The Watchdog

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

Months before Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that the United Stateswas 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.

InThe Watchdog,Steve Drummonddraws the reader into the fast-paced story of how Harry Truman, still a newcomer to Washington politics, cobbled together a bipartisan team of men and women that tookon powerful corporate entities and the Pentagon,placing Truman in the national spotlight and paving his path to the White House.

Drawing on the largely unexamined records of the Truman Committee as well as oral histories, personal letters, newspaper archives and interviews,Steve Drummond—an award-winning senior editor and executive producer at NPR—brings the colorful characters and intrigue of the committee’s work to life.The Watchdogprovides readers with a window to a timethat was far from perfect but where it was possible to root out corruption andhold those responsible to account. It shows us what can be possibleif politicians are governed by the principles of their office rather than self-interest.