Henry Kissinger accepts Truman award in Kansas City

On his third visit to the Kansas City area, Henry Kissinger told Thursday of how he met former president Harry S. Truman more than 50 years ago.

Kissinger was working for John F. Kennedy at the White House then. He told Truman that the president couldn’t accomplish everything he wanted to because of Washington’s powerful bureaucracy.

Truman’s answer: “Bulls--t.”

Kissinger told the story while accepting the 2016 Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award at the 17th annual Wild About Harry dinner at the Muehlebach Tower of the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.

The event, hosted by the Truman Library Institute, was attended by more than 850 people, including Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander and Jackson County Executive Frank White.

Kissinger said he admired how Truman had led the U.S. to “totally defeat” Germany and Japan but then included them in the community of nations.

“It’s such a noble sentiment,” Kissinger said. “And I like to think that only Americans would do that.”

Clifton Truman Daniel, the former president’s eldest grandson, presented the award to Kissinger, 92, who was secretary of state from September 1973 to January 1977.

Daniel, like others at the dinner, tried to imagine what Truman would have said about the current presidential primary season. Daniel said it probably wouldn’t be repeatable in polite company.

Political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann also appeared at the dinner.

The Truman Library Institute is the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence. Since 2000, the annual dinner has generated more than $4 million for library exhibits and programs.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Henry Kissinger accepts Truman award in Kansas City."