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An
election year cartoon depicts the beleagured Truman,
score in hand, abandoning the piano. Harry S. Truman
Presidential Library
As the war in Europe cast its shadow over the capital’s
social life, White House entertaining diminished.
But one event in particular stands out: "A
Program of American Songs for American Soldiers,"
presented by Burl Ives, Wade Mainer and other folk,
spiritual and ballad singers in 1941. It was a new
concept, a conscientious effort to relate American
traditional music to the armed services at a critical
period in the nation’s history. After President
Roosevelt’s death in 1945, his vice president,
Harry S Truman, succeeded him. A passionate music
lover, who played Chopin, Mozart, and Bach with
modest proficiency, Truman had studied piano from
age eight to sixteen, and the love of music remained
with him all his life. Because of extensive White
House renovations , the Trumans held only one season
of concerts in the mansion, from November 1946 to
February 1947. These programs, however, included
several prominent artists, such as Lawrence Tibbett,
Oscar Levant, Carroll Glenn, Eugene List, and Helen
Traubel, the esteemed vocal teacher of Truman’s
musical daughter, Margaret.
Elise
Kirk, Musical Highlights from the White House,
119-127.
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