Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman delivered campaign speeches at the Court House during his senate campaigns in 1934 and 1940. The 1934 campaign was open in southeast Missouri and New Madrid was one of the early campaign stops. In his 1934 speech Truman developed the themes that would later position him as a leader of the Democratic Party, championing the farmers, workers and the “New Deal” policies of the Roosevelt Administration. The 1940 campaign speech declared that national defense would be his top priority. Truman’s second senate nomination was supported by New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney J.V. Conran, who proved to be a strong ally in that very close Senate primary race. “I am deeply affected that the good people of a part of Missouri most remote from my home town did me such a singular honor,” Truman said.