Brian Burnes
Freelance Writer
Stories by Brian Burnes
Inside David McCullough’s Relationship with the Truman Library
Here's the inside story of how Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough helped raise the profile of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.
Harry Truman’s Remarkably Fraught First Political Campaign
Harry Truman almost was the president who never was. His first campaign, waged a century ago, was fraught with missteps that could have ended his political career.
Truman, Eisenhower and the Endless Pursuit of UFOs
This summer is the 75th anniversary of the Roswell, New Mexico, alien conspiracy incident. Here's a brief history of our ongoing pursuit of proof aliens have visited Earth.
Memorial Honors Hundreds of Black People in Liberty’s Unmarked Graves
The Liberty African American Legacy Memorial honors 761 Black people who have been confirmed to be interred, mostly in unmarked graves, in the formerly segregated sections of two cemeteries in Liberty.
Family Historians Parse the Past With Newly Released 1950 Census Data
The official release of detailed 1950 Census data for individuals is cause for celebration for folks fascinated by researching family histories.
Recalling Kansas City’s Gilded Age
"The Gilded Age," a new HBO drama, makes several references to Kansas City. Here's a more fact-based account of Kansas City's Gilded Age.
Clay County’s Colorful History Left Some (Land)marks
In 2019 restoration crews began work on a 200-year-old Clay County cabin. They daubed the cabin’s interior walls and stabilized its foundation, inspecting and replacing deteriorated hand-hewn logs. On one of them they noticed a charred spot where flames once had left their signature in the wood. The scorch mark was not a total surprise. …
Record Executive From KC Rejected the Beatles, Scrambled to Get Back
In the early 1960s Kansas City native Dave Dexter Jr., as a record company executive, held the first right of refusal to sign the Beatles in the United States. He rejected them. Here's the story of how he scrambled to get them back.
New Film Documents Legendary KC Ballot Theft Case
A new film premiering this weekend tells the story behind the 1947 blowing of a Jackson County Courthouse safe, making possible the theft of dodgy ballots and contributing to the collapse of a planned vote fraud investigation.
Bringing Back Missing Veterans: ‘Always Loved – Never Forgotten’
Over the past 13 months, at least four families in the Kansas City region have received the remains or relics of family members who served in the military that have been missing for as long as 80 years.