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Harry Shippe Truman
When Harry Truman was about five years old, his family noticed he was
having eye troubles. With these eye problems, Harry wasn't able to see
stars or the falling dust from fireworks. Harry never noticed this. When
his mother got his first pair of glasses, they were thick glass in which
the doctor said that he shouldn't run hard or play in many sports with them
on. Harry saw a whole new world when he first got the glasses. He would
stare for hours just looking at the bright stars. But, Harry's fun with
the glasses soon ended when he went to school. The other kids would tease
him about the glasses because he was the only one in the class with glasses.
The teasing didn't bother him much because the other kids grew up learning
not to hit kids with glasses.
Harry liked reading books in his spare time. He especially liked Mark
Twain's books 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn'. He had to read mostly
adult books. Another one of his favorite books were biographies of the U.S.
presidents. Harry read most of the three- thousand books that were in a
nearby library. Harry was very good in school because of reading all the
books. His mom wanted Harry, his brother Vivian, and Their little sister
Mary Jane to enrich their lives so she bought them a piano. She gave the
children lessons and noticed that Harry was especially gifted with the
piano. So, she sent him to get professional lessons with a woman named Mrs.
Edwin C. White. Everyone in his family thought that Harry would become a
concert Pianist. Harry thought so too. Harry had experiences that the
other kids did not have while playing the piano. Harry's teacher once was
a student of one of the greatest pianists ever to live named Ignacy Jan
Paderewski. When he was having a concert in their town, Harry's teacher
brought him to the concert and introduced Harry to Ignacy. Ignacy showed
Harry how to play his own famous composition Minuet in G. It was a moment
Harry never forgot. The kids at his school really started to make fun of
him when they saw him going to school with music roles because they thought
piano playing was for sissies. But he kept on going and still ignored them.
Harry' father got harry a pony so he wouldn't be all books and piano
playing.
Harry graduated as the class of '01 out of High School and planned to
go to College but Harry's father lost money on their farm so Harry had to
stay home and help out. Harry did finally go to school in the fall of 1901.
Harry got into the Spaulding Commercial College in Kansas City. He studied
business skills. But his father's money problems got worse and Harry had
to quit music lessons even though his mother and his teacher plead him to
let Harry go. Harry even had to quit college. Harry had to get a job to
help his family. He got a job as a timekeeper for a railroad. He had to
check all the railroad stops and see if people were working. While working,
Harry became of Baptist religion. After, He found a job in a mailroom of
the Kansas City Star newspaper to help his family. After that job, Harry
and his family had to sell their house to pay debts. They moved in the
same city but to a smaller house. Harry and his brother applied for jobs
at the National Bank of Commerce. They started at the bottom, literally.
They started in the basement. Harry had to work on the farm next. When he
was 26, he met a girl named Bess Walace. They started dating for about a
year then Harry proposed to her. She said 'NO'. Over the next two years,
Harry's unlagging devotion and attention slowly won her heart and she
accepted. They kept their engagement a secret because Harry couldn't
afford to buy her a ring. The same year after Harry proposed, farm prices
went down and worst of all, Harry's father died. Harry had to try to run
the farm by himself. He had thee debts and the prospect of his marriage to
Bess made him try to find ways to make money. Harry tried a lead and zinc
mining business. He and two friends formed the TCH Mining Company. None of
them knew much about mining. The prices also went down, their equipment
broke, and they didn't have enough funds to keep it going so they lost
eleven thousand dollars. World War I broke out in 1917 and their company
couldn't get enough men and their company went bankrupt.
Harry wanted to live out his dream of fighting in the Army. So, he
was now thirty-three years old, and he enlisted in the Missouri Army to
fight in World War I. Even with his bad eyesight, they needed men badly so
they let him in. His job was to recruit men. He told the people that if
they joined then they would never have to walk. He signed up a lot of men
and got promoted to Lieutenant of Battery F. His old rank was General. He
and his men were sent to Oklahoma where he trained the men. He trained the
men well under thee conditions that they had to live under, and got
promoted to Battery D, also called 'Dizzy D.' This was one of the worst
Batteries. Harry was sent with his men to Northeastern France where the
fighting was light so they could train. The first fight with the Germans,
Got everyone scared and they all ran everywhere. When Harry got the
Battery under control, He led them to safety and screamed at them for
acting the way they did. The next fight, they were the only Battery that
was still there fighting and beet the Germans. They turned into one of the
best batteries in the war.
Harry married Bess after he came back to his hometown in 1919 and,
with a friend, opened up a men's clothing store which they owned from 1919
to 1922. In 1922, Farm income dropped and men no longer had the money to
buy the type of clothes that Harry and his partner were selling so they
went out of business. When he knew the store was going to go out of
business, A friend from France said that he would help Harry win the
election for Judge of Jackson County. He had the help from his friend and
won. While Harry was in office, the county owed 2,000,000. dollars and
Harry helped reduce it to 1,400,000 in two years. When he ran for a second
term, he got double-teamed and lost. Again, Harry was out of work. Harry
had a daughter named Margaret after Harry's sister and Bess's mother. Harry
joined a cub as sales director of the Kansas City Automobile Club. Many
people were buying cars but there were few paved roads, gas tanks, and
barely any road signs. The club helped people would wanted to travel by
car. He was also named president of the National Old Trails Association
(N.O.T.A.), an educational group devoted to preserving the old trails and
educating people on their history. Truman also thought that he should get
a law degree so he started taking courses at the Kansas City Law School
where he only studied for two years because he still liked politics better.
In 1926, he ran for county judge again and easily won. When he returned,
he visited every place that needed help personally, fired not needed
workers to save money, and fixed the town roads by building 376 miles of
paved road for the town to drive their buggies on. He was elected for a
third term so the town could show their gratitude. When it was over the
'Roaring Twenties' came and prices went up. Right after that the stock
market collapsed and the Great Depression started.
Harry was talked into running for Senator in 1934. The papers all
made fun of Harry but he campaigned all over the world to the small towns,
but then he collided with another car and was thrown threw the windshield.
He broke several ribs, badly bruised his forehead, and sprained his wrist.
But he kept on campaigning. He talked wherever people would listen. He
won the election and became Senator Truman. He learned many things like
the railroad's decline was because rich people wanted more money. Harry
started investigations and uncovered more and more scandals. It was very
successful. Harry now was living in Washington D.C., so his family
couldn't live in D.C. all year round. So, Half the year, Harry's wife and
daughter would live with him, the other half they would live at the farm.
His daughter was also going to two schools. Harry started having problems
again. The Person who was supporting all of Harry's elections got
prosecuted for evading 1,000,000. in income taxes, so that meant that
Harry's future election was about shot. He had to put a campaign together
himself. He went around to all the small towns again and talked to all the
people personally. He won the election and was Vice President.
As Vice President, he didn't do much of anything and wasn't made known
to everything that was going on. So, when the president died, it was a
shock to Harry. Harry got sworn in and was made known to everything that
was of importance to him, now. He was told about the Atomic bomb and was
pressured to use it against Japan. After that, he sent an investigation to
find spies. Two people were hung telling Atomic secrets. When the Korean
war got started, Truman got an attempt on his life by two Puerto Ricans.
Truman had a busy time as President. He also formed the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.) while in office.
When his real term was over he went back to his farm and made a museum
with all the papers he had so people would know what he did. Harry Truman
died on December 26, 1972.
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
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Korean War 3
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Who Am I This Time
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Conformity In The 1950s
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenh
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