Extensive article about the influence of Chester Franklin (1880-1955), "the African-American publisher of 'The Call,' a black Kansas City newspaper," starting in 1919, on future president Harry Truman (1884-1972), along with other "contradictory interpretations of Truman's attitudes toward African Americans." Photos and description of Franklin, born in 1880 in Texas, growing up "in all-black Nicodemus, Kansas," and arriving in Kansas City in 1913, a conservative anti-Democrat.