Column: A look back at a holiday some might have overlooked

I’m not sure how many of you Muskies knew about it, but President’s day was observed on Monday, Feb. 15. I don’t know what happened to having a day off for great American holidays, or any days off at this college this year for that matter, but I think it’s important to reflect a little on the presidents that reside in our history books.

When I think of presidents, one lasting memory always comes to mind: myself, as a wee little tot in the fourth grade, sitting in a chair in front of my class with a white moustache and my hair pulled back into a hat. Yes, for a social studies project I was assigned to act like a president and show his qualities and answer questions as if I were him.

I was assigned to the one and only Harry S. Truman. In light of this understated holiday, I would like to share some stories from the life and term of this 33rd president of the United States.

Truman fits into the random theme – in fact, he became president at a very random time – three months into FDR’s fourth term. For a few short months Truman started out as vice president, until FDR died and Truman was thrown into the Presidency.

Truman told reporters “I felt that the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.”

Truman didn’t even know anything about the atomic bombs and the research and technology behind them until 13 days into his presidency. Three months later, he decided to use them on two Japan cities.

Another cool fact about Truman is that his middle name is more of a middle letter – S is for s. When it became impossible to decide which parent name to honor him with, they just compromised with the S.

One thing I liked about him is that he was all about the common people.

He wasn’t all about the fancy halls and high-class traveling; during his 1948 campaign he chose to incorporate a “whistle-stop tour,” where he would make speeches from train platforms. With as many as 15 a day, Truman’s followers were exuberant to listen to him in an everyday setting.

In light of this mini-biography, I hope that next year people recognize and take time to remember the 44 men who have ran our country for the last 234 years. Some of them have some pretty cool stories to tell. Who knows, maybe we’ll even be thrown a bone and have the day off.

Oh, and p.s. ...Speaking of project I did when I was younger, in first grade I did a report on Pluto when it was still the ninth planet. Nowadays, Pluto is called a “dwarf planet” and there are eight official planets.

Being a dwarf planet is like being on the junior varsity team... you don’t get any credit and still have to go through everything the varsity team does.

At first, I felt bad for the poop planet, but since there are other dwarfs out there, like Eris and Ceres, Pluto isn’t alone. Small, cold, icy planets need some love too.