Randy Turner

The Buck Starts Here! Randy Turner

Harry S. Truman was the type of president this country longs for today- a man who spoke the truth and took responsibility for his actions after becoming president with a nation at war. The Buck Starts Here: Harry S. Truman and the City of Lamar tells the never before told story of the former president and the small southwestern Missouri city where he was born on May 8, 1884. Where most history books quickly tell of Truman's birth and his family's departure 10 months later from Lamar, author Randy Turner tells the rest of the story, detailing not only Truman's birth, but his return on August 31, 1944 to deliver his first speech as a national leader to an audience of millions, his love-hate relationship with the City of Lamar's nationally known newspaper editor Arthur Aull and his triumphant return in 1959 as the tiny house where he was born was dedicated as a national shrine. The Buck Starts Here offers a gripping account, not only of Truman's connection with Lamar, but also interweaves the stories of the fascinating people who have added to the city's rich history, including Wyatt Earp, Arthur Aull, the longest-serving mayor in Missouri history Gerald Gilkey, war hero and POW Richard Chancellor and Claude "Brother" Adams, the first man to drive a wagon pulled by Missouri mules down Pennsylvania Avenue. The Buck Starts Here is a must read and a welcome addition to those who admire Truman and for those who appreciate a gripping reliving of a critical time in American history.