Dates: 1924-2013
The Harry S. Truman Political Campaigns Collection consists of various types of documents pertaining to Harry S. Truman's elections to such political offices as Jackson County Judge, United States Senator, Vice President, and President of the United States. Included are campaign speeches, Inauguration programs and tickets, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, voting records, postcards, and memorabilia related to Truman's campaigns. This collection is a combination of documents from various donors, mostly taken from the Miscellaneous Historical Documents Collection (MHDC).
Size: 10 inches (about 1,600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. The copyright interest in other materials presumably belongs to the creators of those materials, or their heirs.
Processed by: Josh Dreiling (2012) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.
Updated by: Randy Sowell (2024).
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information| Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
The Harry S. Truman Political Campaigns Collection consists of speech transcripts, printed materials, letters, voting records, memorabilia, and other items pertaining to Harry S. Truman’s campaigns for and elections to public office. The collection includes documents from various donors that were originally opened for research as part of the Miscellaneous Historical Documents Collection (MHDC), as well as the contents of scrapbooks that were given to Mr. Truman or the Truman Library. The original MHDC numbers and the names of those who donated the scrapbooks have been included in the folder title list when this information is available.
Most of the documents in the collection pertain to Truman’s 1944 Vice Presidential and 1948 Presidential campaigns. Important items include transcripts of campaign speeches; memorabilia from campaign trips by railroad, including train menus and postcards; and scrapbooks cataloguing the press coverage of Truman’s campaigns, with political cartoons, commentary, and news articles. Letters relating to the 1944 and 1948 campaigns are also included. Other documents relate to Truman’s campaigns for County Judge and U.S. Senator.
The collection also contains information about other campaigns involving Truman in which he was not a candidate. Included among these materials is an article on the support Truman received as a potential candidate for Governor of Missouri in 1932, and an autographed railroad menu from his 1952 campaign trip in support of Democratic Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson.
More information about Truman's political campaigns can be found in the President's Secretary's Files and in the papers of Clark Clifford, Victor Messall, Fred Canfil, and George Elsey.
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Container Nos. |
Series |
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1-2 |
SUBJECT FILE, 1924-2013 |
Box 1
- 1922: Interview with John Woodhouse Regarding Truman’s Campaign Rallies, Conducted by Niel Johnson, November 19, 1986 [MHDC 648]
- 1922 and 1924: Tabulations by Truman of Votes for County Judge, on the Back of an Undated Letter to L. Curtis Tiernan [MHDC 252]
- c. 1926: Campaign Card for Harry S. Truman, Presiding Judge, Jackson County Court [MHDC 191]
- c. 1930 and 1948: Items Relating to the Political Campaigns of Harry S. Truman and William T. Goodman [MHDC 440]
- 1932: "Who is Judge Truman? - The Truman-for-Governor Movement of 1931" by Frank Mitchell [MHDC 30]
- 1934: Campaign Card for Truman as Candidate for U.S. Senate, Democratic Primary Election
- 1934: Certificate from Jackson County Court Marking Truman’s Election as U.S. Senator [MHDC 106]
- 1934: Letter from Alex Sachs to J. W. Reilly, June 5, 1934 [MHDC 207]
- 1934: Letter from W. L. Bouchard Promoting Harry S. Truman as a Candidate for U.S. Senate, July 23, 1934
- 1934: Official Ballot for Missouri General Election
- 1940: Membership Card, "Truman for U.S. Senator 1940 Club"
- 1940: Sample Ballot for Missouri General Election, with Annotations
- 1940 and 1948: Election Tally Sheet, Memorandum on the Duties of Election Judges and Clerks, and Sample Ballot
- 1944: Exchange of Correspondence Between Harry S. Truman and Harry Hopkins After the Election [MHDC 453]
- 1944: Letter from Robert Pritzker Recalling Events at the 1944 Democratic National Convention [MHDC 787]
- 1944: Letter from Warren Moscow To Robert J. Donovan Concerning the Nomination of Truman for Vice President, April 22, 1982 [MHDC 484]
- 1944: Note from Harry S. Truman to Maurice Milligan, with Related Clippings
- 1944: Notes by Harry S. Truman for Speech Acknowledging His Nomination for Vice President [MHDC 7]
- 1944: Radio Schedule for Speech by Senator Harry S. Truman, Independence, Missouri, November 4, 1944 [MHDC 402]
- 1944: Telegram from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Senator Harry S. Truman Congratulating Him on His Nomination for Vice President [MHDC 416]
- 1944 and 1948: Scrapbook on the 1944 and 1948 Presidential Campaigns [Mrs. L. P. Jones]
- 1948: Campaign Speeches of President Truman [MHDC 578][1 of 2]
- 1948: Campaign Speeches of President Truman [MHDC 578][1 of 2]
- 1948: Campaign Speeches of President Truman [MHDC 578][2 of 2]
- 1948: Correspondence Between Harold Ickes and William Campbell, November 1948 [MHDC 156]
- 1948: Correspondence Between James H. Rowe and G. William Sand, and a Copy of Rowe’s Memorandum, “The Politics of 1948” [MHDC 576]
- 1948: Correspondence With Howard Kirkpatrick Concerning Truman’s Speaking Style [MHDC 651]
- 1948: "Dewey Defeats Truman" Newspapers
- 1948: Election Forecasts from U.S. News and World Report and the New York Times [MHDC 537]
- 1948: Handwritten and Typed Draft of Radio Speech by Truman, October 21, 1948 [MHDC 955]
- 1948: "Harry Truman in Schenectady Fifty Years Ago" by William M. Murphy, October 1, 1998 [MHDC 832]
- 1948: Letter from President Truman to Adlai Stevenson, November 29, 1948 [MHDC 382]
- 1948: Letter to President Truman from Henry A. Riederer Congratulating Him on Winning the Election, November 4, 1948 [MHDC 389]
- 1948: "Little Harry and His Magic Campaign," a Scrapbook [Charles and Anne Keck]
- 1948: Menus from President Truman’s Railroad Trips During the Campaign [MHDC 536, 569]
- 1948: Newsweek Election Edition, November 8, 1948 [MHDC 768]
- 1948: "1948 Election," a Scrapbook [L. Kenney]
- 1948: Official Election Ballot, District No. 3, Humboldt Precinct, Gibson County, Tennessee [MHDC 77]
- 1948: Photographs, Postcards, Menus, and Other Memorabilia Collected by Sgt. Howard Williams from President Truman’s Campaign Train [MHDC 842]
Box 2
- 1948: "President Harry S. Truman" - Scrapbook of the Campaign
- 1948: Presidential Campaign Map and Explanatory Text [MHDC 343]
- 1948: Raphael’s Astrological Almanac, With Article, "Will President Truman Serve Another Term?" [MHDC 545]
- 1948: Register of Voters and Record of Votes Cast, San Pedro Precinct No. 2389-A, Los Angeles, California, November 2, 1948 [MHDC 75]
- 1948: Reminiscences of Robert Larson Concerning President Truman’s Campaign Speech in Dexter, Iowa
- 1948: Scrapbook of the Campaign and Election [Flora Smalley]
- 1948: Scrapbook of the Campaign and Election [Teresa C. Putsavage]
- 1948: Scrapbook of the Presidential Election [Mrs. Weir Hall]
- 1948: Scrapbook on the Campaign and Election [Mrs. Frank Joyce]
- 1948: Speech by Stanley McDermott of New Orleans, Louisiana, in Support of the Truman-Barkley Ticket, with Related Information
- 1948: Ticket to the Democratic National Convention [MHDC 939]
- 1948: Train Orders for President Truman’s Campaign Train, September 23, 1948 [MHDC 69]
- 1948: Two Menus from President Truman’s Trip to the West Coast, June 1948 [MHDC 843]
- 1948: “Who Really Elected Truman?”—Article by Samuel Lubell, Saturday Evening Post, January 22, 1949, Annotated by Harry S. Truman [MHDC 10]
- 1948 and 1960: List of Voters, Sample Ballots, and Other Items Relating to Democratic Campaigns in the Kansas City Area [MHDC 857]
- 1950: Campaign Letter from James Pendergast and Other Items
- 1952: Handwritten Note by Truman Announcing He Would Not Be a Candidate for Reelection in 1952 [MHDC 794]
- 1952: Menu for President Truman’s Campaign Trip to the Midwest, Autographed by the President, September 1, 1952
- 1952: Transportation Notice for President Truman’s Train Trip From Chicago to St. Paul, October 23, 1952 [MHDC 928]
- 1956: Letter from Truman Regarding the Democratic National Convention, September 6, 1956 [MHDC 807]