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Our first stop was the Harry S. Truman museum and library in Independence, MO. I was born during LBJ and started school under Nixon, but Harry was spoken of with respect in our house. My dad would have served under him as CIC during the Korean War.

There was so much more to Harry than I realized or remembered. Yes, he assumed the Office of President of the United States upon the death of FDR. Yes, he was the man who made the decision to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I had sort of forgotten that he was in office during the Korean War (duh. Shame on me, a M*A*S*H fan!), and during the recognition of Israel as a nation. I had also completely glossed over his Fair Deal and the fact he would have been the guy in office during the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the beginning of nuclear proliferation. Suffice to say, the guy really influenced and shaped the 20th Century as I know it.

It’s a shame the Fair Deal never made it very far. I think a lot of the problems the US has now could have been avoided if it had passed.

There are some incredible things at the museum, including a full-sized reproduction of the Oval Office, as well as Truman’s working office at the library, which is fully intact and just how he left it when he died. There’s also the safety plug from the first atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In the same room are 1000 origami cranes folded by a Japanese girl who was suffering from leukemia caused by the bomb years later. That was very sobering.

The museum is located in the middle of an area I would not want to live. Very run down, with lots of boarded up houses and businesses. And then suddenly there’s this magnificent building and museum. Harry and Bess’ graves are there, as well as Margaret and her husband, Clifton Daniel. We were there for a couple of hours, and they were hours well spent.

A brief stop at a dispensary, and we were off to the hotel and our first night in KC.

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Our first night was spent walking around the area where our hotel was located, which was in the downtown arts district. To be honest it was a bit of a drinking tour with stops at the International Tap House (loud. It was so loud), Brewery Emperial (great outdoor seating area), the City Barrel Brewery+Kitchen (kinda meh, but good), Lifted Spirits Distillery (where we had some excellent cocktails), and Grinder Pizza (a punk rock attitude with B+ pizza). I may have missed a stop or two here; blame it on the alcohol.

One of the very cool things about that area is the number of murals and other street art you find. Dubuque, Iowa has that, too. I wish more places did. St. Cloud has some great walls that could be painted.

KC Street Art

Of course, that’s not the only art we saw in KC. The next day, a rainy Sunday, we went to the Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art. That trip is worth its own post.