Prepresidential -- 1840s-1945 |
1840s |
The families of Solomon
Young and Anderson Shipp Truman moved from Kentucky to the vicinity of
Westport, Missouri, on the American frontier. Young and Truman were grandparents
of Harry S. Truman. His father, John Anderson Truman, was born in 1851,
and his mother Martha Ellen Young, was born in 1852.
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1884
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8 May: Harry S. Truman
was born in Lamar, Missouri.
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1885
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Family moved to farm
near Harrisonville, Missouri.
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1887
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Moved to a farm owned
by Solomon Young near present-day Grandview, Missouri.
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1890
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Moved to 619 Crysler
Street in Independence, Missouri. Young Harry met Bess Wallace for the
first time in First Presbyterian Church's Sunday School.
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1892
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Entered elementary
school (Noland School) in Independence, Missouri.
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1896
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Moved to 909 West
Waldo Avenue in Independence, Missouri.
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1900
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Served as a page at
the Democratic National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Heard William
Jennings Bryan speak.
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1901
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Graduated from Independence
High School with forty other students.
Visited aunts in
Illinois and St. Louis.
Attended Spalding's
Business College.
His father, John
Anderson Truman, lost his savings in grain-futures market.
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1902
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Worked for two weeks
in mailing room of Kansas City Star.
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1902-03
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Worked as timekeeper
for L.J. Smith on Santa Fe Railroad construction project.
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1903
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Joined Baptist church
at age eighteen (Benton Boulevard Baptist in Kansas City, Missouri).
Moved with family
to 902 N. Liberty Street in Independence, Missouri, and then to 2108 Park
Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.
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1903-05
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Worked as clerk for
National Bank of Commerce in Kansas City, Missouri.
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1905-06
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Worked as bookkeeper
for Union National Bank in Kansas City, Missouri.
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1905
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Moved to rooming house
at 1314 Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.
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1905-11
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Served in Battery
B of Missouri National Guard,. Entered as a private, but was soon promoted
to corporal.
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1906
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Moved to 600-acre
family farm near Grandview, Missouri to help parents and brother, Vivian,
manage and operate it.
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1909
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Joined Masonic Order,
Lodge No. 450, Belton, Missouri.
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1910
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Began courting Bess
Wallace.
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1911
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Organized the first
Masonic lodge in Grandview, Missouri.
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1913
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Purchased his first
automobile, a 1911 Stafford.
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1914
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2 November: His father
died.
Appointed road overseer
in southern half of Washington Township.
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1915
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Appointed postmaster
in Grandview, Missouri.
Invested and lost
money in a zinc-mining venture.
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1916
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Helped organize an
oil-drilling company, later named the Morgan Oil and Refining Company,
and invested $10,000 in it, managing perhaps to break even before the
company was dissolved in 1919. Served as its treasurer.
Joined Grandview
Baptist Church, Grandview, Missouri.
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1917
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June: Rejoined National
Guard and was elected first lieutenant of Battery F, 2nd Missouri Artillery.
August: Sworn into
regular army service as a member of 129th Field Artillery regiment.
September: Assigned
to Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and appointed canteen officer,
with Sgt. Edward Jacobson as assistant.
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1918
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13 April: Arrived
in Brest, France, on board USS George Washington.
May: Promoted to
captain, although he did note receive official notification until October.
11 July: Assigned
command of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery regiment, 35th Division. Battery
was composed of 188 men, 167 horses, and a complement of French-designed
75mm guns.
6 September: Engaged
in first combat operation in Vosges Mountains.
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1918
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11 November: Battery
D fired last round at 10:45 am.
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1919
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9 April: Sailed from
Brest aboard liner USS Zeppelin.
6 May: Discharged
from the army.
28 June: Married
Elizabeth (Bess) Virginia Wallace at the bride's church, Trinity Episcopal,
in Independence, Missouri and moved into home at 219 N. Delaware, Independence,
Missouri, the residence of his mother-in-law, Madge Gates Wallace.
November: Opened
men's haberdashery store, in partnership with Edward Jacobson, at 104
West 12th Street, Kansas City, Missouri.
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1920
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Appointed major in
Field Artillery, Officers Reserve Corps.
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1921
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Helped form the first
Reserve Officers Association unit in the United States, in Kansas City,
Missouri. Became a chapter in new national association in 1922.
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1922
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Haberdashery business
failed as a result of business recession, but Truman refused to file a
petition of bankruptcy and paid off his share of the firm's debts during
the ensuing fifteen years.
With the endorsement
of county Democratic party leader, T.J. Pendergast, won election as eastern
judge on the Jackson County Court, an executive body that administered
affairs of the county.
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1923-25
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Attended Kansas City
School of Law.
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1924
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Defeated for reelection
by Henry Rummel, the only election Truman ever lost.
With Spencer Salisbury,
established the Community Savings and Loan Association in Independence,
and served as general manager until 1932.
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1925-26
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Worked as a membership
salesman for the Kansas City Automobile Club.
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1926
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Elected president
of the National Old Trails Association.
Elected presiding
judge of the Jackson County Court.
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1927
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January: Sworn in
as presiding judge of the Jackson County Court. Served two four-year terms,
1927-34.
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1928
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Led successful campaign
resulting in approval of a bond issue for $6.5 million to build 224 miles
of paved highways in the county, and additional funds for building a county
hospital.
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1931
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Obtained voter approval
of bond issues to complete the road system, build a new courthouse and
jail in Kansas City, remodel the Independence courthouse, and construct
a detention home.
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1932
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Promoted to colonel
in the Field Artillery Reserve.
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1933
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Appointed federal
reemployment director for Missouri.
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1934
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May: Filed as a Democratic
candidate for the U.S. Senate.
7 August: Won Democratic
primary election with 276,850 votes; John Cochran received 236,105; and
Jacob Milligan, 147,614.
6 November: Defeated
incumbent Republican Roscoe C. Patterson by 262,000 votes.
27 December: Participated
in the dedication of new courthouse in Kansas City.
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1935
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3 January: Sworn in
as U.S. Senator, along with twelve other new Democratic senators.
Assigned as a member
of the Appropriations Committee and the Interstate Commerce Committee.
Also served on Public Buildings and Grounds Committee and the Committee
on Printing in his first term.
15 May: Introduced
his first public bill -- "A bill to provide for insurance by the Farm
Credit Administration of mortgages on farm property, and for other purposes."
Bill died later in committee.
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1937
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Named as vice-chairman
of a subcommittee of the Interstate Commerce Committee to investigate
American railroad finances.
Met with Justice
Louis D. Brandeis on several social occasions and discussed transportation
regulation.
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1938
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Helped draft the Civil
Aeronautics Act of 1938.
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1939
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With Senator Burton
Wheeler, introduced bill to reorganize the railroads and place them under
the regulation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
As member of Military
Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, visited defense installations
in the United States, Panama, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
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1940
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15 June: Launched
reelection campaign at courthouse in Sedalia, Missouri.
Summer: Mortgage
foreclosed on Truman farm near Grandview; mother Martha Ellen Truman and
sister Mary Jane moved to town. (Farm was purchased by Truman friends
and sold back to the Truman family several years later.)
6 August: Won Democratic
senatorial primary election, garnering 268,557 votes; Lloyd Stark received
260,581; and Maurice Milliagn, 127,363.
18 September: Transportation
Act of 1940, also known as the Wheeler-Truman Act, was signed by President
Roosevelt.
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1940
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September: Elevated
to Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, Masonic Order.
5 November: Won reelection
to the Senate, with 930,773 votes; Manvel Davis received 886,376.
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1941
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10 and 13 February:
Proposed that the Senate create a special committee to investigate defense
contracts.
1 March: The Senate,
by unanimous vote, created the Senate Special Committee to Investigate
the National Defense Program. Became known as the Truman Committee, after
Senator Truman was appointed chairman (8 March).
15 April: First hearing
of the Truman Committee was conducted, with Secretary of War Henry L.
Stimson as first witness.
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1942
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15 January: Truman
Committee presented its First Annual Report to the Senate. Helped induce
President Roosevelt to replace the Office of Production Management with
a new, more powerful War Production Board.
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1943
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8 February: Reported
that savings attributable to the work of the Truman Committee were being
estimated in a range up to $11 billion.
8 March: His portrait
appeared on cover of Time magazine.
|
1944
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29 January: Spoke
at ceremony launching the battleship USS Missouri. Daughter Margaret christened
the ship with a bottle of champagne.
May: Selected as
one of the ten most useful officials in Washington, DC in a poll of fifty-two
correspondents conducted by Look magazine.
21 July: Nominated
for the office of vice-president at the Democratic National Convention,
Chicago, Illinois.
3 August: Resigned
chairmanship of Truman Committee. During his tenure, the committee received
funding of $400,000 and grew to a staff of about twenty-five, in addition
to senatorial members.
18 August: Had first
meeting with President Roosevelt as his running mate.
31 August: Launched
his vice-presidential campaign at his birthplace, Lamar, Missouri.
4 September: Delivered
Labor Day speeches to AF of L and CIO audiences in Detroit, Michigan.
12 October: Began
official campaign tour, by railroad, with speech in New Orleans. Used
railroad car "Henry Stanley."
7 November: Elected
as vice-president of the United States.
|
1945
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20 January: Sworn
in as vice-president in inauguration ceremony at White House.
29 January: Attended
funeral of Thomas J. Pendergast in Kansas City, Missouri.
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