History Happy Hour: Women at War with Natalie Walker

Friday, July 12, 2019 from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

3 Trails Brewing
111 N. Main St.
Independence, MO 64050

On Friday, July 12, the Truman Library is hosting a History Happy Hour event featuring Truman Library Institute Museum / Archives Technician Natalie Walker. This event takes place at 3 Trails Brewing in on the Independence Square and will feature Walker examining what followed President Truman’s landmark decision to sign the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act (June 12, 1948). Walker will discuss the impact of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act through the fascinating story of Ernie Wagner, who served in the Air Force in the Korean War. Enjoy a behind-the-scenes look of the Truman Library’s extensive collection as Walker uses artifacts and photos from Wagner to tell her story.

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History Happy Hour: World War I and its Aftermath with Garrett Peck

Thursday, June 6, 2019
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tom’s Town Distilling Company

On Thursday, June 6, the Truman Library is partnering with the National World War I Museum and Memorial for a History Happy Hour event featuring author and historian Garrett Peck. This special event takes place at Tom’s Town Distilling Company and will feature Peck discussing his latest book, The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath, which examines the American experience during World War I and the unexpected changes that rocked the country in its immediate aftermath — the Red Scare, race riots, women’s suffrage and Prohibition, particularly timely on the centennial of the Armistice. Read More

On June 25, 1948, Harry S. Truman signed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. In its most basic sense, the act would assist in the resettlement of thousands of European refugees (largely through granting American visas) who had been displaced from their home countries due to World War II. Read More

The Steel Strike of 1952 and Harry Truman’s Declaration of National Emergency

Using his executive powers, Harry S. Truman declared a “limited” National Emergency on December 16, 1950 under the perceived threat of communism spreading throughout the globe via North Korean forces.

Now, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, president of the United States of America, do proclaim the existence of a national emergency, which requires that the military, naval, air, and civilian defenses of this country be strengthened as speedily as possible to the end that we may be able to repel any and all threats against our national security and to fulfill our responsibilities in the efforts being made through the United Nations and otherwise to bring about lasting peace.   Read More

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

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

Processing the National Korean War Museum Collection

Natalie Walker is Museum / Archives Technician at the Truman Library Institute and is currently finishing a Master’s in Public History at Colorado State University.

Natalie wrote the following blog post telling the behind-the-scenes story of processing a new collection of Korean War items acquired when the National Korean War Museum closed its doors.

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Today, military production is highly mechanized. Machines piece together uniforms, weapons, and all manner of personal equipment issued to soldiers. During World War I, however, soldiers occasionally found themselves making their own supplies.

Take, for example, this tack box which Harry S. Truman carried with him during his service in France. Soldiers crafted these tack boxes from a standard size wood crate, adding the necessary identification markings for each battery, division and rank. Read More

100 years ago, as Captain Harry S. Truman and the rest of the 129^th Artillery were preparing to ship off to fight in the Western Front and face combat in World War I, the wives and sweethearts of the Battery D men were taking on a project of their own. These women banded together to create a quilt that was eventually raffled off to raise money to buy wool yarn, which would in turn be used to knit socks for the troops. This year only, this special quilt is on display in the Truman Library’s special exhibition, “Heroes or Corpses”: Captain Truman in World War I.

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