Part 1 Chapter 3 Summary

When Truman was eighteen, his father lost everything gambling in wheat futures. The family lost all their land and had to sell their home. They moved to Kansas City, where his father took a salaried job.

College was out of the question now for Harry, who went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad for $30 a month. Here he was exposed to rough people for the first time. After eight months or so, he was able to land a better job at a bank in Kansas City. The job was tedious but paid well, and he stayed in it for two years.

During this time Harry's future wife experienced a family tragedy when her father committed suicide, leaving a widow and four children ages three to eighteen. Bess enrolled in a finishing school called Barstow, but did not keep in touch...