![]() They took bribes through the politicians they got elected. They owned saloons, houses of prostitution, and gambling and illegal drug operations. ![]() However, Tom Pendergast and his brothers were corrupt. He developed an outstanding record as judge, passing bonds to build roads, hospitals, courthouses, and other improvements. When Truman was 38 years old, Tom Pendergast, the political boss of Kansas City, approached him to run for county judge. Because Harry insisted on paying off all his business debts, he was broke for years. He and a war buddy opened a haberdashery that went bankrupt within three years. ![]() In 1918 he enlisted in the Army and served as a battery captain in France during World War I, where he showed courage in battle.Īfter the war, he returned to Independence and married his childhood sweetheart, Bess Wallace. In 1905 the family went back into farming and Harry worked at it for ten years. ![]() Harry, his father, and his brother all took salaried jobs in Kansas City. He grew up in a Tom Sawyer world where his small town neighbors of Independence, Missouri, knew and helped each other.Īfter his high school graduation in 1902, Harry could not afford to attend college because his father had gambled away all the family's holdings. Both sets of his grandparents were Scotch/Irish pioneers who went west in search of fertile farmland. Harry S Truman was born May 8, 1884, in Jackson County, Missouri. ![]()
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