PRESIDENT TRUMAN APPOINTS THE FUTURE PGA DIRECTOR, ROBERT CREASEY, AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR

HARRY S. TRUMAN (1884-1972).  Truman was the Thirty-Third President. 

DS. 1pg. 16 ½” x 12 ½”. December 21, 1950. Washington.  A document signed “Harry S Truman” as President and co-signed “Maurice J. Tobin” as Secretary of Labor.  Truman appointed Robert T. Creasey the Assistant Secretary of Labor.  Creasey later became the executive director of the Professional Golfers Association.  The Truman signature is bit light and there is some skipping, although the Tobin is dark and there is a bright gold seal.  The entire document is neatly glued down to a board and there is light toning around the margins, perhaps from a previous framing.  The condition is good to very good.

PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN AWARDS AND SIGNS LEGION OF MERIT TO A SOVIET SOLDIER

HARRY TRUMAN (1884-1974). Truman served as the 33^rd President.

TDS. 1 pg. 8” x 10” N.d. White House. A typed document signed “Harry S Truman” as President: “CITATION FOR LEGION OF MERIT Degree of Legionnaire Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Stapanovitch Sergeeff, 20th Budapest Guard Infantry Corps, Red Army, displayed exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services contributing materially to the success of combined operations in Europe”. The Legion of Merit is a military award of the United States Armed Forces for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.” The award can be issued to members of the eight uniformed branches of the United States Armed Forces, but also to military and political figures of foreign governments. It is seventh in order of precedence of all U.S. military awards. Notable recipients of the Legion of Merit include Joe Louis, Colin Powell, King George VI, Chiang Kai-shek, Charles De Gaulle, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and Narendra Modi. Given how quickly U.S.-Soviet relations deteriorated after World War II, it is likely this specific citation was awarded in the early years of the presidency of Harry Truman. The document is in fine condition.

DURING THE POST-WORLD WAR II ECONOMIC FUNK, PRESIDENT TRUMAN ASKS BANKER EDWARD HOPKINSON TO JOIN AN ECONOMIC COMMITTEE

HARRY S. TRUMAN (1884-1972). Truman was the Thirty-Third President, serving in that role during the end of World War Two and in the post-war period.

TLS. 1pg. June 17, 1946. The White House, Washington. A typed letter signed “Harry S Truman” as President on official “The White House” letterhead. In the wake of World War Two, Truman wrote to investment banker Edward Hopkinson Jr. of Drexel and Company, asking him to serve on a Presidential economic committee. “Dear Mr. Hopkinson: It is of vital importance to our country and to the stabilization of the international economy, that we proceed as rapidly as possible with another of the major objectives of our reconversion program: namely, to tie in our national productive capacity with the world’s reconstruction requirements. The conduct and financing of our foreign trade should be handled by private industry with the cooperation and such assistance as is necessary from the proper Government agencies. I am asking you to serve on a committee of 12 leading industrialists and bankers to draft a report on the problem, and recommendations for handling it, to be presented to the National Advisory Council which has the duty of preparing a definite plan of procedure. I do not hesitate to ask for your time and effort because it is a service which the country and the world gravely need at this time. A list of the members of this Advisory Committee is attached and I hop you will wire me your acceptance. Sincerely yours, Harry S Truman”. A typed list of committee members is also included, as is the telegram by which Hopkinson accepted Truman’s invitation.  All three pieces are in very good condition with some toning.

AN ARCHIVE OF SIX DOCUMENTS FROM HARRY TRUMAN’S EARLY POLITICAL CARER IN JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI

HARRY TRUMAN (1884-1972). Truman was the Thirty-Third President.

1926. 6 pieces. An archive of documents relating to one of Harry Truman’s earliest political campaigns. One item in the archive is an expense report, dated August 11, 1926 and twice signed “Harry S Truman”. The other items include a brief letter to Truman, from Ernest Jackson. “Mr. Harry Truman Dear Friend :- Enclosed find the list of names for judges & clerks for the different precincts of Van Buren Twp…Hoping these good Democrats will all be appointed. I am so ever Your Friend Ernest Jackson”. There are also four typed pages giving the above-mentioned list of judges and clerks. All items are in very good condition. There are scattered rust stains from paperclips, and one typed list has small tears that do not affect any text. In 1926, Truman would be elected Presiding Judge of Jackson County, in Missouri’s Eastern District. This was his second-ever political position. Therefore, this unusual memorabilia is from the very start of a future President’s political career.

PRESIDENT TRUMAN PRESENTS THE CERTIFICATE OF MERIT TO DR. LOUIS JORDAN, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF WORLD WAR II’S WAR METALLURGY COMMITTEE AND THE WAR METALLURGY DIVISION OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH COMMITTEE

HARRY S. TRUMAN (1884-1972).  Truman was the Thirty-Third President. 

DS. 1pg. 11” x 10”. March 1, 1948. Washington.  A document signed “Harry S Truman” as President and co-signed “Owen J. Roberts” as the Chairman of the Medal for Merit Board.  Truman awarded Dr. Louis Jordan the Certificate of Merit “for outstanding fidelity and meritorious conduct in aid of the war effort against the common enemies of the United States and its Allies in World War II”.  Owen Roberts served on the Supreme Court from 1930 to 1945.  The accompany letter state that Dr. Jordan served as the Executive Director “of both the War Metallurgy Committee of the National Research Council and of the War Metallurgy Division of the National Defense Research Committee, which proved to be an invaluable contribution to the war effort of the United States” from January 1942 to June 1946.  The famous scientist Linus Pauling once wrote to Jordan about the use of metal alloys to build hypervelocity guns.  The document has light curling along the top edge but is in fine condition with a four inch long Truman autograph.

PRESIDENT TRUMAN WRITES TO RUTH BRYAN OWEN, AMERICA’S FIRST WOMAN AMBASSADOR: “I AM FAMILIAR WITH YOUR GREAT INTEREST IN THE UNITED NATIONS AND YOUR EFFORT TO INFORM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON THE NECESSITY FOR AN ASSOCIATION OF NATIONS FOR PEACE”

HARRY TRUMAN (1884-1972). Truman was the Thirty-Third President.

TLS. 1pg. 7” x 9”. October 5, 1949. The White House, Washington. A typed letter signed “Harry S Truman” as President on “The White House” stationery.  Truman wrote to Ruth Bryan (Owen) Rohde, the famous daughter of William Jennings Bryan: “I can’t tell you how very much I appreciated your good letter of September thirtieth.  I am familiar with your great interest in the United Nations and your effort to inform the American people on the necessity for an association of nations for peace.  I know you will do an excellent job.”  Owen was twice elected to the House of Representatives and was the first woman appointed as an ambassador when FDR, in 1933, sent her to Denmark and Iceland.  After World War II, she attended the San Francisco Conference that established the United Nations and, in 1948, President Truman made her an alternate delegate to the United Nations.  The letter is in very fine condition with a horizontal mailing fold.