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33.A) The Truman Committee: An interview with Steve Drummond
[Abridged] Presidential Histories
English - July 17, 2023 07:00 - 48 minutes - 33.1 MBHistory presidential history presidents american u.s.a. u.s. united states political politics Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
"When people create delays for profit, when they sell poor products for defense use, when they cheat on price and quality, they aren't any different from a draft dodger and the public at large feels just the same way about it." - Senator Harry S. Truman, March 31, 1941
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As American war industry roared to life in 1941, Senator Harry S. Truman began receiving letters from concerned constituents. Money was being wasted. Badly. And all over the place. Truman jumped in his car and travelled thousands of miles to investigate first-hand, then formed the senate investigatory committee that would bear his name - The Truman Committee. NPR executive producer Steve Drummond, author of The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two, discusses the origin and impact of the Truman Committee, and some of the truly crazy schemes of corruption it unearthed for the American people.