Excerpt from The First Christmas; An Historical Account of the Holiday Season of 1945, written by the founder of Bridge Biography, Matthew Litt.
After addressing the nation, President Truman was intent to spend Christmas as he always had, with his family in Independence, Missouri. The First Lady and the Trumans’ daughter Margaret had flown to Missouri ahead of the President to decorate the “Little White House,” which served year-round as the Truman family’s home away from Washington. With help from Mr. Truman’s young nephew and niece, the mansion was eagerly awaiting Christmas and the President’s arrival. The family’s tree was gaily decorated with red and white lights highlighted with tinsel and, visible from the front lawn of their home, was a must-see attraction for the entire town. The tree, a 14 foot Douglas Fir grown in the Colorado Rockies, was framed perfectly by panels of stained glass that surrounded the bay window of the Truman’s living room.
Christmas dinner at The Little White House was to be the grand finale in a series of three Christmas dinners the President had planned for December 25, 1945. The President’s ninety-three year old mother Martha was to host her son’s first Christmas dinner in Lakeview, Missouri, and was eagerly awaiting his arrival from Washington. Truman had not missed a Christmas with his Mother since 1917 when he was otherwise engaged, quite forgivably, as an artillery captain in the First World War.
The second of the President’s Christmas dinners was to be spent with his ninety-six year old aunt, Mrs. Joseph T. Noland, in Independence just across the street from the Little White House. Mrs. Noland’s preparations for her nephew’s visit included baking his favorite desert, a pound cake made using a recipe which had been in the family for over two hundred years. |
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All three of the President’s dinners were put
on hold as sleet and rain in Washington, Missouri and everywhere in-between made air travel hazardous. Conditions were so bad that no commercial air travel was permitted to takeoff from the nation’s capitol. The Sacred Cow, the Presidential transport plane, finally left Washington at 6 minutes past noon, making a stop in St. Louis and finally landing in Kansas City near 6:00pm. While dutiful secret servicemen described the six-hour trip to the press as pleasant, the plane’s other passengers confessed that the ride was turbulent, with the plane being bombarded with a constant barrage of winter’s nastiest forms of precipitation.
Truman and his daughter Janet were met at the airport by The First Lady, daughter Margaret and the President’s sister. The foursome drove forty miles from the airport to The President’s Mother’s house, as Mr. Truman now braved dangerous winter conditions on the ground. Due to the delay, Truman was only able to spend one half hour with his Mother on Christmas before he headed to the Little White House. He promised to return to his Mother’s house before midnight, but was unable to find the time.
The town was intent on giving the President and his family the private and serene holiday they sought, but were brimming with pride that the Trumans elected to spend their Christmas back home in Missouri. The town simply could not resist welcoming the President home with an assemblage of approximately two-hundred Christmas carolers, all waiting to serenade the President and first family upon their arrival.
After the carolers concluded their prideful presentation with Silent Night, the President thanked them sincerely and succinctly when he told them “I’m so happy you came.” The Trumans finally sat down to dinner a few minutes past 8:00 to a 35 pound turkey delivered to the house the day before by a second year West Point cadet who had been appointed by the President during his time as a Missouri Senator.
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