Motion Picture MP2002-603

0:00    Voice:  55, Take 1, Sound 45. Voice of young woman:  Mom, would you write with best regards Bluma Jacobson, this is a real special customer.  Mrs. Jacobson says “I’ll be happy to.”

0:35    Voice:  Okay, cut.

1:05    This segment repeats.

1:21    Voice:  Cut please.

1:25    Voice:  56, Take 1, Sound 47. The segment repeats.

1:56    Voice:  48.

2:05    The segment repeats.

2:58    Miller:  Mrs. Jacobson, tell us about where you first met Harry Truman.

    Mrs. Jacobson:   I first met him in 1919 at 12th and Baltimore in the Truman-Jacobson store.

    Miller:  How did Mr. Jacobson and Mr. Truman meet?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Eddie said he met Mr. Truman long before 1917, but they became close friends in the Army.

    Miller:  Tell me about the canteen.

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Yes, they enlisted about the same time and were sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma.  Mr. Truman was a Sgt., and he advanced.  My husband was a private.  The regimental canteen wasn’t doing well and he put Eddie in charge of the canteen.   It was a success after that.

6:07    Voice:  57, Take 1, Sound 49

6:24    Miller:  Tell us about how Mr. Jacobson and the President got to know each other.

    Mrs. Jacobson:  She repeats how she met Mr. Truman in 1919.

    Miller:  The President and Mr. Jacobson met sometime before?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  She repeats they were acquaintances and became real friends when they went into the Army together in 1917 and she repeats the canteen story.

8:54    Miller:  Why do you suppose the President thought Mr. Jacobson was the man to run the canteen?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  I don’t know.  They were such good friends and perhaps Mr. Truman felt he didn’t know anyone else who could do the job.

9:29    Miller:  When did they decide to go into business together?

   Mrs. Jacobson:  Before going overseas they made a pact.  Harry had always been a farm boy and always wanted to go into business.  Mr. Truman said to Eddie, if we come back alive and in good shape, let’s go into business together.  They shook hands; there was never an agreement, all was based on a handshake.

10:42    Miller:  You and Mr. Jacobson got married.  I understand Mr. Truman had something to do with the honeymoon.

    Mrs. Jacobson:  We were married on December 8, 1919 and it was a family wedding so Mr. Truman was not invited.  We were going to St. Louis for a honeymoon and thought some of our friends might trick us.  So instead of leaving from Union Station in Kansas City, we decided to leave from the railroad station in Independence.  Mr. Truman met them after the wedding at a downtown garage and drove them to Independence.  He stayed with them till the train came in.  They warmed their hands over a coal stove.

12:44    Voice:  58, Take 1, Sound 50.

    Miller:  Will you tell us the story of your marriage and Harry Truman’s involvement?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Repeats the story.

14:42    Miller:  When did the haberdashery open?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  1919, doesn’t recall the exact month.

15:10    Miller:  What did they call each other?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Eddie called him Harry or Boss.  Mr. Truman called Eddie,  Eddie or Ed.

    Miller:  How did they divide up the work?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Harry did the books and Eddie did the buying.

15:57    Miller:  I understand a lot of boys from Battery D came in the store.

    Mrs. Jacobson:  A good many buddies dropped in and it was a hang out.  Every noon it was sort of a homecoming.  The store was a meeting place.

16:37    Miller:  Did any of them ask for a loan?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Oh a good many of them hit them for a loan.  It was always given with a handshake.  Nothing was ever written down.

17:11    Miller:  What did Mr. Truman like to do when business was slow?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  He would be reading on the balcony.  He studied law on his own; he later went to night school.

    Miller:  How long did the store last?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Two years and it was during the depression.  There was a law in the city that the store had to close at 2:00 or 3:00 because of heating conditions.  After two years, it just folded.  The depression was in 1920-21.

19:03    Miller:  How did they pay off the debts of the store?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  They paid every debt they owed.  It took quite a few years to do it.

19:25    Miller:  Did you and Mr. Jacobson see the Truman’s socially, both during the haberdashery time and later?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Eddie and I saw the Truman’s at different times during the early days.   Mr. Truman was living in Grandview and we’d take a picnic lunch.  Other than that, we didn’t see each other too much.  Cars were not plentiful and it wasn’t until we got our own car that we would visit some in Independence and Grandview.  But our children were young and it wasn’t easy to take them.

21:41    Miller:  What would you have thought if someone in 1921 had said to you about Harry Truman that man is going to be President some day?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  I would never have predicted it in those days.  At a later time, yes.  He was a shy, modest man who would blush at the least off-said word.  As the years went on, I could change my mind.

22:34    Miller:  Do you think it occurred to Harry Truman in those days that he could be President?

    Mrs. Jacobson:  I don’t think it occurred to him.  I don’t think it entered his mind.  He didn’t go into politics until after the store closed.

23:03    Miller:  Tell us about the time Mr. Jacobson went to the White House to see the President about Chaim Weizmann.

    Mrs. Jacobson:  Eddie would go to the White House many times after Israel became a state.  Mr. Connelly would say “The Boss wants to see you.”  He would stop everything and get there.

24:02    Mrs. Jacobson:  When Mr. Weizmann was in Washington, and asked that Eddie come to see Harry Truman with him, Eddie made all the arrangements for this with Mr. Nile, and he took Mr. Weizmann to the White House by the side entrance.  

24:58    Voice indicates they ran out of film.

25:17    Ends.