Escaping isolation: Harry Truman and the sources of modern presidential authority

Abstract

AbstractBetween 1947 and 1949, Harry Truman had all the markings of an isolated president. He was unelected, faced a Congress controlled by opposition Republicans, and was opposed by major segments of his own party. Yet unlike other presidents in similar isolated positions, Truman managed to overcome these institutional obstacles and was successfully elected to his own term in office and pulled the Democrats into majorities in both houses of Congress. This article examines the conditions that allowed Truman to escape his political and institutional isolation, arguing not only that Truman gives us a clear view of the strong constitutional basis of presidential power in the modern era, but also that extraconstitutional developments enabled Truman to do what no other isolated president was able to accomplish.