The house itself is a big, Victorian heap of architecture, originally built back in 1867. by the grandfather of Bess Truman, Harry's wife and lifelong love. She lived most of her life there and Harry moved in when they got married. He was away in Washington for much of the periode 1934-52 as first Senator and then Veep and President. After he resigned he hurried on back home to Independence, where he largely remained until his death in 1972.
What the tour of the house does best is to give you a feeling of just how different times were back then, and how very, very different Truman was from later presidents. He was a lower middle class boy from the Midwest, who never thought of himself as anything special and never displayed the huge ego most politicians clearly have these days... He and Bess didn't have much money and little interest in doing what was necessary to raise it after he left office.
Truman had strong ties to Independence and to his family, who were living pretty much on his doorstep. His mother-in-law and her mother lived with them for years, and Bess' two brothers built small houses and raised their families on the property. Additionally, Truman's cousins lived just across the road.
Apart from the bit about being a US Senator and President, this is the American Story as it played out in thousands of homes in thousands of cities and farms across the continent. It's an America that has been fading for years and I wonder what its disappearance has done with US society - for better and for worse.
All pics here.
The ticket center, a few blocks away from the Truman Home.
The home itself. Sadly, and unusually for Federal buildings, you can't take pictures inside the house.
The house of the cousins of Truman.
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