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Blue Springs, MO —
Good leadership comes down to character and judgment, and that’s why Harry Truman succeeded as president during trying and dangerous times as World War II ended and the Cold War dawned, former Congressman Ike Skelton said Tuesday, on the anniversary of Truman’s birth.
“It was a good thing our country had Harry Truman at the helm,” Skelton said in accepting the annual Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award. He spoke at a luncheon at the Muehlbach Tower of the Kansas City Marriott Downtown, where Truman used to gather with friends for a birthday luncheon in the years after he left office.
Skelton, who represented parts of Eastern Jackson County and other parts of central and western Missouri in Congress for 34 years until his defeat in 2010, stressed many of the themes Truman himself sounded again and again, starting with the need to be well versed in history. That knowledge is what leads to sound judgment, Skelton said.
Add to that a consistently optimistic outlook.
“The one polestar that Truman gave us is faith in our country,” Skelton said. He added, “We need to be inspired by positive thinking and positive action.”
Truman sometimes put things in more earthy terms, and Skelton mentioned what Truman once said was the best epitaph a person could have. It was at a cemetery in Tombstone, Ariz., and it read: “Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.”
Skelton, who described himself as a country lawyer whose career was “interrupted by 34 years in Congress,” described personal experiences with Truman. His father, the prosecutor in Lafayette County, was a good friend of Truman’s. Young Ike Skelton attended the groundbreaking of the Truman Library – he got to visit with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren – and Truman later encouraged him to run for public office.
In Congress, Skelton long championed the nation’s military needs and for a few years became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
“There was no better friend of the military in Washington that Congressman Skelton,” said Brig. Gen. Scott L. Thoele, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Thoele listed the dropping of the atomic bomb, the response to North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950, and the sacking of the immensely popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur in wartime as among the tough decisions Truman faced.
“President Truman is a case study in tough decisions,” Thoele said.
Good leadership comes down to character and judgment, and that’s why Harry Truman succeeded as president during trying and dangerous times as World War II ended and the Cold War dawned, former Congressman Ike Skelton said Tuesday, on the anniversary of Truman’s birth.
“It was a good thing our country had Harry Truman at the helm,” Skelton said in accepting the annual Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award. He spoke at a luncheon at the Muehlbach Tower of the Kansas City Marriott Downtown, where Truman used to gather with friends for a birthday luncheon in the years after he left office.
Skelton, who represented parts of Eastern Jackson County and other parts of central and western Missouri in Congress for 34 years until his defeat in 2010, stressed many of the themes Truman himself sounded again and again, starting with the need to be well versed in history. That knowledge is what leads to sound judgment, Skelton said.
Add to that a consistently optimistic outlook.
“The one polestar that Truman gave us is faith in our country,” Skelton said. He added, “We need to be inspired by positive thinking and positive action.”
Truman sometimes put things in more earthy terms, and Skelton mentioned what Truman once said was the best epitaph a person could have. It was at a cemetery in Tombstone, Ariz., and it read: “Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.”
Skelton, who described himself as a country lawyer whose career was “interrupted by 34 years in Congress,” described personal experiences with Truman. His father, the prosecutor in Lafayette County, was a good friend of Truman’s. Young Ike Skelton attended the groundbreaking of the Truman Library – he got to visit with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren – and Truman later encouraged him to run for public office.
In Congress, Skelton long championed the nation’s military needs and for a few years became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
“There was no better friend of the military in Washington that Congressman Skelton,” said Brig. Gen. Scott L. Thoele, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Thoele listed the dropping of the atomic bomb, the response to North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950, and the sacking of the immensely popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur in wartime as among the tough decisions Truman faced.
“President Truman is a case study in tough decisions,” Thoele said.
The Truman Good Neighbor Award has been given annually for 39 years, starting just after Truman’s death in 1972. Past winners have included President Gerald Ford, historian and author David McCullough, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and, last year, actor Gary Sinise, who has dedicated many years to aiding veterans groups and played Truman in the television adaptation of McCullough’s book, “Truman.”
The foundation also gave the annual Philip Pistilli Silver Veteran’s Medal to retired Col. Jerry D. Reece of the Marine Corps. Reece, who served in Vietnam, went into the Marine Corps Reserve after active duty. After retirement in 1993, he served on the board of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. He also is chief executive officer of Reece & Nichols, the Kansas City real estate company.
Reece said he was humbled by the award, and he thanked Skelton.
“I know all the Marines appreciate all you’ve done for us,” he said.
He said success and failure rest on leadership, and he quoted a famous poem from Chief Tecumseh, a Shawnee tribe leader two centuries ago: “Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.”
