[Muncle]

I thought about it, and this really doesn't belong in the politics thread. I deleted portions that were slanted against particular people/parties. I've always been a big Harry Truman fan. He was a good friend of my father and other relatives. Harry gave me a signed dollar bill when I was born. He was, in my view, the last citizen president. We could do with more politician at all levels and corporate executives with a view of the world like Harry's.


When President Truman retired from office in 1952, his income was substantially 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.

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 87t h 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."

Today, many in Government have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.

Was good old Harry Truman correct when he observed, "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.''

[chuckinca]

Give em hell, Harry!

[Sidney Lanier]

Harry Truman is one of my favorite presidents of all time; I am in complete agreement, Muncle, that he was the last of the 'citizen presidents.' I had occasion to meet him at a fund-raising dinner in 1964--a man with a big smile and a big, firm handshake--and I think of that meeting as one of the highlights of my life.

The expression 'The buck stops here!' originated--or at least was much used--by Truman. It was his way of saying that he was taking responsibility for whatever was going down; this would be a great lesson for contemporary politicians.

Bess Truman hated Washington, did the absolute least she could do, and didn't mince words about getting back to Independence. At one point Truman made a speech using the word 'manure,' and someone later asked Bess if there was any way she could influence him to use the more polite term 'fertilizer.' "Are you kidding," she replied, "do you have any idea how long it took me to get him to use the word 'manure'?"

Hopefully not an apocryphal story; it definitely sounds like Truman whose middle name, by the way, was S (not an initial but rather a name, just S)....