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Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Hunter, the widely admired and bestselling novelist and author of such books as Havana, Hot Springs, and Dirty White Boys, and John Bainbridge, Jr., an experienced journalist and lawyer, American Gunfight is at once a groundbreaking work of meticulous historical research and the vivid and dramatically told story of an act of terrorism that almost succeeded. They have pieced together, at last, the story of the conspiracy that nearly doomed the president and how a few good men -- ordinary guys who were willing to risk their lives in the line of duty -- stopped it.
It is a book about courage -- on both sides -- and about what politics and devotion to a cause can lead men to do, and about what actually happens, second by second, when a gunfight explodes.
It begins on November 1, 1950, an unseasonably hot afternoon in the sleepy capital. At 2:00 P.M. in his temporary residence at Blair House, the president of the United States takes a nap. At 2:20 P.M., two men approach Blair House from different directions. Oscar Collazo, a respected metal polisher and family man, and Griselio Torresola, an unemployed salesman, don't look dangerous, not in their new suits and hats, not in their calm, purposeful demeanor, not in their slow, unexcited approach. What the three White House policemen and one Secret Service agent cannot guess is that under each man's coat is a 9mm German automatic pistol and in each head, a dream of assassin's glory.
At point-blank range, Collazo and then Torresola draw and fire and move toward the president of the United States.
Hunter and Bainbridge tell the story of that November day with narrative power and careful attention to detail. They are the first to report on the inner workings of this conspiracy; they examine the forces that led the perpetrators to conceive the plot. The authors also tell the story of the men themselves, from their youth and the worlds in which they grew up to the women they loved and who loved them to the moment the gunfire erupted. Their telling commemorates heroism -- the quiet commitment to duty that in some moments of crisis sees some people through an ordeal, even at the expense of their lives.
John Bainbridge, Jr., is a freelance journalist. A former reporter for The Baltimore Sun and legal affairs editor for The Daily Record (Baltimore), he is also a lawyer and former Maryland assistant attorney general. He lives near Butler, Maryland.
On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican Nationalists named Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola pulled German automatic pistols and attempted to storm Blair House, at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., where the president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was at that moment -- 2:20 P.M. on an abnormally hot Wednesday -- taking a nap in his underwear. They were opposed by a Secret Service security detail led by Special Agent Floyd M. Boring, consisting of Special Agents Vincent P. Mroz and Stewart G. Stout, Jr., and White House police officers Leslie W. Coffelt, Joseph O. Davidson, Joseph H. Downs, and Donald T. Birdzell. In the brief exchange -- under forty seconds -- between twenty-nine and thirty-one shots were fired in an area about ninety feet by twenty feet, though the exchange broke into two actions at either end of the property, where the ranges were much shorter. When it was over one man was dead, another was dying, and two more were seriously injured.
The story was of course gigantic news -- for about a week. What's remarkable about it is not how big a story it was but how quickly it went away. Today, few Americans even remember it, or if they do, they have it mixed up with a later event. In 1954, four Puerto Rican Nationalists pulled guns and shot up Congress. Soon enough the two stories melded in the U.S. folk imagination under the rubric of stereotype: hot-tempered Latin revolutionaries, undisciplined, crazy even, pursuing a dream that made no sense at all, Puerto Rican independence.
Even those few North Americans who could distinguish between the two events couldn't prevent the actual thing itself from eroding, losing its detail and meaning and settling sooner rather than later into a kind of comforting folk narrative. For Americans, it always encompassed the following points:
The grievances Oscar and Griselio were expressing were fundamentally absurd: Puerto Rico had been given the gift of United States culture and political traditions and was rapidly becoming Americanized, as it should be. What was wrong with these two that they didn't understand how benevolently they had been treated?
Americans believed they were a little crazy. The evidence is clear: the assault was thrown together on the run by these two men of no consequence and no meaningful cause. One of them didn't even have a gun, so the other had to go out the day before and buy him one. They were upset by newspaper reports of what was going on in Puerto Rico, where an equally silly group of men were attempting a coup, like they do down there all the time, something equally stupid and futile.
In Washington, the two gunmen further expressed their deep state of mental disorganization by acting in strange ways.
On the morning of the attempt, for example, they went sightseeing. It turned out they thought Truman lived in the White House, and a cabdriver told them the president had moved across the street while the White House was being remodeled. Then, back in the hotel room, one had to teach the other how to work the gun.
One of them even went up to the hotel clerk on the day of the attempt as he was leaving and inquired about an extended checkout time.
And that was the smart one!
The dumb one was an unemployed salesman, a ladies' man, an abject failure in life. Nothing at all is known about this fellow, but why should it be, since he is so predictable: like so many disgruntled would-be assassins, this was his chance to count in a world that had denied his existence. They had no plan and no understanding of tactics.
In the actual fight itself, the Secret Service and the White House policemen essentially brushed them aside.
The two never came close to getting into Blair House. And even if they had, it would have made no difference, as an agent with a tommy gun was waiting just inside the door.
Harry Truman was never in any mortal danger.
In the end, many Americans concluded, it was more a joke, a farce, an opera buffa, than anything else.
There is only one trouble with assigning these meanings to the 38.5 desperate, violent seconds of November 1, 1950.
Every single one of them is wrong.
Copyright © 2005 by Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge, Jr.
skiracer4life
Posted September 23, 2010
American Gunfight is an amazing story of a part of history slipped from the minds of Americans. The story features the attempted assassination on President Harry Truman November 1, 1950. Two Puerto Rican Nationalists stalk the president in his temporary home across the street from the White House while it was being remodeled when even days before it the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico is discovered to be planning an attack on American outposts in Puerto Rico. Two desperate yet practical men try to strike a blow at the heart of what they see as a great oppressor, led by the words of Albizo Campos they lay Blair House under siege fro a grueling 38.5 seconds of testosterone and precision shooting. American Gunfight analyzes not only the event itself, but events leading up to it and the people involved, their lives, intentions, and reasons. The overall story does seem a bit cynical but an open mind must be kept, and the authors do a wonderful job of showing both sides of the story and including history that has determined American policies of the era. The novelist style of Hunter and the technical knowledge of he and Bainbridge make this a wonderful, easy to understand story that doesn't stray from facts and still builds towards an exciting shootout between two Puerto Ricans and the United States Secret Service. The story is broken up however, it goes chapter to chapter through different people's lives, and it can break up the climax of the action; the reader also needs to understand a bit about munitions, it enhances the story to have prior knowledge to German WWII arms and to the world of competitive shooting in the 1950's. If you like the style of this tale I suggest the novels written by Stephen Hunter in the Bob Lee Swagger Series, which includes Point Of Impact- the movie Shooter was based off this, and Earl Swagger Series. If you are squeamish or faint-of-heart none of these books are for you, not even American Gunfight. This is a read for the person, who likes history, a bit of action, and a bit of science /tactical knowledge; because not only does it talk about the event, but the tactics of the 1950 attack of Puerto Rican nationalists on American bases and the strategy behind both attacks. Overall it is the story of "good" conquering "evil", if you are American, if you are Puerto Rican it is a story of the powerful governments imperialism of a small nation that only wanted freedom.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 27, 2006
Those who have critizised this book are usually missing one point: this is not a work of history in the traditional sense, it is an example of New Journalism. Those who don't know this movement would do well to research on it now. It is a mixture of journalism with the tools formerly reserved for literary works, especially fiction. Two examples of the genre are In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote and The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe. I have not met Mr. Hunter, but having met Mr. Bainbridge and talked with him at length about this work, I know firsthand the troubles he went thru in trying to represent fairly the viewpoints of the Puerto Rican Nationalist movement. He is as honest and fair a researcher as he is a writer and a person.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 18, 2011
Not finished yet. Great read so far. It's a Hunter, they don't get to much better.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Like most people, I'd heard about the assassination attempt on Harry Truman. Also like most people, most of what I'd heard was wrong. This book brings to light many facts about this event that were mostly unknown or unpublished in past versions of the story. It is extremely well researched and very well written. But, to me, the author almost wants the reader to agree with the motives of and justify the actions of the two assassins because of their upbringing and strong nationalism. In some ways, this could be compared to saying the Nazis were justified in some of their actions because of their strong nationalism. In light of today's terrorism & omnipresent violence, no single person or group can ever be justified in using violence to make a point. Even if violence is an everyday thing in some cultures, it's never the right thing to do. It may be true that actions speak louder than words, but I don't think any civilized person would agree that unmanaged violence is ever a good way to correct problems. In this book, I understand the author wishes to be unbiased, and he is. He remains mostly neutral in telling the story, but I still came away feeling as though I should feel sorry for the "bad guys". In truth, I did feel somewhat sorry for them, but not because they failed. I feel sorry that they wasted their lives in a tragic way.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.anuyorican
Posted February 3, 2009
This book is so well documented it cannot be undisputed. The author has presented many facts not known by many ( not including serious students of Puerto Ricans History ). Do you know how long this battle lasted? The author will tell you AND he will prove it. Do you know the players involved? How they planned this deed? Whose idea was it to commit this crime? Why would anyone in there right mind commit such a crime? How many participated in this crime? Who did not and why not? How does this event relate to present day Puerto Rico? Why is this book necessary now? It was written in 2007. The event took place 58 years ago. Who cares about these facts now. Don't let this book pass you by and ask Geraldo Rivera if he knows anything about these events? If he does, you should know too. This event relates to the Civil Rights era of the 1960's. The Yound Lords knew about these events. If you were around at that time, this book you must read. Enjoy.
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Posted January 17, 2006
When I first picked up this book I was excited to find what appeared to be a well written report on a part of American history that has been essentially ignored. However, it did not take me very long to decide that the authors should go back to writing novels and such. Most historical facts contained in this book are literally BURIED underneath hyperbole, cliches and rhetoric. The tedious minutia like, '... the P-38 magazine emptied 1/13th at a time...' Detracted even more from what appeared to be a feeble attempt at scholarly research. I regret that I bought this book and encourage anyone with an interest in the attempted assassination of Harry Truman to check this book out of the library and not waste their money on it.
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Posted October 26, 2010
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Overview
American Gunfight is the fast-paced, definitive, and breathtakingly suspenseful account of an extraordinary historical event -- the attempted assassination of President Harry Truman in 1950 by two Puerto Rican Nationalists and the bloody shoot-out in the streets of Washington, D.C., that saved the president's life.
Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Hunter, the widely admired and bestselling novelist and author of such books as Havana, Hot Springs, and Dirty White Boys, and John Bainbridge, Jr., an experienced journalist and lawyer, American Gunfight is at once a groundbreaking work of meticulous historical research and the vivid and dramatically ...