Two Days in Missouri

We started our trip in Laura’s home in Henderson, turning left out of her driveway and west. I think in 40 years we’ve never done that, we’ve always gone left and east back to North Carolina. We crossed the Ohio river at Shawneetown into southern Illinois which was green and pretty, then crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis, then crossed the Missouri into Saint Charles. It was a tough first night camping, our urban RV park was conveniently located next to the interstate, the train track, and seemingly right under the flight path for the St. Louis airport. It reminded me of my favorite booking.com hotel review, “I expected more for $37”. In at least partial recompense, the campground was right on the banks of the Missouri, and we had a beautiful bicycle ride along the Missouri through lush and green farmland.

The old downtown of Saint Charles, Missouri is impressive with lots of well preserved buildings from the early 1800s when it was a frontier outpost and the first capital of Missouri. Lewis and Clark started their voyage from here, I think.

We spent a whole day in Independence, Missouri, touring the Harry Truman sites; his presidential library and museum, the home he lived in most of his life, and the farmhouse where he grew up outside of town. When he was done serving as the president he returned to the previous house, bought a Dodge, wouldn’t let the Secret Service on his property, and didn’t have any mementos of his presidency in his house. Apparently he did eventually let the Secret Service help with the yardwork.

The Truman museum was fascinating, here are some of my favorite exhibits:

The exhibits I found most interesting where those related to the use of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is a letter from the Secretary of War written shortly after Truman assumed the presidency following FDR’s death. The Secretary requested a urgent meeting with the new president so he could inform him about the existence of the atomic bomb, information which had not been shared with Truman previously. Then there is a petition from a number of prominent nuclear scientists expressing their concern with how the newly developed atomic bomb would be used and the moral implications and future ramifications of so doing. Apparently the petition never made it through the layers of the chain of command in time to reach Truman before the bombs were dropped. The third object, and the most disturbing exhibit I’ve ever seen any museum, was the safety plug from the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apparently as the bomber plane approached the target the safety plug was removed so as to allow the bomb to be full armed prior to its release. The plug was just one object among hundreds in the museum. It seemed disturbing to me to have it on display as if it was just another historical object. A few minutes after the plug was pulled and the bomb was dropped, another hundred thousand or so civilians were dead.

From the historical perspective of the time, I don’t think there’s any question that Truman’s decision to use these bombs was reasonable. The United States was four years into a horrible war which had cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. The Japanese government had been issued a ultimatum and had declined it. TheJapanese had a clear record of fanatical defense and lack of concern for the lives of their own soldiers and civilians, not to mention those of other nations. The Manhattan project to develop the bomb had taken the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people, the building of three cities, and a vast amount of material resources. It’s hard to imagine any United States president in a similar circumstance electing not to use these weapons for the purpose they had been developed for. They certainly brought a prompt end to the war, likely saving an immense number of Japanese and American lives.

Still, we let the genie out of the bottle, the knowledge that created these weapons cannot be unlearned.