Harry S. Truman – 33rd President of the United States of America (1945 – 1953)

Independence Missouri seems the perfect place for Truman’s library.  It’s now a suburb of Kansas City, with the ability to see the skyline in the distance from it’s highest point. It’s on the edge of being modern, but still traditional.

The museum has been fortunate to have a recent renovation within the last ten years. Displays and facts are presented in a very interesting and digestible format. The second room one enter after the welcome movie, shows a series of newspaper front pages. It’s clear to see that from the time FDR passes and Truman takes office, to the time of VJ Day is a few mere months. This is the power of presidential momentum. Over thirteen years of work from FDR is enjoyed over the first few months of Truman’s term in office. He didn’t invest in the bomb, know about it’s construction, or all of the tribulations raised by those averse to its use, until it came time to make a choice to use it. Which he did, twice.

The highly trusted adviser George C Marshall had a plan for the Berlin airlift. He knew how to prepare, execute, and make it happen. Harry got to tell him to do it. There were years of policy and negotiation about civil rights, economy, and other domestic policy which Truman allow to happen when serving out the last FDR term.

When it came time to get reelected, it was close. Under his own command of design things became shaky. Of the Fair Deal, only two items were enacted, and two more in part. Foreign policy choices in APAC had long lasting impact on the following five Presidents. A policy of containment with the Soviet Union was not realized during his time in office as he chased hot spots across the globe.

Truman came to power with great assistance of a local Kansas City party chief Tom Pendergast. He got to the Senate with this backing, a black mark that stayed with him until being nominated for Vice President.

I may not be the first person to be disappointed in Truman. While the museum is a good quality, there is nothing here that is inspirational. His rise seems the most political of opportunity and circumstance. It was surprising that the people writing his legacy would spend so much time justifying his decision to dismiss Douglas McCarthy while fighting the Korean War. The trial of Alger Hiss, the rise of McCarthyism, and his break with the Southern Democrats are topics that are in desperate need of review. Information on these three areas fall flat. I find it funny to have enjoyed the Nixon and Hoover museum more, finding more about these individuals’ lives or actions that I could relate to.

Here is a man who was alive during two presidential assassinations, with an attempt on his on life, and you would think someone would ask his perspective on this. You would think there is an interview to show with his answers.

National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial

The National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City is an impressive place for learning. It’s location at the top of the city as a beacon of remembrance amongst the skyline has stayed with this great Midwestern community since it first opened in 1926. In 2006 the National World War I Museum opened inside the Liberty Memorial.

The story told here begins with a glass bridge that spans hundreds of poppies, the symbol of veterans from the war. A video overview explaining the complex pressures building in Europe provides a deeper understanding of the how and why.

There are three following sections. The first includes a massive timeline that looks at actions and quotes around the war, with historical points that align for events taking place outside of the war in other parts of the world. Section one deals with Europe, the armaments, supplies and efforts that it took to fight.  The second area is a combination of video and movement that explains why the US became involved in the war effort.  The third section is similar to the first, but focuses only on the US involvement.

One of the stories that I appreciated most during my visit here was the expression of nationalism, isolationism, and globalism. The impact of the industrial revolution on empirical rule, societies hungry for colonialism and goods, and the importance of capitalism to provide swift and scalable support was another great insight.

I highly recommend a half-day here. The perspective this museum provides for understanding the 20^th century, and the decisions made during and following it can be traced back to much of what is covered here.

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower - 34th President of the United States of America (1953 - 1961)

Abilene Kansas is located in the center of the state. Rolling hills and plains surrounds it. I am disappointed in movie and television depictions of Clark Kent’s childhood capturing a flat and featureless American landscape of farms, when Kansas is the opposite. It’s the land of cowboy’s and beautiful pastures where cattle graze. Abilene is the pleasant small town America one can discover in each state.

Ike was not born here, but raised here after the family moved from Texas. He was the middle child in a set of siblings successful in each respective field. Two quotes that stand out from the trip were one from Dwight’s mother when asked if she was proud of her son, she replied, “Yes, of course, which one?” The other from his mother, that anyone seeking an education could find it.

This is what Ike did when joining West Point. Getting an education when he could not pay for school. Ike did well in the things he was interested in and poorly in those he didn’t. Classmates included famous military leaders from WWII including George Patton.

Ike’s time in service missed WWI, or the Great War, and put him in charge of the Allied Command of WWII. After the war he was President at Columbia University, an author, ran NATO, and became the candidate for the Republican ticket for US President.

In Abilene you will find a pleasant campus to hold the gift store, where tickets are purchased, the library, where his documents and papers are housed, museum, and a place for meditation, in which he, his wife, and child who died early in life are buried.  All of these building surround the childhood home he was raised in, and mother lived through the end of her days.

Parts of the museum have been updated recently; I would look forward to a return when more has been revisited. In many presidential museums we learn about the impacting people and influential circumstances that helped to shape them. It helps us to understand why they made the choices they did. And while there is a small part about the man, his life, and loves, this story is primarily a history of WWII. It is the build up, the causes, the players, and the execution of war. There are lots of guns, artillery, and mortars along with the vehicles that supported and moved them.

“Stories I Tell My Friends” was the inspiration to visit all of the Presidential Museums. After reading this book by Ike, I wanted to learn more about what made these men of leadership choose the actions they took. While a great book, and the museum showed many of these accomplishments and drivers, I was disappointed that it was focused so much on WWII. That is, until I went to Kansas City the following day to see the WWI museum. The combination of these two locations together give a much better appreciation of the lead up to the second world war, and how the clear goals and plans Ike made helped to end this long running struggle.

For me there were a few decisions that Ike made that were unclear until I visited.  The first was the landing area for D-Day, which later became an engineering marvel of Mulberry Bay. If you don’t know much about this topic, I highly recommend looking into it.  This may be one of the key plans that helped to win the war. Second, why not aid the Hungarian revolution in 1958? In an interview after office on a movie reel, it was clear, no neighboring country would allow the US to move over their territory. So he focused on a crisis in Egypt that month instead.

I like Ike. I like Ike a good deal. There is something about him that comes across as being an honest and intelligent man. Many of the positions he held were not ones he sought out, but instead asked him to serve. Like Hoover, there is a solid pattern of people seeking advice and guidance from him years later, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon.

My travel here was in November, so there were few people. I suspect the best time to visit might be the spring on first bloom of trees and the fields are green and lush. There is a restaurant on the north side of town by the highway called the Brookfield Hotel that has AMAZING chicken dinners. Go there to make the trip complete.

Dealey Plaza Dallas Texas

George Walker Bush - 43rd President of the United States of America (2001 to 2009)

Arriving at the George W. Bush Library and Museum I am surprised by the traffic. The parking lot is at capacity when I arrive but am able to get the very last spot. The second and third spillover lots have people walking from them in the heat to the building. This museum is busier than “rock stars” like Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Regan, which were full; W. is at or past capacity.

Inside there is a line. It’s long and snakes through a massive lobby. Once I pay admission I go into the next line for the audio tour device. When I have the device in hand I am in a third line to enter into the museum. The ceiling of the lobby is impressive. Its walls are digital and slowly move through the beautiful Texas landscapes. Landscapes turn into a movie about the people of Texas, the people of America, and evolve into the importance of the constitution before turning back into the look of the solid stone façade of the walls.

The good people of Texas are very kind and gracious with please, thank you, and pardon me. I am overwhelmed by how nice everyone is, nicer than Canadians. At one point the whole lobby, filled with people in three different lines, sing Happy Birthday to someone out of sight from me. It was heart warming.

The first stretch of wall covers family when entering. This is the family of George and Laura and the two girls. It leads to some of the pins and stickers of a campaign that seem to be required to every presidential museum. However, this election was unlike any in history. A daily breakdown of events for counts, recounts, hanging chads, and videos of the networks coverage that evening re-tell the story. This is a semi waiting area for fifteen-minute video of the President and First Lady giving the extensive highlights of the eight years in office. There were several things I was reminded of happening during this time. It starts with the goals of the campaign, is rerouted after the events of 9/11, and builds on to tell about the importance of education and service. This is called, “A Charge to Keep”.

Education, commerce, taxes, and compassionate conservatism is in an area called “Creating Opportunity” outside the theater. These are many of the campaign goals that were carried over from the Governorship of Texas.

The line to the next area is slow to move through, but once turning the corner, there it is, twisted wreckage from the towers. An area called “Responding to September 11” leaves me with a sadness that I have only ever felt one other time while at the Pearl Harbor remembrance. There are moment-by-moment accounts, documents and agenda for the public to review, and a video that takes visitors through to September 20^th.

Steps away, an area called “Defending Freedom” detailing other global terrorist activities and attempts to thwart them. A globe of the area shows the number of democracies in the 1950’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, and then in 2008, a shift from 17 to 121 countries. There is a digital table that allows the viewer to pull videos, documents, and images on Afghanistan and Iraq.

Around the corner, two sections after, is standing theater with individual kiosks. Each kiosk as details pouring in asking the participants to make decisions based on this data while a clock ticks down. This data is aggregated and disseminated on a master screen in the front. It’s an impressive exercise in helping people understand many of the aspects a president might face. Similar to a situation room simulator at the Ford, LBJ, Reagan, and Carter locations this one focuses on decisions that this particular president faced.

My favorite part of the museum is in the back of the building, a small theater where Jenna and Barbara Bush go through the favorite moments of their fathers two terms and highlight some very funny clips. Next to this is the Oval Office. In nearly every presidential museum there is a replica you can look at, but this one you are allowed to walk through and sit behind the desk. The museum staff is very good at managing the lines to keep them moving while continuing to talk about the items you are seeing, the importance they have, and the context in which they were applicable.

SIDE NOTE: At each location on this tour I buy some postcard, refrigerator magnets, and the official pen or pencil of the President. The George W. Bush Museum, while the most innovative I have been to, the one that takes the longest to get through because there is just so much stuff, by far the busiest, it was also the most expensive. While I did find magnets, the only pen they sold was a Cross pen over $100. The next most expensive pen I have purchased was at the LBJ for $3.95. This museum needs more low-end items.