Harry S. Truman

=== Jackson County judge ===
[[File:TrumanWedding.PNG|thumb|alt=Wedding photo of Truman in gray suit and his wife in hat with white dress holding flowers |Harry and Bess Truman on their wedding day, {{nowrap|June 28, 1919}}]]

After his wartime service, Truman returned to Independence, where he married Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919.{{sfn|Truman Library|1919}} The couple had one child, [[Margaret Truman|Mary Margaret Truman]].{{sfn|Goldstein | 2008}}

Shortly before the wedding, Truman and Jacobson opened a [[haberdashery]] together at 104 West 12th Street in downtown [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]].{{sfn|McCullough|1992|pp=146, 151–152}} After brief initial success, the store went bankrupt during the [[Post-World War I recession|recession of 1921]].{{sfn|Oshinsky|2004|pp=365–380}} Truman did not pay off the last of the debts from that venture until 1935, when he did so with the aid of banker [[William T. Kemper]], who worked behind the scenes to enable Truman's brother Vivian to buy Truman's $5,600 [[Loan agreement|promissory note]] during the asset sale of a bank that had failed in the [[Great Depression]].{{sfn |McCullough|1992|pp =63–64, 68}}{{sfn | Ferrell |1994|p=88}} The note had risen and fallen in value as it was bought and sold, interest accumulated and Truman made payments, so by the time the last bank to hold it failed, it was worth nearly $9,000.{{sfn | Ferrell |1994|p=86}} Thanks to Kemper's efforts, Vivian Truman was able to buy it for $1,000.{{sfn | Ferrell |1994|p=88}} Jacobson and Truman remained close friends even after their store failed, and Jacobson's advice to Truman on [[Zionism]] later played a role in the U.S. Government's decision to recognize Israel.{{sfn|Hamby|1995|pp=410–412}}

With the help of the Kansas City [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[political machine|machine]] led by [[Tom Pendergast]], Truman was elected in 1922 as County Court judge of [[Jackson County, Missouri|Jackson County]]'s eastern district—Jackson County's three-judge court included judges from the western district (Kansas City), the eastern district (the county outside Kansas City), and a presiding judge elected countywide. This was an administrative rather than a judicial court, similar to [[county commission]]s in many other jurisdictions. Truman lost his 1924 reelection campaign in a Republican wave led by President [[Calvin Coolidge]]'s [[1924 United States presidential election|landslide election]] to a full term. Two years selling automobile club memberships convinced him that a public service career was safer for a family man approaching middle age, and he planned a run for [[List of county executives of Jackson County, Missouri|presiding judge]] in 1926.{{sfn|Dallek|2008|p=6}}

Truman won the job in 1926 with the support of the Pendergast machine, and he was re-elected in 1930. As presiding judge, Truman helped coordinate the ''Ten Year Plan'', which transformed Jackson County and the Kansas City skyline with new public works projects, including an extensive series of roads and construction of a new [[Wight and Wight]]-designed [[Jackson County Courthouse (Kansas City, Missouri)|County Court building]]. Also in 1926, he became president of the [[National Old Trails Road]] Association, and during his term he oversaw dedication of 12 [[Madonna of the Trail]] monuments to honor pioneer women.{{sfn|Dallek|2008| p = 6}}{{sfn|Barr|2004}}

In 1933, Truman was named Missouri's director for the Federal Re-Employment program (part of the [[Civil Works Administration]]) at the request of Postmaster General [[James Farley]]. This was payback to Pendergast for delivering the Kansas City vote to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in the [[1932 United States presidential election|1932 presidential election]]. The appointment confirmed Pendergast's control over federal [[patronage]] jobs in Missouri and marked the zenith of his power. It also created a relationship between Truman and Roosevelt's aide [[Harry Hopkins]] and assured Truman's avid support for the New Deal.{{sfn|Savage|1991|p=65}}