A 1947 Truman Diary is Discovered
Winter 2003, Vol. 35, No. 4 | Pieces of History
Truman's diary entry for June 27, 1947, describes a discussion about testing atomic bombs.
Sometimes, “pieces of history” go unrecognized, or undiscovered, until someone accidentally comes across them.
That’s what happened earlier this year when Liz Safly, a library technician at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, was going through the library’s book collection and found The Real Estate Board of New York, Inc.: Diary and Manual, 1947. In it, she discovered that the last half of the book included diary entries by President Harry S. Truman.
Safly, who has worked at the library for forty-one years and knew Truman personally, instantly recognized Truman’s handwriting. In the entries for 1947, he shares his private thoughts on a variety of issues, including “ghosts” in the White House, his advice to Dwight Eisenhower about running for President, the Jews and Palestine, and his mother’s funeral.
Some examples:
On January 6 he wrote: “This great white jail is a hell of a place in which to be alone. While I work from early morning until late at night, it is a ghostly place. The floors pop and crack all night long. Anyone with imagination can see old Jim Buchanan walking up and down worrying about conditions not of his making. Then there’s Van Buren who inherited a terrible mess from his predecessor as did poor old James Madison . . . But they all walk up and down the halls of this place and moan about what they should have done and didn’t.”
On July 28 he described his feelings at his mother’s funeral: “It was as mamma wanted it. We went to Forest Hill and the preacher did it excellently at the grave. Along the road all cars, trucks and pedestrians stood with hats off. It made me want to weep—but I couldn’t in public. I’ve read thousands of messages from all over the world in the White House study and I can shed tears as I please—no one’s looking.”
Over the years, Truman was a prolific recorder of his opinions and reactions to people and events. He kept diaries in the White House, sent letters to family and friends, and wrote many letters expressing anger that were never mailed.
Library Director Michael Devine pronounced the discovery “probably the most important document the Truman Library has opened in twenty years.”