JOHN W. SNYDER - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 08/26/1945 CO-SIGNED BY: JOE RYLE, JOSEPH D. NUNAN JR., REATHEL ODOM, KATHRYN M. NUNAN, EVELYN C. SNYDER - HFSID 26571

TRUMAN WHITE HOUSE: JOHN W. SNYDER, JOSEPH D. NUNAN, REATHEL ODOM and others
Guest roster from a performance by cabaret singer Hildegarde in the White House East Room, August 26, 1945. Signers include Snyder, the Secretary of the Treasury; Nunan, IRS Commissioner later jailed for income tax evasion; and Odom, First Lady Bess Truman's White House secretary. Snyder signs right-handed and again left-handed. Nunan expresses regret that he isn't signing a refund check!
Autograph Notes signed: "Sorry this wasn't a refund I'm singing signing/Joseph D. Nunan, Jr", "The White House party was a great/success. Best wishes! Reathel Odom", "Kathryn M. Nunan", "A great night - Remember! Washington/Joe Ryle" and on verso "John W. Snyder RH/John W. Snyder LH/Aug. 26 - 1945" and "Evelyn C. Snyder/Aug. 26 - 1945", 1 page (front and verso), SIZE? Loretta Sell, better known as Hildegarde (1906-2005) was a celebrated nightclub signer who performed at the White House for several Presidents. The Presidential Log from the Truman Library for August 26, 1945 contains this entry: "10 pm - [President] attended entertainment in East Room - 'Hildegarde' - with family, friends and White House Staff." Whether President Truman accompanied Hildegarde on the piano, as he later did when she visited the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, is unknown. JOHN W. SNYDER (1895-1985), a friend of the President's since their service together in France in World War I, was a banker who held several federal positions under President Franklin Roosevelt: National Bank Receiver, Federal Loan Administrator, and Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion. He was Secretary of the Treasury in the Truman administration (1946-1953). EVELYN (COOK) SNYDER was his wife, a long and apparently successful marriage. The Snyders had a daughter. JOSEPH D. NUNAN, a Tammany Hall politician and New York state legislator in the 1930s, was appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue by President Roosevelt in 1944. He continued in that office under President Truman into 1947. In 1954, Nunan was convicted of income tax evasion, having failed to report $91,000 in income. One of the items he failed to report was $1,800 won in a wager that Truman would win the Presidential election of 1948. Nunan failed to convince a jury that he had simply forgotten about the unreported income. His wife KATHRYN (MURRAY) NUNAN, daughter of a former New York Alderman and Tammany Hall leader, testified in her husband's defense at his tax evasion trial, claiming as a mitigating circumstance that her extravagant spending and borrowing were the root cause of her husband's financial woes. REATHEL ODOM (1908-2006), a former bank clerk, was secretary to Senator and Vice President Harry Truman from 1936 until 1945, when he succeeded to the Presidency. She then became the White House Secretary of First Lady Bess Truman. When Presidential daughter Margaret Truman engaged in a national concert tour in 1947, Reathel Odom accompanied her as chaperone. After Truman left office, Odom became secretary for Missouri Senator Stuart Symington, and then for the Truman Scholarship Fund. No information is available concerning Joe Ryle. Left edge heavily frayed. Toned. Pinhead size stains along left edge. Light brown stains at top right on verso (no show through). Otherwise, fine condition.