We need to get back to honorable people.
Harry & Bess
Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or
more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 32
Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on
what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in
Independence, Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and
father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.
When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension
reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was
paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an
‘allowance’ and later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove
home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.
When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating,
“You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t
belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.”
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the
Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing,
“I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for
any award, Congressional or otherwise.”
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food. Modern
politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency,
resulting in untold wealth. Today, too many in Congress also have found a way
to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices
are now for sale (ie, Illinois ).
Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, “My choices in life
were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell
the truth, there’s hardly any difference!
I would crawl over broken glass to vote for a modern-day Truman, if one existed. And it wouldn’t matter to me what party’s tag he attaches to his name.