Harry Truman and Missouri
Monday, September 26th, 2011September 2nd
Our day began in Independence, Missouri, a quintessential American town and the hometown of Harry Truman, president of the United States from 1945-1952. There are several Truman sites to visit in town- we chose the Presidential Library- the first of its kind in the U.S. Truman, who became president following the death of Franklin Roosevelt, dealt with some major issues during his presidency: the use of the atomic bomb, the beginning of the Cold War and the Marshall Plan and the library explored each of these issues in scrutinizing detail- it was a real history lesson. Harry Truman tried to implement a national health care program during his presidency- much like President Obama today- but it failed. It’s interesting to see how much and how little has changed in the last 60 years and how little domestic power a president actual has.
After lunch, we continued the road across Missouri. It was Friday afternoon and the beginning of Labor Day weekend. We had reserved two nights of camping in a state park expecting there to be a lot of people out for the long weekend. It would also give us a chance to have a break on our marathon trip back to Florida. The state park, Lake of the Ozarks, was at end of the Ozark Mountains (which we had already visited in Arkansas.) We got a little bit lost at the end of the drive, but finally found the campground and set up for the night. In the campground we were camping one on top of other- and surrounded by big families and RVs- recipe for a short night of sleep.
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