Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb__ A Tour of Presidential Gravesites - Brian Lamb [59]
There was to be no public viewing—on that score Franklin and Eleanor were as one. Regarding his tombstone, FDR asked for an austere marker containing only the names and dates of his wife and himself. Thus Eleanor’s wish to have inscribed the famous line “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” on the marble block was overridden by her husband’s preferences.
—RNS
Harry S. Truman
Buried: Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
Thirty-third President - 1945-1953
Born: May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri
Died: 7:50 a.m. on December 26, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri
Age at death: 88
Cause of death: Cardiovascular failure
Final Words: Unknown
Admission to Harry S. Truman Library: $8.00
Harry Truman was having cocktails in the Capitol with House Speaker Sam Rayburn when FDR died and he became president on April 12, 1945. He later said, “I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.”
Eleanor Roosevelt met Truman at the White House to relay the news of her husband’s death. When he asked if there was anything he could do, she responded, “No, Harry. Is there anything we can do for you? You’re the one in trouble now.” He had been vice president less than three months.
During “Give ’Em Hell Harry’s” administration the atomic bomb was used against Japan, World War II ended, the Korean War began, and the United Nations was established. Truman also oversaw big changes at home—his home—during his presidency. The interior of the White House needed to be rebuilt after a piano leg fell through a crumbling floor. For four years, the Truman family lived across the street at Blair House.
Truman’s wife Bess, his childhood sweetheart, found one advantage to being displaced: fewer social obligations. She disliked life as first lady and was thrilled when her husband decided not to seek a second full term.
In 1953, the couple returned to their home at 219 North Delaware in Independence, Missouri. Truman supervised the creation of his presidential library, which opened in 1957. He worked on his memoirs in an office there and loved to give tours to visitors surprised to see the former president on site.
By 1964, Truman was increasingly frail. After a fall in his home, the eighty-year-old former president never fully regained his strength. In early December 1972, Truman left his home for the last time and was admitted to Kansas City’s Research Hospital. He was seriously ill with lung congestion and bronchitis. His condition improved briefly, but on December 14, Harry Truman lost consciousness. Most of his major organs were shutting down. By Christmas Eve, Truman was near death. His heart stopped at 7:50 a.m. on December 26, 1972. He was eighty-eight years old.
The government’s plans for Truman’s funeral were extensive. Arrangements by the Military District of Washington called for a five-day state affair, with his body being flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The army even prepared “Black Jack,” the riderless horse used in John Kennedy’s funeral, for a flight to Missouri for the burial. However, Citizen Truman had himself vetoed the notion of lying in state. He and his wife opted instead for a simple private ceremony in Independence.
Still the streets were lined with soldiers on the day Truman took his final trip to his library. President and Mrs. Nixon laid a wreath of carnations on the casket. Lyndon Johnson, who was also there, would himself live just three more weeks.
An estimated seventy-five thousand people paid their respects before Truman was buried in the library’s courtyard. As he’d told his staff, he wanted to be “out there, so I can get up and walk into my office if I want to.” There was a simple graveside service with no hymns and no eulogy. He was