[MarkL]

In Truman's case, we decided that the office made the man as Truman, IMO, was a party hack who was rewarded for being faithful and ended up doing a pretty good job.

I strongly disagree. Though he was a failure in business, he had great personal integrity (as evidenced by his insistence of repaying all his creditors, rather than escaping through bankruptcy) and leadership skills, as displayed by his reputation with the men he commanded during WWI during and well after the war.

While he was "Pendergast's man," Perndergast needed him FOR his honesty. He would hold Pendergast's feet to the flame when he'd try to pressure Truman to accept graft. The best example of this was the job Truman did to cut back on political corruption and kickbacks during the war effort while he was a senator.

Mark

[Oatka]

Thanks for the info. Because of the Perndergast association, he had been painted as just a Missouri hack that made good, but I never investigated further.