The buck -- and a grandson of President Truman -- stops in Waterloo May 17
Clifton Truman Daniel to speak at Waterloo museum; grandfather spoke blocks away in 1952.
The Trumans from Independence -- Missouri, not Iowa -- make it to Waterloo every once in a while.
President Harry S. Truman made it here in 1952. His grandson will be in town May 17.
Clifton Truman Daniel, the older grandson of President Truman, will be at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum, part of Waterloo’s Grout Museum District, for a 7 p.m. program.
A former newspaper journalist, Daniel is a son of the late E. Clifton Daniel Jr., former managing editor of The New York Times, and best-selling mystery writer Margaret Truman. He has been director of public relations for Truman College, one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago. He's also honorary chairman of the Truman Library Insititute. He has authored books on his grandfather and also gives talks on the Truman presidency and life growing up with him.
His grandfather gave a talk in Waterloo on Oct. 29, 1952, just a few blocks from the museum. An estimated 10,000 people were on hand.
President Truman spoke from the back of a train at the Rock Island Railroad crossing at West Fifth Street. He had decided not to seek re-election and was campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson of Illinois and other Democratic candidates. But he was still, true to his nickname, "Give 'Em Hell Harry," doing just that to the Republican establishment.
He said if the "reactionary Republican Old Guard" was put in place it would result in World War III, which he said U.S. and U.N. forces there were trying to prevent by containing the ongoing Korean conflict. He also blasted congressional Republicans for opposing farm price supports (a minimum $1.60 bushel for corn) and for passing the Taft-Hartley Act, which he said threatened the gains of organized labor.
A Republican "truth squad" of Midwestern senators shadowing Truman on his tour labeled his charges "silly," "poor arithmetic," and said his speech was "disjointed and inaccurate as usual."
Local politicos also lined up on either side of the fence. Among the local Democrats riding on Truman's train from Manly to Waterloo were real estate developer Max Guernsey and attorney Ed Gallagher Jr. Among locals joining the Republican "truth squad" were attorney W. Louis Beecher and Congressman H.R. Gross.
Truman apparently took no direct jabs at the Republican presidential nominee — and his eventual successor — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, but did have a barb for Ike's running mate, Richard Nixon.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Are you going to talk any more about Nixon?" Truman replied, "No, I'm only talking about the issues. I don't go down to lower levels."
This year marks the 75th anniversary of several major initiatives in President Truman's administration, including the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift and the president's executive order desegregating the U.S. military, as well as his stunning (to many) election victory over New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey. Mr. Daniel is well versed on all those topics - and more -- and has interesting stories on home life growing up with an ex-president as a grandfather.
Daniel related a story that, after his grandfather left office, a gentleman’s car broke down near the Truman residence at 219 North Delaware St. in Independence, Mo. He came up to the house and asked to use the phone. Truman let him in and allowed him to use the phone.
The man, preoccupied with his car issues, was oblivious to the fact he was talking to a former president of the United States — and probably didn’t expect to find “the man from Independence” actually living in Independence and in a well-appointed but comparatively middle class home.
The gentleman expressed his gratitude, but, as he was leaving, glanced at Truman, paused and said, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you look an awful lot like that son of a b—— Truman.”
The former president, no stranger to salty language himself, replied, “Well, I AM that son of a b——.”
And that son of a gun’s house is now part of a national historic site — not farm from his presidential library and museum.
Tickets for the May 17 Clifton Truman Daniel event may be purchased online at the link below:
Event sponsors are:
—American Legion of Iowa Foundation
—Merwin Anders Memorial Fund, in memory of Alden Pearl Anders, a Navy air crewman missing in action during World War II
—Gallagher Family Foundation
—Evan "Curly" Hultman, World War II veteran and former Iowa attorney general
—Bob and Liz Beecher Petersen
—David Greene, World War II veteran
—Michael Butler, Vietnam veteran
—Robert J Hibbs VFW Post 3896, Cedar Falls
—E.J. Gallagher III
Pat Kinney is an oral historian for the Grout Museum District and a longtime local journalist who still does freelance work. Portions of this column also appeared in a Grout Museum District blog post.
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Another fascinating article, Pat!
Pat... Always find it interesting, how you get your topics. This one, re Truman, grabbed my attention since I arrived in Waterloo just 3 years later. Hard to believe 10,000 people showed up for him. Enjoyed your story. Jim Collison