Details
TRUMAN, Harry S. (1884-1972), President. Autograph letter signed ("Harry") as Senator from Missouri, TO BESS TRUMAN, Independence, Missouri, 5 December 1941. 2 pages, 4to (10½ x 7 7/8 in.), Senate stationery, with original envelope, in fine condition.
TWO DAYS BEFORE PEARL HARBOR, TRUMAN WRITES HOME
Truman writes to his wife on what would have been his father's birthday, recounting his recent travels: "Fred and Christine [Wallace, Truman's sister and brother-in-law] were on the platform in Independence as we went through, but we went by so fast I didn't see them nor they me... Talked to Fred about his matter, and to George about the country. John Thompson has turned out to be an ass. Mary told me her troubles & I went by to give the Standard Oil man hell and he was in Chicago." Truman recounts other brief visits with family and friends, concluding "got a haircut too."
Truman reports that his upcoming schedule includes "going to Columbia tomorrow and sleep over Sunday then to Jeff[erson] City." Truman's daughter Margaret recalled her father's whereabouts on December 7th: "On December 7, 1941, my father was in Columbia, Missouri, at a small hotel -- the kind of place he retreated to at the end of the '48 election campaign. Already he had found that the only way he could get any rest was to hole up in an isolated spot on a Sunday" (M. Truman, Harry S. Truman, New York, 1972, pp. 144-145). As Truman later recounted, at about 3 a.m. he was awakened by telephone with the news of the Japanese attack. He packed hurriedly and went to the nearby private airport and begged the owner to fly him to St. Louis. From there he hopped to Chicago, then Pittsburg, where he joined several other Senators anxious to return to Washington. One of them, whom Truman called a "great Republican isolationist," "looked like he'd swallowed a hot stove and that's the way all those anti-preparedness boys looked the next day" (Truman letter to E. Noland, quoted by D. McCullough, Truman, New York, 1992, pp.269-270).
TWO DAYS BEFORE PEARL HARBOR, TRUMAN WRITES HOME
Truman writes to his wife on what would have been his father's birthday, recounting his recent travels: "Fred and Christine [Wallace, Truman's sister and brother-in-law] were on the platform in Independence as we went through, but we went by so fast I didn't see them nor they me... Talked to Fred about his matter, and to George about the country. John Thompson has turned out to be an ass. Mary told me her troubles & I went by to give the Standard Oil man hell and he was in Chicago." Truman recounts other brief visits with family and friends, concluding "got a haircut too."
Truman reports that his upcoming schedule includes "going to Columbia tomorrow and sleep over Sunday then to Jeff[erson] City." Truman's daughter Margaret recalled her father's whereabouts on December 7th: "On December 7, 1941, my father was in Columbia, Missouri, at a small hotel -- the kind of place he retreated to at the end of the '48 election campaign. Already he had found that the only way he could get any rest was to hole up in an isolated spot on a Sunday" (M. Truman, Harry S. Truman, New York, 1972, pp. 144-145). As Truman later recounted, at about 3 a.m. he was awakened by telephone with the news of the Japanese attack. He packed hurriedly and went to the nearby private airport and begged the owner to fly him to St. Louis. From there he hopped to Chicago, then Pittsburg, where he joined several other Senators anxious to return to Washington. One of them, whom Truman called a "great Republican isolationist," "looked like he'd swallowed a hot stove and that's the way all those anti-preparedness boys looked the next day" (Truman letter to E. Noland, quoted by D. McCullough, Truman, New York, 1992, pp.269-270).