The part that stuck with me was how Minderbinder was a patriot. He didn’t see any conflict between profiteering and being a loyal American. Even when that meant plain treason.

Contrast this with Harry Truman. A lawmaker who made his name investigating “war profiteering”. Truman became a Senator because he had the backing of the notoriously corrupt Missouri political machine headed by the boss Pendergast. Truman was nicknamed “the Senator from Pendergast”.

Truman himself wasn’t corrupt. But he was a poor businessman, and maybe that makes him the least American of all.