More on our Day in Atlanta

Seeing the Georgia State Capitol, we found the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.  We were glad it was open.  The ground and parking lot gave the notion of it being an important place.  It was well groomed and flags were flying.

 It reminded me a little bit of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum we visited in 2014.
We were greeted at the door with the news that entry for veterans on Veterans Day was free!

 That was a nice gesture!

We saw the orientation film that was excellent.  One thing it described was how he was affected by corruption in a state election.  He lost and the next time he ran one of his by lines was, "I will never lie to you."
I would say among his most significant accomplishments during his presidency was winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his tenacious and wise work with Egypt and Israel and reaching the Camp David Peace Accords.

 Then the tour of the museum took us through a number of hallways and displays.  A lot of it was about his early life from Plains to his time at the U.S. Naval Academy.

 The Iranian hostage crisis happened during his tenure and they were released after 444 days.  The Iranians finally let them go about the same time as Jimmy Carter was leaving office when President Reagan was being swore in.

The museum housed the presidential library and archives.  We could see rows and rows of filing boxes.  It contains 27 million pages of documents, 500,000 photos and another 40,000 objects (videos, audiotapes and films.)

We liked our tour and thought it was very well done.  It is worth the visit.

Next, we found the Atlanta Underground.  We weren't really sure what that was about but wanted to stop and see it.  The parking was free and we wandered around a little while.  It was a lot of shops and not much was going on.  We might not have been in the right entry way?  Or there might be a better vantage to see it.  We did not stay long and headed over the downtown area in search of the Coca-Cola Museum.

The World of Coca-Cola multi-media center outgrew its first location near Atlanta Underground and we went over to the larger site near the Olympic Park.

We actually walked through the Olympic Park to get to the World of Coca-Cola.

This was an interesting display commemorating the athletes.

They had a number of weekend events ongoing.  It is a place where events are staged and locals have a chance to bring a group for some kickball.  We saw a game in progress.

The World of Coca-Cola was across the street.

We were met with a statue of John Pemberton who was the inventor of Coca-Cola.  He had a saber wound from hostilities during the Civil War and began a life-long addiction to morphine.  He died of cancer in 1888.

As a trained pharmacist, he began experimenting with ingredients until he stumbled upon a concoction that he accidentally mixed with carbonation to get the "secret mix".

The lines were long because they had a power outage and weren't selling any new tickets.  Oops.

We looked around and went to the gift store instead.  More long lines.  But that was OK.  We didn't see anything we couldn't do without...

We saw this display of the polar bear which I remember from a couple of Christmases ago.  I thought this is a new twist and why did Coca-Cola decide to make and advertising campaign around a polar bear.
As the sign says, it was started in the 1920's and then re-introduced in 1993.  So it has been around a long time.

And there are all kinds of gifts to grab to fit any budget...

Outside and across the street, we made our way back through the Olympic Park grounds

Some very well done tributes to people who train for years and years in order to make it to the Olympics and some are lucky enough to get a medal.  And have their name engraved on these monuments.

It turned out to be a real busy day for us in Atlanta but we got to see a lot of different things.  And determine which other things we want to see next time.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Harry S. Truman Museum and Library

Really?  Another museum?

Yes - even though we are about 'museumed out' for a while, we have a couple more to see while we are here in Independence, Missouri.

Reminds me of playing golf during my summers in high school.  After about 8 or 9 days in a row, I was ready for a break.  For a day or two.  Same here.  We are going to take advantage of seeing these places while we can.

So off we went to Independence MO.  We stayed at the Blue Springs Campground which was good.  It is run by the county and in good shape.  Sites and area around them are spacious.  Lots of grass and has a good feel to it.

We are only about 5 miles to the Truman Library and it was easy to find.

Inside, we found it to be very well laid out and full of interesting displays and artifacts.
A replica of the Oval Office:

I looked and looked for the "Buck Stops Here" sign but I could not find it on the desk or the table behind.  Hmmm, curious …..
Oh!

It had a display all by itself in the hall.

Truman handled his time in the Army like he did with everything in his life:  He gave it everything he had.  Despite his less than imposing figure, he proved his metal and gain the respect of his men.

After WWI he worked on his farm, tried his hand in business and then entered local politics, becoming a county official and judge for 20 years.  Then, with the backing of Kansas City notorious political boss of Tom Pendergast, he won election to the Senate in 1934.  Then during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's for a 4th term, he was an unlikely pick for Vice President.

When FDR died, just weeks after his election, Truman was thrown into an overwhelming situation.  It was either sink or swim.  There was no transition.  He dug in and learned what he needed to in order to survive and make important decisions.  There were many during his two terms as president.

His policies, like any president, often were met with challenge and an opposing view.

Among his first duties was to attend the a summit with Churchill and Stalin in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945 discuss the post-war realities.  He developed his own view of the Soviet Union which was more distrustful than Roosevelt's.  The war in Europe was nearing its end and the war in the Pacific came to a close after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.

With the beginning of the Cold War and the growth of what Churchill later called, the 'Iron Curtain', Truman was in the crucible.  He grew into his role and made decisions even controversial ones like firing General MacArther.

During his reelection campaign, he undertook a series of rail car trips all over the United States.

I did not realize how extensive his "Whistlestop Campaign" was until I saw this display.

It was a close call, and some newspapers made an early call which proved to be wrong.

At home, the nation was confronted with the growing fear in the spread of communism, the rise of Communist China and its invasion of Korea, all which came with a U. S. reaction.

Times were changing and Truman's popularity continued to slide.

He declined to run for another term and returned to his home in Independence, Missouri.  There he spent the rest of his days.  He was actively involved in building the library and museum.  He had a lot of notable achievements:

• Orchestrated the Berlin Airlift, saving the city
• Responsible for the Marshall Plan, an economic 'get well' plan for Germany and Europe
• Integrated the Army which led to acceptance and national integration
• Advocated for national health insurance
• Recognized Israel which led to its statehood
• Supported the creation of NATO to stand against the Warsaw Pact
• Made substantial renovations to the White House
• Realigned the armed forces, creating the Air Force as a separate service 

I appreciated being able to see the Truman Museum and Library.  I came away from it feeling like I knew more about that period in our country's history and our 33rd president.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thank you again for all your comments.
Until next time...

George W. Bush Presidential Center

Before we left Fort Worth, we wanted to try and make it over the the GWB Museum and Library in Dallas adjacent to the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU).  We decided to stay and extra day to do it and it was worth it.  We have made it a high-interest item to see as many presidential homes, museum and libraries as we can.  We've also put State Capitols in the same category too.

Here is a photo of  GWB Presidential Center from the parking lot.

One thing I noticed right away is the grass.  The grounds are now mowed as you might expect.

Instead grass is left to grow long.  By design.  It looks like prairie grass.

Inside the building is like a large hall with displays along each side.  I liked the way the "Gifts to the American People" items were shown.

They probably have warehouses full of these kind of things.  This was only a few of the small stuff I'll guess.  Necklaces, jewelry, gold carvings and my favorite:  gold stirrups from Africa.

After the initial gallery, tourists gather in a large open area and look up to a 4 sided presentation of Texas.

The seamless video somehow is display along 4 walls at the same time.  Very unique.

We watched the short video "A Charge to Keep"

Next we moved into the galleries and displays of his life and times.  I always like the family photos and 'growing up' pictures of famous people.  And some ones that show a different side.  Like the display of signed baseballs.

There are ones signed by Sandy Koufax, Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Ozzie Smith.

Of course the overshadowing time in his Presidency was 9/11.  There was a good amount of displays and video clips concerning that.

It was an emotional for me remembering all that again and how it has profoundly changed America.

Another feature was an interactive display with some big issues and then choices of how to handle the situation.  We got 4 minutes to hear four scenarios and opposing opinions on each.  Then we had to decided what to do.

Our choices were compared with what actually happened. Interesting way to make a point and learn that part of things.

Each president is confronted with strong but differing opinions yet, they have to make a decision.

There was a display with the pens used to sign (or in one case veto) legislation.

There were some other assorted displays viewed

I am glad we took the time to see that facility.  It is almost brand new and has some very interesting features.  It was well laid out but I got the feeling the 2/3 of the building were not being used.  We only saw the museum and it seemed to be a little crowded.  There were a lot of people there while we visited but they still seemed to pack a lot of information into a small space.

After seeing the large LBJ museum in Austin recently, this one is much smaller by comparison.  Nevertheless, I would still recommend it.  We are glad we saw it.

We posed for a photo between 41 and 43 before we left.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!