User:Informant16/Post-presidency of Harry Truman

Harry Truman was the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. Truman remained active in the public sphere.

Eisenhower administration
In a June 1953 address to the Reserve Officers association national convention, his first formal speech since leaving office, Truman critiqued the defense budget cuts under Eisenhower and those agreeing with the policy as not accurately assessing the issue. During that month, amid a visit to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, Truman admitted that he was enjoying his retirement to the point of preferring it over still being President. After the July 1953 death of Maurice Tobin, Truman issued a statement praising him and expressing sympathies for the passing. In September 1953, Truman attended the funeral of Chief Justice of the United States Fred M. Vinson and voiced his opposition to a plan by congressional Democrats advocating for Republicans to retain their majority to ease the chances of a Democrat winning the 1956 Presidential election, calling on Democrats to work toward a victory in the midterms instead. On November 14. Truman announced he was going to give his view of the Harry Dexter White case in a radio address and possible televised appearance.

On April 12, 1954, during the evening, Truman delivered remarks opposing the possible creation of hysteria in combating communism within the United States. In May 1954, Truman delivered a speech at the National Press Club lunch. In June 1954, Truman underwent a surgery to remove his gall bladder and appendix. Truman was released the following month after a prolonged hospital stay caused by hypersensitivity by drugs administered. In December 1954, Truman traveled to Philadelphia for a testimonial in his honor after a delayed flight.

On February 25, 1958, after President Eisenhower and First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower traveled to Arizona on a government-paid trip, Truman said he would not critique Eisenhower, citing his belief in not using a person's family to offer criticism toward them: "I don't believe in attacking a man through his family. They could say what they wanted about me when I was President, but when they attacked my family, they knew they'd better look out." On May 4, Truman charged both President Eisenhower and the Democratic Party-controlled Congress with failing to take initiative and stated he hoped Congress would become more active in demonstrating leadership during an interview on Youth Wants to Know.

Truman attended a visit of President of Mexico Adolfo Lopez Mateos at the LBJ ranch in October 1959.

1956 Presidential election
After the 1954 midterm elections, in which Democrats gained a majority in the House, Truman named Adlai Stevenson as his choice for the party's next presidential nominee. On September 5, 1955, Truman delivered a nationally televised address rebuking the labor policies of the Eisenhower administration and calling on union members to support the Democratic nominee in the following year's presidential election.

1960 Presidential election
On July 2, 1960, Truman announced his choice to resign as a delegate from Missouri at the upcoming 1960 Democratic National Convention during a press conference and criticized both the Kennedy campaign and Paul Butler for manipulating the convention's delegates to secure Kennedy's nomination. On July 15, a telegram written by Truman and sent to the office of Governor of Florida LeRoy Collins read that with Kennedy and Johnson now formally nominated, "the Democratic Party must now close ranks and go to work."

On August 11, Truman stated he was withdrawing his support of Adlai Stevenson in favor of Averell Harriman at a press conference at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. Woods wrote the shift was due to Truman having come to the conclusion that Stevenson was "weak, ineffective, and at heart, a conservative." Truman met with Kennedy at the Truman Library on August 20, 1960. Following the meeting's conclusion, it was announced Truman would campaign for Kennedy, the former saying he decided to back Kennedy, "When the Democratic National Convention decided to nominate him for President." During the campaign, JFK's campaign manager and younger brother Robert F. Kennedy called Truman at the behest of JFK. Truman expressed disapproval with RFK's management style: "You should learn to moderate your attitude in your dealing with people. I've heard some stories about how you react." In a 1961 interview with Merle Miller, Truman described Vice President Richard Nixon as someone easy to defeat in a presidential election and expressed his baffling at how the latter had nearly won during the previous year's election.

Kennedy administration
In March 1961, Truman wrote to Attorney General Robert Kennedy with a request for a pardon of Matt Connelly. On July 29, Truman said that the Russians would not risk starting a war and President Kennedy's speech that week had called their bluff while speaking to reporters at Camp Ripley. On December 23, Truman announced his support for the United States backing the United Nations on the Congo: I indorse the action of the United States government."

Johnson administration
In March 1964, Truman and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson represented the United States at the funeral of Paul of Greece in Athens, Greece.

On May 8, 1964, Truman returned to the United States Senate Chamber, listening to 25 senators speak in celebration of his career. Truman was so overcome with emotion that he stated he "can't take advantage of this rule right now," and said during handshaking with the senators, "You can wish me many more happy birthdays, but I’ll never have another one like this."

In October 1964, Truman fell into a bathtub while getting ready to bathe, resulting in a cut over his right eye, a shattered pair of glasses, two cracked ribs, and a sliced right eyelid. Truman was admitted to Kansas City Research Hospital and forced to forgo a planned news conference.

1968 Presidential election
On March 20, 1968, Truman stated his support for Johnson in the presidential election and his belief that the incumbent president would win re-election. Less than two weeks later, President Johnson announced his withdrawal from the presidential race.

Nixon administration
On March 22, 1969, President Nixon met with Truman at the latter's presidential library, the incumbent president playing "Missouri Waltz" on the piano Truman used during his White House years and calling his predecessor "certainly the most distinguished and accomplished pianist ever to be President." The following month, Truman traveled to Key West, accompanied by his wife. The two were guests of John Spottswood, a former State Senator.

On the morning of January 21, 1971, Truman was admitted to Research Hospital following his insistence of abdominal pains, Dr. Wallace Graham stressing publicly the pain's lack of seriousness: "The situation is not alarming. I expect to run tests and will have more information when results are available in a few days." Truman was visited by Vice President Spiro Agnew on January 28, Agnew saying after the encounter that Truman "looked very well, indeed." By January 30, Truman was reported to be in stable condition. For his eighty-seventh birthday on May 8, 1971, Senator Hubert Humphrey visited Truman for under a half-hour, saying after the meeting that the former president "looked wonderful. He was sharp, pleasant, happy and joking." Truman also received a brief visitor in the form of Winton M. Blount. That same day, the Truman library revealed a new portrait of Truman by Thomas Hart Benton.

On April 19, 1972, the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution, introduced by Senator Stuart Symington, to give greetings to Truman for his 88th birthday in a few weeks.