The Presidency

By Hugh Sidey

POLITICAL BODY SNATCHING IS AS OLD AS POLITICS. HARRY TRUMAN, THE latest victim, did a bit of it himself, posing as a latter-day Andrew Jackson, relishing every picture beside a statue of Old Hickory. So it should be no surprise that President Bush is the latest of a legion who have tried to grab a bit of Truman, posing as come-from-behind, give-'em-hell George.

An indignant Bill Clinton plans to reclaim Truman this week when he opens his fall campaign on Labor Day in Harry's home precinct, Independence, Missouri. Truman's daughter Margaret accused Bush of being a "political plagiarist." Truman biographer David McCullough diplomatically cast some light on the issue. "If George Bush is taking inspiration from Truman, that is one thing," he said. "If he is saying 'I'm Truman,' that's absurd."

Republicans got some wicked comfort noting that for more than a century, Democrats have been kidnapping Lincoln without credit. Historian David Donald wrote an essay in 1951 on "Getting Right with Lincoln," detailing how Presidents in trouble had claimed kinship. Franklin Roosevelt once suggested that Lincoln was a father of the New Deal. This season Truman quotes have been manufactured and mangled, while his prepolitical identity is often shortened to "dirt farmer." There is a suspicion that very few have studied McCullough's splendid text, particularly the first part. Bush admitted he jumped over some of that and went straight to the campaign of 1948. (Young George Bush voted for Dewey that year.)

Truman lived in Independence from age 6 to 21, the formative years. His circle was made up of well-to-do youngsters, and his intellectual companions in a superb high school were Mark Twain, Dickens, Plutarch, Tennyson and Shakespeare. He studied Chopin, Mendelssohn and Paderewski on the piano. His heroes included Cincinnatus, Scipio and Cyrus II the Great. He never played football, basketball or baseball. You might even say that in his place and time he was elitist.

When he became a dirt farmer, his relatives never saw him in bib overalls. One recalled him under a Panama hat in a wagon. And in the barn was a 1911 Stafford convertible ("a rich man's car") with a brass-framed windshield and huge Prestolite lamps. In that grand machine, after plowing, he burned up the road back to Independence, where his indulgences with his gang ran to picnics, theater and poetry. Today's Democrats should be cautious when putting their arms around Harry. He disliked jazz, modern art and most liberals. The mind boggles contemplating what he would have to say about the permissive life- styles of this time. He considered infidelity immoral and a breach of contract. At 33, when the Army didn't want him, he forced his way into active service in World War I.

The Truman Library in Independence noticed a get-right-with-Truman surge about the time of Jerry Ford, who insisted on having his portrait in the Cabinet Room. Jimmy Carter asked for Truman's THE BUCK STOPS HERE sign. The library sent him a facsimile. Ronald Reagan had a paperweight on his desk that said THE BUCKAROO STOPS HERE. Bush had McCullough into the White House for a Truman lecture, set up Harry's portrait in the East Room and happily hovered around it.

And don't forget, Truman was a lousy speller ("Deleware," "occation"). Grab it, Dan. Get right with Truman.