Gah! I am so behind here. Harry Truman's birthday was actually Friday May 8th, but I've been so busy, I literally have not had time to write his blog until today. I'll get you caught up on all things Waterstraut tomorrow (hopefully), including our Where in the World project. But, for today, I present to you our 33rd President, the guy who dropped the atomic bomb and took over for FDR.
(There was arguments over who was going to hold the Harry Truman folder, because everyone wants to be next (JFK at the end of the month). But, Peyton finally said he'd do it.
And because our board is taken up with tracking the Fenderson's, and because we only have two presidents this month, Harry Truman is on an opposite wall in my kitchen. He might have to come down before JFK goes up though. But, don't you love this month's 'theme' for the board? They're like the guys we made for True American last time, but bigger. Oh, and he's sporting a Florida shirt with palm trees because he had a winter house in key west.
We had our morning owl mail, nothing too special.
And, I had my photographer here since it was a work from home week. But, again, I get these pictures of the boys when I hand over my camera.
I swear, Peyton was more excited here than he looks. (But look at him STILL wearing his house scarf from Harry Potter Week!
So, Harry S. Truman. He was born in Missouri on May 8th, 1884. These are his parents John and Martha. They were farmers/live stock dealers. The S. is just a middle initial by the way, it doesn't stand for anything, much like Sam Grant. Both his grandfathers had names that started with S (first/last names) and so they figured it fit.
Harry was the oldest brother of three kids (he had a brother, John and a sister Mary Jane).
When Harry was just five, he went off to Sunday school. There he met Bess. They were bess friends (ha! That's how Asa remembers her name, btw).
So, Bess was pretty, athletic and popular all through grade school. Harry was anything but. He had thick (like REALLY thick) glasses, which made it really difficult to play sports. So, instead he read (A LOT!), and played piano (he got up every morning at 5 am to practice). His favorite author was Mark Twain, and he read every single book in his home town library by the time he was 15.
Oh, and he LOVED history. His favorite guy from history? Robert E. Lee (yay for citizen-soldiers!) While I think this makes Harry awesome, you can see why maybe the kids in his school thought he was less than cool. He was actually bullied a whole lot, and constantly ran from fights on the playground. He never actually got into a fight, but people sure wanted to beat him up. The only injury of note Harry had as a child was a broken collarbone, which he got by... wait for it... falling off a chair while combing his hair. /Sigh.
\Harry, who ran from fights, was made of fun constantly on the playground, and who broke his collar bone combing his hair, would eventually drop the atomic bomb. Who saw that coming? I'll tell you, nobody. Nobody saw that coming. He wasn't a firery child like Andrew Jackson (although in his later years, I think more comparison's could be made.) He wasn't good at everything like Thomas Jefferson, and he wasn't rugged and athletic like James Monroe. For a long time, Harry was pretty unremarkable, actually.
He graduated high school with good grades, but his family couldn't afford to send him to college. In fact, he's the only president in the 20th century who never went to college (and the last president we have had without a college degree). He wasn't an idiot though, he was self taught mostly by reading books (because books are awesome).
But he did have his share of failures too. After high school he worked all kinds of jobs. He was a railroad time kerrper, a bookkeeper, a banker, and oil driller, and a farmer. Eventually, Harry even opened a haberdashery (a men's clothing store).
But because Chester Arthur was long dead, he couldn't keep Harry in business, and poor Harry had another failure on his list. He did, however, refuse to declare bankruptcy, and made sure he paid off his debts to the very last dime.But still, Bess was not impressed.
But see, now Woodrow Wilson is president (fun Mother's Day tidbit: the national holiday was declared by good old Woodrow, the only president to hold a PhD-- see, I know some stuff about presidents we haven't done yet!).
And when Woodrow Wilson is president, Archduke Franz Ferdinand gets assassinated, people get pissed and we end up with Allied and Central Powers starting WWI.
Now, Harry, who has spent his whole life running from danger, from fights, well, he's ready to kick some Central Power ass. But, when you are as blind without your glasses as Harry was, you can't get into the military. So, whats a guy to do, except memorize the eye chart.
It worked, and Harry was in! All his failures, cowardice, and running from confrontation abruptly stopped. I guess those decades of running from fight and being made fun of, finally left him with a burning desire to kick the crap out of someone.
He, like so many other presidents, was good at war. He advanced up the ladder, and after just one year Captain Truman was put in charge of the Battery D unit. This unit though, well, it was just a while collection of drunken misfits. They were considered uncommand-able, and a lost cause. But, nothing is a lost cause to Harry S. Truman. In just a few weeks of cursing and threatening to beat the crap right out of them, Harry had turned the Battery D unit into a well-disciplined, efficient, fighting squad. Harry marched his band of misfits all over France, taking out German troops every step along the way, and he never lost a single man. Harry had solidified his status as a war hero, and a badass. And, he could finally show up to high school reunions and tell all those bullies to suck it.
Plus, he finally got Bess to notice him, and she FINALLY agreed that she wanted to marry Harry. (did anyone else see that god awful show? My husband loved it, crazy boy.) Anyway, Bess and Harry had one kid, a daughter, Margaret.
Harry was ready to capitalize off his war hero status. He ran for county judge, and won. Eventually he would lose his re-election, but that would be the only election Harry would ever lose. Harry had turned himself into a winner, and he rode that all the way to the Senate. By the time he got there, FDR was in his first term. Harry became a standout for the Democratic party and he spent the next ten years investigating committees, checking into waste and corruption, and saving somewhere around $15 billion dollars. he was popular and well-liked. Honest, hardworking Harry had earned everyone's respect, including the presidents.
So when FDR was looking to drop Mr. Smee as his VP in his fourth election, there was nobody better to help him defeat Thomas Dewey than Harry S. Truman.
Harry didn't jump at the chance, but FDR didn't so much as ask, as he told. And Harry, apparently reverting to that kid who got pushed around on the playground, relented. Of course, they beat Dewey and the Roosevelt-Truman ticket wins.
Despite the fact that WWII is winding down, Harry is kept pretty much out of the loop. In fact, he only met with FDR twice, and they didn't discuss any sort of foreign policies.
If you need a WWII refresher, google it. I have to get to playing some board games today. (But the boys are dying to play axis and allies now!) But, it did start when German invaded Poland in 1939. The rest, well, you know. Bad things happened in Europe, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and all hell broke loose.
I feel like I totally nailed the casting of Hitler, Stalin, and Winston Churchill, by the way.
(Peyton took this picture, and I think it's kind of awesome).
Anyway, here it is April 12, 1945. Harry is over at the Captiol Building having some drinks with his buddies in Congress, when he's summoned to the White House. He thinks FDR wants to see him.
But when he gets there, Eleanor informs him of the bad news...
FDR has just died in Georgia (she probably left out the part that Lucy was with him), and Harry's first concern is for poor Eleanor. He asks if there is anything he can do for her, but as we know now, they were all Mellie and Fitz (a little Scandal humor for you), about their marriage. Eleanor, not too phased by the death of her husband, says "Is there anything we can do for you? You are the one in trouble now!"
So Harry and Bess move into the White House. Bess isn't particularily thrilled with being First Lady. She doesn't like the lack of privacy, and these were the days before TMZ. She would have HATED it now.
And Harry now has to fill in for one of the greatest presidents of all time. Now, this should be a recipe for disaster, just look at the track record of these guys: Millard Fillmore for Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson for Abraham Lincoln, and John Tyler for William Henry Harrison (do you see me? I am a linking MACHINE!) But Harry actually, preforms pretty admirably. (Ala Teddy Roosevelt in for William McKinley.)
And you have to give Harry some credit. I mean, he shows up in the Oval, and they're like "so hey, we know you know nothing about the Manhattan Project, but we've totally built an atomic bomb and we're about to test it in New Mexico." Oy vey!
On May 7, 1945, after Hitler went ahead and committed suicide, Germany surrenders and Europe waves the white flag. Oh, and the guy in charge? General Dwight Eisenhower!
But, there's still the matter of Japan and Emperor Hirohito (also brilliantly cast by me!), who refuse to surrender. Truman contemplates sending in troops, but the leaders of the army inform him anywhere from half a million to a million troops could be lost.
And so Harry who has "discovered the most terrible bomb in the world", decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Which, as we all know has devastating effects.
But Emporer Hirohito STILL refuses to surrender. Three days later, Truman, the kid who got pushed around on the playground, drops atomic bomb number two on Nagaski.
This time, Emperor Hirohito surrenders. The war is over, and the Allies have won.
But, in a Survivor style move, now that the Soviets and the U.S have taken out the other big threats, it's time to try and take out each other. Except, nobody is in any shape to be fighting a war, and so we have the beginnings of the Cold War.
And Europe is broke, with no way to rebuild. People can't pay their taxes to help build back bridges and roads, so Harry helps them out with the Marshall plan, which results in $13 billion in assistance to Western European Countries. Obviously, it works. The U.S. offered help to the Soviets, but they want to vote Harry off the island and refuse his immunity idol. Instead, the Soviets decide they want to make people join the Communism alliance. Harry uses the Truman Doctrine to let anyone know they'll help them fight Communism, if they want to be part of his Capitalist alliance.
And then we have a new alliance, NATO. (Spoiler alert: they all want the Soviet Union out).
Oh, and I guess we didn't get a picture of it earlier, but Harry always said he wasn't going to pass the blame, and had a sign on his desk in the Oval that said "The Buck Stops Here."
After the Soviets block of their part of Germany, the U.S. sends in food via plane in the Berlin airlift. It's the first "battle" of the Cold War.
Harry is serious about fighting Communism, even if he has to be sneaky and lie to the American people about it. You see, honest Harry, like so many others, is now willing to tell half truths if it gets him what he wants, which in this case is reinstating the draft, and more money for the military.
He sent troops over to Korea and sent aid to Vietnam to fight the spread of Communism. He could get basically anything he wanted from Congress, because he convinced everyone if we didn't get involved, America was a heartbeat away from another World War. In reality, nobody was in any shape to fund another war. But, the American people didn't know that, and Harry wasn't about to offer up that information.
At this point, Harry had a fiery, unpredictable temper. He had become very volcano/Andrew Jackson like. His status as a bad ass you don't want to mess with had been solidified the second he dropped the bomb. But, he wasn't great with domestic issues, not as great as the amazing FDR anyway, and people were not pleased. His approval rating was at 36%, and with re-election looming, everyone was convinced that Thomas Dewey, who was giving it another go, would be the 34th President of the United States.
The press was convinced, there was no way Harry wins re-election. They had him down so far in the polls, they figured there was no coming back. Harry criss-crossed the country campaigning, and brought Civil Rights and integrating the army to the forefront. He was gaining ground, but nobody would know, because the press never bothered to take another poll.
So on election day in 1948, nobody was more stunned at Harry Truman's come-from-behind-victory than the Chicago Tribune. They had already printed papers declaring Dewey the winner! (Fun side note, the third party in that election was Strom Thurmond, you know that Senator that served until he was 100!)
Oh, and another fun side note, Harry's second inauguration was the first to be televised.
In his second term, the White House was literally falling apart. Bathtubs were sinking into the floors, the floors were swaying when people walked on them, and the building was in risk of collapsing. Some people wanted to tear down the White House and start over, but my gosh! You can't tear down the White House! So, Harry ordered a complete renovation. (Seriously, google the pictures from the renovation, it's fascinating to look at! I SO want to go visit the White House again now!)
The Truman's, meanwhile, moved next door to Blair House. Bess was fine with this, she could use it as an excuse not to have to do all those First Lady things and throw parties and stuff.
It was at Blair House, where two Puerto Ricans attempted to assassinate Harry, something about wanting their independence. But, they were no Lee Harvy Oswald or John Wilks Booth. They weren't even a Leon Czolgosz. There wasn't really a plan in place, and they just walked up to Blair House gates and started firing their guns in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY. Harry was never even touched (they didn't even know if he was home at the time), but a Secret Service Agent was killed, as was one of the would-be assassins. The other one was sentenced to death. Harry, changed it to life in prison (and Carter set the guy free, and sent him home to Puerto Rico.)
Harry's second term was not amazing, though. Besides the unrest going on around the world, labor disputes, expansion of the GI bill, and a proposal for a nation health care (we all know how well THAT seems to go over) made Truman not particularly popular during his term.
To make matters worse, charges of corruption against his administration plagued his second term. I guess he should have read more about Sam Grant than Robert E. Lee, because just like Grant, Harry had surrounded himself with some shady people, which ruined his reputation. Then he fired popular General McArthur, and that was the last straw. His popularity sunk to an all time low (and that's saying something for a guy who had an approval rating of 36%), and he didn't run for re-election.
That suited Bess just fine, and the Truman's went back to Missouri, deciding to live only off of Harry's modest army pension of $112 a month.
And General Eisenhower became our 34th President (you'll have to wait to October to see how that goes). But, former President Truman remained pretty outspoken, and other president's looked to him for support, namely JFK. (I found a picture of Harry playing the piano in the White House for JFK & Jackie, I don't know why, but I LOVED it. Harry also is pictured with Eisenhower at JFK's funeral).
Harry died of pneumonia at age 88, and was buried in Kansas City, Missouri (that's one tomb that is going to be hard to get to!). Bess, she lived until she was 97, making her the longest-lived First Lady in history. I thought Barbara Bush might be gaining, but turns out she'll only be 90 in June, a Spring Chicken! Nancy Reagan is 93, and Roslyn Carter isn't even close, she's only 87.
Now here's the thing about history, it has a funny way of giving perspective. Harry left office with one of the lowest approval ratings of all time. But, he is the guy who dropped the bomb, and ended the war, even if he came in Jon Gruden style just to reap the benefits of FDR's work. Today, he's regarded as one of the best. In the last ten years, he's ranked in the top five of presidents. He has good company, with Lincoln, both the Roosevelt's and George Washington.
That's it for Harry's timeline, so we opened up Harry's Florida palm tree shirt, and put in all of our props.
Plus his fun facts...
...And his famous quotes! I kind of love these.
'
So fun, I like this one!
I think the glasses and the bullied kid made Hayden think of Harry Truman like Harry Potter.
And I thought Calib's card was hilarious, but I love historical humor. I'm a nerd like that.
And Peyton did a nice job on his card too.
I'll at least have to take down the cards to make room for JFK.
Truman's birthday actually spanned three days for us. We had his birthday dinner on Saturday instead of Friday, because Friday I was out with my friend Ben. Harry Truman's favorite foods included chicken and dumplings.
Asa also made Bess Truman's Ozark Pudding for desert. It was a lot like an apple crisp.
We did our activity on Thursday the day before Harry's birthday, because we were doing a field trip, and we wanted Asa to be able to come along on his day off. We finally visited the S.S. American Victory Ship here in Tampa. It was a cargo ship which served during the end of WWII, and during Vietnam.
There was a lot to see and read.
But, unlike some ships I had been on, you could touch everything. It was so much fun. This blog has already taken long enough, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
We got to sit/climb/play on everything too.
Look! Asa caught his wallet.
We caught a Peyton!
There's even an air conditioned room to cool off.
Although the ship is in port, it's worth noting it is one of four fully operational WWII ships still in existence. It does go out every once in awhile.
Calib is saying 'no pictures, mom!'
The radio room..
The shower..
And we even got to go in the engine room!
And the kitchen!
And the refrigerator!
This was in the pantry... ewwww...
A display of knots..
It was tons of fun, and the boys loved it. My dad would be proud.
Oh, and it wasn't until Saturday evening that we got around to the hashtag, but here we have it. It's directed at the Chicago tribune: I guess that blew up in your face #NeverSayNever
I'll be back likely tomorrow with everything else we've been up to. See you then!
Next Up: Gearing Up for VACATION WEEK!
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