Little Helpers

In Little Helpers, historian John Robert Greene provokes us to rethink the scandals of Harry Truman’s presidency by providing the first political biography of the man who precipitated them, Gen. Harry H. Vaughan. As the former president’s close friend and military aide, Vaughan brought a number of disreputable figures into the White House in addition to committing plenty of misconduct on his own. Truman himself was well aware of this, but remained unwilling to fire his friend and rid his administration of him and his hangers on. Vaughan’s scandals have largely gone overlooked by historians in their explorations of the wider Five Percenter scandal of Truman’s administration—a tendency that Greene sets out to correct. 

 

Greene begins with an outline of how Truman and Vaughan met during World War I, before examining Vaughan’s support for Truman for the Senate and later as President. The majority of the book, however, considers the various cronies that surrounded Vaughan and illustrates the significance of his relationship with Truman—and the President’s inability to reign him in. 

 

Bolstered by intensive research, drawing from primary and archival sources, many of which have never before been published, Little Helpers is further distinguished by its use of the correspondence between Vaughan and Truman. Greene also provides a dramatic narrative account of the inner workings of the Truman administration, making the book accessible to the general reader as well as the specialist.