409601
Harry S. Truman
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“This young man is one on whom I placed the Medal of Honor while I was in the White House."
Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972. 33rd President of the United States. Autograph Letter Signed, Harry S. Truman, on personal stationery, Federal Reserve Bank Building, Kansas City, Missouri, January 13, 1955. With original hand-addressed envelope.
In this letter Truman introduces a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He writes to urge the commandant of the Command & Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to entertain the soldier's idea. In full: “This young man is one on whom I placed the Medal of Honor while I was in the White House. / I'll appreciate it if you will listen to what he has in mind." Truman addressed the envelope by hand and noted in the lower left corner that delivery was to be “By hand." The envelope was never sealed.
The Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, has no record of this letter. Nor does Truman's calendar for January 13, 1955, mention a meeting with a Medal of Honor recipient. Consequently, there is no way to identify the person for whom Truman wrote this letter. But it was not unlike Truman to do things such as this without making note of them.
Truman, who had been an artillery captain himself in World War I, had great respect for dutiful soldiers, and particularly those who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he characterized as the "greatest of medals—one I’d rather earn than be President." He once wrote: "It has been my privilege as President to bestow the Congressional Medal of Honor upon more than a hundred men who have won it. . . . I placed the medal around the neck of a good looking young man in a wheeled chair—with both legs torn off in action. I myself felt like shedding tears when I fastened the medal." In a 1951 diary entry, Truman noted that he did not deserve an award that he had just received, "but that's the case in most awards. But not in those Congressional Medals of Honor I awarded yesterday to the survivors of five Korean heroes. Hope I'll not have to do that again. I'm a damned sentimentalist and I could hardly hold my voice steady when I gave a medal to a widow or a father for heroism in action."
Truman has penned this letter boldly in black fountain pen. The letter is in excellent condition, with normal mailing folds and slight toning at along bottom. The envelope is toned but has never been sealed and is in excellent condition as well.
Unframed.
This item has been sold.
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