The Independence of Harry Truman

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. —  There is a feisty tang in the air. Leaves tumble across the sidewalk. Clouds chart unpredictable paths through the sky of late autumn, and the glow of the sun appears when you least expect it.

This is a Harry Truman kind of autumn in his hometown of Independence, which could just as well have been named after the 33rd president of the United States.

Nearly 200,000 visitors from around the world annually visit the Truman home and the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. They’ve traveled back in time to the 1948 campaign when “Give ‘em hell Harry” won the presidency despite pundits and polls predicting his defeat.

But for most visitors the Independence experience quickly rises above politics to become a reliving of the American Dream.

My wife and I began at the Truman Library and Museum, and then walked less than a mile to the home that is a National Historic Site. From there we walked to many other historic and contemporary sites in this heartland city that has grown to 110,000 during its 150 years.

Mormon Headquarters

Independence was a departure point for pioneers heading west, a Civil War battleground and a religious base for the followers of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith.

Although only 10 miles east of downtown Kansas City, Independence has lived up to its own name and the image of Truman by twice being named an All-America city by the National Municipal League.

The Truman Library and Museum has become an international institution for historical research, yet maintains the personal warmth and flair of the man it honors.

Visitors like to stand and chuckle in front of a photograph showing a jubilant Truman holding aloft the front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune and its headline: “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

Truman had gone to bed on election night in 1948, declared a loser by the polls and the early vote count. He awoke the next morning to find himself elected President, after having moved up from vice president to President following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.

On the wide lawn of the courtyard is a reproduction of the Liberty Bell in the same size and tone of the original bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It was a gift from the city of Annecy-le-Vieux, France.

In the lobby is the famed mural by Thomas Hart Benton, “Independence and the Opening of the West,” showing pioneers in covered wagons meeting with Indians. Benton also did an oil portrait of Truman. The Garden Room Gallery has works of art and portraits of the Truman family.

The archives of the library contain more than 13 million manuscript pages covering Truman’s 50 years in the public spotlight.

Historical Data

Museum exhibits visually tell the story of Truman’s personal life, his political career and his era of history that included the atom bombing of Hiroshima, the Cold War with Stalin, crises in the Far East and the domestic program of social and civil rights legislation that was often under attack from the far right during the McCarthy era.

Slides, films and guided tours for adults and schoolchildren are offered. Exhibit areas display gifts and mementos from world leaders of Truman’s time, and from people who just wanted to show respect for his years in the White House.

The facility, with its classic architecture, was built with contributions from 17,000 individuals and institutions on land granted by the city. There have been more than 5 million visitors since it opened in 1957.

By that time the Trumans had already returned home, following his decision in 1952 not to seek reelection. He believed in a two-term presidency and did not want to run for what he felt would be a de facto third term.

During the first nine years after the opening of the library and museum, Truman maintained his office there and walked to it every morning. Sometimes he met with researchers. Frequently he gave distinguished visitors his own guided tour, and often addressed schoolchildren in the auditorium.

The Truman home to the south of the library and museum is a preserved piece of Victorian architecture built by Bess Truman’s grandfather shortly after the Civil War. The 14 rooms include Truman’s study and the family room where he played the piano for his daughter, Margaret.

The guide who took us through the home talked cheerfully and candidly. We sat on the enclosed back porch where the family received friends privileged to enter through the back door.

Foreign heads of state and every President from Eisenhower on entered through the front door and were received in the parlor. “They each stayed an average of about 45 minutes,” our guide said, “except Mr. Nixon, who got only 20 minutes from Mr. Truman.”

Their Graves

Truman continued to receive visitors until shortly before his death in 1972 at 88 years. Bess Truman presided over the home until her death in 1982. At 97 she was the longest-living First Lady. They are buried side by side in the courtyard of the Truman Library and Museum.

At historic Independence Square in the heart of the city is the Jackson County Courthouse, on a foundation laid in 1828. It preserves the courtroom and office used by Truman when he was presiding judge. Now it’s the setting for “The Man from Independence” sound and light show.

Out on the courthouse lawn is the larger-than-life statue of Truman in a brisk walking stride. It was dedicated by former President Gerald Ford in 1972; Truman wanted no statue during his lifetime.

At the city tourist office we got maps of Truman’s favorite walk. Along Kansas Avenue we stepped back into frontier history at the 1827 Log Courthouse. The 1881 Vail Mansion on Liberty Street, with its Second Empire architecture rising with a tower above 30 rooms, was one of the Midwest’s most expensive and beautiful mansions of its time.

The 1885 mansion of frontier artist George Caleb Bingham is on Pacific Street.

The Mormon settlement was forced out of Independence in the early 19th Century by other settlers who feared their religious and economic influence; most of the Mormon homes were burned. Today the domed Mormon temple of the Reorganized Church of Latter-day Saints is an attraction for visitors.

The churches where the Trumans met and were married are on the National Register of Historic Places. Daily life in Independence blends family-owned farms with small high-tech factories and various performing arts facilities.

When Margaret Truman Daniel returned four years ago for the centennial celebration of her father’s birth, she said: “Dad couldn’t have found a hometown that suited him better.”