Presidents’ Day Weekend in Key West to be celebrated with “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!” stage performances and community picnic

Presidents’ Day Weekend in Key West to be celebrated with “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!” stage performances and community picnic

In celebration of Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 18-21, The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation

is pleased to present the acclaimed stage production of “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!” in its Key West, Florida, debut, along with a Presidents’ Day cookout, all taking place outdoors on the grounds of the Harry S. Truman Little White House at 111 Front Street.

Advance ticket demand for the originally scheduled February 18, “Give ‘Em Hell Harry” performance has warranted the addition of a February 19 encore event. Both evening’s performances will begin at 4:00pm and run until 6:00pm, with a short intermission.

Written by Samuel Gallu, the stage production of “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!” premiered in 1975 at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. Actor Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of 33^rd U.S. President Harry S. Truman, has been starring in the one-man-show since 2017 and is, notably, the first direct descendant to portray a presidential ancestor in a stage production of this kind.

Seating will be arranged at well-spaced “bistro tables” to accommodate social distancing, with the performances followed by a cocktail Q&A session (cash bar) with Daniel. Tickets for the stage show and meet-and-greet reception are $180 per two-person table and $360 per four-person table, with discounts available to Foundation members.

On Monday, February 21, Foundation members and the community are invited to enjoy a lunchtime Presidents’ Day cookout with a choice of traditional burger, bean burger or hotdog accompanied by chips, a cookie and a beverage, for $8.00 per person. Attendees are welcome to bring their own blanket for seating on the Key West Little White House grounds.

February’s Presidents’ Day Weekend events are presented by The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation with the support of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council and the National Fire Sprinkler Association. For tickets and information visit www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.org/foundation/events/.

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An interview with Clifton Truman Daniel, star of February’s “Give ‘Em Hell Harry” production at the Harry S. Truman Little White House

On Friday, February 18, the highly acclaimed stage production “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!” which spotlights

the life and presidency of Harry S. Truman, is to have its Key West, Florida, debut. Advance ticket demand has been so enthusiastic that Friday’s performance is already sold out and a second performance has been added for Saturday, February 19. Both will run from 4:00-6:00pm with a brief intermission.

What makes this production of “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!” of particular significance is that it represents a unique convergence of elements: it will take place on the grounds of the Key West Harry S. Truman Little White House, where the 33^rd U.S. President spent 11 working vacations from 1945-53, and the actor portraying him is Truman’s own grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel.

Written by Samuel Gallu, the stage production of “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!” premiered at Washington D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre in 1975. Daniel, a professional actor with more than a dozen stage and TV credits, has been starring in the one-man-show since 2017. He is, notably, the first direct descendant to portray a presidential ancestor in a stage production of this kind.

But “actor” is only one facet of Daniel’s life and work. He is author of “Dear Harry, Love Bess: Bess Truman’s Letters to Harry Truman, 1919-1943” and “Growing up with My Grandfather: Memories of Harry S. Truman.” He has worked as a news writer and editor and is a Fellow of “Hibakusha Stories,” a United Nations NGO (non-governmental organization), working to bring attention to Japan’s “Hibakusha” – or “bomb-affected-people” – both their personal stories as survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima bombings and the goal of a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons. Today he also serves as Vice President of the recently formed Society of Presidential Descendants, a membership organization for individuals with direct lineage to one or more of the forty-six United States Presidents.

Daniel  “didn’t go into the family business,” he says, until reaching his 30s, having stepped away to pursue his own career and focus on his own family.

Q: What was the impetus for becoming involved both with your family legacy and eventually the founding of The Society of Presidential Descendants?

CTD: In regards to my family, one day my mother basically said, “It’s your turn. You’re old enough.” She was tired of being the designated Truman and packed me off on a fundraising trip with a Truman Library board member who was an old family friend, and that’s how it started.

The seed for the Society of Presidential Descendants probably goes back to about 2010, when Margaret Hoover and I did a presentation at the Little White House focused on the friendship between my grandfather and her great-grandfather, the 31^st U.S. president Herbert Hoover. The following year, we invited Margaret back with her husband/event moderator John Avlon, plus Susan Ford Bales, daughter of president Gerald Ford, and Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of president Lyndon Johnson, and that was more or less the beginning of the annual Presidential Descendants weekend events in Key West.

Over time, as different gatherings brought presidential descendants together, we’d crack jokes and say, “we should start a club.” A few years ago, Massey McKinnley, who is great-great grandson of President Grover Cleveland and great-great nephew of President William McKinley, took our joking to the next level and started compiling a list of descendants. It was he and Tweed Roosevelt—great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt—who became the real drivers of the idea and made it happen, complete with a board of trustees, a mission to promote educational opportunities, and a Biennial Presidential Leadership Book Award, which we presented for the first time this past October.

It’s a non-partisan group; Democrats and Republicans, we all get along. When you’re the descendant of a president, it doesn’t seem to matter if you are a close descendant or a great-great-great grandchild; the job seems to be the same. You have this two-fold opportunity; you take care of your ancestor’s legacy, but you also try to do something positive with it on your own.

Q: How did you decide to use your creative skill set to become a family historian?

CTD: It wasn’t intentional! I spent first 15 years of my working life as a feature writer in Wilmington, NC, then the next 14 or 15 working in public relations in Chicago. After taking an early retirement, I was wondering what to do with myself when a friend, Gary Katz, suggested I give talks about my grandfather. The next thing I knew, he had several talks lined up for me in Boca Raton. He should have been an agent. I’ve been going back and doing that every year for the past decade. And that’s how it started – giving a talk about what it was like growing up around my grandparents.

Q: What are some memories about your grandfather and your relationship that most stand out to you?

CTD: As a kid I knew Harry and Bess as my grandparents and of course, that was great; grandparents spoil you and they’re fun to be around. In school it’s all about dates, events and history. After I began to rediscover my grandfather in my mid-30s, I didn’t rediscover him as a president, I rediscovered the human being. He and my grandmother; they were thoroughly decent, principled, hardworking, empathetic people. Both with a good sense of humor and both of who really liked other human beings – liked to be around people, liked to do things for other people. They were like that throughout their lives, and that’s where my focus has been— more on family. Not so much the dates, the times, the places, but what they were doing, what they were thinking, and what they were feeling when all these things happened.

Q: Along with the creative content it provides for your work, how does being a descendant define YOU?

CTD: I don’t know that I ever thought of it that way. I’m lucky enough to have had a grandfather who was not only president but a good human being, with a good sense of humor and who told a good story. It’s fun to have the material. As far as it defining me, I’m just happiest when it’s working. Like the Society of Presidential Descendants; part of what we are seeking to do is just remind people of some of the things we seem to have lost, and I mean as human beings and in a wider sense of the world— who we are and who we can be. To remind us all of what good leadership is and how people ought to behave toward one another. The civility. The nonpartisanship. All of that.

Seating for “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!” will be at “bistro tables,” spaced to accommodate social distancing. The performances will be followed by a cocktail Q&A session (cash bar) with Daniel.

Friday and Saturday’s, “Give ‘Em Hell Harry!” productions at the Harry S. Truman Little White House, 111 Front Street, as well as a lunchtime Presidents’ Day picnic on Monday, February 21, are presented by The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation with the support of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council and the National Fire Sprinkler Association. Tickets for the stage show and meet-and-greet reception are $180 per two-person table and $360 per four-person table, with discounts available to Foundation members. For tickets and information visit www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.org/foundation/events/.

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