President Harry S. Truman and President Lyndon B. Johnson enjoyed a friendship stemming from a shared belief in national healthcare, civil rights, and other policies that endured through Johnson’s presidency and beyond. Johnson attributed many of his successes to the early steps that Truman took on these important policies. “It was really Harry Truman of Missouri who planted the seeds of compassion and duty which today have flowered into care for the sick and serenity for the fearful,” Johnson said. Read More

A Note from Clifton Truman Daniel

Clifton Truman Daniel is the oldest grandson of President Truman and a former newspaper writer, editor and public relations professional. He lectures on his grandfather and plays President Truman in the one-man show, “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!,” the first time in history a U.S. president is being portrayed onstage by a descendant. In addition to his honorary chairmanship of the Truman Library Institute, Daniel is also board secretary of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.

He wrote the following reminiscing about a memorable holiday with this grandfather:

When I was five or six, my father took me to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I fell in love with the band uniforms – the buttons, the braid, the plumes on the helmets. Later, when Dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said, “One of those.” Read More

The Pandit and the President

Marc Reyes is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Connecticut. A Kansas City native, Marc’s research interests include U.S. foreign relations history and modern South Asia. Marc is a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow and will spend most of 2019 in India. His time there will assist him in completing his dissertation, a cultural and political history of India’s atomic energy and nuclear weapons programs.

Marc wrote the following guest blog post about Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s first visit to the U.S. in 1949 and President Truman’s reception of him. Read More

On November 1, 1948, Harry Truman was home in Independence, awaiting the presidential election the following day after the exhaustion of his Whistle Stop campaign. He addressed the people one more time, this time in his hometown, in the speech below:

Independence, Mo.
November 1, 1948, Election Eve

I want to thank Senator Barkley for his generous introduction, and to say what I have said before — that no candidate for President ever had a finer running mate. The people of this country are everlastingly in his debt for his leadership in their interest. Senator Barkley will go down in history as one of our greatest public servants.

During the past two months the Senator and I have been going up and down the country, telling the people what the Democratic Party stands for in government. I have talked in great cities, in State capitals, in county seats, in crossroad villages and country towns. Read More

Truman fan’s greatest wish comes true

John Nappi was 14 when Harry Truman became president in 1945. From that moment until Mr. Nappi’s passing late last year, Truman was not just his favorite president but his hero.

“Harry represents everything my dad values about this country and the American Dream,” said Debbie Mayo, Nappi’s daughter. “Harry grew up in a working class family – like my dad, was an avid reader – like my dad, and stood by his convictions, even if they were unpopular – like my dad. Harry was the classic underdog who worked hard, had grit and determination and never gave up.” Read More

An Evening With David McCullough

More than 850 passionate Harry Truman fans packed into the Muehlebach Hotel on April 19, 2018, for the 19th annual Wild About Harry, featuring honored guest David McCullough. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the definitive biography Truman was honored that evening with the Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award then gave the following remarks. We are honored to share an excerpt from his speech:

Good evening and thank you very, very much. I feel back home again. I feel the feeling that I have in general that we are a good people, we are a good country, we are good citizens, we care about the future, and we care about the past. And to have so much of that feeling, a projection of that attitude all in one room is heartening in the extreme. And what a proud moment to have an award presented by Harry Truman’s grandson. Read More

70 Years Later, a look back at this history-jammed 12 months

The following piece was contributed by A.J. Baime, author of The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World who is currently working on a book about the 1948 election. It originally appeared in the 1948 Commemorative Issue of TRU Magazine.

In the early evening of November 2, 1948, a secret service car pulled up behind Harry Truman’s home in Independence, Missouri, and scooped up the President of the United States. The car motored north out of town and over the Missouri River. It was Election Night, and Truman had just completed the most exhausting campaign of his life. In the quiet town of Excelsior Springs, he checked into a room alone at the Elms Hotel. Few outside of Mrs. Truman knew of his whereabouts. Read More

From forming the United Nations to addressing conflict in Korea, from establishing NATO to handling the early days of the Cold War, the issues that Harry Truman faced and the unwavering leadership principles that guided him seem to become more and more relevant every day. National media has increasingly turned its attention to President Truman and his legacy to interpret today’s domestic and global news. Read More

Dr. Kurt Graham, director of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, spoke at the AJC Global Forum earlier this summer in Jerusalem, memorializing President Truman, who the AJC called “a heroic friend of Israel.”

Watch his speech here, or read the entire transcript below:

In April of 1943, a little-known, Midwestern senator stood before a stadium rally in Chicago “to demand rescue of doomed Jews.” His address was a forceful call to establish the foundation of the post-war order, even as the world war raged on. “We must make sure that when final victory is achieved all men throughout the world will live in peace, free from all oppression.” Read More

Each year some two dozen historians, writers and scholars receive Research Grants to explore the archives at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. These prestigious research grants are made possible thanks to the generosity of Truman Library Institute members and donors.

Donors have made it possible for the Truman Library Institute to give out nearly $2.7 million over the years for researchers all over the world to travel to Independence to immerse themselves in archival research and further our understanding of the Truman era.

Meet one of these grantees, Melanie Sheehan, who recently traveled to the Truman Library from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill to research for her project focused on business and labor organizations in the international economy during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. We took a few minutes of Melanie’s time to learn about her research and what she learned while on site at the Truman Library. Read More