Reimagined Harry Truman presidential library set to reopen



After nearly two years of renovations, the Harry S

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- After nearly two years of renovations complicated by COVID-19 restrictions, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is ready to welcome visitors back with an updated focus on how Truman's legacy resonates today.

The museum opens to the public July 2, with hours and visitor numbers initially restricted because of pandemic regulations.

Visitors will find a museum completely reimagined during its most extensive renovation since it opened in 1957 in Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, an eastern suburb of Kansas City. The nearly $30 million project includes a sparkling new entrance; many more artifacts, photographs, videos and films; and exhibits that encourage visitors to touch and interact with displays.

One solemn gallery showcases Truman’s first four months in office, some of the most consequential months in U.S. history. Germany surrendered, the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II, and world leaders at the Potsdam conference determined the makeup of the postwar world.

Nearly everyone knows Truman dropped the bombs, but his legacy was formed in the next 7 1/2 years of his presidency, when he set out to win the peace and put the world back together, said Museum Director Kurt Graham.

“If you focus only on the bomb, you miss the heart of his legacy. My job isn’t to say he got everything right, but I think it’s important for people, especially young people, to realize that Harry Truman had more influence on the world they have inherited than most other U.S. presidents,” he said.

Graham said the museum, which closed in July 2019 for the renovations, was demolished “down to the bare studs.” People who remember the old building will recognize little except a Thomas Hart Benton mural, some artifacts and a recreation of Truman’s Oval Office, he said.

After starting in the new 3,000-square-foot Grandview Hall entrance, visitors first see Truman giving a speech in 1945 when he was running as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president. FDR died only 82 days into that term, leaving the world wondering, “who is this farmer from Missouri who is taking over the free world?” Graham said. แหล่งรวมสล็อต

The exhibits try to answer that question. The first gallery shows Truman’s life in Missouri before he entered politics, from his childhood on a farm to his service in World War I to his failed haberdashery and his connection to Kansas City political machine boss Thomas Pendergast.

The previous museum had showcased Truman’s political life and presidency and relegated his personal life in Missouri to the basement. Now, his story is told in a more linear way.

“Now you can truly weave through his boyhood into the presidency and beyond," said Kelly Anders, deputy director of the museum.