Algeo, Matthew. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure. Chicago: Chicago Review, 2009. Print.
In “Harry Truman’s excellent Adventure” written by Matthew Algeo, The ex-president Harry Truman and his beautiful high school sweetheart, Bess, took the trip of a lifetime. Truman packed up, without the secret service, barely any money in his pocket, and decided to drive 2500 miles around the United States in the summer of 1953. In this time period, America was defined by divine cars, gas was cheaper than ever imaginable, the best restaurant could be at a small family owned diner down the road, and movie theatres seats were the back of your car. You cannot help but be a bit jealous of this carefree time.
Now in this era, Retired Presidents did not receive…show more content… He had no degree, and nothing to go on after his presidency. There were only 2 past presidents left alive, and one of them was wealthy beforehand, so he had no problem when they did not pay a pension. But Harry Truman was never well off in the first place, so this became a problem. All he had was his military pension, which equaled about $111 a month. In the early 1900’s, ex-presidents did not have much to go on after their term was finished. Of course they could get paid to do public speaking and other charity events, but Truman declined these offers. At the end of his term, he only received a 22% approval rating. When Algeo explains this in the book, you can almost feel how Truman felt at the time he found…show more content… The book was exhilarating. Harry Truman and his wife Bess took the trip of a lifetime in 1953, and Matthew Algeo captured that trip perfectly. Algeo took the trip upon himself, and even purchased the restored version of Truman’s car, just to get the real feel of what he went through. Algeo mentioned how hard it was to drive, being 18ft long and all. He also mentioned that the vehicle was hard to steer. We could only imagine what Truman went through with the un-air conditioned 1953 Chrysler New Yorker. Between all the fancy places they ate and stayed, to the ex-president doing things for himself like a normal human being. In this day and age, that is a fish out of water. The book “Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure” was inspiring. I did also enjoy the detours the book took back on the history of the time period. It gave the reader a better understanding of what was happening as he told this amazing