Description:

Truman Harry

President Harry Truman compares himself to Thomas Jefferson!

 

"... if am unconstitutional so was old Tom - but don't think either of us have been."

 

Typed Letter Signed by Harry Truman as President, One page of a bi-fold, 7" x 9", dated May 19, 1952, on The White House, Washington, letterhead stationery, to Secretary of the Treasury, John W. Snyder. Signed by Harry Truman as "Harry". Fine condition. It reads (in full):

 

"Dear John:

 

1 am enclosing you copy of a letter which Thomas Jefferson wrote to J. B. Colvin. This is the letter! was telling you about yesterday when you were at the House.

You will see that if I am unconstitutional so was old Tom - but! don't think either of us have been.

 

Sincerely yours,

Harry.

 

Honorable John W. Snyder

Secretary of the Treasury

Department of the Treasury

Washington, D. C."

 

Present is the five page typescript of Thomas Jefferson's September 20, 1810, letter to J. B. Colvin enclosed by President Truman, as copied "from 'The Writings of Thomas Jefferson,' Vol. XI!!," which states in part, "The question you propose, whether circumstances do not sometimes occur, which make it a duty in officers of high trust, to assume authorities beyond the law, is easy of solution in principle, but sometimes embarrassing in practice. A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means..."

 

On April 8, 1952, President Truman took control of the steel industry in order to avert a nationwide strike.  The labor contract between the United Steelworkers Union and U.S. steel manufacturers had expired on December 31, 1951. The Wage Stabilization Board ruled that workers should be given a 26 cent per hour raise, but steel manufacturers refused to grant the raise because the Office of Price Stabilization would not raise the price of steel. Negotiations stalled and the President feared that a strike would cripple the country's war effort in Korea. With a strike set to begin at midnight on April 8th, he decided to take control of the steel industry. In a radio and television address on the night of April 8, 1952, President Truman declared, "Our national security and our chances for peace depend on our defense production. Our defense production depends on steel...I have no doubt that if our defense program fails, the danger of war, the possibility of hostile attack, grows that much greater. I would not be faithful to my responsibilities as President if I did not use every effort to keep this from happening."

 

On April 9, 1952, steel company owners filed their first legal challenges to the order. In the case of Youngstown Sheet & Tubing Co. v. Sawyer, an injunction was granted in U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Pine's court to the steel industry restraining Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer from seizing the mills. The injunction was stayed by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Senate Republican leader Styles Bridges said Truman's action was unconstitutional and illegal, "Never in the history of the United States has a President acted with such disregard of the Constitution, the law, and the will of the Congress and the people.. .The President's assertion of independence of the law and Congress, embodied in his claim to 'inherent rights,' is just a new name for the outworn doctrine of the divine right of kings. In truth, a king has been beheaded for similar attempts to override the will of the people..."

 

On May 12th and 13th, 1952, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of Truman's seizure of the steel industry. The Justice Department asked that the Court overturn Judge Pine's ruling that the seizure was "illegal and without authority of law." The steel industry asked the Court to uphold Pine's decision.

 

President Truman wrote this letter to his Secretary of the Treasury as the nine Justices of the Supreme Court were deliberating.

 

Two weeks later, on June 2, 1952, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the President. The steel strike continued for 53 days until July 24, when it settled at the White House.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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