[net.games.trivia] Harry S Truman

honton (11/01/82)

  Honest Abe may not of had a middle name, but what was Harry S. Truman's
middle name?
						chas

sysred (11/02/82)

Not only did he not have a middle name, he NEVER put
a period after the initial!!

			- Ralph

mag (11/02/82)

It's  "Harry S Truman," NEVER "Harry S. Truman," since he had no middle
name, or rather, his middle name was "S".  News media get this wrong
constantly.  I believe that the story behind it is that there were
sets of relatives named both Shippe and Steele (or something close),
and that rather than choose one and offend the others, "S" was chosen
as a compromise.  Mike Gray, BTL, WH.

wmartin (11/02/82)

Just "S"; not "S." -- the initial only.

paul (11/02/82)

	The "S" in Harry S Truman is not an initial for anything.  The
	convention of appending a "." to the S is of relatively recent origin.
	When HST himself signed his name there was no period after the S, 
	and during his career, most of his correspondents did likewise.  I
	understand that he felt that an up and coming politician should have a
	middle initial, so he picked one out.

	Any body there in St. Louis?  Ask your Mom or Dad about the
	Prendergast (Pendergast?) machine.  Prendergast was the local version
	of Daley in Chicago, or Boss Curley in Boston.  Truman got his start
	as a "lieutenant" in the Democratic party there.


	Not afraid to admit that I'm a history Ph.D student --

	Paul Killey.

	P.S.  Any other closet liberal artists out there in the world of the
	net?

reid (11/02/82)

Not only did Harry S Truman not have a middle name, but you really aren't
supposed to put a '.' after it, since it isn't an abbreviation for his real
middle name, it *is* his middle name (The S, that is...)

Glenn Reid

honton (11/03/82)

  I always had heard that Truman said something to the effect that
the S was for show.

				chas

kos (11/04/82)

#R:uofm-cv:-11200:uiucdcs:9600007:000:171
uiucdcs!kos    Nov  4 14:33:00 1982

I hate to disagree with an historian, but the Prendergast machine was in
Kansas City, not St. Louis.


					an old KC boy,
					Phil Kos
					...decvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!kos