Harry S. Truman Little White House
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The Harry S. Truman Little White House in Key West,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
was the
winter White House Listed below are the private residences of the various presidents of the United States. For a list of official residences, see President of the United States § Residence. Private homes of the presidents This is a list of homes where ...
for President
Harry S Truman Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
for 175 days during 11 visits. The house is located in the
Truman Annex Truman Annex is both a neighborhood and military installation in Key West, Florida, United States. It is the part of the island that is west of Whitehead Street, with the exception of Bahama Village. It is where the winter White House for P ...
neighborhood of Old Town, Key West.


History

The house was originally waterfront when it was built in 1890 as the first officer's quarters on the U.S. naval station. The house was designed in 1889 by Scott, McDermott & Higgs, a local architectural firm. The wooden duplex contained Quarters A for the base commandant and Quarters B for the paymaster. In 1911, the building was converted into a single-family dwelling to house the base commandant, and additional land was filled in front of the house. The waterfront view was eventually blocked by a new building at the station. The first President to visit the site was
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
in December 1912. He arrived by Flagler's
Overseas Railroad The Overseas Railroad (also known as Florida Overseas Railroad, the Overseas Extension, and Flagler's Folly) was an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city located beyond the end of the Florida peninsula. Work on the line ...
and stayed in Key West before sailing to Panama to inspect the canal then under construction. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
,
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
resided in the house while donating his service to the war effort. He perfected 41 underwater weapons during his six-month stay. The house remained command headquarters through
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.


Truman's use

In November 1946, President
Harry S Truman Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
had finished 19 months in office, but was physically exhausted. His doctor, Wallace Graham, ordered a warm vacation. Truman arrived in November 1946. As he was leaving, he promised to return whenever he felt the need for rest. His second vacation came in March 1947. This set the pattern for additional visits every November–December and every February–March. Changing technology allowed the President to communicate with multiple political or world leaders at one time and he could summon staff to Key West for a meeting in three hours' flight from Washington. Most importantly, Truman realized that where the President was, the White House was. Documents issued from the Little White House read "The White House, US Naval Station, Key West, Florida." Truman spent 175 days of his presidency at the Little White House. In 1948, James Forrestal met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to hammer out the creation of the Department of Defense. This was called the
Key West Agreement The Key West Agreement is the colloquial name for the policy paper Functions of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff drafted by James V. Forrestal, the first United States Secretary of Defense. Its most prominent feature was an outline f ...
, named after the place where the basic outline for the document was agreed to at a meeting that took place from March 11 to March 14 on the base at Key West. During the Truman visits, Cabinet members and foreign officials were regular visitors for fishing trips and poker games. Truman visited Key West shortly after his 1948 re-election and Division Street was renamed Truman Avenue in his honor. After Truman left office, he returned to Key West several times and stayed at various other places. File:Truman-key-1947.gif, Official log of Harry Truman's December 3–8, 1947 visit to Key West, from the
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and resting place of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States (1945–1953), his wife Bess and daughter Margaret, and is located on U.S. Highwa ...
. File:Truman-key-1950.gif, Official log of Harry Truman's March 12 to April 10, 1950 visit to Key West.


Post-Truman government use

In 1948–1949 General
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
held a series of meetings that resulted in the creation of the Department of Defense. He returned in December 1955 and January 1956 as President to recuperate from a heart attack. President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan held a one-day summit here in March 1961. President Kennedy made a second visit in 1962 immediately following the Cuban Missile Crisis. The house served as the Naval Station’s commanding officer’s quarters until March 1974, when the submarine base was closed due to the Navy's conversion from diesel to nuclear submarines. On February 12 of that year, it was added to the
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.


Conversion into a museum

On January 1, 1987, it was deeded to the State of Florida and is held in trust as a public museum. In 1990 almost a million dollars was spent restoring the house to its 1949 appearance. A 501(c)(3) organization is attempting to further the restoration and hold education conferences each Spring on Truman's impact upon today's society. In 1991, the house opened as a state historic site & museum. Today regular guided tours take visitors through the site, and one can enter the rooms where the Trumans lived, worked and relaxed. Items such as President Truman's briefcase, books, telephone, and his famous " The Buck Stops Here" sign are still at his desk. (The reverse of the sign says, "I'm From Missouri.") Former President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...
and his family had a reunion here in 1996. In April 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell opened a week of OSCE peace talks, led by
Minsk Group The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to encourage a peace process, peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Nagorno ...
Co-Chairman
Carey Cavanaugh Carey Edward Cavanaugh (born January 1955) is a former United States, U.S. Ambassador/peace mediator who is currently a professor of diplomacy at the University of Kentucky and chairman of International Alert, a London-based independent peacebuildi ...
between President
Robert Kocharyan Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( hy, Ռոբերտ Սեդրակի Քոչարյան ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh fro ...
of Armenia and
Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev ( az, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, italic=no, Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, ; , ; 10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani politician who served as the third president of Az ...
of Azerbaijan. In January 2005, former President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and his wife, then Senator
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, spent a weekend relaxing at the house.


See also

*
List of residences of presidents of the United States Listed below are the private residences of the various presidents of the United States. For a list of official residences, see President of the United States § Residence. Private homes of the presidents This is a list of homes where ...


References


External links

*
Truman Little White House official site
a
National Register of Historic PlacesFlorida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

Monroe County listings

Monroe County markers

Little White House

Great Floridians of Key West
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truman, Harry S. Little White House Houses completed in 1890 Monuments and memorials to Harry S. Truman History of Key West, Florida Houses in Key West, Florida Museums in Key West, Florida Landmarks in Key West, Florida Presidential homes in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Key West, Florida Buildings of the United States Navy Tourist attractions in Key West, Florida Historic house museums in Florida Military and war museums in Florida History museums in Florida 1890s architecture in the United States Truman family residences 1890 establishments in Florida