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
Harry wore eyeglasses beginning at the age of nine which prevented him from participating in certain activities 14
A Missouri Son other boys did He preferred to spend his time reading Mark Twain stories of the American Civil War and the lives of great men were his favorites He had read the Bible through twice before he was twelve There was a small library in Independence where young Harry spent additional hours reading histories novels novels and encyclopedias Sometimes he took the encyclopedias home with him to read Mathilda Brown Truman’s high-school history history teacher said of him I doubt if there was a student in any high school in the country who knew more of the history of the United States than Harry did The smartest boy in that graduating class of 1901 however was Charles G Ross Ross later became President Truman’s press secretary During the summers Harry Vivian and Mary Jane visited their grandparents Harriet and Solomon Young on their farm at Grandview There they helped with the farm work rode horses and swam From the age of thirteen Harry took piano lessons first in Independence and later in Kansas City He became a good amateur pianist Truman later said he might have become a concert pianist if he had not gone into politics When he became president he often played the piano to relax from the cares of office He also 15
