By John W. McDonald Former Editor of the Examiner
Independence Examiner Centennial Edition May 1984
Politics is a time-honored game in Independence and Jackson County, Mo. It was in the give-and-take, rough-and-tumble atmosphere of this game that Harry S. Truman learned the rudiments of practical politics.
It was a natural and easy development for Mr.Truman that after his return from the war and his marriage, he should turn to public service through an elective office. His family had always been interested in county affairs. He had served as a road overseer in Washington Township, as had his father. As a young man he bad been a Democratic clerk of election and also had been postmaster of Grandview.
No one realized it at the time, but Harry Truman's experience, campaigning for office and administrative acts during his 10 years on the Jackson County Court, developed in him the qualities which later won admiration and respect of political leaders around the world.
And it was during this time he adopted a guiding principle that was to remain with him throughout his political career that any action by an official must be taken with the knowledge that it is in the best interest of the public.
His Jackson County experience equipped him to shoulder Herculean responsibility for unprecedented decisions that molded the destiny of the United States, and the world for that matter.
A later county court was to assess his service in a resolution with these words:
"His service to Jackson County in many respects set the model for his service to our country and to all the world, fearless, humane, courageous and imaginative. More than any other, he has typified the true meaning of the term: Judge of the County Court."
At the time of his career in county politics, strong factions divided the Democratic party. One faction, headed by political boss Tom Pendergast, was referred to as the "Goats." An opposing faction, headed by Joe Shannon, was known as the "Rabbits."
When he first filed for office, Mr. Truman had no personal acquaintance with any of the factional leaders, with the exception of Miles Bulger, then a presiding judge of the county court. It actually was through a wartime connection that he entered the race for eastern judge in 1922.
Jim Pendergast, who had been a lieutenant in the 129th Field Artillery, was a frequent visitor in the haberdashery opened by Mr. Truman and Eddie Jacobson. He was the son of Mike Pendergast, a political power and a brother of Tom Pendergast.
Jim put in a good word for Mr. Truman and with Mike Pendergast's support and a vigorous personal campaign, Truman won the Democratic nomination and then election as eastern judge. In an old Dodge roadster he went into each of the seven townships and every precinct in the eastern district.
After Mr. Truman's two years as eastern judge, he sought re-election, but was defeated in a national Republican landslide by Henry Rummel, an Independence harness maker. Rummel was probably as surprised as was everybody else by his victory.
It was probably to Jackson County's benefit that Truman lost his second campaign for county judge. Two years later he came back and was elected presiding judge of the court, an office he was to hold for the next eight years. It was in this position that he was able to wield the greatest influence on county affairs and it was during this period that his greatest accomplishments for the county were recorded.
Mr. Truman ran for presiding judge with the support of Tom Pendergast, as he did for the Senate in 1934. He had first considered a campaign for county collector because it was a good public office with a substantial income. However, Pendergast told him he had promised support to another person for this office and suggested he run for presiding judge.
Mr. Truman's first meeting with Tom Pendergast was shortly before he announced for presiding judge. He was enough of a practical politician to know he could not win in Jackson County without the support of the political machine. He was later to become well acquainted with the political boss, but at no time in his career did he bow to undue influence or to the improper spending of public funds to benefit special interests.
An understanding apparently was reached between the young official and the political boss that Mr. Truman would be allowed independence to conduct public affairs as he saw fit. He apparently convinced Pendergast that his approach to public office was the best politics.
At the time Mr. Truman became presiding judge, he knew some radical steps would have to be taken to put the county government on its feet financially and to effect needed public improvements.
One of his first steps was to go to St. Louis and Chicago and talk to financial interests about the purchase of Jackson County's tax anticipation notes that were sold to provide operating funds for the county.
He succeeded in getting the interest rate on tax anticipation notes cut to 4 percent, and eventually to 2.5 percent. The notes had been sold to local bankers at a 6 percent rate.
Mr. Truman was familiar with every road and bridge in the county and his foresightedness told him that vast improvements in the road system would be necessary if the county were to progress. He also knew that bond money was needed for the improvement of public buildings.
The political bosses told him they did not think county bonds would be approved by voters, but he insisted and a $6.5 million road bond issue was placed on the ballot and gained voter approval.
Later an additional $3.5 million in road bonds was approved as well as $5 million for a new courthouse in Kansas City, for the rehabilitation of the Independence Courthouse, and for construction of a hospital at the county home in Little Blue.
"All of these projects were successfully carried out, and without one breath of scandal, while I was presiding judge," Mr. Truman said in his memoirs.
The county highway system constructed with the $10 million in bonds became a striking example of accomplishment for other counties throughout the United States.
So well were the 400 miles of hardsurfaced roads built that no major spending on county highways was necessary until 1967, when $22 million in bonds was voted.
In remodeling the old Square courthouse in Independence, Mr. Truman left a valuable asset to his home town. The Williamsburg style structure, its clock tower patterned after Independence Hall in Philadelphia, stands as the most attractive feature of the public Square. The sixth remodeling the building had undergone gave it an architectural character lacking in the preceding versions. The structure is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mr. Truman took a particular interest in the work. He was proud the courthouse retained a part of the original courthouse and he insisted the remodeling would result in an attractive and useful structure. He traveled to various parts of the country to study courthouses under construction or which had recently been completed.
It is in the remodeled old courthouse that the county courtroom and the office occupied by Mr. Truman have been restored and preserved as a significant bit of the city's history.
The more than life-size statute of Harry S. Truman just outside the window of his old office attests to the honor and respect in which he was held by his fellow citizens.