Historic Gathering Point
As Truman's reputation and stature grew, other president's and presidential hopeful regularly came to Independence to stand in Truman's shadow.
They would gather at the east end of the Independence Square Courthouse and discuss tax reform, health care, and not surprisingly compare themselves to the Man from Independence.
Below is a summary of some of those visits including links to transcripts from presidential speeches given on those occasions. Note: speeches reprinted "Obtained courtesy of John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at
The American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara"
President Gerald Ford - May 8, 1976
Ford came to Independence to dedicate the statute of Truman that stands on the east side of the courthouse. On that occasion, Ford commented:
"Although I was on the other side of many contests with him, I now know how President Truman felt. I am still trying, but I have a long way to go, to beat his post-war record of 250 vetoes. Differ though we did on a lot of issues, I completely agree with President Truman's stern concept of Presidential duty. "A President cannot always be popular"--he wrote after coming back home to Independence--"He has to be able to say yes and no and, more often no to most of the propositions that are put up to him by partisan groups and special interests who are always pulling at the White House for one thing or another. I have never felt that popularity and glamour are fundamentals on which the Chief Executive of the Government should operate. A man who is influenced by the polls or is afraid to make decisions which make him unpopular is not a man to represent the value of the country," so said Harry Truman."
Read Ford's full speech
President Ronald Reagan - Sept. 2, 1985
Reagan took advantage of a large Santa-Cali-Gon celebration crowd to campaign for his tax reform plan. Reagan said:
"I'm very happy to be in Truman country on this Labor Day. I have to digress for a moment because there was a wonderful sign down here that just told me to give 'em hell. And I'm very proud, and I learned directly from President Truman that he had not said that. Someone had said it to him, and his reply was, "I'll tell them the truth, and they'll think it's hell."
President Bill Clinton - July 30, 1994
Clinton brought his presidential campaign to Santa-Cali-Gon and gave a Labor Day speech on Sept. 7th, 1992. Clinton went on to defeat President George Bush who was seeking reelection.
In 1994, Clinton returned to same spot to discuss health insurance. Clinton commented:
"You've already heard it. You've heard it in what the other people have said. Harry Truman had to say, "No, this is not socialized medicine, this is private insurance. No, this is not a Government takeover, we're preserving the choice and the private medical system. No, we're not going to waste more money covering everybody, we'll actually save money." And what did they say? "Harry Truman's a radical liberal. He's for socialized medicine. He's for big Government. He's going to take this country down."
Read Clinton's full speech.