Truman Town: Obama just the latest in a string of candidates

Independence found itself in a familiar role today, host to a presidential candidate.

He was deeply unpopular when he left office in 1953, but Harry Truman’s stock has steady risen ever since. The Man from Independence made a lot of tough decisions in his nearly eight years in office, and history shows he almost always got it right.

So Democrats and Republicans alike swing through town during election time, invoking Truman’s name. (It doesn’t hurt that his hometown is in a swing state.)

Today it is Democrat Barack Obama, who spoke this morning at the Truman Memorial Building. And it isn’t even the Fourth of July yet. Who knows how many more presidential and vice-presidential candidates and spouses will visit in the 18 weeks between now and Election Day?

Around the country, when people find out you’re from Missouri, they tend to mention St. Louis or Branson. When they find out you’re from Independence, Missouri, those of a certain age tend to blurt out Harry Truman’s name. And then they smile.

It’s not that times were better or less complicated in the late ’40s and early ’50s. Far from it. But Truman had what today’s candidates want you to believe they have.