Last updated: August 11, 2021
Article
Fences and Fame: The Truman Home Fence
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back to being just anybody again.... It has not been that simple for me.
--Harry S Truman
Fencing out the public....
The rambling Queen Anne Victorian home of Harry and Bess Truman sits on a corner in an
old neighborhood in Independence, Missouri. After Harry Truman became president in 1945,
the house, which had changed little since it was completed by his wife’s family in 1885, became surrounded by more than shady maples and oaks: now, hundreds of celebrityseekers surrounded the house. Souvenir hunters pulled leaves off the trees, ripped fl owers from the ground, and pried boards off the house. Others were bolder. Once,
hearing voices, Mrs. Truman discovered two sightseers wandering through her house.
So, in 1949, a black iron fence, erected by the Secret Service, surrounded the Trumans’ home, separating the president from the people.
The rambling Queen Anne Victorian home of Harry and Bess Truman sits on a corner in an
old neighborhood in Independence, Missouri. After Harry Truman became president in 1945,
the house, which had changed little since it was completed by his wife’s family in 1885, became surrounded by more than shady maples and oaks: now, hundreds of celebrityseekers surrounded the house. Souvenir hunters pulled leaves off the trees, ripped fl owers from the ground, and pried boards off the house. Others were bolder. Once,
hearing voices, Mrs. Truman discovered two sightseers wandering through her house.
So, in 1949, a black iron fence, erected by the Secret Service, surrounded the Trumans’ home, separating the president from the people.
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While not a particularly imposing fence, it loomed large on the Trumans’ personal landscape, an unwelcome intrusion. “Never did like it and never will like it,” was the president’s opinion. Unfortunately, the Trumans had little choice.
For the Trumans, their home on the quiet street represented refuge and stability. They looked forward to escaping the public glare of White
House living and believed that, once out of office, the family could return home to their quiet former life. There was no Secret Service protection for retired presidents in 1953 when Truman left office,so the Trumans could move with freedom. They even discussed tearing down the black iron fence. But Harry Truman soon discovered that he would never again be able to live like “just anybody.”
Even before their return home from the White House, the Trumans realized that the fence would have to stay. It was a constant reminder that their
old life was gone forever.
The View from Across the Street....
In 1953, Truman’s cousin, Ethel Noland, who lived across the street, observed, “Of course, since Mr. Truman came back from Washington, the tourists are omnipresent. They’re there when I first look out in the morning. They walk down Truman Road, and they survey the house from all sides.
And finally, you find them standing out in front. And one always goes across the street and takes a picture of those at the front gate. It seems to me
that’s almost an unwritten law, that they shall do this.”
In 1953, Truman’s cousin, Ethel Noland, who lived across the street, observed, “Of course, since Mr. Truman came back from Washington, the tourists are omnipresent. They’re there when I first look out in the morning. They walk down Truman Road, and they survey the house from all sides.
And finally, you find them standing out in front. And one always goes across the street and takes a picture of those at the front gate. It seems to me
that’s almost an unwritten law, that they shall do this.”
Despite the aggravation, Truman was considerate to sightseers. He understood the symbolism of the presidency and remembered the day in the early 1900s when, as a young man, he had run down a Kansas City street to catch a glimpse of the visiting President Theodore Roosevelt.
He also understood people. He wrote, “I realize that they come to see ‘that man from Missouri.’ And I try, when I am at home, not to disappoint
them. I wave to them, and when I have time I exchange greetings with them and occasionally pose for a picture.”
Truman described a day when he went out for one of his morning walks and found a car parked in front of his house with baggage piled all over
it: “‘Is this where Truman lives?’ the fellow at the wheel shouted at me. I said it was, and he called,‘Are you Truman?’ I answered I was. ‘Well,’ he
said, ‘me and the old lady are on a motor trip, all the way from the island of Maui in Hawaii. Been all over the country, but seeing you walk out of
that house, big as life, tops everything else we have seen. Would you mind if I just got a picture of you standing there?’”
He also understood people. He wrote, “I realize that they come to see ‘that man from Missouri.’ And I try, when I am at home, not to disappoint
them. I wave to them, and when I have time I exchange greetings with them and occasionally pose for a picture.”
Truman described a day when he went out for one of his morning walks and found a car parked in front of his house with baggage piled all over
it: “‘Is this where Truman lives?’ the fellow at the wheel shouted at me. I said it was, and he called,‘Are you Truman?’ I answered I was. ‘Well,’ he
said, ‘me and the old lady are on a motor trip, all the way from the island of Maui in Hawaii. Been all over the country, but seeing you walk out of
that house, big as life, tops everything else we have seen. Would you mind if I just got a picture of you standing there?’”
“A man in his right mind would never want to be president if he knew what it entails,” wrote Harry Truman. Resisting the lure of never-ending
fame can be exhausting. “It takes a tough citizen to climb down the ladder after being at the top,” Harry wrote Bess.
President Truman’s determination to retain his humility and make the distinction between himself and his office, however, serves as
a reminder that democracy can and does work. Nevertheless, the Trumans’ black fence—a symbolic as well as a literal barrier between
the president and the people—still stands today. Perhaps, for any aspiring presidents, it can serve as a reminder of the sacrifices their fellow
Americans will expect and the self-discipline their fellow Americans will demand. Perhaps, for the rest of us—those expectant, demanding, fellow
Americans—Harry Truman’s simple iron fence can serve as a reminder of the qualities of character we might consider when deciding who those
leaders will be.
fame can be exhausting. “It takes a tough citizen to climb down the ladder after being at the top,” Harry wrote Bess.
President Truman’s determination to retain his humility and make the distinction between himself and his office, however, serves as
a reminder that democracy can and does work. Nevertheless, the Trumans’ black fence—a symbolic as well as a literal barrier between
the president and the people—still stands today. Perhaps, for any aspiring presidents, it can serve as a reminder of the sacrifices their fellow
Americans will expect and the self-discipline their fellow Americans will demand. Perhaps, for the rest of us—those expectant, demanding, fellow
Americans—Harry Truman’s simple iron fence can serve as a reminder of the qualities of character we might consider when deciding who those
leaders will be.
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