1978

Ferguson Center

Originally a play and then a motion picture, the productions starred award-winning actor James Whitmore (“Asphalt Jungle,” “Battle Cry,” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” Later, actor Kevin McCarthy would step into the role and take the one-man play on the role. College campuses were a favorite stop. The show centered on President Harry S. Truman. The title reportedly came from an episode during a speech when a supporter supposedly yelled, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" The fiery Truman replied, "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it's Hell." The pithy catchphrase became a lifetime slogan for Truman supporters. Whitmore gained a tremendous amount of notoriety for his portrayal of the 33^rd president of the United States. When McCarthy took over the role, the play was already well known, as was Whitmore’s performance (He did for Harry Truman, critics mused, what Hal Holbrook did for Mark Twain in his legendary one-man shows). McCarthy was a different sort of actor than Whitmore. His film credits were broad and included the sci-fi classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” a slew of TV westerns like “The Rifleman” and “The Wild Wild West,” as well as various Broadway productions. “The show has a little bit of everything,” McCarthy told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “It’s amusing and entertaining, yet it has depth in dealing with constitutional questions like the Korean airlift, Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and how he dealt with Roosevelt’s death.”