Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum (Tour)

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Lower Level

This gallery offers a variety of temporary exhibits that focus on important historic themes and topics related to Truman's life and career.

Transportation Gallery

The basement of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum includes an art gallery and rotating exhibits. This permanent gallery includes several vehicles that belonged to the Truman family along with a farm buggy that was in the family for many years.

Main Level

Flame of Freedom

A gift from the local post of the American Legion, this memorial was dedicated on the 72nd anniversary of the American Legion and is located near the original starting place of the tour. There are also exhibits on the lower level, which is always open to the public when the museum is open.

President Truman's Office

This office was former President Truman's place of work between 1957 and 1966, a period when he would arrive at the museum daily and work on his memoirs in addition to a variety of projects. Truman regularly met visitors and even personally led tours during these years.

Gravesite

This is the final resting place of Harry and Bess Truman, their daughter Margaret, and her husband Clifton Daniel, Jr.

President Truman's Lasting Legacy

This exhibit includes exhibits that place Truman's presidency in historical context. While often recognized as one of the most successful Presidents owing to his leadership at a challenging moment in American history, the exhibit acknowledges Truman's low approval rating at the time he left office owing to the Korean War and offers context for how historical interpretations change over time. The exhibit also offers a chance to watch a video of Truman's funeral and internment from almost the precise location where it was filmed.

The Oval Office

This exhibit recreates the Oval Office as it appeared during Harry Truman's Presidency. While several other Presidential museums include recreations of the Oval Office, this exhibit is unique in its precision and accuracy thanks in part to hundreds of photographs that were taken during the renovation of the White House during Truman's tenure in office.

The Trumans in Washington

This exhibit includes original artifacts from the White House as it shares the history of Truman's time in office, a period that coincided with a complete renovation of the building.

Return to Independence

Rather than run for another term, Truman decided to return to his hometown where he worked to shape this Presidential library and write his memoirs.

Thomas Hart Benton Mural

This part of the tour takes visitors to the museum's original entrance, a lobby designed around an original mural by famed Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton entitled Independence and the Opening of the West. The mural depicts the artist's intersection of the interaction of peoples in the mid-19th century, a time when Independence was a bustling frontier community at the confluence of the Sante Fe, California, and Oregon Trails.

The President's Second Term

This gallery explores President Truman's domestic policies, including the extension and expansion of FDR's New Deal, a program Truman labeled as "The Fair Deal." The gallery also explores international relations with an emphasis on tensions between the United States and Russia, the origins of the Cold War, and the Truman Doctrine.

Truman and Civil Rights

This museum exhibit begins with an acknowledgement that Harry Truman did not believe in social equality between races, and he came of age in a segregated time and place. His letters included racial slurs occasional racial slurs and he even met with the Ku Klux Klan during his first run for office. As a senator, he promoted segregated public housing. Yet he also spoke of “brotherhood of all men before the law.” As a veteran himself, President Truman was infuriated by brutal lynchings and abuse of veterans of color. He authorized a civil rights committee. He called for anti-lynch laws and an end to poll taxes. He also desegregated the military and government.

Recognition of Israel

This gallery explores the issues facing President Truman the culminated in his decision to extend diplomatic recognition to the State of Israel, often over the objections of many of his advisors. Although contemporary polls revealed that this decision was unpopular with a majority of the American public, Truman later described his decision to recognize Israel as one of the proudest moments of his Presidency.

The Post-WWII World

This gallery explores the new challenges faced by the United States and President Truman including the rebuilding of Europe and Asia, an uncertain economy, and the rise of authoritarian regimes.

The First Four Months

This exhibit utilizes artifacts and photographs to interpret the issues President Truman faced in his first four months in office, a period that was defined by the end of World War II.

Plow to Politics

This first exhibit focuses on Harry Truman's early life. The future President spent his first six years on a farm before moving to Independence with his family. The gallery includes artifacts from his boyhood and military service in World War I, his early business ventures, his work as a county judge, and his entrance into politics culminating with his service as a Senator and his term as Vice President under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. These exhibits collectively help to show how Truman's past shaped the future President.

This Tour is a Multi-zone Tour.

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum

Created by David J. Trowbridge on February 18th 2017, 11:39:51 pm.

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Description

Since its opening in 1957, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum has offered a research library and galleries that preserve and share the history of Harry Truman's life and presidency. This was also the first Presidential Library established following a 1955 law that supported the creation of these institutions. Truman personally worked to build the library and maintained a personal office which has been preserved and serves as one of the highlights of the tour. Today, the library helps bring the late President's life and legacy to light for modern scholars and everyday Americans through exhibits and a vast archival collection of documents from the Truman Administration.Listen to the clip below under Backstory and Context when you are on the Truman Walking Tour!

Entries on This Tour

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum

Description

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