Harry S. Truman Book Award

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library
Kansas City, MO

The Truman Library Institute proudly announces that the 2024 Harry S. Truman Book Award will be awarded to Steve Drummond during a public book event in Kansas City, Missouri. Please join us in person or virtually for this Signature Event on Wednesday, September 18, at 6:30 p.m. (CT) at the Truman Forum, located on the lower level of the Kansas City Public Library’s Plaza Branch, 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri. A 6 p.m. wine reception will precede the live event, which is free and open to the public.

The Watchdog shares the story of how Harry Truman, a little-known junior senator, fought wartime corruption and, in the process, set himself up to become vice president and, ultimately, commander in chief.

Months before Pearl Harbor, FDR knew that the U.S. was on the verge of entering another world war for which it was dangerously ill-prepared. The urgent times demanded a transformation of the economy, with the government bankrolling the unfathomably expensive task of enlisting millions of citizens while also
producing the equipment necessary to successfully fight—all of which opened up opportunities for graft, fraud and corruption.

Drummond—an award-winning senior editor and executive producer at NPR—shares the fast-paced story of how Harry Truman, still a newcomer to Washington politics, cobbled together a bipartisan team of men and women that took on powerful corporate entities and the Pentagon.

The Watchdog provides a window to a time that was far from perfect but where it was possible to root out corruption and hold those responsible to account. It shows us what can be possible if politicians are governed by the principles of their office rather than self-interest.