A Different Take on a President

No, this isn't about President-elect Obama or, joyfully, outgoing President Bush, but it is an interesting look back to another "unlikely" president. It not only shows the difference in presidents, but an incredible difference in the times -- then and now. Or maybe it is just incredible to me because I have lived through both eras.

HARRY S. TRUMAN(1884-1972), 33d president of the United States. Most Americans in the 1950s did not expect that Harry Truman would become one of their most highly regarded presidents. By 1952, just before he announced his decision not to run again, only 25% of the people thought he was doing a good job. Within a decade, however, most American historians regarded him as one of the nation's greatest presidents. To be sure, a "revisionist view developed that attacked his record at home and abroad, picturing him as ineffective in some areas, oppressive in others, and as the architect of the Cold War. Yet the favorable appraisal seemed to be the dominant American view.

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House. Historians have written the only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. On top of that, his wife inherited the house from her Mother.

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 were 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.' He never owned his own home and 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, 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.

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, 'My choices early 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.'

He was known for telling it like it was.