HARRY TRUMAN | Lauren Bacall

At Truman's piano, under framed photo of Bacall.
Photo by L Feinberg.

February 24, 2019–I visited the National Press Club last week.  

The Club still has the piano that President Truman was playing when Lauren Bacall was sitting atop it, on February 10, 1945. 

On a visit to the National Press Club in Washington to entertain members of the armed services, Bacall sat on the top of a piano while Vice President Harry S. Truman played some music.

Lauren Bacall (L) and President Truman,
Feb. 10, 1945. Photo by Charlie Enfield.

The photo series got even more attention when Truman became president later that year, after the death of FDR. 

The idea for the photos came from Bacall’s press agent, Charlie Enfield, who was also the publicity chief at her movie studio, Warner Bros. He prompted her to pose with Truman.

I reenacted the scene with my college contemporary, Larry Feinberg. Instead of sitting on the piano, we let the Bacall-Truman photo do that work and Larry was the photographer. Feinberg was on the staff of the Harvard Crimson and went on to work for the Washington Post for many years before leading research for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

It was Harry Truman who famously recommended to Washington newcomers: "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Alice and I have a dog, a hero dog, Hachikō (see https://nyctimetraveler.blogspot.com/2016/05/hero-dog-is-hachiko-part-wookiee.html).