Historical Figure
Harry Truman
d. 1980
American businessman and airman (1896–1980)
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Biography
Harry R. Truman was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector. He lived near Mount St. Helens, a dormant volcano in the Cascade Range in the state of Washington, and was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the base of the mountain. After Mount St. Helens awoke from dormancy in March 1980, Truman became a folk hero in the weeks leading to the volcano's May eruption, after refusing to evacuate his home despite repeated orders from authorities. On May 18, 1980, Truman was killed in the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under 46 m (150 ft) of volcanic debris.
In Their Own Words (5)
People are very much wrought up about the Communist bugaboo... the country is perfectly safe so far as Communism is concerned—we have too many sane people.
Letter to George H. Earle, former governor of Pennsylvania (received 28 February 1947); reported in The New York Times (3 April 1947), p. 17, quoting Earle. Reported in David McCullough, Truman (Simon & Schuster, 2003), p. 655 , 1947
We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F.B.I. is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex life scandles [sic] and plain blackmail when they should be catching criminals. They also have a habit of sneering at local law enforcement officers.
Longhand note (May 12, 1945) , 1945
Some of my best friends never agree with me politically.
Statement to a group of four congress freshmen (2 July 1947), as quoted in The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 44 , 1947
The Russians are like us, they look and act like us. They are fine people. They got along with our soldiers in Berlin very well. As far as I am concerned, they can have whatever they want just so they don't try to impose their system on others.
Statement to a group of four congress freshmen (2 July 1947), as quoted in The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 44 , 1947
If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word.
As quoted in The New York Times (24 June 1941); also in Time magazine (2 July 1951)) , 1941
Timeline
The story of Harry Truman, told in moments.
Moved to Spirit Lake at the foot of Mount St. Helens. Took over the lodge with his wife Eddie. Ran the place for over fifty years, catering to fishermen and hikers.
Mount St. Helens started rumbling. Authorities ordered evacuations. Truman refused. Told reporters he'd lived there too long to leave. "That mountain's part of Truman and Truman's part of that mountain."
Killed in the eruption of Mount St. Helens. A pyroclastic flow buried his lodge under 150 feet of volcanic debris. His body was never recovered. He was 83. Sixteen cats died with him.
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