Dear Scholars,

I am pleased to report that the President of the Truman Foundation, the Honorable Madeleine Albright, has accepted our invitation to speak at the conference on Saturday morning July 23!

Dr. Albright was the first woman named as Secretary of State in 1997--and at that time the highest ranking woman in US government. She will speak during the plenary session, and afterward she has offered a Q and A session with the audience.

Within the next few days I will be updating the conference agenda online to reflect this exciting news as well as some other, smaller changes.

I encourage you to visit www.trumanconference.org and register TODAY! Don't forget to book your room at the OmniShoreham Hotel.

Jessica Sotelo
Conference Director

Don Gomez (NY '09) authored a commentary piece, "When Hero Rings Hollow," published in The New York Times.

Read the full article.

Stephen Honan (VA '10) was spotted (by Westbrook Murphy) in Annapolis' The Capitol newspaper. Honan (pictured at right, third from right) was graduated from the United States Naval Academy.

Rachel Ackoff (CA ‘06), after four years living and working in Washington, DC first for the U.S. Student Association as their Electoral Project Director and then for the Sierra Club's Trade and Labor Program, is moving to New York City to pursue a dual degree program in Nonprofit Management and Jewish Studies at New York University this fall. She is sad to leave the DC Trumans behind but looks forward to hanging out with the NYC Trumans.

Joe Wells (IN ‘03) recently relinquished command of an infantry company that he led for the last year and half.  This company was responisble for partnering with Iraqi security forces and local leaders in Muqdadiyah and facilitated safe and secure elections in the spring of 2010.  In his next assignment, Joe will serve a two-year tour as an exchange officer with the Royal Netherlands 11th Airmobile Brigade. Pictured is the change of command ceremony.

Eric Greitens (MO '95), a Navy SEAL who recently authored the book The Heart and the Fist, was interviewed on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report: http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-may-11-2011-eric-greitens

Andy Sears (MO ‘77) joined George K. Baum & Company as Senior Vice President & General Counsel. For the past 12 years he served as in-house counsel at U.S. Central.

By Westbrook Murphy, General Counsel, Truman Scholarship Foundation

For this summer’s TSA National Conference, Matt Garza (CA ’09) is putting together a map of Washington, DC sites associated with Harry Truman.  It includes the HST Scholarship Foundation’s offices at 712 Jackson Place—a townhouse on the west side of Jackson Square across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

That townhouse—formerly No. 8—once had been owned by Major Henry Rathbone, whose story is told below.  So don’t be surprised if Tara or Tonji sometimes act a bit strangely…

The Tragedy of Major Rathbone
(from "GHOSTS: Washington's most famous ghost stories," by John Alexander)

Major Rathbone was a brilliant and successful young officer when he moved into Number 8 Jackson Place. At that time he was hopeful of making New York Senator Harris's daughter Clara his wife. It was Miss Harris who accompanied the Major the night he went with President and Mrs. Lincoln to see "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre. Major Rathbone was stabbed in the head and neck by John Wilkes Booth before the assassin made good his escape by jumping onto the stage from the presidential box.

Although seriously wounded, Major Rathbone responded to treatment and physically recovered from his wounds, but his mind was never quite the same. He was distracted, moody. He and Clara Harris were eventually married, and his wife accepted his moods, thinking that some day he would again become the man she used to know. Perhaps that is why she agreed to move with him to Germany.

Hoping to escape his recurring depression, the Major resigned his commission and with his wife set out for Hanover. Another country and another life, however, proved no panacea. He became more despondent. As his wife and children prepared for the coming Christmas holidays, Rathbone seemed to lose touch with reality altogether. He took a gun, shot his wife to death, and would have killed his children if a nurse had not intervened. He then shot himself. Whether or not Rathbone was reliving that struggle some eighteen years earlier with John Wilkes Booth is only conjecture.

Doctors were able to save what was left of the life of Henry Rathbone, but he spent the rest of his days in an insane asylum far from his former home on Lafayette Square. The news of the Rathbone tragedy quickly reached Washington. Some of his former neighbors wept at the misfortune, but as they walked along Jackson Place they often took their children by the hand and crossed over into the park rather than walk directly in front of the old Rathbone house. They seemed to be afraid the web of fate that had entangled so many victims of the Lincoln assassination might still hang in the air around the house of the unfortunate Major. A few expressed fear that his deranged spirit would cross the ocean, while others contended it already had. They whispered of hearing a man crying. Tales spun over backyard fences or on porches at night told of heartbreaking sobs drifting from the old home where, for a few brief years Rathbone had known success, joy and happiness.

Westbrook Murphy serves as General Counsel of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Fellow Truman Scholars,

I’m excited to announce that the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation has chosen its next Executive Secretary: Dr. Andrew (Andy) Rich, a 1991 Truman Scholar from Delaware. 

The 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004 Scholars will remember Dr. Rich as a Senior Scholar at your TSLW in Independence.  More recent Scholars may remember Dr. Rich from the New York interview panel.  Other Scholars will know him as an advisor at the City College of New York (CCNY) and Wake Forest.  However you may know him, I’m sure those of you who do are just as excited as I am that he is taking on this new role in the Truman Community.

Dr. Rich received the Truman Scholarship while at the University of Richmond, where he received his Bachelor’s in Political Science.  He went on to Yale University where he received his Masters and then Ph.D. in Political Science.  Dr. Rich has been a professor at Wake Forest, a professor and department chair at CCNY, and a consultant and advisor to institutions such as the Open Society Institute, Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Ford Foundation.  While at CCNY, he was also Deputy Director and Director of Programs at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies there.

Dr. Rich is currently the President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute.  Since joining the Institute in January 2009, he has transformed the Institute from a support organization for the FDR Presidential Library and Museum to a national think-tank developing substantial programs of idea leadership and public policy development.  Dr. Rich also oversees the Institute’s efforts to expand and strengthen the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, which currently connects 100+ college campuses and more than 10,000 students and alumni to a programs that engage them in discussing progressive values, empower them to develop public policy, and promote their ideas to policymakers at all levels of government.

Dr. Rich is the author of Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (Cambridge University Press, 2004), as well as a wide-ranging number of articles about think tanks, interest groups, foundations, individual donors, and the role of experts and ideas in the American policy process.  Dr. Rich has appeared in a number of news outlets including “All Things Considered” from National Public Radio, CNN, The Economist, and the Washington Post.  Dr. Rich will officially take office in January of 2012 but will be working with the Foundation in the intervening months.  If you haven’t already met Dr. Rich, you can do so at the 2011 National Conference in Washington, DC, so register now.

The search committee for the Executive Secretary included members of the Foundation’s Board, former Executive Secretary Fred Slabach (MS ’77), Deputy Executive Secretary Tara Yglesias (PA ’93) and myself as a representative of the Truman Scholars Association.  We had very strong applicants and appreciate all the Truman Scholars who applied.  We certainly have a committed and talented community, and I’m excited to have Dr. Rich at the helm.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Andy Rich as the 4th Executive Secretary of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Sincerely,

Adair Ford Boroughs (SC '01)
President
Truman Scholars Association

Sitting in Arlington Cemetery on a beautiful Memorial Day Monday surrounded by those whose dedication to service is awe-inspiring, I am struck by the commonality of all those remembered for their service to our country and the Truman Scholars in their dedication to public service. Although none of the 2011 Truman Scholars has given the ultimate sacrifice of our life in the service to others, their passion to serve others is something that is inspiring.

When I arrived in Liberty, Missouri for the Truman Scholar Leadership Week (TSLW) 2011, I was surrounded by some of the most incredible people I had ever met. So, needless to say, I was a little nervous. And yet, my pre-mature nervousness was instantly quelled by my fellow Trumans, through their humility and warm reception. Reflecting on the week I have found it divided into three parts: conversations, activities, and community.

Conversation: The conversations during TSLW were unparalleled and varied from the healthcare system to energy policy and economics. The depth of the Truman Scholars and their interests was amazing. My first conversation was with a scholar from California who had just re-enacted the Freedom Ride, retracing the 1961 rides from Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA. With forty other selected students he toured the country meeting civil rights activists and heard memories of their fight for equal rights. Another scholar and I discussed energy policy and his role in formulating Obama’s campaign strategy for energy. These conversations not only showed me the impressiveness of the students who were scholars, but allowed us to learn from one another’s passions and share our own. Whether it was investigating various religions (including Buddhism), or discussing the importance of food trucks, TSLW was alive with conversations that occurred deep into the night and early in the morning.

Activities: Throughout the week, our class was brought together by workshops, activities, and testimonials. We collaborated on some of the most difficult issues in the “Decision-Center” of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, worked on group policies culminating in one group’s project of the Harry S. Loris Twitter and Facebook, learned about graduate programs from admissions counselors and how to finance one’s education, and heard senior scholars experiences in leadership and finding their identities. It was a week filled with a discovery of new paths and dismissal of previously held beliefs. As one speaker put it, we were put into a state of “constructive confusion.” At the end of the week many of the scholars shared their new friends with their family at the banquet and awards ceremony. At TSLW I was not only able to share the new friends I had made with my mother but I gained a new family, one brought together by shared aspirations for the future.

Community: The Truman Community is something that was previously unimaginable. It is a catalyst of some of the brightest minds in the country, who are not only some of the most achieving college students, but who are incredibly humble. During the week, our class grew as a community as we participated in service activities that included volunteering at a food bank, a free health clinic, a domestic violence center, and a homeless shelter. We played mafia at night, rolled down hills, raced on piggy back, ran in the early morning, and even had a dance. Now you may be wondering the dance expertise of the Truman scholars, but you would be very impressed with the ability of scholars to “Swang it” and do the “Dougie.” Also, doing the “slow loris” is something that will always be infamous to our class. I was also extremely impressed with our scholars when there were two tragedies: a scholar’s father passing away and a deadly tornado in the nearby town of Joplin. The scholars were always there for her to talk to as well as offer a comforting hug. One of the students proposed a group effort by the Truman Scholars to raise funds for the Joplin residents. Immediately the Trumans galvanized their ideas on how to best help the suffering community. The reaction to these two great heartbreaks evidenced the strength and solidarity of the 2011 class.

With guidance from our senior scholars, Tara Yglesias and Andy Kirk of the Truman Foundation, and Westbrook Murphy of the Foundation Board, I will forever cherish the week I had with my fellow Trumans. While we came from diverse backgrounds and large age ranges, our class instantly became a close family. Brought together by a common drive for service we, as one scholar commented were able to “find our people.”

Elizabeth Davis (MT ’11) is completing her final year at the University of Notre Dame.