PRESIDENT HARRY S TRUMAN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/10/1952 - HFSID 354616

HARRY TRUMAN
The President writes a letter to leading Socialist Norman Thomas.
Typed Letter signed: "Harry Truman", As President, 1p, 7x9. Washington, D.C., 1952 April 10. On White House letterhead to Norman Thomas, former six-time presidential candidate and founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.

 In full:

“Dear Mr. Thomas:


The fact that your personal sentiments rather than your political convictions prompted you to write me following the announcement of my decision to leave the Presidency at the end of this term makes me appreciate your letter all the more. You are exactly right - instead of so many brickbats, I am now getting some bouquets.


I am especially appreciative of what you have been good enough to say about my record of accomplishment, and want to thank you, too, in Mrs. Truman's behalf as well as my own, for your good wishes for the months and years ahead. Very sincerely yours,”


Fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 30x21.

President Harry S Truman wrote this letter to Norman Thomas one month after announcing that he would not seek re-election. Norman Thomas, six-time socialist candidate for the presidency and one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union, had established a reputation for being critical of the Democratic Party. He ran against Truman in the 1948 election, however, following World War II, both saw world peace as a common goal. For Truman, it was serving as chairman of the Postwar World Council, a group devoted to ending the fighting in Indochina.

HARRY S. TRUMAN (1884-1972), the 33rd President, had been Vice President for only 82 days when President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. Though widely admired today for his plainspoken honesty and his willingness to make the tough decisions, Truman had not been expected to win election in his own right in 1948. His upset victory over Republican Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York, resulted from Truman's aggressive campaigning, as he waged a nationwide "whistle stop" campaign, the last of its kind in American history.