TIME - Man of the Year/CompactPublishing-TimeMagazine-TimeManOfTheYear-Win31MSDOS.iso/moy/091492/0914unk.000

Text File | 1993-04-08 | 3.5 KB | 80 lines

                                                                                THE PRESIDENCY, Page 40

Just Wild About Harry


By Hugh Sidey


    Political body snatching is as old as politics. Harry
Ttuman, the latest victim, did a bit of it himself, posing as
a latter-day Andrew Jackson, relishing every picture beside a
statue of Old Hickory. So it should be no surprise that
President Bush is the latest of a legion who have tried to grab
a bit of Truman, posing as come-from-behind, give-'em-hell
George.

    An indignant Bill Clinton plans to reclaim Truman this
week when he opens his fall campaign on Labor Day in Harry's
home precinct, Independence, Missouri. Truman's daughter
Margaret accused Bush of being a "political plagiarist." Truman
biographer David McCullough diplomatically cast some light on
the issue. "If George Bush is taking inspiration from Truman,
that is one thing," he said. "If he is saying `I'm Truman,'
that's absurd."

    Republicans got some wicked comfort noting that for more
than a century, Democrats have been kidnapping Lincoln without
credit. Historian David Donald wrote an essay in 1951 on
"Getting Right with Lincoln," detailing how Presidents in
trouble had claimed kinship. Franklin Roosevelt once suggested
that Lincoln was a father of the New Deal. This season Truman
quotes have been manufactured and mangled, while his
prepolitical identity is often shortened to "dirt farmer." There
is a suspicion that very few have studied McCullough's splendid
text, particularly the first part. Bush admitted he jumped over
some of that and went straight to the campaign of 1948. (Young
George Bush voted for Dewey that year.)

    Truman lived in Independence from age 6 to 21, the
formative years. His circle was made up of well-to-do
youngsters, and his intellectual companions in a superb high
school were Mark Twain, Dickens, Plutarch, Tennyson and
Shakespeare. He studied Chopin, Mendelssohn and Paderewski on
the piano. His heroes included Cincinnatus, Scipio and Cyrus II
the Great. He never played football, basketball or baseball. You
might even say that in his place and time he was elitist.

    When he became a dirt farmer, his relatives never saw him
in bib overalls. One recalled him under a Panama hat in a
wagon. And in the barn was a 1911 Stafford convertible ("a rich
man's car") with a brass-framed windshield and huge Prestolite
lamps. In that grand machine, after plowing, he burned up the
road back to Independence, where his indulgences with his gang
ran to picnics, theater and poetry. Today's Democrats should be
cautious when putting their arms around Harry. He disliked
jazz, modern art and most liberals. The mind boggles
contemplating what he would have to say about the permissive
life-styles of this time. He considered infidelity immoral and
a breach of contract. At 33, when the Army didn't want him, he
forced his way into active service in World War I.

    The Truman Library in Independence noticed a
get-right-with-Truman surge about the time of Jerry Ford, who
insisted on having his portrait in the Cabinet Room. Jimmy
Carter asked for Truman's THE BUCK STOPS HERE sign. The library
sent him a facsimile. Ronald Reagan had a paperweight on his
desk that said THE BUCKAROO STOPS HERE. Bush had McCullough into
the White House for a Truman lecture, set up Harry's portrait
in the East Room and happily hovered around it.

    And don't forget, Truman was a lousy speller ("Deleware,"
"occation"). Grab it, Dan. Get right with Truman.