The Year of Indecision, 1946
A Tour Through the Crucible of Harry Truman's America
A vivid account of America at the pivot point of the postwar era, Harry Truman’s first full year in office
In 1946, America had just exited the biggest war in modern history and was about to enter another of a kind no one had fought before. We think of this moment as the brilliant start of America Triumphant, in world politics and economics. But the reality is murkier: 1946 brought tension between industry and labor, political disunity, bad veteran morale, housing crises, inflation, a Soviet menace—all shadowed by an indecisiveness that would plague decision makers who would waffle between engagement and isolation, as the country itself pivoted between prosperity and retrenchment, through the rest of the century.
The…
Ken Weisbrode is a diplomatic and cultural historian currently working in Turkey. He received his PhD from Harvard University, where he studied under Akira Iriye and the late Ernest May. He is the author of Churchill and the King and The Atlantic Century.
The Year of Indecision, 1946
Kenneth Weisbrode