Letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt

NST-11 Conscurtious objectors THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON December 6, 1946 Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: I appreciated very much your note enclosing a letter from the Committee for Amensty for all conscientious objectors. This matter is being worked out in the Justice Department on the basis of individual cases. I don't think there should be a general release or pardon to those conscientious objectors who shirked their duty as citizens of the United States and profited by the actual risk of the men who were willing to fight. Some of the conscientious objectors are honestly objec- tors - a great many just didn't want to fight and I know what I am talking about because I had experience with them in the first World War. We are trying our best to arrange matters so there will be no injustice done to any honest conscientious objector but the malingerers should have all that is coming to them. Sincerely yours, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt 29 Washington Square, West New York City 11, New York P.S. The most sincere conscientious objector I ever have met was one on whom I placed a Congressional Medal of Honor, not long ago. He served in the Medical Corps of the Navy and carried wounded marines and sailors to safety on Okinawia under fire. He was a real conscien- tious objector who believed the welfare of his country came first. I shall never forget what he said to me when I fastened the medal around his neck. He said he could do the Lord's work under fire as well as any- where else. HST.