TRUMAN LITTLE WHITE HOUSE EMBODIES PRESIDENTS’ WEEKEND

PRESIDENTIAL DESCENDANTS, A PICNIC & PLAY MARK THE HOLIDAY

Presidents’ Weekend meant more than a Monday holiday for Key West’s Harry S. Truman Little White House.

The presidential museum — and local residence of President Truman during 11 working vacations in Key West from 1945 to 1953 — hosted a series of special events on all three days.

Truman’s grandson, actor Clifton Truman Daniel, twice performed the one-man show “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!” on the museum lawn to sold-out crowds.

The show, written by Samuel Gallu, premiered in 1975, but made its Key West debut only last year.

The museum also hosted a panel discussion by several presidential descendants, who discussed the importance of bipartisanship. The annual descendants’ event is the largest Presidents’ Day Weekend gathering of presidential descendants in the country. The holiday weekend also included a family-friendly picnic on the museum grounds.

— Mandy Miles

1. Actor Clifton Truman Daniel, portraying his grandfather, President Harry S. Truman, in a Feb. 19 performance of ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!’ holds a copy of the infamously incorrect headline that ran Nov. 3, 1948 in the Chicago Daily Tribune erroneously proclaiming that Gov. Thomas Dewey had defeated Truman in the 1948 presidential race. CAROL TEDESCO/The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation

2. Presidential descendants from left, Susan Ford Bales, Massee McKinley, Mary Jean Eisenhower and Patricia Taft react to a comment from fellow presidential descendant Clifton Truman Daniel during a moderated discussion on the topic of “Working Across the Aisle: American Bipartisanship,” at the Harry S. Truman Little White House in Key West. CAROL TEDESCO/The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation

3. The lawn of the Truman Little White House in Key West is packed on Feb. 19 for the one-man show ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Harry.’ MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly

4. Clifton Truman Daniel portrays his grandfather, President Harry S. Truman. MANDY MILES/ Keys Weekly is an artist, designer and gemologist who believes in the power of art.