From the Archives Archives

TRU History | March 16, 2016

Truman’s Supreme Court Justices

Harry Truman filled four vacancies on the Supreme Court during his eight years as president. Those he appointed included a Republican Senator, his Secretary of the Treasury, his Attorney General, and a judge from the Seventh District Court of Appeals. How did Truman decide who to appoint to the highest court in the land? And how did the Senate and press respond to President Truman’s Supreme Court nominees?

This Day In History | March 12, 2016

THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Truman Doctrine Announced: March 12, 1947

On this day in 1947, President Harry S. Truman asked for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey. “It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures,” Truman declared. “If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world — and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation.”

In asserting that the U.S. would intervene in faraway conflicts, President Truman dramatically reoriented U.S. foreign policy. What went into writing the Truman Doctrine speech?
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Presidential Proclamation | March 1, 2016

Proclamation 2718: “I Am An American Day”

March 1, 1947

Whereas the rise of the United States of America to a place of eminence among nations in less than two centuries has been greatly enhanced by the migration to its shores of pioneering, freedom-loving peoples; and

From the Archives | February 10, 2016

PICTURING HISTORY: February 10, 1945

Harry S. Truman had been Vice President of the United States for only a few weeks when he showed up on February 10, 1945, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. He had agreed to take part in a show for some 800 servicemen. For his part of the show, Truman sat down at an upright piano to demonstrate his talent at the keyboard.

TRU HISTORY | February 9, 2016

Kefauver Defeats Truman

Every four years, presidential hopefuls and political pollsters travel to New Hampshire for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. In January 1952, however, Harry Truman was not campaigning for another term as president. So how did he come in second in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary?

FROM THE ARCHIVES | January 22, 2016

This Day in History: January 22, 1946

President Truman Creates the National Intelligence Authority and the Central Intelligence Group: The Documents

Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at The National Archives in College Park, for The National Archives Text Message Blog.

A Look at Truman’s Influence on the Conclusion of World War II | January 15, 2016

World War II has become a core aspect of both United States and World History. It is a subject that returns to our minds and hearts annually as lessons from the Holocaust, knowledge of the atomic bomb, and world relations post-war circle back into our news-stream and moral consciousness.

A Look at Truman’s Influence on the Conclusion of World War II

PASSAGES | January 11, 2016

GEORGE M. ELSEY

Former senior advisor to President Truman dies at 97

We were saddened to learn that one of two surviving members of President Truman’s inner circle passed at the turning of the year. Military adviser to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, George Elsey last visited the Truman Library in 2007. We asked: “If Harry Truman walked through his Library today, what do you think he’d be most proud of?”

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS | January 8, 2016

12 Amazing WWII Artifacts in the Truman Collection

Rarely Viewed documents, photos and objects headed back to the Truman vault

Till We Meet Again, the Truman Library’s exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, closed this week, but we won’t soon forget the stories behind these 12 rarely-exhibited items from the Truman collection.

Hanukkah at The White House | December 7, 2015