Independence Day at the Truman Library offers visitors several attractions, including:
The event is sponsored in part by Mercantile Bank of Kansas City.
While inside the library's museum, visitors can experience a number of new exhibitions and temporary displays. Guests have one last chance to see how various Presidents have helped shaped the role of physical activity in America by viewing "Flexing the Nation's Muscle: Presidents, Physical Fitness and Sports in the American Century." This traveling exhibition will leave the Library on July 12.
Step inside the White House Gallery and Oval Office replica, or tour the exhibition "1945: Year of Decisions" which examines the crucial choices that President Truman faced 50 years ago.
The museum will remain open until 8:30 p.m. Regular admission will be charged for entry into the museum.
For information about the Independence Day celebration, please call the Library's July 4th Information Hotline at 816-268-8200 , Ext 229. The Truman Library is located at U.S. Highway 24 and Deleware in Independence, Mo. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $3 for children 6 to 18, and free for children 5 years and under.
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Guided tours are available Mondays through Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m., and are designed to provide deeper interpretation and background for visitors.
The tours include the following temporary exhibitions:
For information about the tours or the museum, call the Truman Library information line at 816-268-8200 , or toll free at 1-800-833-1225 . The Truman Library and Museum is located at U.S. Highway 24 and Delaware in Independence, Mo. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The museum is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $3 for children ages 6 to 18, and free for children 5 years and under.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Now curious sports fans and athletes will have two chances to experience a Hoover-ball game. On Saturday, May 31, the Truman Library and Museum will host a Hoover-ball tournament in conjunction with its special exhibition, "Flexing the Nation's Muscle: Presidents, Physical Fitness and Sports in the American Century." The tournament will be held in two locations: at 10 a.m. at Slover Park, located next to the Truman Library at Hwy. 24 and Delaware in Independence; and at 2 p.m. at Gillham Park, just south of 39th and Gillham Road. Spectators are welcome and admission is free.
Interested persons can also learn more about the game on Thursday, May 29, when John Garrity, sportswriter for Sports Illustrated, will share information about Hoover-ball. Garrity will be at the Library at 7 p.m. to discuss the history, rules and returning popularity of this unusual sport. Admission to Garrity's presentation is free with a paid Museum entrance.
The object of Hoover-ball, a physically demanding game of strength and skill, is for players to hoist a six-pound medicine ball over a net eight feet high on a court similar to that used for tennis. The game is scored like tennis
.A combination of tennis, volleyball and medicine ball, Hoover-ball was invented by President Hoover's White House physician, Admiral Joel T. Boone, to keep Hoover physically fit. During his Presidency, Hoover played most mornings with high-level officials, including Supreme Court Justices and members of Hoover's Cabinet. They played in cold and wind, snow and rain. On the rare occasions when the weather forced them inside, they retreated to the White House basement to play their games.
"It required less skill than tennis, was faster and more vigorous, and therefore gave more exercise in a short time," Hoover wrote in his Memoirs. Due in part to his daily Hoover-ball workouts, President Hoover's weight fell from 210 pounds at the start of his Presidency to 185 pounds during his term in office.
The Truman Library's Hoover-ball tournament will feature four teams. Two of the teams are from Iowa, where they participate in the annual Hoover-ball Tournament in West Branch, Iowa. The field is rounded out by a team from the Kansas City Sport and Social Club and a team of members of the Kansas City Rugby Football Club.
"Our 'Flexing' exhibition is a fun look at history, and we wanted to do something amusing to draw attention to it. Hoover-ball is an exciting and entertaining game to watch, and I hope families will come out and enjoy the games," said Larry Hackman, Truman Library Director.
Partial support for the tournament has been provided by the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Bank, Trustee and the Commerce Bank.
"Flexing the Nation's Muscle: Presidents, Physical Fitness and Sports in the American Century" examines how Presidents have shaped our attitudes about sports and fitness. It includes a captivating collection of artifacts from a "Hoover-ball" to President Clinton's running shoes, from the bat Cal Ripkin used the night he broke Lou Gehrig's record to President Truman's hat and walking stick. The exhibition runs through July 12.
The Truman Library and Museum is located at U.S. Highway 24 and Delaware in Independence, Mo. The Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The museum is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $3 for children ages 6 to 18, and free for children 5 years and under. For information, call the Truman Library at 816-268-8200 or toll-free at 1-800-833-1225 .
(Independence, Mo.) -- In conjunction with "Flexing the Nation's Muscle: Presidents, Physical Fitness and Sports in the American Century," currently on display, the Truman Library and Museum will present a series of seven Thursday evening and Saturday programs to further illustrate the theme of physical fitness and sports. The series begins on Thursday, May 22, and runs through July 10.
Concurrent with the Thursday night programs, the Library also will host community days to thank area residents for their past support, and encourage new visitors to see the exhibition. Several metro-area communities will be recognized at each program, and from Thursday to Sunday, residents of featured communities will receive a $2 discount on admission when they mention their community at the Library.
All programs will be held at the Truman Library and Museum, U.S. 24 Highway and Delaware in Independence, Mo., unless otherwise noted. All programs are free-of-charge, with paid adult Museum admission. The public is invited to attend all events.
Partial support for this series of programs has been provided by the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Bank, Trustee, and the Commerce Bank.
"Flexing the Nation's Muscle: Presidents, Physical Fitness and Sports in the American Century" was created jointly by the National Archives and Records Administration and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
The Truman Library and Museum is located at U.S. Highway 24 and Delaware in Independence, Mo. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The museum is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $3 for children 6 to 18, and free for children 5 years and under. For recorded information, call 816-268-8200 or toll-free 1-800-833-1225 .
(Independence, Mo.) -- The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum is pleased to present a major national traveling exhibition entitled "Flexing the Nation's Muscle: Presidents, Physical Fitness, and Sports in the American Century." The exhibition will open on April 12 and continue through July 12, 1997.
This traveling exhibition, created jointly by the National Archives and Records Administration and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, premiered last June at the White House Visitor Center in Washington where it was seen by more than 250,000 people. The exhibit traces the increasing emphasis on physical activity during a century when the United States became a world power. As the nation has flexed its muscle on the world stage, American presidents have increasingly sought to encourage physical fitness at home through their personal examples and ceremonial leadership.
Focusing on Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt through Bill Clinton, the exhibit uses text, photographs, and more than 110 original artifacts to illustrate how the presidency has became a "bully pulpit" from which Presidents encourage the nation to remain strong and healthy through a program of physical activity.
Among the objects featured are an exercycle used in the White House gym during the 1940s and a "Hooverball" that Herbert Hoover used daily to keep himself and his Cabinet in shape. A set of Franklin Roosevelt's leg braces provides a poignant reminder of how FDR fought his polio disability by building his upper body strength by an active swimming program. The exhibit also features Harry Truman's walking stick; a weighted shoe worn by Dwight Eisenhower to strengthen his leg following a heart attack; a swimming trophy won by a young John Kennedy; Richard Nixon's golf clubs; Gerald Ford's tennis racquet; Ronald Reagan's riding boots; George Bush's horsehoes; and Bill Clinton's running shoes.
On the exhibit's opening morning, the public is invited to participate in a brisk "Truman Walk" from the Library to the Truman home on Delaware Street, and back to the Library. The following week, baseball great Nolan Ryan will come to the Truman Library to promote physical fitness through a discussion of his "Nolan Ryan Fitness Guide." The Library will schedule a variety of engaging activities involving health, fitness, and sports.
The Harry S. Truman Library is one of nine Presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. It houses more than 14 million pages of documents, including President Truman's own papers, relating to his life and Presidency.
The Truman Library and Museum is located at U.S. Highway 24 and Delaware in Independence, Mo. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The museum is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $3 for children ages 6 to 18, and free for children 5 years and under. For recorded information 24 hours a day, call 816-268-8200 or 1-800-833-1225 .
(Independence, Mo.) -- Fifty years ago, in a speech before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, President Truman changed the course of American foreign policy when he called upon the United States "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures." In requesting a $400 million aid package to support the governments of Greece and Turkey against domestic and foreign forces of Communism, the President initiated "The Truman Doctrine," which would guide other cold war programs such as The Marshall Plan and NATO for decades to come.
On May 22, 1947, scarcely two months after his "Truman Doctrine" speech to Congress, President Truman signed the $400 million Greek-Turkish aid bill on a small table at Kansas City’s Muehlebach Hotel. This table is the centerpiece of a special exhibition at the Truman Library and Museum commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Truman Doctrine.
Also featured in the exhibition are photographs and documents relating to the Truman Doctrine, as well as a number of other original artifacts, including gifts of gratitude to the President from the Greek and Turkish people and a marble plaque engraved with passages from Truman’s speech to Congress. A traditional 19th-century Greek dress and the Grand Medal of the city of Athens are among these gifts presented to the President and his family as tokens of gratitude for American support.
While seeing artifacts related to the Truman Doctrine, museum visitors can also express their opinions on the Doctrine’s impact through the Truman Library’s 1948 Voting Booth. In this replica of the rough wooden voting booth used by the Trumans to vote in the 1948 Presidential election, questions are changed periodically to poll visitors on a variety of issues. The current questions ask visitors the following:
"Though the results are by no means scientific, the Voting Booth is a good tool for involving our visitors and encouraging them to use their own decision-making processes to assess the decisions made by President Truman," said Larry Hackman, director of the Truman Library. "The Truman Doctrine was a landmark policy that significantly shaped the course of world history. We would like for our visitors to recognize and learn from this significant moment in time."
Each visitor who votes receives an "I Voted at the Truman Library" sticker. The results will be posted periodically in the Museum.
The Truman Library and Museum is located at U.S. Highway 24 and Delaware in Independence, Mo. The museum is open
(Independence, Mo.) -- Visitors at the Harry S. Truman Library may now tour its museum from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. "We want to give people in our community some choices and opportunities in their efforts to tour museums," said Larry Hackman, director of the Harry S. Truman Library. "That is why we have extended the visiting hours of our museum on Thursdays."
"In the past the Library has often presented special programs, such as film series and panel discussions, on Thursday evenings," Hackman stated, "so we have picked Thursdays at the day in which our entire museum, including our gift shop, will be open for twelve hours. These 'Truman Thursdays' will give many people, especially those who work from 9 to 5, an opportunity to see an exceptionally good history museum -- the Truman Library museum."