Part 6 Chapter 18 Summary

Truman and his wife returned to Independence, Missouri, after Eisenhower's Inaugural. On an idealistic level, Truman wanted to be like his hero Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer who served Rome in its time of crisis and then returned to farming. On a practical level, Truman and his wife had few alternatives but to go back to Missouri They had taken out loans in the last year of his presidency and were about to live on his soldier's pension of $112 per month. Bess Truman inherited one-fourth of her mother's $33,500 estate, and Truman had inherited part of the Truman farmland at Grandview.

The Trumans had no real money until Truman signed a $600,000 book deal. As it turned out, he received only about $37,000 from this deal after paying a staff to help him write it and then 67% in taxes. Ultimately, Truman had to ask Congress...