Truman

Growing Up in Missouri

Harry S. Truman came from a Missouri shaped by frontier settlement, Civil War hatred, and hard work. His mother’s Young family and his father’s Truman family carried deep memories of the border violence between Missouri and Kansas. In that world, people valued self-reliance, loyalty, religion, and politics tied closely to family history. Independence, Missouri, where much of Truman’s early life unfolded, was a town where old Civil War loyalties still mattered and social standing was plain to see.

He was born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri, the first surviving child of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. The S in his name honored both grandfathers, Solomon Young and Anderson Shipp Truman, without standing for a full name. Soon the family returned to the Young farm at Grandview, where Harry grew up close to the rhythms of farming life and under the influence of strong family personalities, especially his grandfather Solomon Young.

A childhood problem with his eyesight changed his life. When he was very young, his mother realized he could not see well, and he was fitted with thick glasses. That made sports and rough play difficult, but it opened another path. He read constantly, especially history, biography, and the Bible, and he practiced the piano with great discipline, often before school each morning.

In school and church, he was known as polite, careful, serious, and somewhat shy. He stood out more for neatness and good manners than for easy charm. During these years he first noticed Bess Wallace, the lively and athletic girl who would remain the great love of his life. He admired her long before he could easily speak to her, and that quiet devotion became one of the fixed points in his character.

The secure pattern of his youth broke after high school. His father lost heavily in grain speculation, and the family’s finances collapsed. College, which Harry had hoped for, was no longer possible. The setback forced him into work and responsibility early, and it taught him a lesson that stayed with him for life: a person might fail, but debts and duties still had to be met.