Lot 366

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Description:

Truman 21-Page Corrected Manuscript on the Presidency, Evoking Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson & Both Roosevelts, Ex-Forbes

21 pp. article draft written and hand-corrected by 33rd U.S. President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), and boldly signed by him as "Harry S. Truman" at the center of the last page.  Probably signed at Truman's home in Independence, Missouri, circa 1958.  Full pages typed on rag paper, with a small handful of typographical edits (strikethrough of the subtitle, insertion of a space between two words, addition of exclamation mark, etc.)  Expected wear, including a light paperclip impression and staple holes in the upper left corner, else Near Fine.  11" x 8.5".  Ex-Forbes Collection.

Truman's article, originally entitled "Don't Tamper with the Presidency: A View of the Presidency", was copyrighted by Truman in 1958 and published in the November 11, 1958 issue of Look Magazine (Volume 22, Issue 23) under the title "My View of the Presidency".  Truman approaches his subject--the office of the presidency--with perspective, having left the White House some five years earlier.  Truman argues that the presidency is continually besieged by institutions and individuals attempting to undermine its authority.  A "jealous" Congress harassed the president, as did misguided Constitutional amendments functioning to limit his power.  Power-hungry presidential advisers could manipulate the presidency, and even everyday American citizens could misunderstand and criticize the president's motives.

The presidency, according to Truman, was an austere and lonely place.  Yet in return for accepting such awesome responsibilities, the president deserved a little respect.  In the article, Truman also muses on the problems besetting the current Eisenhower administration, and draws conclusions about America's best and worst presidents.

Selected Excerpts:

"The Presidency of the United States of America has become the greatest and most important office in the history of the world. The people of the United States do not, as yet, understand the office as they should…" (p. 1)  

"There are people who would curtail the duties of our chief executive, because they think that the President has too much power. And there are people who do not trust the President on specific issues, while others want to tie his hands for personal reasons, or for the benefit of certain special groups…" (p. 1)

"The President must have the unfettered right to be in a position to act promptly when an emergency arises. He must, therefore, have the broadest powers, limited only by the Constitution and his term of office. It is nothing short of a miracle, which you think of it, that the framers of the Constitution had the genius to create an office, the Presidency of the United States, which can function as responsively and as easily in this rocket and atomic age as it did in the age of the stage coach, the sailing ship and the powdered wig." (p. 2)

"I like to think of eight great men, who in my opinion, were strong Presidents. They were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt…We also know that some of our Presidents were unwilling to exercise their powers and were sticklers for wordy interpretations of a Constitution. I place Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison in this class…" (p. 3-4)

"I wish that every citizen of this republic would help to keep the office of the Presidency as strong and flexible as it is now and resist efforts to cut its powers or to harass it… At the top of the list of endeavors to handicap the Presidency is the XXII Amendment to the Constitution…Because it restricts the Presidency and thwarts the right of the people to choose any President they desire, this amendment is a monstrosity -- one of the worst ever added to the Constitution…The moving argument for the passage of the amendment was that it would prevent a President from becoming a dictator. That was just plain nonsense to cover up a bit of political skulduggery [sic]." (p. 4-6)

"Another terrible example of a legislative effort to tie the President's hands is the so-called Bricker amendment. This proposed Constitutional provision would prevent the President from making treaties and executive agreements with foreign governments. It is a real example of living and thinking in terms of the 18th century instead of the 20th." (p. 7)

"There is no excuse for people who loose attacks on a President for his use of the facilities and prerogatives of the office. I have no patience with them. They are scandalmongers and character assassins…But to criticize the President because he uses a helicopter to fly to his home or to yap at him when he plays a game of golf is unfair and downright picayunish." (p. 10)

"Power attracts all kinds of men. Most of those who work with a President are sincere and high-minded men. A very few are not." (p. 12)

"This Truman Library will soon begin to offer scholarships for the study of the Presidency. I hope that scholarships will be offered eventually for the study of the great men of the Congress and the Courts of the United States. In short, when all of us know more about the Presidency and the government in general -- local, state and national -- and begin to appreciate the President's duties and powers and the vital need for them, we will be more zealous about protecting them in every way." (p. 14)

"The President must make his own decisions. He cannot pass the buck up or down…Information is what he needs. When he has the right information, he is in a position to make the right decisions -- and he, and only he, must make them." (p. 15)

"Decisions the President has to make often affect the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, but that does not mean that they take longer to make. In several ways, the Presidency is similar to that of a big corporation or a large university. Some men can make decisions and some can't. Some men fret and delay under criticism…'If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen'" (p. 16)

"An administrative Vice President has been proposed. The advocates say that this No. 2 President could take a lot of work off the President's shoulders. There is merely another form of buck-passing." (p. 17)

"The records show that our Presidents, unfortunately, have been shamefully neglected after leaving office. Not until this year did the Congress make financial provision for Presidential retirement. How absurd to elect a man to the world's greatest office and then turn him out to pasture in a field with all rocks and no grass!" (p. 18-19)

"To sum it all up, the Presidency is the greatest office in the history of the world in the greatest republic. We should all work to keep its powers broad, unfettered and flexible and its prestige high." (p. 21)

Provenance: Ex-Charles Hamilton Galleries (New York, New York), Sale 145, Lot 158, sold for $1,210 in April 1982. 

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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