Harry R. Truman

Harry R. Truman was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector. He lived near Mount St. Helens, a volcano in the Cascade Range in the state of Washington, and was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the base of the mountain. After Mount St. Helens awoke from dormancy in March 1980, Truman became a folk hero in the weeks leading to the volcano's May eruption, refusing to evacuate his home despite repeated orders from authorities. He believed the dangers of eruption had been exaggerated by "those goddamn geologists". On May 18, 1980, Truman was killed in the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under 150 ft (46 m) of volcanic debris.