Harry Truman was a different kind of President.
He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 32 Presidents preceding him. 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 father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.
When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and,l ater, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them. When offered corporate
positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the
office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American
people and it’s not for sale.”
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or
otherwise.”
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.
Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.
Harry Truman was correct when he observed, “My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!
I say dig him up and clone him!!! At least he was HONEST!!!
Man oh Man, Haven’t Times Changed?
True! Thanks for the post.
The presidents from working class backgrounds like “Give’em Hell” Harry are typically pretty good. Except for Andrew Johnson of course.
Give ’em hell Harry was a unique man, always with the best interest of the nation in his heart. It was he who first proposed Medicare, and 20 years later when it finally passed, invited to Washington by LBJ, Harry Truman was the first to sign up.
He was a contradiction a big government hand out guy to proud to take a hand out.
Hmmmm..
Josh
I wouldn’t call getting a humble pension for being the president of the United States of America for 8 pretty good years a “hand out”.
v.interesting thanks.
Keads- You’re welcome!
NE- True…
MB- He truly did. I didn’t know he was the first to sign up, that’s interesting!
Joshkie- I don’t think it was really a hand out, more like a pension for a job well done.
NE- True
Julie- You’re welcome!
Harry was one of a kind.
Did you ever see James Whitmore as Harry Truman?
Truman was, indeed, a good president. Good precedent, too.
But I think there weren’t quite 42 before him. 😉
Truman’s early political career under the Pendergast party boss is nothing to be proud of. But Pendergast was out of the picture by the time Truman became a national figure in the Senate.
The very heavy decisions he had to make as President during WWII were probably very humbling and formed his decisions to take no advantage of the special place he had in history.
As good a president as he was, Truman did have faults during his Presidency. He went along with the party cover-up of the Soviet spy infestation of the Department of State.
Fuzzy- I saw a video once, would loved to have see it in person…
Zer- Thanks for catching the typo… 32 THIRTY Two… sigh…
Andy- Good points, many think he went along with the coverup to protect the people’s confidence in State, rightly or wrongly, I don’t know…
So we go from Harry Truman, who had to choose between politics and playing piano in a whore house, to Harry Ried, who learned to swim in a whore house swimming pool. Way to go, Democrat Party!
Good post. A good man, warts and all. I liked Gerald Ford. Never wanted the job. Stepped in at a very difficult time and did a decent job.
It was a damned shame to see the Dems go from “the party of the people” to “the party of special interests”. Now they give us hacks like Clinton and Obama, candidates that despise the people that the party used to champion and whose only goal is to create “legacies” and get rich. It’s all about them now, not service to the country. I suspect that even John F. Kennedy would have exiled the Clintons back to Arkansas and shipped Obama back to Kenya were he President right now.
From “Ask what you can do for your country” to “what’s in it for me?”.
The Dems have fallen far as a party and as human beings.
John- Good point… sigh…
WSF- That he did.
Murph- I have to agree with ya, it’s a pretty sad state of affairs.
Murph, why do I get the feeling that if Obama said something like Kennedy did (“ask what you can do for your country”) we’d get a blog post about socialist indoctrination.
Both parties have been taken over by special interests. It’s not a partisan thing, it’s a money thing. The big change form then to now is that you cannot be president today without raising multiple hundreds of millions of dollars. That is a lot of favors to promise.
I’ll agree with you that Truman was the last good Democrat President we had….but I think Eisenhower was the last good overall President….in some ways, Ike was even better than Reagan….
When did it become the government’s and not our families job to take care of us in our old age?
Josh
Ps. JFK wasn’t that bad for a Dem. ether; we just did get a chance to see how that presidency would of turned out.
Being likable just isn’t enough for me.
Just my thoughts,
Josh
I had no idea. I have a new level of respect for him as a decent person. Thanks for posting this!
It cannot truly have success, I believe so.