by Joe Snyder
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Since I wrote about presidents last week I began thinking about our famous Missouri past President, Harry Truman. President Truman was a different kind of president. He probably made as many important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other presidents. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence, Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother, and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire married life there. I visited that house some years ago and was surprised at how simple the furnishings were. Not at all the luxury you would expect in a president’s house.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess took the train back to Independence with a big send-off of 5,000 people at Union Station. The secret service left them at the station. At that time the secret service didn’t give much thought to the welfare of ex-presidents. The trip home almost turned into a whistle-stop tour. In town after town delegations of Democrats came down to the train to pay homage to the Trumans. As a result the train was an hour late pulling into the familiar depot in Independence. There they got their warmest tribute yet. Crowds of at least 10,000 people roared "welcome home." Another 1,500 citizens waited on streets around their Independence home to repeat the welcome in a more neighborly manner.
A week later, as they settled in as private citizens, Harry wrote a letter to one of his old Washington friends revealing how they felt about their triumphant journey home. "Bess and I were talking of our 30 years experience in elective office, our trials and tribulations, our ups and downs and she remarked that our send-off from Washington and our reception at home and along the way had made it all worthwhile."
When he retired from office in 1953, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting he was paying for his own stamps, granted him an ‘allowance’ and later a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
In time the Trumans settled into relative privacy. Bess picked up the routine of her old life, doing her own shopping at the super market and rejoining her Tuesday Bridge Club. Harry began his daily early morning walks around his old neighborhood. A year after they retired, Harry supervised the building of the Harry S. Truman Library (built through the efforts of friends and neighbors at the cost of $2 million.) It was dedicated in 1957. It houses three and a half million documents, all of Truman’s personal papers and those of political associates. Independence officials estimate that 300,000 people a year visit the library, his home and his birthplace.
I had the privilege of being the speaker at the Truman Library in 1999 for the Harry S. Truman Appreciation Society’s fifth annual ceremony, thanks to my old friend, Charles Shaw. Kathy and I were treated like royalty that day and one of my most prized possessions is a copy of President Truman’s remarks to the Armed Forces at the signing of the surrender at the close of WWII September 2, 1945, given to me that day.
Oh, how I miss being a lively newspaperman and publisher.