Beschreibung:

TRUMAN, HARRY S., President . Typed letter signed ("Harry Truman") as Vice-President, with 4-line autograph addition, to Hugh P. Williamson in Fulton, Missouri; Washington, D.C., 6 April 1945. 1 page, 4to, on grey printed "Office of the Vice President" stationery. THE VICE-PRESIDENT AS "POLITICAL EUNUCH" Written the day after the public announcement of the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and only six days before the death of President Roosevelt. Truman had not wanted to be Vice-President, an office he described elsewhere as being "about as useful as a cow's fifth teat." He had held the post only since March 4. "Thanks a lot for your good letter....I am certainly glad to have the reactions you gave me on the various phases of the State [Missouri] administration...." In the blank portion beneath his signature, Truman has written in a very bold hand: "Keep sending 'em. Tell Tom Van Sant that just because I've become a political eunuch he needn't strike me from the list." On the afternoon of April 12, Truman was having a drink in the office of Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House. He was called to the White House, unaware that Roosevelt had died. Eleanor Roosevelt broke the news to him: "Harry, the President is dead." Truman asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?," to which she replied, "Is there anything we can do for you ? For you are the one in trouble now." A few hours later Truman took the oath of office. Truman letters as Vice-President are very rare, since he was "a political eunuch" only from March 4 until April 12. We can trace at auction only one letter as Vice-President at auction since 1970, according to American Book Prices Current (a 12 April 1945 letter, with postscript referring to Roosevelt's death sold for $22,000 at Sotheby's, 30 October 1990, lot 96).