Harry and Arthur: Truman, Vandenberg, and the Partnership That Created the Free World

In the aftermath of World War II, President Harry Truman and Arthur Vandenberg, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, forged a bipartisan partnership in a bitterly partisan environment to lead the United States and the world in a time of uncertainty and substantial global political and military challenges.

Harry and Arthur: Truman, Vandenberg, and the Partnership That Created the Free World is a path-breaking new book by awarding-winning journalist, former communications director for Vice President Al Gore, and American Foreign Policy Council Senior Fellow Lawrence J. Haas. Through close collaboration, Truman and Vandenberg realized the creation of the United Nations, implemented the Truman Doctrine, launched the Marshall Plan to rescue Western Europe’s economy from the devastation of war, and championed the establishment of NATO to deter the expansion of the Soviet bloc. The book reveals how Truman and Vandenberg overcame partisanship to craft a dramatic new foreign policy as the U.S. stepped onto the world stage to protect its friends, confront its enemies, and promote freedom.

On April 22, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Arthur Herman, author of the acclaimed Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II and the forthcoming Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior, and Larry Haas discussed his important new book and how Truman and Vandenberg, unlikely partners in personality, style, and political ideology, managed to transform the U.S. from a reluctant global giant to a self-confident leader—and how their partnership holds powerful lessons for our leaders and statesmen today.