President Truman was a musician and a Missourian. However, he didn’t care much for our state song, The Missouri Waltz:
“It’s a ragtime song and if you let me say what I think–I don’t give a [expletive deleted] about it, but I can’t say it out loud because it’s the song of Missouri. It’s as bad as “The Star Spangled Banner” as far as music is concerned.”
I don’t know if he hated the song before his presidential campaign, but it was while running for president that bands played it ad nauseam at campaign stops
But at least he had a plan if Dewey actually had defeated him:
“If I hadn’t been President of the United States, I probably would have ended up a piano player in a bawdy house.”
The closest he ever got to his fallback was playing piano at the White House press club during the few days he served as vice president. The woman on the piano is 20 year old Lauren Bacall.
The picture created quite a scandal. Harry’s wife, Bess, was not amused.
So what was he playing anyway? According to Bacall, he was playing:
“…badly, playing the Missouri Waltz, or something.”
Photos are from The Truman Library.
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