Lit tle known or interesting history facts.

I've spent quite a few holidays--vacations in the Florida Keys. I remembered this because LP mentioned President Truman and his trials and tribulations in the White House in DC.  President Truman apparently loved Key West as a vacation spot. He spent a LOT of time down there during his time in office. So much time, in fact, that the Presidential residence down there became known as "The Little White House" or "The Southern White House". Since then, multiple other Presidents have used the facility as a vacation retreat as well.

Truman Little White House

As Florida’s only presidential museum, the Harry S. Truman Little White House was the winter White House for this country's 33rd president. Truman spent 175 days during 13 vacations in the home that is filled with original furnishing and memorabilia from Truman’s days. Presidents Taft, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter and Clinton also used the house. Guided tours offer guests a window into the world President Truman and life of a US president.

More Information:  WhiteHouseHistory.org -- "Truman Beach: The 33rd President At Key West"

The president’s shirts were loose, comfortable, vividly patterned, and tropically bright. They represented a break from the blue-suit, white-shirt formality that had been Harry Truman’s hallmark since his days as a Kansas City haberdasher. They proclaimed temporary independence from the mansion Truman called “the big white jail.” Some people found them gaudy, garish, and unpresidential. Others simply called them Harry Truman shirts. When photographs of Truman wearing them hit the newspapers, people showered the Little White House at Key West, Florida, with gift shirts. Since there were far more than the president could wear, he had dozens laid out on the lawn for others to take. And that led to “the Key West uniform” and contributed to the breezy informality of all of the president’s Florida vacations. Arriving at Key West in the giddy aftermath of Truman’s dazzling upset election victory in 1948, Vice President-Elect Alben Barkley took in the president’s vivid shirt, jaunty cap, and casual slacks. “Where’s the general store?” he asked. “I want to get an outfit like that.” 

Truman visited Key West 11 times from November 1946 to March 1952, vacationing and working there in good times and bad for a total of 175 days. He timed his escapes for the fall or late winter, trading Washington’s cold and often snowy weather for the warm breezes that blew through what the newspapers variously called the whispering, rustling, or swaying palms. 


At the end of the island chain stretching from Florida into the Gulf of Mexico, the coral island of Key West—4 miles long and two miles wide—is the southernmost point in the United States. Coconut palms, purple and red bougainvillea, frangipani, red and pink hibiscus, and tinted oleanders thrive in the frost-free tropical climate. Off-shore, the cobalt-blue reaches of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico offer deep-sea fishing for yellowfin, grouper, amberjack, mackerel, and barracuda.

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https://www.whitehousehistory.org/truman...t-key-west