But Harry Truman is considered one of our best president.
Anybody who thinks Harry Truman was a great president should study his management of the Korean War.
After WWII Truman dismantled the most powerful military force on the planet. He brought a 1918 national guard artillery commander's view of national defense to the White House. He regarded professional military officers as "flim flam men" who were just out to con the American people into supporting a huge military bureaucracy. He didn't understand the scope of America's global responsibilities in the post war world, thus facilitating the expansion of Soviet power.
He relied on nuclear deterrence but ignored our stockpile of nuclear weapons. When he got around to asking he was shocked to find that we only had about 20 and that the triggers had decayed to the point where it would take weeks or months to produce a working weapon.
His state department WAS riddled with communists who prevented effective aid from reaching the Nationalist Chinese and helped the communists take over China.
When his Secretary of State, Dean Acheson blithely declared that Korea was "Not in our sphere of influence" Stalin reacted predictably, knowing that Truman had reduced the American military to a hollow shell. Acheson then reversed course after North Korea invaded the south and Truman sent a poorly trained, poorly led, out of shape army armed with infantry weapons from the last war to fight in Korea. The first US tanks that went into battle against NK T34s and no recoil oil for their main armament because of Truman's "cost savings". Many of the tanks that served in Korea were salvaged from WWII battle fields and refurbished by Mitsubishi. 36,576 Americans, and over 2 million Koreans died in a conflict the Harry Truman wouldn't even call a war.
Truth is, Harry Truman didn't get half the kicking around he deserved. While many of the things President Bush has done disgust me I don't thing he deserves anywhere near the odium that Truman and Nixon do and when the dust settles and passions have cooled may be remembered mostly for his stand against terrorism.
Harry Truman was a disaster as a President. He is only considered a “good” President because: (1) Extensive history revisionism (outright lies) and (2) most of those who remember him well have died.