1
History Gone Amiss (Harry & Me)
Two missed chances were separated for me, by twenty-five years. Paul Junior High School, in 1944, was alive with extra-curricular happenings. World War II captured everyone's energy. We rounded up silver wrappers from Lucky Strikes and Camels, balled them up, and delivered same to collection centers - raw material for the factories. My school was assigned the job to raise ninety thousand dollars in order to pay for one P40 Warhawk fighter plane. I was the eighth grade designated leader in this effort. All my aunts and uncles, and anyone else I could collar, were hit upon for five and ten dollar contributions. In those days, the major investment was a twenty-five dollar savings bond - which was purchased for eighteen dollars and seventy-five cents (it later matured and paid off at face value). To help our country, it was a shared burden - and patriotic effort. After school on weekdays, and all day on Saturday, I worked in my father's grocery store, down on Connecticut Avenue, just opposite the Uptown Theatre. My job was everything extra that needed doingpacking shelves - slicing pork bellies - selling Christmas trees out in front. On weekends, I helped deliver grocery orders to the apartment houses, up and down the avenue.
2
Because I loved reading history about all its heroes and demons I particularly wanted to meet a public figure who lived at 4701. I knew he was an early riser and walked very briskly around the neighborhood. But, I was never was able to make a personal connection. Twenty-five years later, in 1969, I was teaching, and received an invitation to speak at a mid-west, seven state group known as the Heart of America. February in flatland Kansas City was not particularly high on my agenda. But the honorarium was reasonable and the location was history on display. So, I flew out. On an afternoon break, a rental car took me out about twenty-five miles to a smaller town. There was an extensive library to visit. And most of all, I wanted to meet the person after which the library had been named. I had been told that he lived just a few blocks away and would often visit. So, I hung around that whole dreary afternoon. Going through the library was fascinating. They had an exhibit which reconstructed the entire quarterdeck of the battleship Missouri, as it appeared for the Japanese surrender on VJ Day. By four-thirty PM, dusk was swallowing the landscape, and I had to leave to honor my evening lecture schedule. Thus, twice in twenty-five years, I missed chance opportunities to meet and have a great honor to shake the hand - of Harry Truman.
(1st miss: A sitting vice-president) (2nd miss: A retired ex-president)