Ruth and Alan's Excellent Adventure: Abe, Harry, Buddy and Herb Part Two

PART TWO- HARRY AND HERB

The second stop on our recent road trip was going to be the Harry S. Truman Museum and Presidential Library located in his hometown of Independence, Missouri. The drive from our last stop at Lincoln Land, Springfield, Illinois, to Independence, Mo. is about 5 1/2 hours. Rather than do it all in one chunk, we decided to do part of the drive Monday night after we were done touring Springfield, and then finish it up the next morning. As it happens, the route goes across the Mississippi River (not surprising since Illinois and Missouri use the Mississippi as a border line) so we decided to stay at the Rivers Edge Inn, a hotel located right on the Mississippi on the Missouri side of the River, in a town called Louisiana, Mo. We think Missouri has identity issues; in addition to Louisiana, Mo., you can find these cities, among others, in Missouri: Mexico, Lebanon, California, Nevada, Oregon, Cleveland, Denver, Montreal, Warsaw, Saginaw, Syracuse, Spokane, Bowling Green, and, of course, Kansas City. Fun Fact.

We liked the Rivers Edge Inn; it had "character", the other guests were "characters" (we especially liked the tough bikers who spent most of the night hanging out at the picnic table by the river drinking beer but couldn't say enough kind things about Bethany or stop petting her) and the owner wasn't one to waste money on art on the walls:

Notice any similarities between the two prints on the walls?

This was Bethany's favorite motel; she had her own queen sized bed!

In any event, the Mississippi was beautiful, and Louisiana was interesting in that it has many cool antebellum houses on the river.

Across the street from our accommodations

On this trip we not only crossed the Mississippi, but also the Illinois and the Missouri Rivers. Louisiana was only 12 miles from Hannibal, Mo., where Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) grew up; we couldn't fit it into our schedule this time but a river boat ride down the Mississippi is still on the bucket list so we will be back!

We were making "good time" to get to the Truman Museum and Library, when we were distracted by numerous billboard signs urging us to stop at a nostalgia shop right off of I-70; curiosity got the better of us and we stopped for a few minutes at "G.C. Dunwoody's Nifty Fiftys Store" otherwise known as "Nostalgiaville U.S.A." located in downtown Kingdom City (actually the store and the post office across the street is the whole downtown).

The store was crammed with the type of stuff that puts a smile on the face of anyone who grew up watching tv and listening to music in the late 50s and 60s

We had a great time; Ruth especially liked the Lucy stuff and the Elvis cut out.

ready to box up chocolates on the assembly line!

Ruth telling Elvis that we'll be visiting his home later this year

But Tempus Fugit; we needed to move on to make the next stop: Harry Truman's Museum and Library. We got there in the early afternoon; we had a nice picnic lunch right on the front lawn of the museum at a little table provided by the museum.

We then took the obligatory Alan in front of Presidential Library photo

The museum was very well done; you enter through a fresco painted by Thomas Hart Benton depicting the American West:

The first display case had his famous desk plaque which summed up his view of the Presidency

There was then a replica of the Oval Office as he kept it, which was remarkably spartan compared to the ones we have seen so far (Kennedy, Ford, and Johnson)

Truman was a modest man, by presidential standards, and wasn't afraid of controversy. His museum, which he helped design and where his office was for all of the years following his presidency, reflected that in many of the exhibits:

A citizen sent him this shirt and a letter complaining that since Truman's tax policies took everything from him including the shirt off of his back, he wanted Truman to have it The exhibit also included a letter from a grieving father sending his late son's war medals to Truman and berating Truman for the Korean War. Many presidents wouldn't want such things prominently displayed in their museums.

This exhibit of post WWII American consumerism and luxurious living was contrasted in the next room with a very, very dark exhibit of Europe after the war; people foraging in garbage dumpsters for food; civil unrest on the streets; sleeping in boxes, etc.

Many of the Exhibits featured audio-visual or written materials setting forth opposing points of view from that endorsed by Truman. For example, the exhibit dealing with the atomic bomb included a good deal of material as to whether Truman was right to drop the bomb; a lot of it suggested that he was not; that the war would have ended anyway, that the Japanese were about to surrender, that even if Tokyo had to be taken by an armed invasion it wouldn't have cost the million Allied lives that he projected were saved by the bombs, etc. Of course, these opposing views have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and lots of historical research and ignore the fact that Truman, who didn't even know the bomb existed scant months before, could only go on the evidence he had in front of him at the time. But enough of that; the point is that Truman was not afraid to have opposing views set forth in his own museum.

We were very interested in the room dealing with Truman's recognition of the State of Israel. This was no slam dunk on his part; in fact his most trusted advisor, George Marshall, was against the idea all together, and Truman waivered back and forth. Truman had owned a haberdashery shop with a Jewish businessman, Eddie Jacobson (they served together in World War I), who wrote several letters to Truman urging him to allow Chaim Weitzman to meet with Truman, including this one:

Truman did meet with Weitzman and recognized Israel (the first country to do so), and received many honors from grateful Jews. One exhibit asks visitors to choose reasons why Truman did recognize Israel- whether it was because it was good foreign policy; or his own moral compass; or politically expedient to do so because he needed the Jewish vote. Whatever the reason, he did it, and will be remembered for doing so.

Presented to Truman Library by Kansas City Federation on the 50th Anniversary of the birth of Israel

Torah and Case given by Chaim Weitzman to Truman

Many Jews were also grateful to Truman for his policies concerning Jews saved from the concentration camps; one woman, many years later, sent Truman this toy piano with a note saying that it was her only possession she had saved from her life before she was sent to the camps; she would use it as a visual aid to cheer up the others in displacement camps after the war and say that Truman (who played the piano) would take care of them.

Alan is a fan of Truman's; he believes that Truman made a lot of tough decisions, and did so decisively and after a careful weighing of facts, but always using his internal moral compass as a guide. It was a pleasurable day and at the end we paid our respects at his and Bess's grave, before moving on to their home.

The Truman home is located less than 2 miles from the Museum and Library; it was built by Bess's grandfather; Bess lived there her entire life, and Harry lived there from the day he married Bess until he passed away. While it is a large home (and no photos are allowed to be taken inside it), it is, in typical Truman fashion, understated; there are only a couple of dishes on display in their china cabinet to suggest that Truman was president.

While Independence is no Truman Land, we did walk around the downtown area, and found that several of the buildings had connections to Truman:

Clinton's Soda Fountain; known as Crown Drug Store in the 1890's, Truman worked here when he was 14

The soda fountain bar dates back to the 1890s

Courthouse where Truman presided as a judge

Nothing to do with Truman, but we had a wonderful dinner at Cafe Verona in downtown Independence; they let us sit in the terrace area and bring in Bethany

Fence surrounding the Terrace at Cafe Verona; couples buy locks, attach them to the fence, and throw away the key signifying that their love will last forever

We ended the day by watching the sun set over downtown Independence (and possibly see some Northern lights again)

We left Independence and spent the night in Osceola, Iowa on our way to see some Rock and Roll history. We are going to skip our time in Clear Lake and leave that for the next post, since Alan has some special things to write about it, but we will end this post with our surprise stop on the trip- the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and Library. We hadn't intended to go there (Hoover is not on Alan's list of Presidential Museums, which he limited to those presidents he admires) but it was right off the freeway in West Branch, Iowa, as we drove home from Clear Lake, so we did stop, and even though it closed literally as we drove up to it, we did walk through a restored Iowa prairie that surrounds the Museum and paid respects at the graves of Hoover and his wife, and we wanted to share a couple of pictures with you: