Harry S. Truman Original Historic Letters and Documents

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Topic

Human Aspect

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Manuscripts (30)

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Harry Truman on Margaret, His Memoirs, and

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 2507

Former President Harry Truman writes of his pride in his daughter's singing career and jokes with former Secretary of State and dear friend Dean Acheson, about passing the buck to him for editorial corrections to the former president's memoirs.
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Truman on the Press

Truman on the Press

December 26, 1953

Autograph Letter Signed

4 pages

SMC 1410

Truman complains to Acheson that Republican papers across the country were coddling Eisenhower and serving as “mouthpieces” for Joe McCarthy, calling it the "age of hysteria."
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Former PresidentHarry Truman on President John F. Kennedy's Handling of Racial Violence and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Autograph Letter Signed

3 pages

SMC 1426

Harry Truman suggests that the explosive situations in Mississippi and Cuba could have been avoided with appropriate, decisive presidential action from Kennedy, whom he refers to here not by name but only as "the man in charge," and "the man in the White House
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Harry Truman Seeks to Protect His Legacy

Autograph Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 1419

Former President Harry Truman writes to his dear friend and former Secretary of State Dean Acheson to push back against historians and communists about what really happened in the Truman White House.
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Truman Accepts the Resignation of His

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 1407

Truman tells his newly-resigned Secretary of State Dean Acheson that he was more courageous and judicious than Thomas Jefferson and William H. Seward.
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Harry Truman, From His Place of

Autograph Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 693

In this letter to Acheson, Truman remarks that he wanted to “punch the publisher” who wrote negatively of Dean Acheson and George Marshall, his friends and former secretaries of state. He chastises the “so called ‘free press’” and bemoans having to enduring criticisms while administering the “terrible responsibility” of the presidency.
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Harry Truman Refers to Himself as an

Autograph Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 695

Harry Truman refers to his humble roots as he objects to high ticket prices for the upcoming Democratic dinner, contrasting himself to the current President, John F. Kennedy.
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Truman on the Recognition of the Jewish State and the

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 370

Two days into the Israeli War of Independence, Harry Truman thanks a rabbi for his offer to assist the President, and refers to the fledgling state's situation as "very dark."
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Harry Truman Declares

Autograph Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 646

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Palestine, Truman Says, is a “Matter of Considerable Disturbance” to be Determined by U.N.

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 686

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President Harry Truman Refers to Life in the White House as

Typed Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 690

Truman, like other presidents, conceives of the role and constraints of the presidency as being like a "jail." Here, Truman explicitly calls the presidency a jail, referring to his inability to go on a trip to Panama with a friend.
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President Harry Truman Writes about the Assassination Attempt on His Life Just the Day Before

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 691

The day after a second assassination attempt in November of 1950, President Harry Truman expresses his fury at the stupidity of the would-be assassins, and mourns the two guards killed.
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President Harry Truman Defends Atomic Bombing of Japan as

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 367

Harry Truman defends his use of the atomic bomb, reasoning that the only language the Japanese understand is that of extreme force.
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Harry Truman:

Autograph Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 369

Harry Truman had eventually been won over by the young John F. Kennedy, whom Truman regarded as young, inexperienced, and up for office because his father bought him the vote. Writing about the election of the first Catholic president, Truman claims that it makes no difference what one's religious affiliation is, as long as the Constitution is defended.
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Two Days After Unleashing a Tempest by Firing MacArthur, President Truman Writes to a Journalist

Autograph Note Signed

1 page

SMC 699

President Truman writes to Merriman Smith, perhaps in response to something Smith had said to the President, a prediction, seemingly, about the great news of the day – Truman’s firing of MacArthur two days before – that inspired this note, with which Truman apparently forwarded “an interesting piece” he had run across in his hometown paper.
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Truman, About to Implement the Truman Doctrine in Greece, Calls Greek-American Politicians

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 1401

President Truman, who was about to deploy the Truman Doctrine in Greece in order to fight the first proxy Cold War against a communist takeover of that country, expresses reservations about appointing a Greek-American to oversee the distribution of funds to anti-communist factions in Greece.
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He's

Autograph Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 1406

Truman initially regarded Kennedy as as young, inexperienced, and up for office because his father bought him the vote. Here, Truman supports Kennedy's handling of the Berlin crisis, which saw the city divided between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Rather than seeing Kennedy's actions as weak, he praised the President's leadership in buying time with the Soviets in order to retain control of half the city.
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Harry Truman Presents Supreme Court Chief Justice Vinson With a Gavel Having

Typed Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 680

Harry Truman presents the Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson with a gavel made from the Jefferson Tree at Fulton Missouri. Here, Truman tells the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, "Tip" Tipton how pleased both he and Vinson are with the gavel and its "historical connections."
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Harry Truman Tells How He Learned He Became the President: FDR's Death, He Says, Was a Complete Surprise

Typed Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 684

In this letter to Louis Reed (an administrative assistant to a West Virginia senator), Harry Truman reassures him that at the time they met, Truman had no idea that Roosevelt had died, and that he'd be ascending the presidency. It was as much of a surprise to Truman as to anyone else.
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A Historic Memo: Harry Truman Salutes Dean Acheson's Crucial Role in Going to War With Korea

Autograph Note Signed

2 pages

SMC 685

President Harry Truman commends Dean Acheson as Secretary of State for superbly handling events leading up to the Korean War.
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Shortly After Firing General MacArthur, President Truman Writes of His

Autograph Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 428

In the days following MacArthur's dismissal, and all of the upheaval surrounding it, President Truman thanks his Secretary of State Dean Acheson for his unwavering support and friendship.
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Harry Truman Looks at the Potsdam Conference 12 Years Later: An Astonishing Appraisal of What Went Wrong

Autograph Letter Signed

8 pages

SMC 429

Knowing that his papers would be released for reporters to examine his version of the Potsdam Conference twelve years prior, Harry Truman paints a revisionist history of what happened and what went wrong.
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It Was His Boyhood Reading, Harry Truman Recalls, That Prepared Him for When His

Autograph Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 430

Harry Truman, the only U.S. President of the 20th century who did not receive a university education, reflects on how his childhood love of reading and self-education prepared him for his sudden ascent to the presidency.
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Harry Truman Letter Written as Vice-President But Signed as President with

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 585

A letter from Harry Truman written as Vice President, then amended by hand as President, mentioning the "terrible responsibilities" that are now his. Truman had started this letter in the morning, as vice president, but by the evening, had ascended the presidency, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death that day.
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Harry Truman,

Autograph Letter Signed

2 pages

SMC 591

Truman is frustrated yet optimistic in this letter. On one hand, neither Kennedy nor Nixon were, in his opinion, desirable candidates. On the other hand, Truman concedes, this is probably how the "oldsters" felt in 1828, 1840, 1852, and 1860, when those elections changed the course of American politics. Ultimately, he posits America came out "on top" in these other elections and will in this one as well.
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Harry Truman Writes General Hap Arnold About FDR's Death, Two and a Half Weeks Before, as

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 694

Two weeks after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death, Harry Truman is still reeling from the shock and his new role with all its responsibilities.
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President Harry Truman Says

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 154

As Truman winds down his time in the White House, he confides to the mother of one of his best staffers that "it will be a relief to get out of Washington."
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Harry Truman Muses on Presidential Succession and Disability

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 1415

In this remarkable letter, Truman, who inherited the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, muses to his ex-Secretary of State about presidential succession in the case of death, or even disability.
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Harry Truman Reads John Nicolay and John Hay on Abraham Lincoln, As He Tries to Write History of Presidency

Typed Letter Signed

1 page

SMC 1417

Harry Truman gratefully accepts the complete works of Lincoln, which he sees as a great help to his research on the history of the presidency.
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