Harry S Truman was a plainspoken Midwesterner from Missouri For years he worked on his family’s farm near Grandview and it was this experience that cultivated one of his most enduring characteristics It was on the farm that Harry got his common sense his mother Martha Truman once said He didn’t get it in town After he began a career in public service many people noted how common sense was fundamental in even the most difficult decisions he made Truman’s Family Harry S Truman was born on May 8 1884 in Lamar Missouri He was the son of John Anderson Truman a cattle trader and farmer 10 Chapter 1 A Missouri Son
A Missouri Son A Missouri Son A Missouri Son and Martha Ellen Young Truman A younger brother John Vivian Truman called Vivian was born in 1886 and a younger sister Mary Jane Truman followed in 1889 Harry was named for his mother’s brother Harry Young He was given the middle initial initial S but no name for his grandfathers Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young Truman’s great-grandmother Nancy Tyler Holmes was a first cousin of John Tyler tenth president of the United States It is interesting to know that Tyler was the first vice president to become president by succession succession as stipulated by Article II Section Truman was born in this farmhouse in Lamar Missouri The pine tree left was planted on May 8 1884 the day Harry was born 11
12 Four-year-old Harry right poses with his two-year-old brother Vivian around 1888
A Missouri Son I of the US Constitution and Truman was the seventh It was Tyler who insisted that the vice president should actually become the president of the United States and not just acting president when he takes the office of the chief executive Boyhood Shortly after Harry’s birth the Truman family family moved to nearby Independence Missouri not far from Kansas City There Harry attended grade school and high school In 1894 Harry and his brother came down with diphtheria a bacterial infection marked by a sore throat fever a rapid pulse and swollen neck glands Mary Jane was sent to the farm in Grandview in the hope that she could avoid the disease Although Vivian regained his health quickly Harry struggled during his recovery His legs arms and throat were paralyzed for months and he was moved around in a baby carriage At the time there was no antitoxin available to treat diphtheria It took Harry about six months to get well and he had to go to summer school to catch up on his lessons Harry wore glasses from the age of nine This kept him from doing many things the 13
