There was no precedent in American history for a close personal friendship between a Catholic priest and an American president until Harry S. Truman succeeded Franklin Delano Roosevelt in April 1945. Although a lifelong Baptist, Truman considered Father Curtis Tiernan to be his best friend.
Curtis Tiernan came from a prosperous Irish family in Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating from St. Louis University, he went to Rome in 1906 to study for the priesthood at the North American College. Four years later, he was ordained at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. He celebrated his first Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.
When he returned to the United States, Father Tiernan worked at several parishes in western Missouri.
Meanwhile, Harry Truman, born in Lamar, Missouri, lived in Independence and Grandview. He worked on the family farm in Grandview and dabbled unsuccessfully in mining and oil ventures. By 1916, Truman “had begun to think his knack for failure was hereditary,” wrote historian David McCullough.
Neither Father Tiernan nor Truman knew yet that dramatic changes would occur in their lives when the United States got involved in World War I.
The key to understanding the remarkable friendship between Father Tiernan and Truman was
