Remembering Harry Truman
Harry Truman died on December 26, 1972 (40 years ago today) at the age of 88 in Kansas City, Missouri.
When his term as President ended on January 20, 1953, Truman returned to his home in Independence, Missouri, to live at the home he and his wife Bess had shared for years with her mother. Truman didn't want to be on any corporation's payroll. He believed that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the Presidency. He also turned down offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful, he had no personal savings. As a result, he faced financial challenges. Once Truman left the White House, his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month. In 1953, however, there was no benefit package for former presidents.
Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and then signed a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office. For the memoirs, Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and paid two-thirds of that in tax. He ended up with about $37,000 after he paid his assistants. The memoirs were a commercial and critical success. They were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956. Truman told House Majority Leader John McCormack, "Had it not been for the fact that I was able to sell some property that my brother, sister, and I inherited from our mother, I would practically be on relief, but with the sale of that property I am not financially embarrassed."
The following year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president. The only other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money, in order to avoid embarrassing Truman.
Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had organized his own presidential library, but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar had not been enacted. Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library.
After a fall in his home in late 1964, his physical condition declined. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor the former president's fight for government health care while in office.
On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with lung congestion from pneumonia. He developed multiple organ failure and died at 7:50 am on December 26 at the age of 88. Truman had a simple private funeral at his Presidential library rather than a state funeral in Washington. A memorial service for Truman was also held at Washington National Cathedral. Bess Truman died in 1982; they both are buried at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum in Independence.
When his term as President ended on January 20, 1953, Truman returned to his home in Independence, Missouri, to live at the home he and his wife Bess had shared for years with her mother. Truman didn't want to be on any corporation's payroll. He believed that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the Presidency. He also turned down offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful, he had no personal savings. As a result, he faced financial challenges. Once Truman left the White House, his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month. In 1953, however, there was no benefit package for former presidents.
Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and then signed a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office. For the memoirs, Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and paid two-thirds of that in tax. He ended up with about $37,000 after he paid his assistants. The memoirs were a commercial and critical success. They were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956. Truman told House Majority Leader John McCormack, "Had it not been for the fact that I was able to sell some property that my brother, sister, and I inherited from our mother, I would practically be on relief, but with the sale of that property I am not financially embarrassed."
The following year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president. The only other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money, in order to avoid embarrassing Truman.
Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had organized his own presidential library, but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar had not been enacted. Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library.
After a fall in his home in late 1964, his physical condition declined. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor the former president's fight for government health care while in office.
On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with lung congestion from pneumonia. He developed multiple organ failure and died at 7:50 am on December 26 at the age of 88. Truman had a simple private funeral at his Presidential library rather than a state funeral in Washington. A memorial service for Truman was also held at Washington National Cathedral. Bess Truman died in 1982; they both are buried at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum in Independence.