September 7, 2009

September 7, 2009

From Columbia, MO we drive for a couple hours to Independence, MO. This is our second time thru town. The first time we neglected to stop at Harry Truman’s home. We correct that this morning but we are disappointed. First we have to walk a mile roundtrip to the visitor center to purchase a tour ticket for the house. The tour is very short (some ten minutes) and only covers the first floor of his old Victorian home in downtown Independence. The tour guide while not bad seems more concerned with making sure we touch absolutely nothing in the house or step anywhere outside the carpet runner than imparting some history. The tour is not worth the money or the time.


The downtown area is hosting a large craft fair. We like attending these events so we plan on spending the rest of the afternoon browsing. Very little catches our interest in the fair so after an hour we return to our original plans and head over to Truman’s presidential library. It is pretty good. Harry was pretty much a hard working failure who got lucky only twice. His timing though was right on. His first success was getting hooked up with the local political machine boss who sponsored his election run for judge and later senator. During his second term as senator, the national Democratic Party picked him to replace the current unpopular VP in FDR’s fourth term. Less than three months later Truman is president and he is in way over his head. He has no time to mature into the role as the problems come fast and furious. After seeing WWII to a close, the US economy is rocked with labor strikes, rampant inflation, food shortages and rising tensions with Russia. Harry is not very popular. Pulling out an election night upset in 1948, his second term is highlighted with an escalation of the Cold War and fighting in Korea. By the end of his second term Harry can’t wait to return to Independence and I can’t blame him.

Because of the craft fair the local RV park is full so we head west into Kansas and spend the night at a state park in Lawrence, KS. I can’t seem to get away from these “Big 12” campus towns.