In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents, and Congressional pensions were not approved until 1946, after Truman had left the Senate, so he received no pension for his Senate service.[303] Truman, behind the scenes, lobbied for a pension, writing to congressional leaders that he had been near penury but for the sale of family farmlands, and in February 1958, in the first televised interview of a former US president that aired on CBS, Truman claimed that "If I hadn't inherited some property that finally paid things through, I'd be on relief right now."[292] That year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 (equivalent to $234,804 in 2021) yearly pension to each former president, and it is likely that Truman's claim to be in difficult financial straits played a role in the law's enactment.[304] The only other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money; reportedly, he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman.[305]
Truman's net worth improved further in 1958 when he and his siblings sold most of the family farm to a Kansas City real estate developer.