Truman Reconsidered

I have consistently put Truman amongst my top five favorites Presidents (the fact that his economic policies ultimately deviated from both FDR and Keynes being one the primary reasons). But I have to admit that economist and historian, Ralph Raico, has certainly provided some interesting counterpoints and now I have at least a little pause...................................................................................The main point that Raico addressed was the fact that Truman (continuing to expand the power of the Presidency) took the country to war in Korea without a declaration from Congress and that this act set an extremely terrible precedent for subsequent American adventurism. He also feels that Mr. Truman greatly exaggerated the Soviet threat and that, while, yes, these folks certainly possessed nuclear weapons, their economy was a veritable basket-case (many of the hospitals didn't even have hot water, for Christ) and the amount of money that we spent on defense was monstrously excessive (former Reagan budget director, David Stockman has on numerous occasions said essentially the same) - hence, the Military Industrial Complex..................................................................................And, so, yeah, Truman, just like Presidents Reagan, FDR, TR, McKinley, Polk, and the rest of them is probably much more of a mixed-bag than I initially thought (though, yes, I would still probably put him in the top five mainly because the rest of the bunch is mostly putrid).