Truman tried to go on a road trip incognito
On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman did something no other former president had ever done before or since he struck the road: he woke up early, and packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker. No protection from the Secret Service. No press on the road. Harry was traveling alone with his childhood sweetheart Bess to see old acquaintances, see a Broadway show, celebrate their wedding anniversary in New York City, and spend some of the money he had just been given on writing his autobiography. Ideally covertly.
How Truman's attempt to fit in disastrously went awry was painstakingly described in detail by author Matthew Algeo. Unknowingly working together to break his secret were fellow diners, bellhops, cab drivers, screaming youths at a Future Homemakers of America convention, and one very law-abiding Pennsylvania state policeman. Algeo travels the same motels and diners as the Trumans did when they first took the route, and he briefly digresses into subjects like McCarthyism, the postwar American car industry, the nation's highway infrastructure, and the demise of Main Street America. By the time you reach your destination after traveling 2,500 miles, you will have a fresh appreciation for America's final citizen president.
In 1953, Truman and his wife Bess made the decision to travel cross-country five months after he left office. Presidents were not compelled to have Secret Service agents or other government escorts follow them after their term was over at the time. However, the pair miscalculated how low they could actually fly to avoid detection. Customers who couldn't comprehend why their former president was dropping in at strange locales like Decatur, Illinois, or Frostburg, Maryland, were shocked when they were regularly recognized as they stopped at wayside diners. Truman was even stopped when returning home after their 19-day trip for speeding at 55 mph in the fast lane. He wasn't given a ticket.
