Do Music & Presidential Politics Mix? You Bet!
Bill Clinton was neither the first musical president of the United States nor the only one. Both Harry S. Truman and Richard Nixon were excellent piano players.
People were surprised to learn that the former President, Bill Clinton, plays the saxophone. But, several other Presidents of the United States of American were musically gifted, as well.
There are many former presidents who knew how to play instruments. They include:
* John Quincy Adams, who played the flute
* Thomas Jefferson, who played the violin, cello and clavichord
* Abraham Lincoln, who played the violin and harmonica
* John Tyler, who played violin
* Benjamin Franklin, who played both the violin and guitar
* Ronald Reagan, who played the harmonica
* Chester Arthur, who played the banjo
* Franklin Roosevelt, who played the piano
* Richard Nixon, who played both the piano and accordion
* Harry S.Truman, who played piano
* Woodrow Wilson, who played the violin.
Quite a few political leaders in the USA and abroad have been music lovers and accomplished instrumentalists. This supports the empirical belief that there is a relationship between intelligence and music.
Harry Truman once said about his music, “I missed being a musician, and the real reason I missed being one is because I wasn’t good enough.” He was president from 1945 to 1953.
The one who encouraged his love of music, reading, and history was his beloved mother, Martha Ellen Young. The young Truman was taught piano first by his mother, and then by a music teacher she hired to give the boy two lessons a week until he gave it up. Each day, Truman said, he awoke at 5:00 a.m. and practiced for a couple of hours before going to school. His mother showed disappointment when he decided, at age 15, to stop playing. His lessons became too expensive for him to continue, so Truman stopped taking them.
In 1945, his spouse announced that it was time for him to stop playing the piano. This was because someone published a picture of him playing the piano with an attractive, young Lauren Bacall perched on top of the instrument. At that time, Truman was Vice President, and the country was aware that he was a skilled pianist. He was known to have proficiently played music from famous composers including Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, just to name a few. Many people believed he could only play music like “Missouri Waltz”, but in reality he didn’t care for that type of music.
Actually, Truman thought about becoming a concert pianist when he was young. Even though he did not pursue his dream, he always kept a piano in his homes. For the rest of his life, Harry S. Truman played the piano for his friends, but he also played because it gave him a sense of peace. Former President Richard Nixon performed for Harry Truman once while making a visit to the White House.
In one of his most often quoted statements about his piano playing skills, Truman said that his choice was to be either a politician or a piano player in a whorehouse. He joked that there was very little difference. Other sources quote him as saying, “More than likely, if I hadn’t been President of the United States, I’d have ended up playing piano in a bawdy house.” His statements prove how much he loved to play the piano.
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