midwestern, of course. but they do reflect harry truman's personality and character. this evening. i will only have time to talk about some of the highlights of truman's life and career and i'm looking forward to talking with tim about his connections with with another president of the heartland dwight eisenhower. so if we can move on to the next slide, please. this is a photograph of harry truman as a young boy. he's in the first grade and nolan school and independence. this picture was probably taken in around 1890. harry truman was born on may 8th 1884 in the town of lamar, missouri, which is about two hours south of kansas city. and it dates six his parents moved to independence. his mother was interested in him attending public schools in independence, missouri. so this picture would have been taken probably very soon after his return or his move to independence. that's him in the front row in the far right you see the little arrow indicating his his location in the picture. harry truman was an avid reader as a child in part because this poor eyesight which prevented him from engaging in in the kind of schoolyard games a lot of his peers did. and so instead of eyeglasses as a young boy, and that kind of set him apart from some of his other fellow students. he read history and biography and was a lifelong learner. he also read the bible quite a bit. he wore eyeglasses and took piano lessons. and but otherwise, he was a an average boy. he had two siblings. he had a brother and a sister. and by all indications by his own accounts in his own memoirs. he had a happy childhood. okay, go to the next slide please morgan. okay, this picture is taken of harry truman when he was probably about 14 years old about the time it is first job at clinton's drug store and independence. where he slept the swept the floor and and clean bottles and really learned what it was like to work. as a young young man, he was close to his cousins the nolan sisters who lived across the street from what would become his future home in independence? to 19 north delaware, which will say more about later a young age. you struck up a friendship with best wallace who was a long time made of of independence while lifelong native of independence. they'd met in sunday school when when harry was in the second grade they came from different backgrounds though, and that's kind of important different economic backgrounds and best was considered part of the the local elite. she was an episcopalian for longstanding roots and independence. harry truman himself was a baptist. this is grandfather had been a prominent businessman. okay the next slide please. this is a picture of harry truman's graduating class in independence high school. harry truman is the fourth from the left in the back row. you can see him wearing his glasses. he's got his hand on the shoulder to man in front young man man in front of him. that's wallace's in this picture. she is in the second row at the end on the far right so second row seated on the far right there. and also interest in in this picture is charlie ross. who is on the far left front row and ross would move on to become harry truman's press secretary during truman's presidency. true's education was rigorous. in high school, although and he never did attend college. however he had dreamed his young man of becoming a military general and of going to west point. after graduation in 1901. he took odd jobs though, including railroad timekeeper in a bank clerk. this college dreams were shattered when his father's financial fortunes took a downward turn and he had to leave independence for for the town of grandview, missouri, which will say more about here in a moment. but again, harry truman was a lifelong learner and really self-educated man. he drew lessons of history throughout his life and career and drew upon them in just a regular conversation and they helped guide his his personal philosophy and his his leadership style and decision making next slide please. okay, this is a picture of the grandview farm grandview is the town just south of kansas city. it's in the greater kansas city metro area though. not far from independence. and is here at truman is actually pictured here. he's on the right there. he assisted on his family's farm as i mentioned his his father had some some speculative businesses. that went went bust and so truman was forced to move with his family to this farm that his grandmother ownership. she's pictured there seated in a rocking chair. this was known as the young farm. that was his grandmother's name. truman engage in numerous activities on the farm driving course drawn plows doing crop rotations etc corn and wheat were grown on the on the farm as were various kinds of livestock. now this is around 1906. okay. so harry truman's graduate from high school 1901 and in he has a series of odd jobs between 1901 and 1906 when he's forced to move on to the farm. he told about his numerous activities in letters to his his friend and on again off again girlfriend best wallace who would become best walls truman in the future. he told about the rigors of farm life and how stressful it was and although he had a philosophical view of farming to a new it's important. of course, he gets the financial books as well. and it was about this time. he joined the masons which would become an important part of his his life and his friendships. he stayed on the farm until 1917 when he listed in the national guard and left for left the farm for military service in france soon after for during world war. i work on the farm taught him that he could lead farm workers and it also taught him that he didn't want to be a farmer for the rest of his life. okay, next slide, please. harry truman did not need to serve in world war one. he was 34 years old in 1917. so he was past the listening age, but he was inspired by president woodrow wilson's call to resist german aggression and he wanted to see the world beyond beyond rural and the kansas city area in the city of kansas city want to see the wide world as well. he had an interest in the world by his by his reading primarily and he had the opportunity to serve in combat during world war. i need to become the only president of the united states that would see combat during world war one. we could dedicate an entire clock to his service in in world war one and fortunately i don't of course don't have time to say too much, but he served in france in 1918. he saw action. in the village mountains the sand and sandy hell salient the offensive and verdun. he commanded 194 men in an artillery battery. and it is here that he further learned that he could be a leader of men. he was firm, but fair and by all accounts the men liked him and respected him. because he also showed an interest in them. he could be a disciplinarian but also showed an interest in the man on a personal level and appreciated that. in fact, they gave him a big silver loving cup as a token of appreciation after the war truman really made important bonds during his military service and later served as a colonel in the field artillery reserve and really the his military service was a real form of event for him. the next slide please. he returns from the war in early 1919 when he's mustered out military service. and he marries his longtime sweetheart best wallace on june 28 19. 19 now he had proposed the best in 1911, but she turned him down. and then shortly before he left for france best suggested that perhaps they should get married before he moved on to france before he left for france, but he refused. saying he didn't want her to be married. perhaps a cripple as he put it or worse to be a widow. um he carried a picture of her in his in his pocket overseas during during the war and in france and throughout the rest of his life. he remained very faithful to his his beloved best. no next slide, please. the two set up housekeeping at 219 teleware street, which is now a national park service his historic site that you can cut go and visit about five blocks. of south of the truman presidential library and this house would become the the permanent residence of harry and best truman for the rest of their lives. and bestest grandfather had had built this home actually best to not grow up in this house though. she grew up just down the street at a house. not far from this one. and i wish i had such an interesting story about about her life that wish i had more time to get into but but it was at this time that harry realized he had to find a business and something to make a livelihood with and it's here that he established his his haberdashery. which is an immense clothing store in downtown kansas city with a business partner eddie jacobson, which will say more about in a little while. the business is not survive very long though. it it went uh bus, you know as a result of an economic recession shortly after world war i so harry truman then had to find another another occupation which will say more about here in a moment. this is the place where this house here is where they're only child here investment is only child margaret was born in 1824 and this house really would remain best truman sanctuary as well as her home for the rest of her life. despite their numerous travels to washington dc throughout harry truman's political career. they would always consider this home and independence, missouri as their permanent home. best arranged harry truman steadfast wife and partner an advisor behind the scenes never one to like like the limelight. however, she loved referred to to be behind the scenes, but harry truman consulted her regularly for a variety of different reasons throughout his throughout his career. okay, next slide, please. this is our this is a photo here of where harry truman conducted a lot of his business during the 1920s. he wanted you after his haberdashery failed. he turned politics and that's an interesting story that i wish we had time to get into as well, but he won his first election in 1922 and he won election as judge of eastern jackson county and that was considered a not a judicial position. it was it was an administrative. akin to a county commissioner and so is defeated for re-election in 1824, but in 1926, he was elected as presiding judge of the entire county jackson county four year term like 1986 re-elected 1930 and this is the building where he where he conducted business and visitors can still see the office there and this is not far either from the truman home. i was walking distance between the truman home and this this building and not far from the truman presidential library as well. i realized this is kind of a dated photo here probably from the 1970s, but i do like it. um, and it's important in the 1920s to say briefly that harry truman helped renovate this building which is a very old courthouse that predates truman's life, of course you want approval for a bond issue for seven six point five million dollars to build 224 miles of paper paved highways and jackson county. in additional funds for building a county hospital. he also raised money to renovate the courthouse. here and to build a new courthouse for jackson county in downtown, kansas city. okay, next slide, please. harry truman's political careers would not end in was a political ambitions would not end in jackson county. of course. he was tapped to run for us senate again a very interesting story that i wish we could get into here this evening, but he was elected in 1934 and as you see here the pattern he's progressing to hire and higher offices. elected in 1934. he is patron. i say was thomas pendergast. the so-called boss of kansas city at a time when machine politics ruled a lot of large american cities and the pendergast machine saw a lot of value in running harry truman for senate plus some of the other candidates they were looking for dropped out for first reasons, but harry truman was a man of high integrity and really struggled those being part of this penderg. machine, he wrote long hand notes of diary like entries about the struggles. he was having with the ethics of trying to work within the framework of the the tender gas machine. and in by all accounts, he was an honest man, and he said, you know, i will i will leave this office. that is the senate is, you know, poor in every way that than when i came in he refused a prophet from his office either as presiding judge of jackson county was as us senator. he was elected in 1934 as they say and then six years later. he's re-elected in 1940. he was popular with the second colleague and played important roles in the passage of bills that became the transportation act in the civil aeronautics act. and he also stepped outside what you might expect in midwestern senator to say he spoke about nazi aggression early during world war ii in early 1940s and an important speech in chicago any spoke about civil rights to an all white audience in a town called sedalia, missouri and those two speeches are very interesting in terms of truman stepping out of his comfort zones. so to speak to challenge some of the issues of the day okay, next slide, please. truman's most important oh, well, the thing is most famous for is the us senator was the so called truman committee, which is the senate special committee to investigate the national defense program. which may have saved taxpayers up to 11 billion dollars? it also put harry truman on the cover of time raised his political profile and his name recognition, especially among democratic party power brokers. so in 1944 harry truman was well became her became president franklin vice president running, mate. and this is very crucial because fdr was in declining health the public wasn't aware of that but democratic party insiders were well aware of fdrs declining health and the new that whoever became vice president very likely would become president of the united states and the incumbent vice president. henry wallace was unpalable for various reasons. harry truman had positive traits many positive traits and and is important fewer negative ones than others. so he was elected with franklin roosevelt in 1944 election and served 82 days as vice president until franklin roosevelt's sudden death on april 12 1945. so with that i think i will turn it over to my colleague tim. thank you, sam. here we have dwight eisenhower 34th president of the united states and like harry truman very much a product of the american heartland would have subscribed to law the same values and embodied the same virtues the men grew up within about 170 hundred eighty miles of each other. i had a lot of similar experiences. in fact, there is even a bit of overlap when eisenhower's oldest brother arthur at one time lived in the same boarding house as harry truman around 1900 i believe. and even though the men did share a lot in common. and there was a lot of mutual respect. there are always was not always rather a lot of mutual like for each other as we'll discuss in a little bit which is kind of ironic again giving so many similarities. between the two men next slide please. we'll go to ike's childhood and it's it always strikes me is how similar this picture is to the picture of harry truman's grade school class. looks like it's about the same size and they put the students in the same pose. there you can see little ike on the front row second from the left with the arrow pointing to him. and i think it's actually pointing that arrow at the keys wearing a key on a string around his neck. so i guess he was sort of a latchkey child, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense because he lived directly across the street from his boyhood home. probably 100 feet from its house. but whatever reason he is wearing a key around his neck. he was born october 14th 1890. in denison, texas this again sort of ironic and the eisenhower story because he became so identified with kansas and with abilene. and in fact, he was the only one of the seven eisenhower boys who was born outside of the state of kansas. his father it's suffered a business setback. with a sundry sort of dry goods store that he owned in hope kansas, which is about 25 miles south of abilene. and out of maybe kind of a sense of shame he went to texas in this self-imposed exiled worked as a wiper on a missouri, kansas, texas railroad in denison, and that's where ike was born in 1892 1890 rather and then in 1892 a number of family members convinced them to move back to abilene. and ike's father went to work in the bell springs creamery where he worked for many years. and his original name was david dwight eisenhower. the david was for his father. the dwight was after a famous 19th evangelist named white moody. and yet they always call him dwight because they didn't want to be called junior. after his father and then like ulysses ask grant when he went to west point his name officially changed it was then that he reversed the order from david dwight eisenhower to dwight david eisenhower and became the name that's now that's now so well known. and i believe is an interesting town. it was only about not even a generation removed from its sort of wild cow past abilene is the terminus of the chisholm trail. so you had all that great history of the massive. that cattle drives up the trail to kansas wild bill hickok. had been the city marshal one time and so you had gunfights and everything that goes along with with a with a cow town and eisenhower really absorbed and and really enjoyed that history. coincidentally 1890 the year. he was born. so the year that the american frontier was was declared close and siri you had eisenhower coming into the world. at this transition in american history, you know from this open frontier moving into a more industrialized age. in fact, there's great symmetry in his life. he was born in the year. the frontier was declared closed and died the year that americans landed on the moon so you can see this really broad range of history at eisenhower embodied and in fact with his creation of nasa, you know helped help create that and the foundation also the foundation rather. i mean the frontier gave ike a sense of limits if if most of the freeland was gone of natural resources were in danger. of being exhausted then there had to be limits set up on expansion and upon what we could expect out of the natural habitat. and for reasons that would take a while to get into eisenhower's view of the frontier and of these limited resources would actually lead him to expand. social security to us to a certain degree, which does take some explanations. maybe we get into that later. he was a good student. he really enjoyed ancient history. he enjoyed mass did well in school. next slide please. we'll see in a few years later. this is his high school his senior picture. i guess we'd call it today. i graduated in 1909. should have graduated in 1908 but when he was a freshman he had had an accident scraped knee which became badly infected and in fact almost lost a leg and had to repeat his his freshman year in high school. he had a brother edgar who was a little more than a year older. who had dropped out a school and returned and so the brothers would end up graduating together from abilene high school? in 1909, which clean high school graduates in 1909 actually put one and two an american elite only about 30% of americans graduated from high school at that time. it's roughly three times that now but eisenhower like, you know, harry truman it's always academically and educationally ambitious and wanted to get an imitation and a good education it's a very good athlete played baseball and football at abilene high school. yeah, thank you. see the baseball team picture. that's ike on the back row second from the right. it's always a little difficult to recognize eisenhower as a young man because he had such a