Girl Intern

Primer on Our 33rd President

So you hear me referring to the "Truman Foundation," to my "fellow Trumans," and to "Truman Summer Institute." You are thinking "this girl hangs out with a bunch of people who are obsessed with Truman." It's true. We have a little bit of a fondness for the 33rd President,
since he helped us get our hands on the biggest chunk of money that any of us future public servants are likely to ever see in our lifetimes. So here are some fun facts (stolen from various websites) that will help you learn to appreciate my presidential benefactor almost as much as we do:
• His parents chose "S" as his middle name, in attempt to please both of Harry's grandfathers, Anderson Shippe Truman and Solomon Young; the initial did not actually stand for anything.
• With the onset of American participation in World War I, Truman rejoined the National Guard. At his physical in 1905, his eyesight had been an unacceptable 20/50 in the right eye and 20/400 in the left. Reportedly he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart.
• When, in late 1999, C-Span asked 90 historians to rate all 41 U.S. Presidents, Truman ranked number 5.
• Truman's Vice-Presidential acceptance speech was less than a minute long (one of the shortest ever).
• In 1950, President Harry Truman threw out the first ball twice at the opening day Washington DC baseball game; once right handed and once left handed.