TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed ("Harry S. Truman"), as President, to Harry Hopkins (1890-1946), Washington, 18 September 1945. WITH PRESIDENTIAL CITATION SIGNED ("HARRY TRUMAN"), Washington, D. C., n.d., Awarding Harry Hopkins the Distinguished Service Medal. Together 2 pp., 4to, on White House stationery, with original envelope .
TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed ("Harry S. Truman"), as President, to Harry Hopkins (1890-1946), Washington, 18 September 1945. WITH PRESIDENTIAL CITATION SIGNED ("HARRY TRUMAN"), Washington, D. C., n.d., Awarding Harry Hopkins the Distinguished Service Medal. Together 2 pp., 4to, on White House stationery, with original envelope . "THE ONLY OTHER ONE THAT AT ALL RIVALS IT WAS THE MEDAL OF HONOR FOR GENERAL WAINWRIGHT" Hopkins had only four months to live when Truman sends him this warm note: "I don't think I have ever performed a ceremony, since I have been President, which gave me as much satisfaction as the one when I pinned the Distinguished Service Medal on you. The only other one that at all rivals it was the Medal of Honor for General Wainwright. I hope you will make it a point to come to see me whenever you are in Washington, because there are always things I would like to talk over with you." The language of the accompanying citation, while appropriately adulatory, only skims the surface of Hopkins's accomplishments: "Mr. Harry L. Hopkins performed services of outstanding value to the United States of America from December 1941 to July 1945. As Special Advisor to the President during critical months of World War II, he assumed tasks of utmost urgency and far-reaching consequence, lightening the burden of the commander-in-chief." Churchill came closer to the mark when he dubbed Hopkins "Lord Root of the Matter." Hopkins acted as FDR's personal emissary to Churchill and Stalin, and he exerted more sway over the President in matters of war and diplomacy than either the Secretary of State or the Secretary of War. He administered the massive Lend-Lease aid programs to Britain and Russia, and accompanied FDR to all the major wartime conferences. He even lived in the White House from 1940 to 1943. The death in combat of his youngest son Stephen in February 1944 greatly weakened Hopkins's already precarious health. But he refused Gen. George Marshall's offer to remove his two other sons--both on active duty--from combat zones. "This war," Hopkins said, "is for keeps" ( American National Biography ). (2)
TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed ("Harry S. Truman"), as President, to Harry Hopkins (1890-1946), Washington, 18 September 1945. WITH PRESIDENTIAL CITATION SIGNED ("HARRY TRUMAN"), Washington, D. C., n.d., Awarding Harry Hopkins the Distinguished Service Medal. Together 2 pp., 4to, on White House stationery, with original envelope .
TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed ("Harry S. Truman"), as President, to Harry Hopkins (1890-1946), Washington, 18 September 1945. WITH PRESIDENTIAL CITATION SIGNED ("HARRY TRUMAN"), Washington, D. C., n.d., Awarding Harry Hopkins the Distinguished Service Medal. Together 2 pp., 4to, on White House stationery, with original envelope . "THE ONLY OTHER ONE THAT AT ALL RIVALS IT WAS THE MEDAL OF HONOR FOR GENERAL WAINWRIGHT" Hopkins had only four months to live when Truman sends him this warm note: "I don't think I have ever performed a ceremony, since I have been President, which gave me as much satisfaction as the one when I pinned the Distinguished Service Medal on you. The only other one that at all rivals it was the Medal of Honor for General Wainwright. I hope you will make it a point to come to see me whenever you are in Washington, because there are always things I would like to talk over with you." The language of the accompanying citation, while appropriately adulatory, only skims the surface of Hopkins's accomplishments: "Mr. Harry L. Hopkins performed services of outstanding value to the United States of America from December 1941 to July 1945. As Special Advisor to the President during critical months of World War II, he assumed tasks of utmost urgency and far-reaching consequence, lightening the burden of the commander-in-chief." Churchill came closer to the mark when he dubbed Hopkins "Lord Root of the Matter." Hopkins acted as FDR's personal emissary to Churchill and Stalin, and he exerted more sway over the President in matters of war and diplomacy than either the Secretary of State or the Secretary of War. He administered the massive Lend-Lease aid programs to Britain and Russia, and accompanied FDR to all the major wartime conferences. He even lived in the White House from 1940 to 1943. The death in combat of his youngest son Stephen in February 1944 greatly weakened Hopkins's already precarious health. But he refused Gen. George Marshall's offer to remove his two other sons--both on active duty--from combat zones. "This war," Hopkins said, "is for keeps" ( American National Biography ). (2)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
