrender of Japn in September 1945. During those four month, one could understand the measure of the man and the President that Truman was. He had to wind up the war with Germany, negotiate with Russia and their imperialistic designs, as well as how to rebuild Europe. His biggest and hardest decision was the dropping of two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war with Japan.

Truman comes off as a man without pretense and vanity. He was very humble and overwhelmed at taking office. Given that he was not privy to many of FDR’s plans and strategies, he made some very wise decisions and proved to be a very good leader in a time of crisis.

Excellent read.

The author did provide one dispiriting observation at the end of the book that I view sadly true. Please read below...

The United States had provided soldiers and a great majority of the tools that destroyed Nazism and saved Europe. The United States had defeated a Japanese military intent on dominating all of the Four East. In the eyes of the world, this was America’s finest hour. Never before had United States achieved such prestige. What Truman did not know at this moment was this: never would the United States achieve such prestige again. ( )

Harry Truman faced more in his first four months than many endure in an entire administration. This engaging book takes you inside the challenges and decisions of this unlikely president.

Arghh! There are history books and then there are History books. This is history the same way a slab of beef jerky, a swab of cotton candy, and 2-liter diet cola is a meal. The concept was interesting. Take just the first four months after FDR's death and concentrate on what his successor did with the aftermath. However... Start by renaming the first third of the book: The Death of FDR and What His Successor Did Before He Became President. Then start filling the book with lots and lots of details, many of which are mildly interesting at best, and downright useless at worst. Do we need to know exactly how Truman greeted people he met at particular times, such as, "Hi, how are you? I'm glad you're here"? Does anybody need to know the 2-digit phone number someone had on a ship from about 75 years ago, where both the ship and the person are long gone? When the author frequently says, "Someone said [ ]," is the reader just supposed to guess who it was or if it was one of his staff or one of the reporters or just the janitor happening by to pick up the trash? And did that "someone" represent just him or herself or everyone in the room or all mankind? There are blanket statements about the main subject that have no basis offered for why they were made or why they may be regarded by many experts as historically unjustified. Not a single comment about how racist someone's mother was? Name dropping throughout, but suddenly fail to do so on an important army commander that could be looked up in less than 5 minutes with a computer search engine. And then to top it all off, in the comments following the book, the author claims a disregard for his subject's legacy that he wanted to address, unfortunately a false premise. At least there's a Chamber of Commerce somewhere that loved this book, I'm sure. Good for tourism, no doubt. I'm embarrassed I read the whole thing. I will not be reading any other of this author's works, no matter how many award-winning movies get based on them. Luckily I'm purging the bad taste with a real history book at present. ( )