I was told that the S in Harry S. Truman, a president of the USA elected at the end of the second world war, stood for a Russian name. It was something like Sergi.
However when I look it up on the WWW there are many references saying there was no middle name or it stood for his grandfathers name.
What gives?
I was told that his middle name was S - just hte letter S - because his grandfathers’ names both started with an S and his parents didn’t want to choose between which to honor.
I’ve also heard that it was just “S”
no abbreviation
It is just S.
Apparently Harry’s parents had quite a few members of each respective family whose name began with “S,” and rather than choose one to give him, they just decided to honor them all, but more specifically the two grandfathers.
I heard his parents dropped a piece of noodle on his birth certificate (in the shape of an S) and it kinda stuck. ::shrug:: :b
If I’m not mistaken, he gave his name as Harry S Truman–no period after the S.
It is correct that the “S” is not short for anything. “To period or not to period” can be a tough issue for the picky, but I’m willing to defer to the Harry S. Truman Library. It has on its website this page, which addresses the issue of the period.
It says, in part:
I offer no authoritative evidence on this subject. All I know is that most respected reference books say Truman’s parents gave him the middle initial “S” without telling anyone what it stood for, so that two different sets of relatives (each of whose family names started with “S”) could think Harry had been named for them.
That’s a plausible story, and I can buy it. But I myself brought up the issue of “Sergei” on these boards, after seeing an old George Burns movie called “18 Again.” In that movie, the mind of elderly George Burns is placed in the body of a young college student (Charlie Schlatter). In history class, a smug professor embarrasses kids by asking them what the “S” in Harry Truman’s name stood for, and then smirking that it didn’t stand for anything.
Now, the George Burns character supposedly KNEW Harry Truman, way back when. So the kid with George Burns’ mind scoffs at the professor, saying something like, “Ha! You idiot! You BELIEVED that old story? His middle initial stood for Sergei. His family was part Russian. But he didn’t want to be perceived as a Russian sympathizer, so he told people the “S” didn’t stand for anything!”
Now, I have NEVER seen that claim substantiated anywhere. In fact, I’d never heard it before seeing the movie. OBVIOUSLY, silly movie comedies are NOT a great place to look for historical data… but I’ve long been curious as to where that theory came from. Did the screenwriter make it up completely? Were there long-standing rumors to that effect (perhaps scurrlilous rumors made up by Red-baiters in the McCarthy era)?
In short, it’s an interesting rumor, if true… but apart from that dubious film, I’ve never seen any evidence to suggest that it is.
Truman’s family history is pretty well known (see McCullouch’s biography Truman, or just about any book on him) – no Russians anywhere in sight on that family tree.
Verdict – as you say, don’t get your history from movies. If you do, I’ve got a fantastic deal on this here black statue of a Falcon. It’s from Malta.
I think this story came from James Whitmore’s one man show (and movie) 'Give ‘Em Hell Harry’.
In the normal FN-MI-LN format (Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush), Harry’s name was Harry S. Truman.
When written out, à la Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was Harry S Truman. The S. stood for his middle name, which was S
I have it on good authority that his middle name was ** Sue **.
The again the guy who told me that did end up in ** Folsum Prision**.
From the USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) website:
You can use the period or not use the period, it is up to you.
The S is not an abbreviation for anything.
FYI, Harry Truman’s grandfathers’ last names were Solomon and Shippe, IIRC, and rather than offend one or the other, the compromise of just using “S” was improvised.
Hope that helps,
TD
Close but no cigar.
One of Harry’s grandfathers was Solomon Young. His great-grandfather (one of them) on his father’s side was a Shippe – and that name was preserved in the family. So yes, the S was a compromise between Solomon and Shippe, as you note, but not on account of its being his grandfathers’ surnames (one of them, of course, would have had to have been Truman).
More info on the S in Harry S Truman. I did a search on “Harry Sergei Truman”, with correct spelling of Sergei, and was returned the URL…
www.skeptics.com.au/features/quiz/quiz0105.htm
A reference here says…
“For the truth of the matter, you have to either look at the birth records for Lamar Missouri
(there is only one Truman born there on May 8 1884 - “Harry Sergei Truman.” Read the autobiography of Allen W. Barkley (Truman’s VP) or read the superlative “an Underground Education” by Richard Zacks. It is for this reason alone that Harry Truman’s birth certificates are not on display at his presidential museum.”
I was thinking that Astorians theory the Sergie rumour started via the George Burns movie was satisfactory, but now I dont know.
Anyone live in Lamar Missouri?
I think the idea that it stands for Sergei comes from the movie “18 Again!” I found this thread because that idea was outlined in the movie and I was curious whether there was any truth to it. Ultimately I think it was just a plot device.
That’s only true if everyone takes their father’s surname. At least one President of the U.S. had a surname that did not belong to one of his grandfathers: Gerald Ford’s grandfathers were Lynch and Gardner – he took his stepfather’s surname.
Note that this is a ten year old thread that has been revived.
I knew that, but Polycarp still posts here regularly, and no one had responded to his comment.