# Harry Truman's middle name **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663 "2003-12-03T05:39:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Resalg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cab0a1/32.png) [@Resalg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Resalg)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/1 "2003-12-03T05:39:28Z")
Several times I’ve run across the statement that Harry Truman did not use a period following the letter S between his first and last name. What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/2 "2003-12-03T05:48:45Z")
As he often said, since he had no middle name and the teachers bullied him into naming one, the S was not short for anything. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/3 "2003-12-03T05:50:18Z")
Well, [since the ‘S’ didn’t stand for anything](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?HarryTruman), so maybe he felt permitted to leave out the period. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/4 "2003-12-03T06:02:11Z")
According to a recent article in _American Heritage_ magazine, Truman in fact used a period after the S. most of the time, and told others he preferred it that way. Unfortunately, the magazine does not appear to be searchable online. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/5 "2003-12-03T06:18:01Z")
Did you realize that everyone on Mount Rushmore has no middle name? A sign of greatness that Harry had and lost! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/6 "2003-12-03T10:49:23Z")
The straight dope on Truman’s middle initial, from the [Truman Library](http://www.trumanlibrary.org/speriod.htm): > [@](#): > > The evidence provided by Mr. Truman’s own practice argues strongly for the use of the period. While, as many people do, Mr. Truman often ran the letters in his signature together in a single stroke, the archives of the Harry S. Truman Library has numerous examples of the signature written at various times throughout Mr. Truman’s lifetime where his use of a period after the “S” is very obvious. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/7 "2003-12-03T12:05:08Z")
My middle name is “T.” With the period. It doesn’t “stand for” anything. When people ask me what it stands for, I tell them “klipspringer.” Apparently this is enraging since klipspringer doesn’t start wirth a T. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/8 "2003-12-03T15:22:18Z")
One story, possibly untrue, is that the “S” stood for two names, maiden names on each side and his parents didn’t want to choose one name over the other. So to satisfy both sides, they left it as a letter. ---
**Author:** ![Kreekurmudgeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@Kreekurmudgeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kreekurmudgeon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-trumans-middle-name/216663/9 "2003-12-03T16:01:03Z")
From the [www.trumanlibrary.org](http://www.trumanlibrary.org) website: Mr. Truman apparently initiated the “period” controversy in 1962 when, perhaps in jest, he told newspapermen that the period should be omitted. In explanation he said that the “S” did not stand for any name but was a compromise between the names of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. He was later heard to say that the use of the period dated after 1962 as well as before.