<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As we try to fathom the pass-the-buck, what-more-can-I-get-from-the-system shenanigans of our Canadian politicians, here\u2019s a lament to a past era and a long-since-gone\u00a0breed of politician: a tribute to Harry Truman.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation\u2019s history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an \u2018allowance\u2019 and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, \u201cYou don\u2019t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn\u2019t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it\u2019s not for sale.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, \u201cI don\u2019t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, \u201cMy choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there\u2019s hardly any difference!\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we try to fathom the pass-the-buck, what-more-can-I-get-from-the-system shenanigans of our Canadian politicians, here\u2019s a lament to a past era and a long-since-gone\u00a0breed of politician: a tribute to Harry Truman. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation\u2019s history as any…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4645,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/4645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}