Dewey Defeats Truman!!

Now if you asked me if I would ever visit a Presidential Library, I would have to say a big resounding NO!  I certainly have my gripes about the politicians of today and the way things are run, but I'm NOT a political person.  I was more interested in Cowboys and Indians than "this" kind of stuff, and therefore paid no attention in school to much that was going on.  It's kind of like the Civil War ... so many skirmishes, it's hard to keep them straight.  At any rate, this was our destination yesterday!!

This is the actual newspaper that was printed when they were SURE Truman would lose to Dewey!!  Unfortunately, they put it on the streets before they knew the REAL outcome!!

We started off the day with a downright delicious Fathers Day Breakfast prepared by the Elks Lodge. They had a sausage/bacon/potato station, a pancake/french toast station,  and were all set up to make the most amazing omelets with any of twelve ingredients!!  Super Grandpa Tom LOVED it!!

These ladies cooked the omelets and pancakes to order, so everything was fresh just for us.  

Once on the road, we drove to our next camping site, Jackson County Blue Springs Campground, to see if we could get reservations for an additional week.  Full hookups run about $26 a night with Senior Discount.  The sites are not too close together and they have a laundry room that doubles as a tornado shelter!!  Since Barbara and Tom do not have a 50 amp hookup at the Elks (they graciously deferred to my refrigerator and puppies) we need to move because it's going to be too hot today for Kitty Pansy.   While there, this wild turkey just sauntered out into the road.  Another FIRST for me ... wild turkeys just meandering around looking for breakfast!

From there, we went up to Independence Missouri.  Who would have thought I'd ever be in Independence ... the beginning of the great wagon trails to the West!!  It's here that the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum are located.  I knew nothing about this guy when we arrived.  In wandering around the museum, I tried to soak up as much information as I could.  

His home, or rather his wife's family home, is located just a few blocks from the museum.  He was a farmer, Bess was from the upper class.  When they got married after he returned from WWI, they moved into this house with her mother.  When he became President, this was the summer White House.  Later, he lived here and walked the streets of the town, while putting the Library and Museum together.

There's just WAY too much to show you, but it felt kind of like he just fell into this position, a matter of "we know Roosevelt won't live long, and we don't want THAT guy for President, so lets choose Truman".  Sure enough, when Roosevelt died, Truman became President, which turned out to be a good thing!!  He campaigned all around the U.S. on his Whistlestop Tour.

As every President enters the Oval Office, they get to decorate it to their liking.  This is an exact replica of Truman's office.

This wall hides the secret door ... right in the middle, you can see the door knob at the edge of the chair rail and the hinges on the left.  This door led to his personal room.

Harry Truman was involved in a lot of political stuff when he was first elected, including the atom bomb drop on Japan, aid to Greece and Turkey, the Cold War, the Recovery Plan for Europe, the Berlin Blockage, the Korean Crisis ... and since we're all still here, I guess he did a pretty good job.  Most of my early memories involve the Cuban Military Crisis and Bomb Shelters.  Being relatively poor cattlemen, we didn't have a bomb shelter, so my dad said we would just drive down to Monkey Wards to their basement.  

While at the museum, Harry held a press conference (which he did every hour), presented himself before us, the Press, and asked for questions.  This gentleman did a great job of not only acting like Truman, but answering questions like Truman.  He had an amazing knowledge of the man and his idiocyncracies.  People were asking great questions about the war ... about his election.  I just sat in the back!!

Harry Truman and his wife Bess, along with their daughter and her husband, are buried here on the grounds at the end of the green hedge.  His office where he worked for many years after his presidency, is to the right behind the flags.  He was a pretty amazing guy, and once you tour this museum, you will understand how and why he made the decisions he did.  Seems to me our current Presidents should pay a LOT more attention to Harry and maybe learn how to lead better!!

Now you KNOW, we are all about the food!!  If you're going to visit Kansas City, you have to have barbecue ... and hopefully we'll have it MANY more times before we mosey on down he road.  This beautiful plate is from Bandana's, south of Independence, where Barbara and Tom have eaten many times before.  I just can't put in words how good this was!!  Suffice to say we're going back, at which time I'll buy at least three bottles of their KC sauce!!!

In fact, right now this very moment, I'm going to the fridge to finish off the pork for breakfast!!  I'll catch you on the flip side!!