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| Harry S. Truman in 1961 |
It was the summer after my freshman year in college. My mom worked for a company founded by a friend of Harry’s. He found out from my mom that I was reading Churchill’s history of World War II and he thought I should meet Harry.
Truman was very much as portrayed by Stuart Whitmore. When I arrived at the meeting at his library in Independence Missouri, the staff apologized genuinely that he was to be about two minutes late.
He strode into the room with great energy and gave me a firm handshake and a warm smile. I was surprised that he was shorter than me, because I always imagined presidents to be tall.
We went into his office, which was very grand and much larger than the one that was on display at his library when I visited it many years later. His desk was messy with papers that he was obviously working on. He sat me beside his desk and asked me what I was up to. I mentioned college and he said, “I didn’t have a chance to go to college myself...and I did pretty well,” and grinned at me.
After we had chatted for about 15 minutes it was clearly time to go and he escorted me to the back door and invited me to tour his library. There was a volume on a little shelf by the door and he invited me to sign the guestbook. He looked at me and said, “When Dwight Eisenhower came to visit me I asked him to sign this,” and then grinning over his glasses he said, “in case anything was missing.”
I have the letter that he wrote to my mom’s boss memorializing my visit. It is my most prized possession, ahead of my Babe Ruth autographed baseball.
| Copyright © 2021 by Brooks Carder Brooks Carder, PhD, is Adjunct Professor at Point Loma Nazarene University and Principal at Carder and Associates LLC. |
I always envy those who have had the opportunity to meet someone I really consider to be great human beings. I consider Truman to be in this category. Faced with perhaps the most momentous decision,in terms of human consequences in history, he stood fast. Whether one agrees with his decision is irrelevant; we weren't faced with it. Greatness is facing the consequences of our actions unflinchingly. My Grandma Dedge ran the Navy laundry in Key West in WWII, and met him several times. She said he would bring his own laundry, having slipped his secret Service detail, and walk down the street in his "grandpa" undershirt (didn't call them "wife beaters" back then) with his striped pants and suspenders, talking to the people he met. I would wish very much to meet such a President, the recent crop having been one unrelenting disappointment after another. I envy you sir!
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