
Although there are descriptions of how the Trumans stopped in the finest of hotels during their jaunts through the major cities, the most enjoyable portion of the book follows the former president and first lady as they traveled in rural America. Algeo describes diners in which the couple ate during that hot summer of 1953, and also unpleasant details of some of the decrepit motels in which they stayed which were unsafe, dangerous, and decaying. Harry and Bess Truman traveled without bodyguards or secret service agents. They stopped in the lodgings and eateries where any American person stopped while on the road, and according to the author, President Truman pumped his own gas. The pair were even pulled over for driving too slowly on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure is a fantastic representation and depiction of a simpler time, without the pressures and inherent indignities imposed by a 24-hour news cycle. The prose is so convincing and accessible that it almost seems like the reader is sitting in the front seat with the Truman’s on their summer vacation.
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure is perfect for the historian interested in presidents and Americana. Those interested in traveling the roads of the United States will find striking similarities between their own journeys and the journey of the Trumans. This book would make a great read-aloud story on your next road trip. A nice postscript on the story, the author found Harry’s 1953 Chrysler New Yorker sitting in a barn on a Kansas farm, click here for a short video clip.
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo
272 pages.
Chicago Review Press (May 1, 2009)