Truman Day 2027

A state holiday only Missouri observes

Truman Day is a legal state holiday in Missouri, listed in the state holiday statute (RSMo 9.010) and observed every May 8. Missouri state employees get a paid day off, and state agencies, state courts and license offices close. Nothing closes anywhere else: Truman Day is not a federal holiday, so the post office delivers mail, banks and markets operate normally, and the other 49 states treat it as an ordinary day. Even inside Missouri, city and county offices set their own calendars, and most private employers stay open.

Why May 8

The date is Harry S. Truman's birthday! Truman was born on May 8, 1884, in the small town of Lamar in southwast Missouri, grew up on a farm near Independence, and he remains the only U.S. president from the state. The middle iniital S famously stands for nothing by itself; it honored both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. When May 8 falls on a Sunday, Missouri law moves the holiday to the following Monday, and when it falls on a Saturday, state offices generally close on the preceding Friday, matching the federal observed-date pattern.

From the White House to the state calendar

Truman, the 33rd president, took office on April 12, 1945, upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's death, led the country through the end of World War II, and won a full term in the famous 1948 upset over Thomas E. Dewey. Missouri's legislature added May 8 to its list of legal holidays in 1949, while Truman was still in the White House, and a 1967 law (RSMo 9.035) directs the governor to proclaim May 8 as Truman Day each year in his honor - the holiday has survived occasional attacks: in 2010 Governor Jay Nixon proposed dropping it to save money during a budget crucnh, but the day stayed on the calendar.

How Missouri marks the day

Observance is low-key. The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, where Truman and his wife Bess are buried, typically holds a wreath-laying ceremony at his gravasite, and Lamar, his birthplace, hosts local celebrations at the Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site. Beyond Missouri the name survives mainly in politics: Democratic Party organizations around the country hold annual Truman Day (or Truman-Kennedy) dinners as fundraisers, a nod to Truman's plain-spoken campaign style.

What it means in practice

• Closed: Missouri state agencies, state courts and Department of Revenue license offices.
• Open: federal offices, post offices, banks, stock markets, most schools and private businesses, in Missouri and everywhere else.
• Schools: Missouri public schools set their own calendars and are usually in session in early May.

For most Americans, Truman Day passes unnoticed, which suits the man it honors: Truman famously drove himself home to Independence after leaving office in 1953 without a pension escort or fanfare. For Missourians, the quiet May holiday is a yearly reminder that a farmer and failed haberdasher from Jackson County ended up making some of the biggest decisions of the twentieth century.