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1. On Harry S. Truman
You might think these quotes are fake. They are not. And such is the human condition. People even in the highest stations in life are a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You might think these quotes are fake. They are not. And such is the human condition. People even in the highest stations in life are a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
2. While there is no question about Harry Truman's racist prejudices, it is also undeniable that he rose above his prejudices in policies he pursued. This is why I insist on judging political leaders by their actions and policies than by their words and decades old behavior.
3. Let us look at Harry S. Truman beyond his racial prejudices. As a trivia question, what do you think Harry Truman's middle initial S stands for? If you don't already know, you will never be able to guess, because of the misleading period after the S.
4. The period after Harry Truman's middle initial suggests it is an abbreviation for something. It is not. The S stands for nothing, other than S. Oh, well! On to more serious matters. Harry Truman could easily have been an ex-president who died in poverty.
5. When he left the White House, his only income was a pension from his service in World War I. He wrote his memoirs, but taxes took most of the money he made from the book.
6. He closed off one potential source of income by turning down offers to join boards of directors. He said that they didn't want Harry Truman the man, they wanted Harry Truman the ex-president, and it was against his principles to trade on the fact that he had been president.
7. Since his daughter married well and earned a good living as a writer, she would have seen to it that her parents didn't die penniless if she could have forced them to accept her help. But Trumans seemed like the sort of proud Midwesterners who would have refused "charity."
8. It was because of Truman's precarious situation that Congress established the presidential pension. All his successors can thank him for that.
9. At the time, the only other living former president was Herbert Hoover, who was wealthy from his business interests and didn't need more money. But he accepted his pension anyway, reportedly to avoid embarrassing Truman.
10. Thus, every president since Truman has been able to look forward to not only a generous pension but also an allowance for office expenses.
11. Incidentally, Truman never should have served in World War I in the first place because of his bad eyesight, the reason he wore Coke-bottle glasses all his life. But desperate to serve his country, he managed to pass the vision test--by memorizing the eye chart.
The End.
The End.
