Truman's Love for Music

There’s no doubt that previous presidents loved music—some were even musicians themselves. Would you believe it if someone told you Truman is considered one of the most musical presidents in American history?

 Lauren Bacall on top of the piano while Truman
plays at the National Press Club Canteen

At the age of seven, Truman started learning how to play classical pieces on the piano, but at the age of fifteen, he quit after deciding that he must "go to work and earn a living.” However, his love for music lingered with him all throughout his presidency. He always had a piano by his desk and a radio by his bed, and he rarely passed a piano without playing a tune. Truman preferred the traditional classical music of his youth from composers like Lizst, Chopin, Hayden, and Mozart over the newer forms of music, in which he called “modern noise.”

Truman particularly loved Mozart’s A Major Sonata and performed it at important events, such as the first televised tour of the White House in 1952 and the Potsdam Conference. In 1945 when he played it at a county fair, Truman winked as he boasted, “When I played this, Stalin signed the Potsdam Agreement.”

At this point, some of you are probably thinking back to what you learned in class and wondering how Truman felt towards the Missouri Waltz. Some sources said that it was his favorite tune, but from various interviews, Truman seemed indifferent towards it. When he was asked about his feelings towards the Missouri Waltz, the White House published this reply: "President's attitude towards the song? He can take it or leave it. Is it really his favorite? No. Does he play it often? No. Is Margaret ever heard singing it? No. What is the President's reaction to song's adoption by Missouri as state song? See answer to first question."

Moreover, when he was asked in a television interview on how he felt about the Missouri Waltz being associated with him, Truman said, "It’s a ragtime song and if you let me say what I think—I don’t give a damn 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." Truman even wrote to Guy Lombardo saying that the Missouri Waltz was not a proper state song. You could say that Truman hated the Missouri Waltz, but we know that at the very least, he didn’t care much for it.

The gutted interior of the White House
during reconstruction

Also, due to his love for the piano, Truman happened to prove how bad the White House infrastructure was. When the Trumans moved into the White House, they decided to bring their daughter Margaret’s piano along with them. Truman, along with several presidents before him had discovered the unusual squeaking and instability of the White House. However, Margaret’s piano was the last straw for the decaying building. In June of 1948, a leg of her piano crashed through the rotting floorboards in her second story room into the family dining room. At first, the investigators thought that a few steel supports could solve the problem; however, after further investigation, the investigators determined that the interior of the house was sinking and in danger of collapsing inwards. The Truman family moved into the White House guest house as a complete interior renovation was done over the next three years.

On the bright side, Truman’s piano incident prevented an imminent disastrous incident of the White House caving in and didn’t discourage Margaret from pursuing her musical studies. She grew up to be a professional singer, and allegedly the only opera singer Truman could bear to listen to.


P.S. I got a little carried away writing a comment on Bella's post "Truman Outside of Presidency" so consider this an extension of that post :D
http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/missouri-waltz-.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Waltz
https://www.wqxr.org/story/most-musical-presidents/