Description:

Truman Harry 1884 - 1972

Senator Harry S. Truman TLS with 20-word handwritten postscript relating to FDR's court packing: "... they expect to bring up the Court proposal Tuesday...none of us who are on his side could possibly leave here until the filibuster is over... However, if the filibuster should collapse, I will be with you..."

Typed letter signed "Harry" as U.S. Senator, with 20 word handwritten postscript, two pages, 8" x 10.5", separate sheets. Washington, D.C., July 3, 1937. To Col John W. Snyder, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, St. Louis, Mo. Later his Secretary of the Treasury, Snyder was a close friend of Harry S. Truman beginning with their service in the U.S. Army Reserves after World War I. Four file holes at upper edge of each sheet. Fine condition.

In full: "Appreciated very highly your good letter of the First. If your visit with us at Williamsburg was a highlight of your trip, it was the highlight of our stay in Washington, so I guess now we are even.

"I am here to tell you that I don't understand the Governor. He gave me to understand that if Kirby was properly endorsed in Kansas City, he would appoint him to the Unemployment Compensation Commission, and I got Kirby the endorsement.

"We went to the Heavey wedding, and I got by without any gun-firing. I think Margaret [13 years old] and Bess had the best time they have had at any wedding. No military frill was left out. The young lady cut the cake with the saber, and they played all the bugles on the Post, and they played the Caisson song twice - - once for the young lady's husband, and once for me. They had some tall, pink punch, and it was a very beautiful affair. Two word handwritten addition by Truman.

"Joe Robinson told me yesterday, when I told him that I wanted to out some facts in regard to Aviation in the [Congressional] Record, that I had better do it yesterday [Friday, July 2nd] because they expect to bring up the Court proposal Tuesday [July 6th], and that after he did that, none of us who are on his side could possibly leave here until the filibuster is over. Your guess is as good as mine. I'm afraid I can't see you on the Fifteenth, as I hoped to. However, if the filibuster should collapse, I will be with you."

In a postscript, Truman handwrites: "Best wishes to Mrs. Snyder & [daughter] Miss Drusie. Wish you'd all come to this neighborhood at least once a month."

On February 5, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, commonly referred to as FDR's Court-Packing plan. Its central and most controversial provision gave the President the power to appoint an additional Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, up to six, for every sitting member over the age of 70 years 6 months.

Since President Roosevelt did not consult leaders in the House of Representatives before proposing his judiciary plan, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Hatton Sumners refused to endorse the bill and kept it in committee. The Administration then arranged for the bill to be first taken up in the Senate.

On June 14, 1937, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported the bill to the Senate adversely calling FDR's plan "a needless, futile and utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle... without precedent or justification." The bill was entrusted to Senate Majority Leader Joe Robinson to guide it through the Senate.

While trying to line up supporters, Robinson worked to find a compromise which would be favored by Democrats opposed to packing the Supreme Court. A front page story in the Friday, July 2, 1937 "Washington Post" headlined: "Senate to Get New Bill on Court Today / Robinson to Offer New Deal Compromise for Reform. / Act Holds Judiciary to 9; Age Replacements Restricted." On Wednesday, July 7th, "The Washington Post" began its front age coverage: "With a blare of oratory and tumultuous debate, the compromise court bill was maneuvered into fighting position in the Senate yesterday [Tuesday, July 6th] in the Administration's first hot siege for passage. Tense omens of filibuster brought a defiant introduction from Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson as the original six-judge increase was immediately subordinated, and a one-judge-a-year substitute advanced to supplant it. 'It is my intention,' Robinson announced, 'to keep this bill before the Senate until it is disposed of, making reasonable allowance for emergency measures' ... Anticipating a filibuster, Robinson is prepared to keep the Senate continuously on this day's business until the bill is passed, defeated or sidetracked." The intense floor debate led by Sen. Robinson continued. On Monday, July 12th, he complained of discomfort and chest pains. On Tuesday, he rested at home. On Wednesday morning, July 14, 1937, 64-year-old Sen. Joseph Robinson was found dead of a heart attack in his Capitol Hill apartment, the "Congressional Record" at his side.

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