Rare Autographs, Manuscripts and Photography
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/7/2016
HARRY TRUMAN (1884-1972). Truman was the Thirty-Third President.TLS. 1pg. 7” x 9”. December 21, 1948. Washington. A typed letter signed “Harry S Truman” on White House letterhead. He wrote to Dr. G. Bromley Oxnam, the Bishop of the Methodist Church in New York: “Please accept my thanks for your letter of December seventeenth. I had already seen in the press the answer of the Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church to the charges of the Un-American Activities Committee but am glad to have for ready reference the complete text of the release prepared for the papers of December fifth. The great American public will be strengthened by the assurance that Communism has not infiltrated the churches of the nation. I deeply appreciate your good wishes, which needless to say I heartily reciprocate.” Oxnam, a leftist, was elected as the Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1936. He was associated with a number of political groups, such as the Council of American-Soviet Friendship, that were later exposed as Communist fronts. In 1947, Truman signed the infamous Loyalty Order that was supposed to root out Communist influence in the Federal government. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was formed in 1938 to investigate Communist activities within the United States. In 1945, it became a standing committee seeking to unearth communist and other subversive influences in all areas of society, including, famously, many artistic and cultural institutions. After HUAC investigated Oxnam, it announced unanimously that it had no record of Communist membership by Bishop Oxnam. The letter is in very fine condition.
PRESIDENT TRUMAN WRITES TO THE FAMOUS METHODIST MINISTER DR. G. BROMLEY OXNAM: “THE GREAT AMERICAN PUBLIC WILL BE STRENGTHENED BY THE ASSURANCE THAT COMMUNISM HAS NOT INFILTRATED THE CHURCHES OF THE
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