Design for Truman statue unveiled

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Give 'em a hello, Harry. Organizers of a drive to place a statue of Harry S. Truman outside historic Union Station unveiled the winning design Friday, showing the 33rd president raising his trademark Homburg hat in a wave.

Sculptor Bruce Wolfe said he wanted to capture the "friendliness, the gregariousness of Mr. Truman. I've looked through a zillion photographs of him, and a lot of them had the hat up like that."

The 26-foot sculpture is expected to be dedicated May 8, 2006, Truman's birthday. It will stand on a 20-foot pedestal that has been vacant since Union Station was built in 1914.

Clifton Daniel, Truman's grandson, said he was asked what his grandfather -- famous for his plain-spoken, modest nature -- would have thought of the tribute.

"The first thing that popped into my head that he'd say is, 'That's pretty damn big,'" Daniel said.

But both Daniel and the director of Truman's presidential library said Truman would have appreciated the gesture.

"Although he didn't promote himself, he wasn't about to hurt anybody's feelings for doing something kind," said Daniel, who was 15 when Truman died in 1972. "If he was embarrassed, he wouldn't show it. He would certainly be grateful, and he would certainly make sure that the people who built it for him knew that he appreciated it."

Michael Devine, director of the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, said Truman wouldn't have wanted the statue placed while he was alive.

"Several times during his lifetime, people offered to name things after him or erect statues, and he discouraged it," Devine said. "He said you should never do anything like that until after the person's dead, because you never know what kind of foolishness they might get into.

"But I guess he's been gone long enough, and his story's pretty well out there," Devine said. "I think he would be shocked and amazed that such a huge statue of him would be erected, but I think he'd be proud of it."

Congress has already appropriated $50,000 for the sculpture, under a measure introduced in 2003 by Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. Members of the Native Sons of Kansas City and the Native Sons Scouts, the groups behind the statue drive, hope to raise another $400,000 from public donations.

Truman, who grew up in the Kansas City area and remained in Independence after leaving the presidency, was a member of the Native Sons even during his White House years.

"He deserves to be honored," Talent said Friday. "He deserves to be honored as a man who loved Kansas City and loved Missouri, and I think this statue is an outstanding way of doing it."

Wolfe, who lives in Piedmont, Calif., depicts Truman dressed in a dapper double-breasted suit, leaning slightly on his cane as he walks. The base of the statue will be engraved with quotes from Truman and images from his life -- including the famous shot of the beaming president holding the erroneous "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune after the 1948 election.

The sculptor, whose other works include a statue of former Kansas City Mayor Ilus Davis, compiled the quotes with the aid of Truman Library researcher Liz Safley and pored over hundreds of photographs to come up with his final vision.

"I had to look at all those photographs to get a feeling for him," Wolfe said in a telephone interview. "The most wonderful part of being a sculptor is working with a live human being, but I couldn't do that here."

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On the Net:

http://www.trumanlibrary.org

http://www.brucewolfe.com

http://www.unionstation.org