Harry Truman- a man of the people

I have always thought that Harry Truman was one of our best Presidents. I did a report on him in high school and basically fell in love with his down to earth, practical sensibility. His love of family, God and his country were his guidelines for choices in life. His love for his longtime sweetheart, Bess, was deep and enduring. And you just have to respect someone who has “The buck stops here” on his desk!
So when I came upon the following information today, I knew I had to share it. Apparently it was an e-mail that has been forwarded around. I saw the print out at a doctor’s office. Here are some facts about this man of the people.
“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 42 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. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than the years spent at 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. After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. No Secret Service or other fanfare accompanied 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.”
When Congress was preparing to award him the Congressional Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, feeling that he had not done anything to earn it.
As president, he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.” Don’t you think the budget would be rapidly balanced if today’s politicians were using their own funds? Harry Truman remembered that he was a servant to the people of the United States. He remembered his own accountability. I can only dream of the America we would have if this attitude still prevailed!
He once observed , “My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!” My own reaction to that? I think a lot more prostitution takes place in politics than in the whorehouse.
That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?