Our tour guide, Mark, guided us around the snow-blanketed graves of Harry, Bess, and their only child, Margaret and we found President Truman's office. This is the office he walked to from his house, just a few blocks away, after he returned to Independence from the presidency. Some very important people sat in this office, including Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as top-rated comedian and actor, Jack Benny.
We saw artillery pieces fired by the regiment that served under Truman's supervision in World War I, cars owned by the Trumans, campaign buttons, china plates, wedding shoes, the pistols from an attempted assassination of President Truman, the newspaper that Harry held up after defeating Dewey the 1948 election (even though the headline announced the opposite outcome), and of course, the replica of the oval office from Truman's time there.
We learned about the gift of a Grecian mask that was given to the president by Greece - a mask that dates some 4-500 years before Christ. We also the Bible Harry placed his hand on to take the oath of office following President Roosevelt's death in 1945. On this somber occasion, the only Bible that could be found was a Gideon Bible.
We learned about the Truman Doctrine to help rebuild Europe, and the daily drops of supplies requiring 5-600 planes to land there every day. Our guide also shared the account of the man who became known as the Candy Bomber - a man who made handkerchief parachutes and used them to drop candy to children in West Germany. Finally, we saw the only written documentation from the president to order the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
Some of these items are pictured below. I'll post some addition pictures from my phone, tomorrow.