Per a recent, previous post, we are thinking about a brief road trip out of Chicago and love history museums. Has anyone been to the Truman? How many hours would you devote to seeing the museum? How about the Eisenhower in Kansas?

The Truman Museum is great. One can easily spend half a day there. Start with the 45-min introductory film when you arrive.

I was there for only 2 hours (I had time constraints) and certainly could have stayed for another hour or 2.

The Esinhower Museum in Kansas is great, as are all the presidential museums we have been too. If you lived through the presidency and can remember the world events it is especially interesting.

Marshal, maybe I'm not following your post, but KC is not a brief road trip from Chicago!!!

As history museums go, I think that the Steamboat Arabia Museum, the National World War I Museum, and the Jazz & Negro Leagues Museums are far more interesting than the Truman Library.

Keith

In the early 1980s I took a tour of the Truman home in Independence. It was an eye-opening experience. If this tour is still available, make reservations.

Do all that keith suggests but ALSO the Truman...museum AND home. Figure about 3-4 at the museum and 1 at the house. Abaline is a couple of hour drive west and Ike's places are about all that is there. But I stopped more than once to pay respects. I suspect that "brief" mean 5 day weekend?

I think Abilene has quite bit for the size of the community. Specifically for history, the C.W. Parker Carousel, Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad, and the Lebold Mansion would be the most interesting.

That said, there are many interesting, closer Kansas communities.

3-4 at the Truman Library? Sound like a long time to me.

Keith

Don't forget the Natural History Museum at KU in Lawrence so you can see Comanche.
http://nhm.ku.edu/Hdocs/Comanche.html

We've visited the Truman and Eisenhower museums, as well as most of the other presidential museums, and highly recommend them. While we didn't live thru those eras (truman and eisenhower) we still found them interesting as they're a great 'snapshot' of that time in history. Our kids too, while not necessarily into history, found them interesting.

As an aside, for others who may be considering the other pres. museums, we especially enjoyed Reagans, Nixon's and Bush (#41)as we've lived thru their terms. We hope to visit Clinton's this summer.