Harry S. Truman Presidential Library

I have a confession to make. When Dan and I set out to see the country, it was not one of my goals to visit all the Presidential Libraries. To be honest, I only had a vague notion of what a presidential library consisted of, how they came about, and if all presidents automatically get one (they don't - turns out there are only thirteen libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives & Records Administration.) Government, politics, and the lives of politicians, even presidents, never had much draw for me, and I couldn't imagine finding these experiences very interesting. So, I when I find myself actually enjoying them, I am always pleasantly surprised. It really helps when I learn details about the presidents and their families that make them more real, that put a personal spin on their lives. Harry S. Truman became our 33rd United States president upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's death in April 1945 and ended his term in January 1953.

But it was the life Truman led before and after his presidency that I found the most interesting. For instance, Harry and his future wife Bess (whom he met when she was just five years old) had a nine year courtship before they finally married (Bess's mother never liked Harry, and never thought he was good enough for Bess before, during, or after his presidency); the fact that Truman coined the term "The Buck Stops Here" as a rebuttal to the expression "pass the buck"; how he and Bess returned to their home in Independence, Missouri (also home to the Truman Presidential Library) after his presidency ended and lived their life out simply and privately, and for many years without the benefit of Secret Service protection, or a Presidential pension.

And it turns out he has an impressive list of presidential accomplishments, as any history buff would know, but which I only learned after our visit to his library. He was responsible for the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Council (NSC); the recognition of the State of Israel, the response to the Cold War and our involvement in the Korean War were also decisions that Truman faced. He was also a champion for Civil Rights, not a particularly popular issue during his presidency, advocated for safeguards for the poor, and felt government should take a strong role in housing, education, health care, and employment.

This was our 7th visit to a Presidential Library that falls under the Office of Presidential Libraries (we've also been to three others that are either run privately, or were established prior to the National Archives involvement).