<\/p>\n
Until I began seeking images to add to my father\u2019s memoir, I had thought his exposure to Truman had been limited to the later part of Truman\u2019s presidency when Dad began his career in protective duty with the Secret Service. However, I have learned how interactive Lyndon Johnson was with Harry Truman.\u00a0 <\/span>While on protective duty, my father often accompanied President Johnson (and also Vice President Johnson when he was serving as such) to Independence on multiple occasions to visit his comrade. Author Michael Bechloss\u2019s New York Times<\/i> article and a recent forum conducted by President Truman\u2019s grandson Clifton Truman Daniel and President Johnson\u2019s daughter Luci Baines Johnson (links below) expound on this intriguing Truman \u2013 Johnson friendship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition, when my father became the deputy director of the Secret Service, he maintained close contact with the former presidents and their families\u2014including the Trumans. Yet, I was still surprised when an archivist told me there were two boxes of \u201cpost-presidential papers containing correspondences between Rufus W. Youngblood and Harry S. Truman\u201d at the Truman Library. Most of these letters were formal and friendly, relating to a birthday or anniversary remembrance. But in a two-page letter from my father to Mrs. Truman after Harry Truman\u2019s death, my father concluded with the following:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After reading those letters, the preservation of which I am forever grateful, I toured the handsome Truman Library, aware that my father had walked these same historic halls while protecting his \u201cprincipals.\u201d I learned a lot about Harry Truman while at the library and from reading biographies, and I have gained much respect for our 33rd president. I concur with and pass on\u00a0my father\u2019s summation of him. Harry Truman was “truly a great\u00a0American.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ______________________________<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Goettling, Gary. \u201cEyewitness to the Death of a President.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine<\/i>, Spring 1992.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n McCullough, David.\u00a0 <\/span>Truman<\/i>. New York:\u00a0 <\/span>Simon & Schuster, 1992.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Truman, Margaret. Harry S. Truman<\/i>. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1973.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beschloss., Michael. LBJ and Truman: The Bond That Helped Forge Medicare.\u00a0<\/i>Feb. 28, 2015, New York Times website, accessed Dec. 25, 2018, https:\/\/ www.nytimes.com\/2015\/03\/01\/upshot\/lbj-and-truman-the-bond-that-helped-forge-medicare.html.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “A Presidential Friendship: HST & LBJ” Facebook video of forum on December 12, 2018, President Truman’s grandson Clifton Truman Daniel, President Johnson’s daughter Luci Baines Johnson and President \/ CEO of the LBJ Foundation<\/a> Mark Updegrove. https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TrumanLibInst\/videos\/2071324226224263\/?type=3&permPage=1<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On this day, December 26, 1972, eighty-eight-year-old, former President Harry S. Truman died. Less than a month later, during President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s second inauguration, the Capitol flags remained at half\u2010staff in Truman\u2019s memory. But there was no state funeral at the Capitol for the humble former President Truman who jokingly referred to himself as … Continue reading Truman – “Truly Great”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[202,54,224,42],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harry-s-truman","tag-harry-truman","tag-president-johnson","tag-state-funeral","tag-vice-president-johnson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/1965-LBJ-65-07-30-Missouri-Medicare-Bill-A972-11a-copy-300x198.jpg\")
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