Description:

Truman Harry

President Harry S. Truman Korean War Dated TLS to former U.S. Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson

 

1p TLS on "The White House, Washington" letterhead signed by sitting President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) as “Harry S. Truman” in black ball point pen at center right. Written in Washington, D.C. on July 13, 1951. The watermarked pistachio colored bifold paper is stamped in the upper right corner, and has several partially erased pencil inscriptions at top. With expected paper folds and a light paper clip ghost impression in the upper left corner, else near fine. Each page measures 6.875" x 8.875". Accompanied by a matching "The White House" envelope stapled verso.

 

President Truman wrote former U.S. Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson: "Dear Louis: Thanks a lot for yours of the twelfth enclosing a handwritten note from Sam Pryor. I am most happy to have it. Sincerely yours, Harry S. Truman."

 

Louis A. Johnson (1891-1966), a World War I army veteran and trained lawyer, served as FDR's Assistant Secretary of War between 1937-1940. He had served as chief fundraiser for Truman's 1948 presidential election campaign, and was appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense in March 1949. Truman asked for Johnson's resignation in September 1950 following negative public reaction to the Korean War, then in its first stalemated months. Johnson then returned to private law practice at the Washington, D.C.-based firm of Steptoe & Johnson. 

 

"Sam Pryor" almost certainly referred to aviation industrialist Samuel F. Pryor, Jr. (1898-1985). A Yale University graduate, Republican National Committee regional officer, and successful industrialist, Pryor was a Pan-American Airways executive between 1941-1965. President Truman had awarded Pryor the Medal of Merit for the latter's role in constructing international airbases during World War II. It is likely that Truman, Johnson, and Pryor knew each other through their defense connections.

 

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