Former U.S. presidents’ lack of post-presidential support

Former U.S. presidents’ lack of post-presidential support became a practical and political problem for Harry S. Truman after he left office. The costs of producing his Memoirs and maintaining an office consumed much of the proceeds, while he believed that former presidents still had a public responsibility to explain their service. His campaign was not for a personal reward, but for public support that would make that work possible—and it helped bring about the 1958 law providing former presidents with a pension and office assistance.

The financial strain of life after office

The final returns on Truman’s Memoirs were far smaller than he had expected. Payments from Life were spread over five years, yet federal and state income taxes took 67 percent. Truman was particularly discouraged by the contrast with Ike, who had been allowed to treat the sale of Crusade in Europe for $635,000 as a capital gain and pay a 25 percent tax rate. The White House had intervened when Ike’s tax treatment was at issue; when Truman faced his own financial problem, the Ike White House declined to become involved.

The book also carried substantial costs. Truman put the expenses for its staff and office space at $153,000, leaving him with an estimated net profit of about $37,000 over five years. He said he was not financially embarrassed only because he had been able to sell property inherited with his brother and sister from their mother. The family’s Grandview land, announced for sale in January 1958, brought financial security, though the final sale figure and Truman’s share are not known. A surviving tally of his bank balances, dated August 14, 1959, showed $208,548.07, not counting government and municipal bonds or a few stocks. These figures complicate any simple picture of destitution: the problem was not that Truman had no assets, but that the work and responsibilities he associated with his former office were not matched by public provision.

Truman’s case for public support

Truman framed the issue as one of justice rather than a request for a pension. He argued that a former president should receive an allowance covering perhaps 70 percent of necessary office expenses and overhead. His case rested on the continuing demands of public service: writing a truthful account of what had happened required staff and working space, costs he thought should not leave a former president financially exposed.

He also pointed to a contrast in the support available to retired public figures. Congress had provided five-star generals and admirals with three clerks and the benefits associated with their offices after retirement. Truman considered it peculiar that a former president who had spent eighteen years in government service and worked to secure benefits for people under his command might have to risk financial ruin to tell the public what had happened. The comparison made his argument institutional: public support for former officeholders, he suggested, should reflect the continuing value of their work, not just the rank they once held.

The 1958 settlement

With Charles S. Murphy’s help, Truman took his proposal to Sam Rayburn and Lyndon B. Johnson. Congress passed a law in 1958 providing former presidents with a $25,000 annual pension, money for staff and office space, and free mailing privileges. The measure answered the practical problem Truman had raised by recognizing that a former president’s public role could continue after the transfer of power, while supplying resources for the administrative work that role entailed.

The outcome also underscores the difference between leaving office and leaving public life. Truman’s memoir project carried expenses that sharply reduced its financial return, and the sale of family property helped secure him personally. The new law did not erase that experience; it changed the arrangements future former presidents could rely on. Truman’s appeal turned his own post-presidential financial pressure into a case for a durable form of public support.