Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization

History called on Harry Truman to unite the Western world against Soviet communism, but first he had to rally Republicans and Democrats behind America's most dramatic foreign policy shift since George Washington delivered his farewell address. How did one of the least prepared presidents to walk into the Oval Office become one of its most successful?

The year was 1947. The Soviet Union had moved from being America's uneasy ally in the Second World War to its most feared enemy. With Joseph Stalin's ambitions pushing westward, Turkey was pressured from the east while communist revolutionaries overran Greece. The British Empire was battered from its war with Hitler and suddenly teetering on the brink of financial ruin. Only America could afford to defend freedom in the West, and the effort was spearheaded by a president who hadn't even been elected to that office. But Truman would wage a domestic political battle that carried with it the highest of stakes, inspiring friends and foes alike to join in his crusade to defend democracy across the globe.

In Saving Freedom, Joe Scarborough recounts the historic forces that moved Truman toward his country's long twilight struggle against Soviet communism, and how this untested president acted decisively to build a lasting coalition that would influence America's foreign policy for generations to come. On March 12, 1947, Truman delivered an address before a joint session of Congress announcing a policy of containment that would soon become known as the Truman Doctrine. That doctrine pledged that the United States would "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." The untested president's policy was a radical shift from 150 years of isolationism, but it would prove to be the pivotal moment that guaranteed Western Europe's freedom, the American Century's rise, and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.

Truman's triumph over the personal and political struggles that confronted him following his ascension to the presidency is an inspiring tale of American leadership, fierce determination, bipartisan unity, and courage in the face of the rising Soviet threat. Saving Freedom explores one of the most pivotal moments of the twentieth century, a turning point when patriotic Americans of both political parties worked together to defeat tyranny.

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“"There's something about reading the history that allows one to take a longer view and put things in context. And that's precisely what this book does very well."”

"As a practitioner of politics and an astute analyst of the storms of the present, Joe Scarborough is uniquely positioned to bring history to life. And that's exactly what he's done here, giving us a compelling account of a great man and a great American moment. Harry Truman comes to life in these pages--and his is a life that repays our attention now more than ever."

-- "Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author"
"Solid American history and another feather in the cap of Truman, whose presidential reputation is rising steadily."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Joe Scarborough is currently the host of MSNBC's Morning Joe and can be heard weekdays on The Joe Scarborough Show. He was elected to Congress in 1994, becoming the first Republican to represent northwest Florida since 1873, and was reelected three times with no serious opposition. In 2001, he retired from Congress and, in 2003, became an NBC political commentator and host. He is also the author of Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day.

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