Hail to the Chiefs Part XXXIII: Just Wild About Harry
"When I feel my head start to swell I look at Ringo and then I know perfectly well we're not superhuman." - John Lennon
How's this for a want ad? WANTED FOR TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT: A chief executive/commander-in-chief to follow one of the most popular and successful presidents in American history. Job duties include: ending World War II, protecting democracy world wide from totalitarian states, deciding how best to utilize the single most destructive weapon in human history. Training: None. Retirement plan: None. Living accommodations: A rat-infested rapidly deteriorating 150 year old house (we would not recommend going to the third floor if you value your life.)
I don't know about you, but that makes the worst of my temp jobs sound pretty good by comparison. Now add to the mix, the man chosen to fill this job was a failed haberdasher with a high school education. Is it any wonder people were concerned when Harry S. Truman took office? Fortunately, throughout Truman's life, he had the capacity to rise to the occasion in situations where at first, he seemed to be hopelessly in over his head.
Harry S. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri on May 8, 1884. The S. didn't stand for anything in particular...it was a way to name him after both grandfathers at the same time: Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. Early on the family moved to the town of Independence, where he lived most of his life.
When he was 6 he started going to Sunday school at the local Presbyterian Church. It was there that he first met Bessie Wallace. As Bessie was from a prominent family.....and Harry wasn't (plus he was....gasp....a BAPTIST....)....Harry wasn't really on Bessie's radar. However, she was the love of Harry's life. He was never interested in any other women. It's like of like if Charlie Brown, after 3 decades, finally won over the little red-headed girl.
By today's standards Harry was legally blind without his glasses, which made sports nearly impossible. So he became a voracious reader. He was a regular at the Independence Public Library. I picture him being like a couple of the regulars at my middle school library.....racing in to get another book. His favorite books were about history, and the biographies of generals.
Harry's other main pasttime was playing the piano. Later he used to joke that if he hadn't gone into politics, his only other option was to play piano in a whorehouse. (Given how straight-laced Truman was, it's doubtful he ever even set foot in a whorehouse let alone would play piano in one.) However he took his study of piano very seriously. He continued his piano lessons past high school until he could no longer afford it. In 1900 when Paderewski came to Kansas City, Truman's piano teacher made arrangements for Harry to not only meet Paderewski, but to have a master lesson on Paderewski's Minuet in G. (A piano player AND a bibliophile...I think he and I could have been good buddies.)
However any of Harry's hopes of becoming a concert pianist or going onto college were dashed when he was 18. His father got into serious financial trouble. Harry moved to Kansas City and found work as a bank clerk. One of his housemates was Arthur Eisenhower, older brother of Ike. Harry had a great time in Kansas City, especially enjoying his hobby of going to the theater....which he would sometimes skip out on church to do.
The party was over pretty soon. Harry's father took over the family farm, and insisted that Harry move there and help out. This had to have been a difficult adjustment for a self-described "sissy" who had never actually done farm work before. Still he didn't complain, and stayed there for the next 8 years. In his spare time he made frequent trips to Independence to see Bess Wallace, who he had recently reconnected with. Bess's father had shocked the family and the town by committing suicide a few years before. This left Bess to look after her ever more difficult mother. Margaret Wallace never thought Harry was good enough for Bess....even after she'd moved into the White House with them. She was pretty much on a par with Ulysses S. Grant's father....would love to see the two of them in some sort of celebrity death match.
Bess and Harry wrote regular letters to each other. She turned down his first proposal. He took it in stride, but made these comments in his response: "You may think I'll get over it as all boys do. I guess I am something of a freak myself. I really never had any desire to make love to a girl just for the fun of it, and you have always been the reason. I have never met a girl in my life that you were not the first to be compared with her, to see wherein she was lacking and she always was...I'll never tell such things to anyone else or bother you with them again. I have always been more idealist than practical anyway, so I really never expected any reward for loving you. I shall always hope though..."
Bess strung him along for years, but finally relented in 1913. He was on Cloud Nine. This is my favorite of what he wrote after that "I could die happy just doing something for you. (Just imagine a guy with spectacles and a girl mouth doing the Sir Lancelot.) Since I can't rescue you from any monster or carry you from a burning building or save you from a sinking ship--simply because I'd be afraid of the monsters, couldn't carry you and can't swim--I'll have to go to work..." I think this is classic Harry Truman: earnest, heart-felt and hilarious. Although it should be noted, eventually he did learn to swim (an awkward side stroke that allowed him to keep his glasses on...) and also proved more than capable with some monsters as well.
In 1918 the United States entered World War I. Bess decided NOW would be the time to finally get married. However Harry wanted to enlist, and insisted they wait a little longer....because apparently 25 years of pining and a 5 year engagement just wasn't long enough.
Harry easily could have avoided the draft with his poor eyesight. However, he memorized the eye chart so he could make it in the army. He was 33 years old and soon was made captain of Battery F. He bought 6 pairs of glasses and was off to France. Some of his fellow soldier were delighted to find out how much Harry knew about France, thanks to all those years in the library. He'd know where to find different historical sites. Truman was a highly successful captain. The only of his men to sustain casualties were temporarily under the command of somebody else. His men adored him, and were fiercely loyal to him for the rest of his life.
After the war, Harry realized going back to farm life wasn't for him. So after he married Bess, they moved in with her mother. This would be where he'd spend the majority of his adult life. Harry opened up a haberdashery (a hat store) with Eddie Jacobson. Harry and Eddie would be lifelong friends despite the fact that Eddie was not allowed to visit Harry at home. Among Mrs. Wallace's many charming traits, she was anti-semitic and Eddie was Jewish.
The haberdashery was short-lived (like most of Harry's business adventures.) Harry found himself 40, a new father...and unemployed. However he did have a good reputation in the community. Local political machine boss T.J. Pendergast offered to help him get elected as a judge. Thus Harry got involved in politics....not for any noble goal, or because of interest, or because of ambition....but purely to be a breadwinner. The Pendergast machine was fairly corrupt. T.J. Pendergast would eventually spend time in prison. Harry, however, managed to stay clean. Which meant watching everybody around him grow rich, while he struggled to pay the bills.
He had a few political/government positions over the years. In 1934 Pendergast decided Truman would be a good candidate for the U.S. senate. He won. Initially Harry was just seen as a Pendergast pawn, and was snubbed by his colleagues. This changed really quickly. From the get go, Harry was horrified at how few members of Congress actually USED the Library of Congress. (Indeed Truman is the first president I've read of using the Library of Congress since Teddy Roosevelt.) Truman was always one of the senators to come to work, and did a good job of researching the issues. The other senators soon figured out that Harry could be trusted to know the facts. His gregarious personality didn't hurt matters either.
Harry was loyal to FDR and the New Deal and FDR....didn't give a rat's ass. When Harry was running for re-election in 1940...with his old patron Boss Pendergast in jail....FDR supported a different candidate. Harry won anyway.
When World War II started, Harry headed a committee to make sure government funds were not being misspent during the war effort. The committee became known as the Truman Committee, and made Harry a national figure. The committee was very successful and is estimated to have saved $15 billion dollars, and thousands of lives.
In 1944 FDR was looking for a new running mate. He was in very bad health at this point, and it was pretty much understood that whoever would be vice-president for this term, would probably step into the presidency before it was over. FDR took his time figuring out which candidate he liked best. Harry wasn't overly thrilled about the idea. "The Vice President simply presides over the Senate and sits around hoping for a funeral." Finally, one day Truman was in a hotel room with Bob Hannegan, one of the key players in the campaign. FDR called up Hannegan, and said very loudly so Harry could hear it as well "Bob, have you got that fellow lined up yet?"
Hannegan responded "No he is the contrariest goddamn mule from Missouri I ever dealt with."
And FDR ended the call with "Well you tell the Senator that if he wants to break up the Democratic party in the middle of the war, that's his responsibility" and hung up loudly.
In other words, Harry was the choice. Harry's response to the news: "Oh shit!"
FDR and Truman spent very little time together during the campaign. When they did meet, Harry was horrified at how FDR looked like death warmed over.
At one point while campaigning in Massachusetts, Harry had a meeting with Joseph Kennedy. Right away, according to Truman, Kennedy began "throwing rocks at Roosevelt" finally ending with "Harry what are you doing campaigning for that crippled son of a bitch that killed my Joe?" (Kennedy's oldest son had recently been killed in the war.)
Harry responded "If you say another word about Roosevelt I'm going to throw you out that window." He later, at the urging of campaign strategists, had to apologize, as they pointed out it was not a good idea to alienate the Kennedys.
Harry spent all of 80 days as vice-president. He actually had a pretty good time. He enjoyed getting to preside over the senate. However one day in April 1945, he got a call that he was to report to the White House right away. All the color drained out of his face, and he said "Jesus Christ and General Jackson" and then broke into a run.
When he got to the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt was waiting for him. "Harry, the President is dead."
When he regained his speech, the first thing Harry said was "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Eleanor responded "Is there anything WE can do for YOU? For you are the one who are in trouble now."
FDR had been in office over 12 years. My grandmother, who was just about to turn 5 when he was first inaugurated, was a high school graduate by the time he died. Truman commented to the press "Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
Besides being in the unenviable position of following FDR, there was still a World War to wrap up....and FDR had pretty much left Truman in the dark so there was a lot of catching up to do. That summer Truman went to Potsdam, Germany to have a summit with Churchill and Stalin. Churchill liked Truman from the get go. Truman wished that Churchill would stop feeling the need to make speeches, and just get down to business. To make things more awkward, Churchill's party was voted out of office in the middle of things, so suddenly Clement Atlee was the prime minister instead. Fortunately Churchill had the foresight to bring Atlee along and keep him in the loop just in case. Truman actually liked Stalin.....later regretting that he didn't catch on what a duplicitous son-of-a-bitch Stalin actually was.
The summer of 1945 was also when the atomic bomb was finished. The debate started over whether to use it on Japan. Although it was pretty clear to everybody that Japan was losing, the Japanese military was determined to take as many Allied soldiers down with them as possible. Allied troops would have to fight and die for every inch. Truman thought it was worth it to use the atomic bomb. He authorized the bombing of Hiroshima. A few days later, after the bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered. While Truman is sometimes vilified for this decision, he never lost any sleep over it. "I knew what I was doing when I stopped the war ... I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again."
From 1948-1949 the Soviets blocked off roads to Berlin, in attempt to gain control of the entire city. In response....mostly planned by brilliant Secretary of State George Marshall....was the Berlin Airlift. For a little over a year supplies were dropped onto West Berlin. Ultimately the Soviets capitulated and West Berlin remained autonomous....though I can't imagine it was much fun being the tiny little corner of democracy surrounded by communist East Germany.
In 1948 Truman made the bold decision to have the United States be the first to recognize the new nation of Israel. The United States recognized Israel 11 minutes after it became a country. Truman made this decision partly because of input from his old business partner Eddie Jacobson. It was a particularly gutsy move because at the time, anti-semitism was still pretty common. The year before there had just been a movie "Gentleman's Agreement" addressing how wide-spread it was.
Bess Truman, never comfortable as first lady, spent a good chunk of her time supervising the White House renovation project. The White House was falling apart. The Roosevelts hadn't done a thing to keep it in working order. (I guess they were too busy saving the world to notice that the 3rd floor of their home had become a death trap.) The Trumans spent 1949-1952 in Blair House across the street.
However during the summer, Bess, Margaret and Mrs. Wallace would go back to Independence. Sometimes when Harry was feeling particularly lonely, he imagined that the ghosts of the former inhabitants of the White House were prowling around. "I sit here in this old house and work on foreign affairs, read reports, and work on speeches--all the while listening to the ghosts walk up and down the hallway and even right in here in the study. The floors pop and the drapes move back and forth--I can just imagine old Andy and Teddy having an argument over Franklin. Or James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce deciding which was the more useless to the country. And when Millard Fillmore and Chester Arthur join in for place and show the din is almost unbearable."
Truman's popularity yo-yoed during his whole administration. At first prospects for his re-election in 1948 were not looking very good. However, Harry did the famous whistle stop tour by train cross country....and managed to win over the electorate once more. His opponent, Thomas Dewey, was so arrogant, that he actually did very little to advance his own campaign. Hence the particularly gleeful look in that famous picture:
The honeymoon was short-lived in the second term. In 1949 the Nationalist Army in China was defeated and sent to exile in Taiwan. Mao Tse Tung was now the head of a new communist government. (Although the United States would not actually acknowledge this officially until 1972....) In the same year, the Soviet Union exploded it's first nuclear bomb.
I used to think people in the early Cold War era were a bit paranoid about communism. Which is easy for me to think....the same year we learned about the Iron Curtain in history class, the Berlin Wall fell. However....in Harry Truman's lifetime, two of the largest countries in the world, as well as half of Europe became communist....I'm a bit more sympathetic about why people freaked out. Senator Joseph McCarthy took advantage of the situation and began the witch hunt for which he is named.....pretty much because he liked the attention.
On June 25, 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. The rest of his second term would be dominated by the Korean War. It was a delicate affair....and there was more than one point where it looked like the tiny little peninsula might start World War III. It didn't help to have General MacArthur at the helm. MacArthur knew that China was backing North Korea, and was confident he could defeat the Chinese Army. He told Truman as much when they met in person at Wake Island. However the image of the Chinese Army MacArthur had in mind was about 10 years out of date. He was picturing the Nationalist Army....the same one that got defeated both by the Japanese and Mao. However, at the very same time MacArthur was bragging to Truman, it's estimated that over 100,000 of Mao's soldiers were already in Korea. The Americans soon got their ass handed to them.
This put Truman in the position of having to fire General MacArthur. So he did what any nerd would do in a crisis....he went to the Library of Congress and read up on how Abraham Lincoln fired General McClellan. He was intrigued by how Lincoln had exactly the opposite problem. Lincoln wanted McClellan to get off his ass and fight more. Truman wanted MacArthur to show more discretion and restraint.
After MacArthur's dismissal, he got a very warm welcome home...his first time back to the United States in 17 years. Like fellow partner in arrogance General McClellan he had grand plans to run for president, that ultimately did not work out. The much more pragmatic Matthew Ridgeway took over in Korea. Ultimately the war was not concluded until a couple of months after Truman was out of office, when Joseph Stalin died and saner heads prevailed.
Truman opted not to go for a 3rd term....and thanks to a new constitutional amendment, he was the last president to even have that option. He was content to move back with Bess to Independence. They took a few trips, including a road trip across the Eastern United States. Truman was pretty much the last president who was able to become a normal citizen of sorts.
However he did help lobby so that presidents would get a pension after their administration. This way he could afford to pay for staff to help him organize his papers and set up his presidential library.
Harry spent the last 20 years of his life content to be back in his hometown with his beloved Bess....and thoroughly enjoyed being a grandfather as well. He died on December 26, 1972 at the age of 88.
I've been asked multiple times who my favorite president is. When it comes to who I think the best president was, that's Abraham Lincoln, hands down. For which president I found the most compelling....that would be Richard Nixon. However for which president I like most as a human being...that's a tie between John Adams and Harry Truman. After the larger than life aristocratic FDR, Truman was a breath of fresh air to research. I loved that he never forgot who he was or where he came from. And the strength of his integrity was rare in a politician...rarer in a successful one.
Recommended Reading: "Truman" by David McCullough - the huge tome on Truman....is thorough and yet never gets dry or bogged down.
"Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure : The True Story of a Great American Road Trip" by Matthew Algeo.....the road trip that Harry and Bess took in 1953. It's lots of fun, and helped me view Bess Truman in a more sympathetic light.
Here's a clip of Harry Truman getting help from LBJ to sign up for medicare.