Mother Machree

“Mother Machree” appears in the account of Harry S. Truman’s first campaign rally as the closing number in an evening of speeches, music, and veteran camaraderie. Sung by Ethel Lee Buxton, it supplied the gathering’s memorable musical finish as Truman began his run for eastern district judge of Jackson County.

Identity and Context

The book identifies “Mother Machree” as the song with which Ethel Lee Buxton closed her performance at the rally. Buxton, from Kansas City, had entertained for the Red Cross in France. Her performance followed “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” making the two songs the evening’s distinct musical sequence.

The gathering took place on March 8, 1922, at an auditorium in Lee’s Summit, two months before Truman’s thirty-eighth birthday. About three hundred people came for speeches, free cigars, and music. Veterans of Battery D were there in force, alongside a sprinkling of Pendergast supporters; Truman was being presented ostensibly as the American Legion candidate.

The Rally’s Musical Highlight

Truman was so unsettled by stage fright that he could barely say he was willing to run. He later recalled that the first meeting had been a flop for him and that he had been more frightened than when he first came under fire in 1918. The account nevertheless says his speech was what the crowd wanted. It singles out Buxton’s singing as the evening’s highlight: she sang “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and closed with “Mother Machree.”

Narrative Significance

The song’s significance in the account is specific and local: it marks the point at which the campaign launch becomes a shared public occasion rather than only Truman’s anxious first appearance before voters. The rally combined veterans’ political participation, music, and the candidate’s tentative introduction; Buxton’s closing number gives that scene its clearest moment of performance and its remembered finish.