Harry S Truman National Historic Site
Independence, Missouri

This really should be called the Bess Truman Home; the house was Bess' grandparents', then her mother's, before it belonged to Harry and Bess. Harry and Bess lived with Bess' mother until she died, when the home became theirs.

The inside (no photography allowed, of course) is pretty homey. The kitchen was an average kitchen of the 1940s, and the rest of the house was by no means elegant. But Harry did have a Steinway piano. That was a surprise! Supposedly he bought it for their daughter Margaret when Harry first got a good job, but actually it was he who played it. I remember seeing him play The Missouri Waltz on TV once.

I hate to say this about a President of the United States, but I think Harry was henpecked. And I think he loved Bess much more than she loved him. She didn't even live with him much of the time when he was president. Just think of it: he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and she complained that she was bored, and went back home to Independence.

On their 23rd wedding anniversary, Harry said, "[Bess] is as good-looking and loveable as when she was sixteen." I believe that. That's another way of saying that at sixteen she was homely and bitchy, and she hadn't improved with age.

I had intended to visit the Library and Museum, and the Truman Farm, but it was the first overly-hot day of spring, and I had a two-hour wait until the library opened, so I didn't stick around. I was thinking I might come back later in the day, but something happened at my next stop a few blocks down the road that made me want to get out of there.

Maybe I'll come back some other year. I really would like to visit the Truman Museum.

Photos and text ©D.L. Mark 2002

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