Harry Truman

Harry S. Truman — born May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri — served as 33rd President of the United States from April 12, 1945, on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, through January 20, 1953. He died December 26, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Truman was one of the most active Freemasons ever to hold the American presidency. He was raised a Master Mason at Belton Lodge No. 450 in Missouri in 1909, founded Grandview Lodge No. 618 in 1911, and was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1940 — a position he held while serving in the U.S. Senate.

Dedication of the Washington statue at the Memorial

Truman’s most visible association with Alexandria was at the 101 Callahan Drive Place 101 Callahan Drive A 333-foot granite tower atop Shuter's Hill, completed 1932 by Freemasons across the United States to honor as Charter Master of . Conceived after an 1871 fire at the lodge's Old … , where he dedicated the seventeen-foot bronze statue of George Washington Person George Washington b. 1732 · d. 1799 Planter, military commander, and first President of the United States. Master of Mount Vernon from 1761 until his death in 1799, and a regular presence in Alexandria, which he … that anchors the central Memorial Hall. The statue, sculpted by Bryant Baker, was one of the last major interior elements of the Memorial completed under the long post-dedication build-out that continued into the 1970s ^[1] Source 1 GWMNMA — "A Brief History" Website .

Throughout his presidency Truman returned repeatedly to Alexandria for Masonic events at the Memorial and elsewhere, lending the fraternity an unusual degree of public visibility from the White House. The Memorial museum preserves several Truman-era artifacts relating to his presidency of the Grand Lodge of Missouri and his visits to Shuter’s Hill.