Harry S Truman Library/Museum

The folks enjoy visiting the Presidential libraries.  On Saturday, the folks visited the Harry S Truman Library which was number four for them.  There are 13 in total.

Harry S Truman Library/Museum

The museum was dedicated in 1957.  President Truman visited the library often and had an office there. He oversaw the building of it.  He along with his wife are buried in the courtyard.  His daughter and her husband are cremated and their remains are also there.

Mama said the museum was very interesting.  She really did not know much about President Truman before she visited.  He became President when President Roosevelt died.  Actually, the Democratic Party knew that President Roosevelt would not live long enough to complete his last term and they chose Harry S Truman to be his running mate because of that.  President Truman faced so much in his first few months in office.  He became President in April 1945 and in August 1945 he ordered the bomb to be dropped on Japan.  Then there was the Cold War. He was not a popular President when he left in 1952, however, public opinion has changed since then. Mama said that President George W. Bush has said many times that history will determine if he was a good President and it looks like that was true for Truman.

Statue of Harry S Truman

Famous photograph

Bess, Margaret and Harry campaigning by train.

Eternal flame in courtyard.

President Truman's grave - it was wet and that is why it looks strange.

Mrs. Truman

His daughter and son-in-law.

Did you know that his daughter, Margaret Truman, was a writer of mystery novels?  Mama didn't realize it was her.

A little bit better photo of the grave.

Presidential china.

Buggy owned by Harry's family when he was a child.

Harry bought these two cars when he became senator.

This is what the Oval office looked like when he occupied it. Mama is not a good photographer.  BOL!

Harry S Truman said "The Buck Stops Here".  He also said "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

The folks both really liked this museum.  Mama didn't take many photos because a lot of the museum was reading, watching videos or listening to audio. It was not boring at all, but she washed her hands a lot because she figured there were germs all over the audio phones and buttons. BOL!  

The price of the museum is $8 a person, but Mama found a coupon on the Internet that was buy one get one free.

What does the S in Harry S Truman stand for?  Well, he doesn't really have a middle name. He said that the "S" did not stand for any name but was a compromise between the names of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

Did you know that there was an assassination attempt on President Truman?  It happened in 1950. The President and his wife were upstairs in the Blair House when two men tried to bust through the door. A police officer was killed but not before he killed one of the assassins. The other one was sent to prison.

The folks are planning a return visit to Independence to visit his home.  He lived there from the time he married until his death, which was about 50 years.  They tried to visit on Saturday, but the tours were all full. The home is just a few blocks from the library.

Mama is a little sad that we are not staying in Independence.  She said the town is really nice and she would be able to ride Buddy all around. They looked at the campground on Saturday and it is really plain and small, but nice. The reason they chose to stay here is because it is so close to Dad's work.  The roads here are too dangerous for Buddy. We are on a two lane road with hills and curves.

The folks did a few other things while in Independence but we will save that for later.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Tired Of Writing And Wants To Go For A Walk NOW!