A new Truman Museum makes itself relevant to younger generation

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Banner headlines announce the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the dropping of the first atomic bomb over Japan and the end of World War II.

The reproduced front pages from the nation's newspapers, documenting the hectic first four months of Harry S. Truman's presidency, are displayed at the start of a recently completed 11,000-square-foot exhibit at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library.

"Harry S. Truman: The Presidential Years," a collection of videos, photographs and audio clips, is the centerpiece of a $22.5 million, three-phase renovation designed to make the 44-year-old museum and library relevant to a new generation of visitors.

The exhibit leads visitors through a presidency that spanned the decision to recognize Israel and the start of the Cold War and Korean War. In the past, the museum had no sequential display of Truman's presidency, instead featuring traveling exhibits, historic documents and a replica of the Oval Office.

Museum officials launched a capital campaign in the early 1990s to help make the displays relevant to a younger generation and money was raised by the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, a nonprofit fund-raising arm. Financing came from almost $12.5 million in private contributions, $8 million in federal money and $2 million from Missouri.

The changes have brought increased numbers of visitors. The museum was closed from September 2000 through February while workers finished the first phase of renovations, which included revamping the auditorium and expanding the gift shop. When it reopened, attendance jumped 25 percent between March and August from the same six-month period a year earlier.

'Nothing like it used to be'

"Harry S. Truman: The Presidential Years," the second phase of the renovation, opened in November, and the museum was rededicated in December.

"People who say I've been there five years ago or even last year are missing something," said Joni Miller, a visitor services manager, "because it's nothing like it used to be."

And recent visitors from Iowa seemed to agree.

Joe Misbach, 53, a longtime Truman admirer, and family friend, Josh Baer, 18 -- both of Clarinda, Iowa -- toured the museum recently for the second time in a day, stopping only for lunch.

"It is a comfortable place to spend the day," said Misbach, a lifelong Democrat who drove to Independence, Truman's hometown near Kansas City, for the sole purpose of visiting the museum. "I'll be back at least two more times. I could make this a routine."

What visitors now find is an interactive exhibit with a flavor of what was going on in the country as history was made.

Visitors learning about the decision to drop the atomic bomb view four televisions -- featuring footage of the firebombing of Japan, military campaigns in Iwo Jima and Okinawa, wartime propaganda and the race to build the bomb. On another wall are the opinions of historians and military leaders about the bombings, and a place for visitors to write their own comments.

Two "decision theaters" put visitors in Truman's shoes. One focuses on the factors that played a role in Truman's 1948 decisions to recognize Israel and desegregate the armed forces -- and visitors are asked to vote on which factor they believe mattered most in Truman's decisions.

Mixed in with the exhibit are humorous, and sometimes touching, artifacts. Visitors can view a wall of Cold War-era memorabilia, including the March 1951 copy of Popular Science featuring a story on "How to Build a Family Fox Hole."

Not all praise

Not all of the artifacts are Truman tributes. In the Korean War section is a Purple Heart returned by a family who wrote a note found in Truman's desk when he died in 1972. It read: "Our major regret at this time is that your daughter was not there to receive the same treatment as our son received in Korea."

The exhibit ends in a bright, glass-enclosed room, featuring a statue of Truman and views of the graves of the former President and his wife, Bess. Visitors can listen there to Truman's comments about world leaders and important issues and historians discussing the late president.