FROM MISSOURI

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25177, 14 April 1945, Page 9

FROM MISSOURI

MR TRUMAN'S RISE FULL TEST OF HONESTY SOLID DEMOCRAT MEMBER , The new President of the United States, Mr Henry Truman, was .born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri. He is of Scottish, Irish and Dutch stock, and he spent his boyhood on his father's farm A defect in his eyes which compelled him to wear glasses from an early age kept him out of the more boisterous games of boys, and focussed some of his attention on music. It is said of him that he never shirked his lessons on the piano, and that he did not mind the jibes of his fellows as he walked with his music roll under his arm. The eyesight defect cost him the appointment at West Point he sought on passing from high school. He took successive jobs as a timekeeper on the Saute Fe railway, as a newspaper wrapper and then as a bank clerk. From the bank he went back to his father's farm, where he stayed for ten ;years. Like most farmers he took pride in the straightness of his furrows. Interest in Military Affairs Although denied the opportunity of a professional soldier's career, Mr Truman's heart was in a military life, and the Civil War has been his favourite study. He served in the Missouri National Guard from 1905 until America's entry into the last war in 1917, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the expeditionary force. 11l France he rose to the rank of captain and received his majority while he was on his way home. He is credited with having allayed the alarm of a company which was about to panic and of having directed artillery fire until one minute before the armistice became effective. After an unsuccessful venture in a haberdashery business Mr Truman turned to politics. The Prendergast machine, which then controlled Democrat politics in Kansas, obtained for him a country judgeship. In Missouri this was not an appointment to the Courts but a board of managers chairmanship over public works. it was in this appointment that Mr Truman's honesty was fully tested. The Prendergast organisation was corrupt, and when it was broken and Prendergast sent to prison, it was revealed that millions of dollars of public funds had been misappropriated: But although he had to tolerate Prendergast patronage to hold his position, Mr Truman accounted for every cent of more than £20,000,000 of public funds winch passed through his hands. Entry into the Senate

Mr Truman was a solid member of the Democrat Party and it was as such that he earned the nomination to the Senate in 1931. In the Senate lie was nut conspicuous for any decided views or as the promoter of legislation. His opportunity did not come until HMO and it may he said then that he naw it and took it. The United States at that time was neutral but war plants were expanding to meet, the demands for munitions from Britain. The services were also beinir enlarged. Mr Truman thereupon made a tour of the country in his car. What he saw prompted him on his return to Washington to suggest the appointment of a committee which would stop waste and extravagance rather than investigate after the damage had been done. The idea was inspired by his experience after the last war. His first act as chairman was to obtain the services of Mr Hugh A. Fidton as counsel for the committee. To Mr Fulton, Mr Truman gives the credit lor the success of the investigation and the reports, which have stood the closest investigation of those who tried to prove the committee wrong in its findings. Choice as Vice-President Mr Truman was chosen as the Democrats' candidate for vice-president in July last year when lie was nominated in opposition to Mr Henry Wallace, who was seeking another term. To the Southern Democrats Mr Wallace was too far to the I/'ft and lie had also aroused Democrat business associations against himself. In the first ballot the voting was 429 for Mr Wallace and 413 for Mr Truman. A second ballot had to be taken and the choice was unmistakably for Mr Truman with HOO votes against 60 for Mr Wallace. Mr Truman has much of the colour of a Missouri politician. He stands to attention when the Missouri Waltz is played, is a moderate drinker and n not very active Baptist churchgoer, who, for a time, hovered on the fringes of the Buchman Moral Rearmament Movement. He married, his boyhood sweetheart. Miss Bess Wallace. 25 years ago and has one daughter who is still at college. "Bess, my wife, is the only L r irl with whom 1 have ever kept company," he says. His mother is now 91 and although her physical strength is impaired her mental faculties are still alert.