"Far More than a Romantic Adventure": The American Civil War in Harry Truman's History and Memory

Article describes President Truman's profound interest in and knowledge of the Civil War and the importance he attached to it. Truman's antecedents had strong roots in slave states and in Platte and Jackson County. Independence was still "very much involved" in the war when he was growing up. He also read extensively about the war. Truman admired Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant but despised George B. McClellan. He saw in Lincoln's problems with his generals a model for his own disagreements with General Douglas McArthur, whom he considered a "prima donna, brass hat" general.