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Discover Mid-America — February 2006

A visit to Harry’s house

Harry S. Truman is Missouri’s sole gift to the U.S. presidency.

Although the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, MO, is a much larger depository of Truman history, a visit to the Truman Home at 219 N. Delaware offers a good look at the personal life of America’s 33rd president.

The house was built in the mid-1800s by George and Elizabeth Gates, Bess Wallace’s grandparents, and enlarged in 1885. It was the home of Bess and her mother when Harry, fresh out of World War I as a Field Artillery Captain, married Bess in 1919 and moved into the house.

The next several years would be difficult for Harry. He failed as a men’s clothing retailer and then went into politics, serving as Eastern District Judge of the Jackson County Court and later Presiding Judge.

In 1934, Truman was elected to the U.S. Senate. Ten years later he was elected Vice President of the U.S. under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and then became President upon FDR’s death in 1945.

President Truman faced huge challenges, most notably the decision to authorize the use of atomic bombs to shorten the war with Japan. He helped Europe rebuild, then overcame the Soviet Union’s blockade of Berlin with a massive airlift. In 1950, he ordered U.S. troops to join defend South Korea against North Korean Communists. By the time he left the presidency in 1953 and returned to Independence, he was ready for a well-deserved retirement.

Eschewing a third term, Truman wrote, “I have had all of Washington I want. I prefer my life in Missouri.”

His return to Independence was met by 5,000 cheering neighbors. With no protection or security — or even a pension for a time — Truman would take long walks in his neighborhood, visit local shops, go to church, and become a “regular citizen” of Independence. He died in 1972 at the age of 88 and was buried at the Truman Library. Bess died in 1982 at the age of 97 and was buried next to Harry.

Visitors to the house will see the baby grand piano Harry bought for his daughter, Margaret, (who would have preferred a train set). Furniture in the room is exactly the way it was when the Trumans lived in the house. There’s the small table where Harry and Bess ate breakfast in the kitchen, and the dishes that were used. The dining room appears ready for a family dinner with the Trumans inviting other close relatives who lived nearby. Another room contains bookshelves added when Truman left the presidency, and the actual books the Trumans read. Several photos and original paintings of the Trumans can be seen in the house.

The main living room, where the Trumans entertained important guests, including presidents and other dignitaries, is currently under renovation. Painstaking efforts are being made to restore original woodwork and wall coverings, keeping the home as close as possible to its condition when the Trumans lived there.

Before leaving the house, visitors are able to see Truman’s gray felt hat and overcoat, hanging by the door. It’s as if Harry left them yesterday after one of his walks around the neighborhood.

The house, a National Historic Site, is administered by the National Park Service. Norton Canfield, who showed my wife and me the house, is a history buff who revels in his job as a spokesman for the site.

“It’s unique in that the items people see are exactly the way they were left by the Trumans,” he said.

Canfield shared other tidbits of Truman history, including a 1945 story about when Truman was summoned to the White House upon FDR’s death.

“He walked several blocks without any protection from the Secret Service,” Canfield said. “When he entered the White House, he was met by (First Lady) Eleanor Roosevelt, who put her arm around his shoulders and told him the country was in his hands.”

Visitors to the Truman Home can purchase tickets for $4 each at the Harry S Truman National Historic Site, 223 North Main St., in Independence. Truman memorabilia is on display at that location, and a short film is shown that introduces you to the “people’s president.”

For more information on this and other historical sites in Independence, call 816-325-7111 or visit www.ci.independence.mo.us.

Ken Weyand can be reached at kweyand1@kc.rr.com

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