Harry S. Truman and Independence

While in Missouri a few weeks ago, my husband and I made a beeline for Independence, a town on the outskirts of Kansas City and the home of former President Harry S. Truman. We enjoy going to Presidential Libraries, and I had long looked forward to making the trek to Truman’s in Independence. I was a toddler when Truman’s presidency ended, but I well remember when he died in December of 1972. Then a young bride in my first semester of teaching, having completed my degree and teacher certification in three years from Tarleton State University (then College), I taught eighth grade English at Stephenville Junior High in Stephenville, Texas, while my husband finished his degree and was commissioned as a U.S. Amy officer. It was both an exciting and trying year for us. For me, the most trying part was the teaching. If you have never taught 160 eighth graders as a first-year teacher not that many years older than your students, you have not lived. But I was then and remain to this day grateful to Stephenville ISD for hiring me—even though the experience certainly was baptism by fire.

Oh, as I was saying, I well remember when President Truman died because many businesses and homes around Stephenville sported signs and window paintings with the phrase “Give’em Hell, Harry.” Truman once said (or maybe more than once) that he never gave anyone hell. He simply told them the truth, and they thought it was hell. That in a nutshell seemed to be Harry Truman and that December was the completion of Harry’s long, eventful, and meaningful life with his beloved Bess—at a time when my husband and I had just begun our own humble journey.

Though I had a double major in history, I knew very little about Truman other than some significant events of his presidency—his rising to office upon the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his unexpected re-election, and his decision to drop atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, to name three. Although the bombing of these Japanese cities brought about the end of what would surely have been an even more protracted war, that decision has long been a point of much moral soul-searching on the part of Americans as well as a recognition of a sobering reality—the enormous destructive power of the atomic age and of potential technologies to come.

On a much lighter note, however, my husband and I had a wonderful time in Independence, touring Harry and Bess’s home there before going on to the Presidential Library. The Victorian, two-story home had, in fact, been Bess Wallace’s grandparents’ home and later her mother’s home where she and her brothers also lived. She and Harry met in Sunday School as children and several years later began a courtship when Harry returned a dish from his aunt to the Wallace home. It is said he grabbed the dish from his aunt who lived across the street from the Wallaces and insisted on doing the delivery chore for her. In 1919, he and Bess married following a 9-year courtship. Harry moved into the home with Bess, so they could take care of her aging mother. Eventually, the house became theirs, a home where daughter Margaret spent her early childhood before the family moved to Washington D.C. when Harry became a Senator. He and Bess would return to that house and Independence periodically through the years and then permanently after their time in Washington D.C. where Harry was first a Senator then Vice President and finally President.

The Truman’s, though prominent citizens of Independence even before his national offices, returned home wanting nothing more than to enjoy their hometown and their privacy. As one might imagine, those desires were often difficult to realize although they seemed to manage better than most people of their stature, perhaps because they never sought to profit from their past public service. Though they were people of some means, they chose to live simply and were frugal by nature. Bess’s brothers had cottages behind Harry and Bess’s home and helped provide privacy for the couple and extra protection for the home when the famous occupants were away. Their extended family members were close-knit and loving.

On touring the home, I found the lawn and grounds to be lovely though not particularly large, and a screened-in porch at the back entrance was perhaps my favorite “room,” nostalgic and charming, though plain. I was disappointed that picture-taking was not allowed inside the house that, while seeming “genteel” at first blush, was attractively understated overall. The Truman’s were not a tiddle ostentatious though their furnishings were tasteful, lovely, and comfortable. The kitchen was a kitchen of the times, appointed largely for utility, tidy and efficient. Mrs. Truman was known to tack down the kitchen linoleum when it reared up around the edges rather than to buy new flooring and have it properly installed. She and Harry often attended to household repairs themselves with varying degrees of success, but they managed to make do. Other than a nice, mahogany (I think) china cabinet and dining table, none of the furnishings stand out in my memory. The study was filled with books, a desk (maybe walnut), and comfortable-looking chairs. We were not allowed to go up the stairs to the six (I believe) bedrooms, another disappointment, but beneath the large staircase, a wall rack held Harry’s iconic hat and light coat where he was known to hang them whenever he came inside the house. It was a touching display.

Harry and Bess Truman had almost no Presidential memorabilia in their home. The family, including their extended family, seldom spoke of Harry’s time in the Presidency. According the the National Parks Services officer conducting the tour, one young grandchild had not known her grandfather had been President until a teacher mentioned the fact to her when she started school. The grandchild disagreed on this point with the teacher and when back home, broached the subject with her parents, only to be told that while her grandfather had indeed been President, she was not to think herself better than anyone else because in America, almost anyone could become President. This was the tone of a prominent and accomplished family who had at one time seen a member at the pinnacle of national and world power. Theirs was a love of home, family, friends, and simplicity.

Aside: From the Truman home, we went on to the Truman Presidential Library. I plan to discuss this large, beautiful rambling structure filled with pictures, information, and historical context of a profoundly important period in our history sometime later. While at the Visitor’s Center in Independence, I bought David McCullough’s book titled Truman. I can’t wait to read it as I am a fan of McCullough’s books and have a strong interest in President Truman. The problem is that it will have to take its place in my ever-growing queue. At some time, I’ll try to comment about the book.