One thing the files make clear is that, when Truman succeeded to the presidency, his net worth was fairly negligible. Truman had made very little money prior to becoming a United States senator in 1935 at the age of 50. Truman’s previous occupations included running the family farm in his 20s and early 30s before joining the Army during World War I. After the war, he owned and operated a men’s clothing store in Kansas City. This business failed after three years, leaving Truman with debts that he would spend more than a decade trying to pay down.
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In sum, if we disregard the book contract he signed a month after leaving the White House, Truman’s estimate of his net worth when he departed the presidency was approximately $650,000. Simply adjusted for inflation, that $650,000 is equivalent to $6.6 million today. But this latter figure fails to capture the fact that America is a vastly wealthier nation now than it was then. Consider that in 1953, the 99th percentile of household net worth was approximately $125,000. Meanwhile, in 2020, the comparable figure was about $11.1 million. In other words, to be as rich today relative to other Americans as Truman was in 1953, a person would have to have a net worth of around $58 million.
