Compare Truman & Eisenhower To What Goes On Today

There is an important lesson to be learned here.

Compare the difference between former United States Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower versus what has gone on in the years since their time in office.

What you are about to read has been published in countless newspapers, magazines and online sites for decades.

Please take the time to read it. It’s a lesson in everything that was right (then) versus everything that is wrong, (today).

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 32 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence , Missouri . His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.

When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.

After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me.. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."

As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today , too many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!

I have read this many times over the years. I re-read it this morning like it was for the first time. It hit me hard, because I see how bankrupt things have now become.

Truman and Eisenhower are fine examples of how it used to be. One Democrat. One Republican. Party affiliation didn’t matter a lick.

Compare this shining duo to what has followed since.

The modern President, Members of Congress, Governors and other elected and appointed government officials blatantly use their former offices to personally cash-in.

They make speeches to companies they used to regulate at exorbitant prices. They write books (most sell poorly) and receive huge 7 figure signing bonuses.

It’s disgusting and it’s politically corrupt,

These practices of personally profiting from public service should be banned.

But, since they’re the very ones who write the rules. It will never happen.