Английская Википедия:Harry R. Truman

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Featured article Шаблон:Distinguish Шаблон:Infobox person Harry R. Truman (October 1896 – May 18, 1980)Шаблон:Efn was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector. He lived near Mount St. Helens, an active volcano in the state of Washington, and was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the base of the mountain. Truman came to fame as a folk hero in the months leading up to the volcano's 1980 eruption after refusing to leave his home despite evacuation orders. He was killed by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under Шаблон:Convert of volcanic debris.

After Truman's death, his family and friends reflected on his love for the mountain. In 1981, Art Carney portrayed Truman in the docudrama film St. Helens. He was commemorated in a book by his niece, and also in various pieces of music, including songs by Headgear, Billy Jonas, and Shawn Wright and the Brothers Band.

Early life

Truman was born to foresters in Ivydale, West Virginia in October 1896. He said he did not know his exact date of birth, but gave it as the 30th of the month,Шаблон:Sfn including on his draft registration card in World War I. Some noncontemporaneous sources have given his middle name as Randall,Шаблон:Sfn but Truman stated that he did not know his middle name, just the initial R.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn His draft card lists his middle name as Rainel.

Truman's family moved west to Washington, drawn to the promise of cheap land and the successful timber industry in the Pacific Northwest; they settled on Шаблон:Convert of farmland in the eastern portion of Lewis County, Washington.Шаблон:Sfn

Career

He attended high school in the city of Mossyrock, Washington then enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in August 1917. He was assigned to the 100th Aero Squadron, 7th Squad, and trained as an aeromechanic. He served in France during World War I.Шаблон:Sfn While en route to Europe, his troopship, Tuscania, was sunk by a German U-boat in a torpedo attack off the coast of Ireland.

During his service, he reportedly sustained injuries due to his audacious and independent nature.Шаблон:Sfn However, according to Washington State Archives, Truman served overseas from January 24, 1918, until February 1, 1919, but this record states he did not have wounds or injuries received in action and did not participate in any engagements. It also states he had a disability rating of zero at the time he was discharged.

Truman was honorably discharged on June 12, 1919, and he began prospecting, but failed to achieve his goal of becoming rich. He later became a bootlegger, smuggling alcohol from San Francisco to Washington during the Prohibition era.Шаблон:Sfn

At some point, Truman returned to Chehalis, Washington, where he ran an automotive service station called Harry's Sudden Service.Шаблон:Sfn He also married the daughter of a sawmill owner; they had one daughter.Шаблон:Sfn

Файл:St Helens before 1980 eruption horizon fixed.jpg

Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake before the 1980 eruption

Truman grew tired of civilization after a few years and leased Шаблон:Convert from the Northern Pacific Railroad CompanyШаблон:Sfn overlooking Spirit Lake in the wilderness near Mount St. Helens,Шаблон:Sfn a stratovolcano of the Cascade Range located in Skamania County, Washington. He settled near the base of the mountain and opened a gas station and a small grocery store;Шаблон:Sfn he eventually opened the Mount St. Helens Lodge,Шаблон:Sfn close to the outlet of Spirit Lake Шаблон:Coord, which he operated for 52 years.

Black and white photograph; a man wearing a judge's robe looks off to the right

Truman once refused service to Associate Justice William O. Douglas (pictured) at his lodge. Upon learning his identity, he chased Douglas down and convinced him to stay.

During the 1930s, Truman divorced his first wife; he remarried in 1935. The second marriage was short, as he reportedly attempted to win arguments by throwing his wife into Spirit Lake, despite her inability to swim.Шаблон:Sfn He began dating a local girl, though he eventually married the girl's sister Edna, whom he called Edie.Шаблон:Sfn This third marriage held, and he and Edna operated the Mount St. Helens Lodge togetherШаблон:Sfn until her death from a heart attack in 1978.Шаблон:Sfn

In the Mount St. Helens area, Truman became notorious for his antics, once getting a forest ranger drunk so that he could burn a pile of brush.Шаблон:Sfn He poached, stole gravel from the U.S. Forest Service, and fished on American Indian land with a fake game warden badge. Despite their knowledge of these criminal activities, local rangers failed to catch him in the act. When the Washington state government changed the state sales tax, Truman kept charging the old rate at his lodge. A tax agency employee rented a boat from him, but refused to pay his tax rate, so Truman pushed him into Spirit Lake.Шаблон:Sfn

Truman was a fan of the cocktail drink Whiskey and Coke made with Schenley whiskey and Coca-Cola. He owned a pink 1957 Cadillac, and he swore frequently. He loved discussing politics and reportedly hated Republicans, hippies, young children, and the elderly.Шаблон:Sfn He once refused to allow Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to stay at his lodge, dismissing him as an "old coot".Шаблон:Sfn He changed his mind when he learned Douglas' identity, chased him for Шаблон:Convert, to a neighboring lodge and convinced him to stay.Шаблон:Sfn When his wife Edna died in 1978, Truman closed his lodge and afterward only rented out a handful of boats and cabins during the summer.Шаблон:Sfn

Celebrity

Truman became a minor celebrity during the two months of volcanic activity preceding the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, giving interviews to reporters and expressing his opinion that the danger was exaggerated. "I don't have any idea whether it will blow," he said, "but I don't believe it to the point that I'm going to pack up." Truman displayed little concern about the volcano and his situation: "If the mountain goes, I'm going with it. This area is heavily timbered, Spirit Lake is in between me and the mountain, and the mountain is a mile away, the mountain ain't gonna hurt me."Шаблон:Sfn Law-enforcement officials were incensed by his refusal to evacuate because media representatives kept entering the restricted zone near the volcano to interview him, endangering themselves in the process. Still, Truman remained steadfast. "You couldn't pull me out with a mule team. That mountain's part of Truman and Truman's part of that mountain."Шаблон:Sfn

Truman told reporters that he was knocked from his bed by precursor earthquakes, so he responded by moving his mattress to the basement. He claimed to wear spurs to bed to cope with the earthquakes while he slept.Шаблон:Sfn He scoffed at the public's concern for his safety, responding to scientists' claims about the threat of the volcano that "the mountain has shot its wad and it hasn't hurt my place a bit, but those goddamn geologists with their hair down to their butts wouldn't pay no attention to ol' Truman."Шаблон:Sfn

As a result of his defiant commentary, Truman became something of a folk hero, and was the subject of many songs and poems by children. One group of children from Salem, Oregon, sent him banners inscribed "Harry – We Love You", which moved him so much that he took a helicopter trip (paid for by National Geographic)Шаблон:Sfn to visit them on May 14.Шаблон:Sfn He also received many fan letters, including several marriage proposals. A group of fifth graders from Grand Blanc, Michigan, wrote letters that brought him to tears. In return, he sent them a letter and volcanic ash, which the students later sold to buy flowers for his family after the eruption.Шаблон:Sfn

He caused a media frenzy, appearing on the front page of The New York Times and The San Francisco Examiner and attracting the attention of National Geographic, United Press International, and The Today Show.Шаблон:Sfn Many major magazines composed profiles, including Time, Life, Newsweek, Field & Stream, and Reader's Digest. A historian named Richard W. Slatta wrote that "his fiery attitude, brash speech, love of the outdoors, and fierce independence… made him a folk hero the media could adore."Шаблон:Sfn Slatta pointed to Truman's "unbendable character and response to the forces of nature" as a source of his rise to fame, and the interviews with him added "color" to reports about the events at Mount St. Helens.Шаблон:Sfn Truman was immortalized, according to Slatta, "with many of the embellished qualities of the western hero", and the media spotlight created a persona that was "in some ways quite different from his true character."Шаблон:Sfn

Death

As the likelihood of eruption increased, state officials tried to evacuate the area with the exception of a few scientists and security officials. On May 17, they attempted one final time to persuade Truman to leave, to no avail. The volcano erupted the next morning, and its entire northern flank collapsed. Truman and his 16 cats were alone together at his lodge, and all are presumed to have died in the eruption on May 18. They likely died of heat shock in less than a second, too quickly to register pain.

The largest landslide in recorded history and a pyroclastic flow traveling atop the landslide engulfed the Spirit Lake area almost simultaneously, destroying the lake and burying the site of his lodge under Шаблон:Convert of volcanic landslide debris Шаблон:Coord. Authorities never found Truman's remains. Truman considered his cats family and mentioned them in almost all public statements. They too presumably perished in similar conditions.

Friends hoped that Truman might have survived, as he had claimed to have provisioned an abandoned mine shaft with food and liquor in case of an eruption, but the lack of immediate warning of the oncoming eruption probably prevented him from escaping to the shaft before the pyroclastic flow reached his lodgeШаблон:Sfn (less than a minute after it began). Even if Truman had made it there, the aforementioned landslide would likely have suffocated him, and/or prevented his rescue. His sister Geraldine said that she found it hard to accept the reality of his death. "I don't think he made it, but I thought if they would let me fly over and see for myself that Harry's lodge is gone, then maybe I'd believe it for sure."

Truman's niece Shirley Rosen added that her uncle thought he could escape the volcano but was not expecting the lateral eruption. She stated that her sister took him a bottle of bourbon whiskey to persuade him to evacuate, but he was too afraid to drink alcohol at the time because he was unsure whether the shaking was coming from his body or the earthquakes. His possessions were auctioned off as keepsakes to admirers in September 1980.

Legacy

A plaque with the carved names of the eruption's victims appears, with a bouquet of flowers sitting on its center. In the background, Mount St. Helens can be seen.

Truman's name is on a plaque (bottom right) with names of the victims of the May 18 eruption, with Mount St. Helens in the background.

Truman emerged as a folk hero for his resistance to the evacuation efforts. The Columbian wrote: "With his 10-dollar name and hell-no-I-won't-go attitude, Truman was a made-for-prime-time folk hero." His friends and family commented: "He was a very opinionated person." Truman's friend John Garrity added, "The mountain and the lake were his life. If he'd left and then saw what the mountain did to his lake, it would have killed him anyway. He always said he wanted to die at Spirit Lake. He went the way he wanted to go."

Truman's niece Shirley stated, "He used to say that's my mountain and my lake and he would say those are my arms and my legs. If he would have seen it the way it is now, I don't think he would have survived." Truman's cousin Richard Ice commented that Truman's short period as a celebrity was "the peak of his life."

Truman was the subject of the books Truman of St. Helens: The Man and His Mountain by his niece Shirley Rosen,Шаблон:Sfn and The Legend of Harry Truman by his sister Geri Whiting. He was portrayed by Art Carney, his favorite actor, in the 1981 docudrama St. Helens. Memorabilia were sold in the area surrounding Mount St. Helens, including Harry Truman hats, pictures, posters, and postcards. A restaurant opened in Anchorage, Alaska, named after him, serving dishes such as Harry's Hot Molten Chili.

According to The Washington Star, more than 100 songs had been composed in Truman's honor by 1981, in addition to a commemorative album titled The Musical Legend Of Harry Truman — A Very Special Collection Of Mount St. Helens’ Volcano Songs. He is the subject of the 2007 song "Harry Truman"Шаблон:Sfn written and recorded by Irish band Headgear. Lula Belle Garland wrote "The Legend of Harry And The Mountain," which was recorded in 1980 by Ron Shaw & The Desert Wind Band.

Musicians Ron Allen and Steve Asplund wrote a country rock song in 1980 called "Harry Truman, Your Spirit Still Lives On".Шаблон:Sfn Billy Jonas included Truman's narrative in his song "Old St. Helen" in 1993.

Truman Trail and Harry's Ridge in the Mount St. Helens region are named after him. The Harry R. Truman Memorial Park was named in his honor in Castle Rock, Washington, though it later was renamed Castle Rock Lions Club Volunteer Park.

Further reading

• Шаблон:Cite magazine
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• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book

External links

• "Harry (Of Mount Saint Helens)" Recorded in 1982 by Penny Lew.
• "Thank You Lord, for Harry" Recorded in 1982 by Shawn Wright & The Brothers Band [1]