WILD ABOUT HARRY 2024

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Wild About Harry is celebrating 25 years!

Muehlebach TowerKansas City Marriott Downtown
1213 Wyandotte, Kansas City, Missouri

HONORARY CHAIRS ★ David Von Drehle & the late Karen Ball (1961-2023)
EVENT CHAIRS ★ Merilyn & Dr. Loren Berenbom

 

Join us on April 18 for Wild About Harry, the premier fundraising event benefiting Harry S. Truman’s presidential library and legacy. Enjoy a sparkling social hour featuring an open bar, craft cocktails and live music. Your chef-curated three-course dinner will be paired with an entertaining program celebrating courageous leadership, American democracy, and President Truman’s enduring legacy.

Now a Kansas City tradition, Wild About Harry is known for bringing our nation’s thought and opinion leaders to the site that once served as President Truman’s political headquarters. Featured guests have included presidential descendants, celebrity journalists, award-winning historians, presidential advisers and cabinet members, congressional legends, and more.

Since its launch, Wild About Harry—the premiere event celebrating and advancing President Truman’s legacy and library—has raised $10 million in support of nationally acclaimed education and outreach programs that foster civic learning and engagement.

In 2010, the Truman Library Institute inaugurated the Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award, now an annual WILD event highlight. Together, the dinner and award ceremony provide invaluable support to the mission that mattered most to President Truman after leaving the White House—establishing his presidential library as a “Classroom for Democracy” where young people, especially, would be inspired and prepared to lead lives of purpose and service.

Whether you love history, love Harry, or just love a great party, you won’t want to miss Wild About Harry!

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Evan Thomas | Best-selling Author, Historian & Journalist

Evan Thomas is a celebrated journalist, historian, and New York Times best-selling author. He has authored 11 books that illuminate pivotal moments and influential personalities in American history, including John Paul Jones, First: Sandra Day O’Connor, Sea of Thunder, and Being Nixon.

Thomas was a writer, correspondent, and editor for 33 years at Time and Newsweek, including 10 years as Newsweek‘s bureau chief. He was pivotal in spearheading Newsweek‘s award-winning coverage on the war on terror from the Washington, D.C. bureau. His reporting and writing on the terror events of September 11 and the Iraq War contributed to Newsweek‘s being honored with the most prestigious awards in the magazine industry—the National Magazine Award for General Excellence for 2002 and 2004. In 2005, his 50,000-word narrative of the 2004 election was honored when Newsweek won a National Magazine Award for the best single topic issue.

He appears regularly on television and radio talk shows and has taught writing and journalism at Harvard and Princeton. His newest book is Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II.

HONOREE

The Hon. Roy Blunt | Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award

Senator Roy Blunt is the Chairman of the Leadership Strategies Advisory Services group at Husch Blackwell Strategies. He is an Executive Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC, Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Geospatial Agency of the U.S. Government and serves on the Boards of Southwest Airlines and Tenet Healthcare. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Danforth Plant Science Center and is a member of the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Senator Blunt’s career in the U.S. Congress includes representing the state of Missouri for 12 years in the United States Senate and 14 years in the United States House of Representatives. Among his many achievements in the Congress, Senator Blunt is one of only two Americans in congressional history to be elected to leadership positions by his colleagues in both the House and the Senate.

In the United States Senate, Roy served as Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Senate Rules Committee and led the Presidential Inaugural Committees for the 45th and 46th Presidents of the United States. In addition, Senator Blunt was a member of the Appropriations and Commerce Committees as well as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

As Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, he prioritized federal funding and resources while also raising awareness on critical issues including increased investment in medical research. Senator Blunt has been recognized by numerous health research advocates for his leadership during the COVID crisis and in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease research and mental health. The National Institutes of Health named the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias in his honor.

Prior to his tenure in Congress, Senator Blunt was a history teacher, a university president, a county official, and Missouri’s Secretary of State.

Senator Blunt is actively involved in promoting and preserving the arts and history. He has served as a member of the Smithsonian Council of American Art, a member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, and currently serves as President of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

 

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LOOK WHO’S WILD ABOUT HARRY

Hats Off to Our 25th Anniversary Sponsors

 

 

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Your Support Matters

Thank you for supporting President Truman’s “Classroom for Democracy.”

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#WAH2024  #WILDABOUTHARRY  @TRUMANLIBINST

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