Hobbies

BACKGROUND SOURCE: Washington Post, January 27, 1946

Mr. Truman does not sleep in the Lincoln bed (one of the White House's treasured antiques) because he feels it might be presumptuous.

No milquetoast in private, Mr. Truman has a horror of hurting anyone's feelings in public. He roundly told off a nationally known critic columnist, among others, when the first occasion of privacy occurred.

The President shaves himself with a safety razor and strops used blades expertly on the palm of his hand.

Mr. Truman does not smoke. When he does take a drink which is seldom, he prefers bourbon and ginger ale or bourbon and water.

SOURCE: MacKaye in Saturday Evening Post, April 20, 1946

For years, Mr. Truman's normal weight was 165, his waistline 34, shoe size 7-b and hat, 7 1/8. The hat size has remained the same during his presidency at the White House, but the weight he took on during the physical inactivity of the Potsdam Conference has stayed with him.

SOURCE: Washington Daily News, April 28, 1945 and Washington Times Herald, May 25, 1945

TRUMAN BATTLES OWN HIGH COST OF LIVING

Notwithstanding a $60,000-a-year pay increase he received when he moved from the Vice President's office into the White House, Mr. Truman must contend constantly with the high cost of living. Of his $75,000 a year pay check, there's only $28,000 after taxes. Out of this he must feed not only his own family, but a large staff of servants. FDR, for instance, paid out $2,000 a month for food, leaving only $4,000 out of salary for other expenses. The Trumans, because they are a smaller family and entertain much less, probably pare this budget considerably.

SOURCE: Washington Times-Herald, April 20, 1945

TRUMAN WORK-A-DAY

The president rises at 6:30. He strives for a brisk 15-minute walk, preferably before breakfast, but lately he has changed his "constitutional" to early evening so the secret service men can sleep. Breakfasts around 7 AM, usually on fruit juice, oatmeal, toast and milk. He's not much of a coffee drinker. After breakfast he reads four or five metropolitan newspapers and is at his desk by 8:30. He spends the hour before appointments start at 9:30 working at his mail and state papers. The appointment schedule, ending usually at 1 P:M goes at machine gun pace and sticks carefully to the clock. He takes an hour for lunch, occasionally working in a catnap, before returning to his desk for an afternoon of "inside work" -- no appointments unless emergency compels. He leaves his office at 5 PM if possible and walks briskly home for early dinner. Mrs. Truman reveals the President prefers steak and baked potatoes for dinner; enjoys soups and salads at lunch. He retires early, sometimes by 9 PM. He likes to play the piano for the family, his taste running to light classics and old ballads.