Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "607363559",
    "label": "Letter from Marie Hartigan to President Harry S. Truman with Attached Newspaper Clipping",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/607363559"
}

{
    "id": "607363559",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/607363559",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter from Marie Hartigan to President Harry S. Truman with Attached Newspaper Clipping",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/607363559",
    "collections": [
        "President's Personal Files (Truman Administration)",
        "President's Personal Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-ppf/583579/486288359/486288359-065-001.tif",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-ppf/583579/486288359/486288359-065-001.tif",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-ppf/583579/486288359/486288359-065-001.tif",
    "imageCount": 3,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/607363559",
    "naId": 607363559,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 1,
            "logicalDate": "1951-01-01",
            "month": 1,
            "year": 1951
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-ppf/583579/486288359/486288359-065-003.tif",
    "mediaId": "de3f85ef55c0486b",
    "ocrText": "P LETTER SHE DIDN'T SEND\nNew Paris, Ind., Dec. 27-Dear\nMr. President: Whenever you get\nall hot and bothered about some-\nthing you sit down and write a\nletter so I'm going to do the same\nthing. I am a mother who has had\nto send all four sons off to wars\nthat settle nothing.\nJoe was with the 101st airborne\ndivision and was at the battle of\nthe Bulge, Charles in the navy on\na L. S. M. carrying supplies, Phil\nan enlisted member of your police\nforce, or marines. He never did\nget home after leaving for service\nnor did we ever see him in a uni-\nform. After serving two years he\nwas killed on Guam, but he is home\nnow, in a little cemetery close by.\nGwin, our youngest son, was\ndrafted in October and is now with\nthe 101st airborne. He was classed\nin 4F during World War II for hay\nfever and asthma, but they ac-\ncepted him this time.\nI know, Mr. President, that you\nwere in the service, too, but you\ncouldn't know how your mother\nfelt or how any mother feels when\nshe has to send her sons to war,\nmaybe to come home again and\nmaybe not. I read in the paper\njust lately where your daughter\nMargaret has signed a contract to\nsing at a salary of $120,000 a year.\nDon't you think it would be better\nif sometime we could read that\nMiss Margaret Truman had de-\ncided to give up her singing for\nthe time being and take a course\nin nursing? I am not criticizing\nMargaret's singing, for I think she\nhas a beautiful voice, but that isn't\nvery important during a national\nemergency.\nNow I have some of my thoughts\ndown on paper and feel a little\nbetter, but I doubt very much\nwhether I'll mail this letter to you\nfor I can imagine you get a lot of\nletters that you couldn't possibly\ntake time to read. But if you\nshould read it I won't mind if you\nshould write me one of your fa-\nmous letters, bad language and all,\nfor after having to send all my\nsons to war I can take most any-\nthing that comes along.\nMRS. OTIS BARINGER"
}