Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "4708723",
    "label": "Draft of letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708723"
}

{
    "id": "4708723",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708723",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Draft of letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708723",
    "identifierLocal": "hst666",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Personal Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Roberts, Owen J. (Owen Josephus), 1875-1955",
        "World War, 1939-1945",
        "Conscientious objectors"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/7087/4708723/content/arcmedia/nlhst/eleanor/hst05-17-1948b_01_a.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/7087/4708723/content/arcmedia/nlhst/eleanor/hst05-17-1948b_01_a.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/7087/4708723/content/arcmedia/nlhst/eleanor/hst05-17-1948b_01_a.jpg",
    "imageCount": 2,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708723",
    "naId": 4708723,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 17,
            "logicalDate": "1948-05-17",
            "month": 5,
            "year": 1948
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/7087/4708723/content/arcmedia/nlhst/eleanor/hst05-17-1948b.pdf",
    "mediaId": "23c57f4daac44df0",
    "ocrText": "I decorated him with a Congressional Medal of Honor.\nhild\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nWASHINGTON\n1\nTRUMAN\nMay 17,\nU.S.\nRECORDSAND\nSERVICE\"\nLIBRARY\nGOVERNMENT\nDear Mrs. Roosevelt:\nI read your letter of thirteenth with a great deal of interest.\nI have thoroughly looked into the conscientious objectors\ncase and, I think, all the honest conscientious objectors have\nbeen released.\nI'll admit that it is rather difficult for me to look on a con-\nscientious objector with patience while your four sons and\nmy three nephews were risking their lives to save our Govern-\nment, and the things for which we stand, these people were\nvirtually shooting them in the back.\nI ran across one conscientious objector that I really believe is\nall man - he was a young Naval Pharmacist Mate who served\non Okinawa carrying wounded sailors and marines from the\nbattlefield asked him how it came about that he as a con-\nscientious objector was willing to go into the things of the\nbattlefield and he said to me that he could serve the Lord and\nsave lives as well there as anywhere else in the world. He\ndidn't weigh over one hundred and forty pounds and he was\nabout five feet six inches tall. I shall never forget him.\nMy experience in the first world war with conscientious\nobjectors was not a happy one - the majority of those with\nwhom I came in contact were just plain cowards and shirkers -\nthat is the reason I asked Justice Roberts to make a complete\nsurvey of the situation and to release all those that he felt\nwere honestly conscientious objectors and that has been done.\nMy sympathies with the rest of them are not very strong, as\nyou can see. Ido appreciate your interest in them and can\nsee now that all danger is passed why they would want to get\nout of jail\nSincerely yours,\nMrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt\n29 Washington Square, West\nNew York 11, New York"
}