Harry S. Truman

== Working career ==
[[File:Trumanhist.JPG|thumb|left|[[Harry S. Truman National Historic Site|Truman's home]] in [[Independence, Missouri]]]]

Truman was employed briefly in the mailroom of ''[[The Kansas City Star]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/student-resources/places/kansas-city/kansas-city-star-building |title=Harry S. Truman: Kansas City Star Building |website=Harry S. Truman Library |location=Independence, MO |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=July 18, 2021}}</ref> before making use of his business college experience to obtain a job as a timekeeper for construction crews on the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway]], which required him to sleep in workmen's camps along the rail lines.{{sfn |Truman Library, Job|2012}} Truman and his brother Vivian later worked as clerks at the [[National Bank of Commerce (Kansas City)|National Bank of Commerce]] in Kansas City.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/personal-papers/commerce-bancshares-inc-records |title=Commerce Bancshares, Inc. Records: Dates: 1903–1999 |year=2002 |website=Harry S. Truman Library |location=Independence, MO |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=July 18, 2021}}</ref>

In 1906, Truman returned to the Grandview farm, where he lived until entering the army in 1917.{{sfn | McCullough |1992|pp=67, 99}} During this period, he courted [[Bess Truman|Bess Wallace]]. He proposed in 1911, but she turned him down. Truman later said he intended to propose again, but he wanted to have a better income than that earned by a farmer.{{sfn| McCullough | 1992 |pp= 78–79}} To that end, during his years on the farm and immediately after World War I, he became active in several business ventures. These included a lead and zinc mine near [[Commerce, Oklahoma]], a company that bought land and leased the oil drilling rights to prospectors, and speculation in Kansas City real estate.{{sfn|Ferrell|1994|pp=52, 53, 79}} Truman occasionally derived some income from these enterprises, but none proved successful in the long term.<ref>{{cite book |last= KirKendall |first=Richard Stewart |date=1989 |title=The Harry S. Truman Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5i93AAAAMAAJ&q=%22harry+s+truman%22+oil+lease+lead+zinc+unsuccessful |location=Boston |publisher=G. K. Hall |page=40|isbn=9780816189151 }}</ref>

Truman is the only president since [[William McKinley]] (elected in 1896) who did not earn a college degree.<ref>{{cite book |last=Danilov |first=Victor J. |date=2013 |title=Famous Americans: A Directory of Museums, Historic Sites, and Memorials |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWsrAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA268 |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=268 |isbn=978-0-8108-9185-2}}</ref> In addition to having briefly attended business college, from 1923 to 1925 he took night courses toward an [[bachelor of laws|LL.B.]] at the Kansas City Law School (now the [[University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law]]) but dropped out after losing reelection as county judge.{{sfn | Hamby |1995|pp=17–18, 135}} He was informed by attorneys in the Kansas City area that his education and experience were probably sufficient to receive a license to practice law but did not pursue it because he won election as presiding judge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Richard Lawrence |date=1986 |title=Truman: The Rise to Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tF0aAQAAIAAJ&q=%22professional+courtesy%22 |location=New York|publisher=McGraw-Hill |page=206 |isbn=978-0-07-042185-1}}</ref>

While serving as president in 1947, Truman applied for a law license.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gross |first=Norman |date=2004 |title=America's Lawyer-Presidents: From Law Office to Oval Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DMKRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22law+license+from+harry+s.+truman%22 |location=Evanston, IL |publisher=Northwestern University Press |page=260 |isbn=978-0-8101-1218-6}}</ref> A friend who was an attorney began working out the arrangements, and informed Truman that his application had to be notarized. By the time Truman received this information he had changed his mind, so he never followed up. After the discovery of Truman's application in 1996 the [[Missouri Supreme Court]] issued him a posthumous honorary law license.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jackman |first=Tom (''Kansas City Star'') |date=September 20, 1996 |title=49 Years Later, Truman Gets His Law License |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19960920&id=yXo0AAAAIBAJ&pg=7058,3681527 |newspaper=Tuscaloosa News |location=Tuscaloosa, AL |page=1D }}</ref>