Truman, John Ross Papers

Attorney; Great-Nephew of Harry S. Truman.

The John Ross Truman Papers include copies of letters he received from his great-uncle, Harry S. Truman, along with speech drafts and notes for speeches delivered by John Ross Truman at public events honoring President Truman and the Truman family.

Size: Less than one linear foot (about 100 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor has given their copyright interest in these materials to the United States of America. Records created by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are also in the public domain. The copyright interest in other documents in the collection presumably belongs to the creators of those documents or their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2024).

John Ross Truman was born in Kansas City, Missouri on August 1, 1940. His father was John Curtis (J. C.) Truman, the son of Harry S. Truman’s brother, J. Vivian Truman. His mother was Mary Agnes Higbee. As a young man, Truman studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood as a member of the Jesuit order. He earned a bachelor’s degree at St. Louis University and a law degree at the University of Missouri in Columbia. While serving as an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, he defended Captain Ernest Medina in a case arising from the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War. Truman later practiced law with the noted attorney F. Lee Bailey in Boston before moving to St. Louis, where he specialized in labor and employment law.

As a representative of the family, Truman was often asked to speak at events honoring President Truman, such as the ceremony in 2000 in which the State Department headquarters in Washington was formally renamed the Harry S. Truman Building. He also spoke at the Truman Library and at other venues, recounting his memories of his family and his famous great-uncle.

John Ross Truman died in St. Louis on May 21, 2018.

The John Ross Truman Papers include copies of letters he received from his great-uncle, Harry S. Truman, along with speech drafts and notes for speeches delivered by John Ross Truman at public events honoring President Truman and the Truman family.

The collection contains copies of approximately sixty letters from Harry Truman to his great-nephew, dating approximately from 1954 to 1970. The Truman Library does not have the original letters. Also in the collection are drafts of speeches made by John Ross Truman at various events honoring President Truman and his family, and notes he prepared for other public appearances.

The Truman Library’s audiovisual collection includes video recordings of several speeches by John Ross Truman. Other related collections at the Library include the Truman Post-Presidential Papers (Family Correspondence File) and the papers of J. C. Truman, the father of John Ross Truman.