"The buck stops here"
Harry Truman loved playing poker and coming to the Florida Keys. He would speed walk alongside the ocean, and play cards with his guests, staff, friends, and advisors around a magnificent mahogany poker table that was made for the president by local hands.
He was elected to the US Senate in 1934, and served as vice president after joining the Democratic ticket in 1944 over his wife’s deep reservations.
Truman headed to the United States Capitol on April 12, 1945, to see his friend and colleague Sam Rayburn. Harry was a regular in the invitation-only poker game Sam held in his speaker of the House’s private office. Everyone wanted an invitation to the “Board of Education” meeting. It was the place to be. Being invited meant that you were “in the room where it happens.” It was the place in which deals were done over bourbon and cards.
Harry showed up for the card game on that April day, and received an urgent phone call. He returned immediately to the White House, and was met there by First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt stunned the World War I combat veteran and former US senator, who had been vice president for just 82 days. She said, “Harry, the president is dead.”
Harry Truman asked if there was anything he could do for her. She was steady. She answered, “No, Mr. President, is there anything that I can do for you?” Truman described the moment by saying, “I felt like the moon, the stars, and all of the planets had fallen on me.”
Key West was where he would come over and over again during his presidency to escape the confines of Washington, DC. He loved to wear loud Hawaiian shirts, and hold court over long outside lunches on the grounds of what became known as the Little White House, tucked away in the corner of a naval base.
The world we live in today, which is threatened by Trump’s extremist movement was forged by the vision, wisdom, toughness and courage of Harry Truman, who measured up for his country. He was the builder of what FDR had imagined and architected. What he created was sustained by presidents of both parties over the next three quarters of a century from Eisenhower to Obama.
Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read: “THE BUCK STOPS HERE.” From that desk, he accomplished much, from signing legislation that created the Marshall Plan, NATO, desegregating the military, allowing women to serve in the regular military, leading the response to the invasion of South Korea, recognizing Israel and overseeing the Berlin airlift.
He was an ordinary man, who became one of America’s most exceptional presidents.
There is one thing I know for sure after having a bourbon shot at Harry Truman’s bar at 10 am, and going for a ride around Key West with the siren occasionally being turned on by Jose, the superb mechanic, guide, storyteller and keeper of the 1949 presidential Ford Phantom limousine: I can’t imagine a better way to start the morning.
The Little White House has hosted seven presidents: William Howard Taft, FDR, Calvin Coolidge, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. It also hosted Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. It is a national treasure, and worth a visit if you get to Key West.
So - is it too much to ask that we have someone of that caliber as President and not the next racist dictator trying to ruin our lives + country? Oh yeah - we already have Joe. I just hope he makes it through the next term. And trump burns in hell
Truman had that plaque on his desk that said “The Buck Stops Here” and when I hear that — all that comes to mind is when Trump said that he was not responsible at all.
When someone tells you exactly who they are— believe them.