Harry S. Truman’s post-presidential financial insecurity

Harry S. Truman’s post-presidential financial insecurity arose in part from a mismatch between the demands of his memoir project and the money it returned. He had committed himself to an immense writing and editing effort, yet faced substantial expenses before receiving payment. The eventual proceeds were reduced by taxes and operating costs, making inherited land—not his fame or his books—the decisive source of financial security. Truman responded by arguing that former presidents needed public support to meet the obligations of their office, and Congress enacted such support in 1958.

The memoir project and mounting costs

The financial pressure was already apparent while Truman’s memoirs were being prepared. He had not yet received money, and the first payment of $600,000 from Life was not due until June 30, the date on which he was supposed to deliver the finished manuscript. Payment was therefore tied to completing a demanding project, rather than available as the work proceeded.

By early 1955, the manuscript had reached approximately two million words, although the contract had called for 300,000. After negotiations, Life agreed to accept 580,000 words, but the project remained behind schedule. Editors Hillman and Noyes spent more time in Kansas City cutting and trimming the draft. Doubleday, confronted with the manuscript’s scale, decided to publish it in two volumes. For the first six months of 1955, attention centered on completing Volume One: it covered only the first sixteen months of the presidency, alongside a chapter on Truman’s early life and two chapters on his political career before Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death. The scale of the work helps explain why the promised payment did not translate into easy or immediate financial security.

Taxes, expenses, and the disappointing return

The final financial returns from the memoirs proved far smaller than Truman had anticipated. Although Life’s payments were extended over five years, Truman still faced a combined federal and state income-tax rate of 67 percent. He found the disparity particularly discouraging because Ike had been allowed to treat the $635,000 sale of Crusade in Europe as a capital gain, on the grounds that he was not a professional author. Ike consequently paid a tax rate of 25 percent. The White House had intervened when Ike’s tax treatment was at issue; when Truman’s own question arose, the Ike White House declined to become involved.

The cost of producing the memoirs further diminished the return. Truman reported that expenses for staff and office space had amounted to $153,000. After taxes and expenses, he calculated that his net profit over five years would be about $37,000. The contrast between the large headline payment and the small amount left after costs was central to his complaint: writing an account of his public service had not brought the financial reward the gross figures might suggest.

Family land as financial security

The sale of inherited property provided the financial relief the memoirs had not. Truman said that without selling property inherited from his mother and shared with his brother and sister, he would practically have been on relief; with the sale, he was not financially embarrassed. The transaction was announced in January 1958, but the final sale price and Truman’s share are not known. Its importance was nevertheless clear: the old family farm at Grandview, rather than political renown, books, lectures, or the legacy of his wife’s family, ultimately helped see him through.

A record of Truman’s finances dated August 14, 1959, shows bank balances totaling $208,548.07. That figure did not include his government and municipal bonds or a few stocks, so it was not a complete accounting of his assets. It does, however, give a concrete indication of his position after the property sale. The sale brought financial security, but it also carried sadness; family land remained both an asset and a connection to the past on which the family had long relied.

A claim for public support

Truman framed his appeal to Congress as a matter of justice, not a request for a personal pension. He argued that a former president needed government assistance to cover a substantial share of the necessary office expenses and overhead involved in continuing to meet public responsibilities. To make the disparity plain, he contrasted the support granted to retired five-star generals and admirals—including three clerks and the benefits associated with their offices—with the prospect that a former president might have to spend down his resources to tell the public what had happened in government.

With help from Charlie Murphy, Truman took his case to Speaker Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. In 1958, Congress passed a law 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 described by recognizing that the work and expenses of public service did not necessarily end when a president left office. His own finances had been steadied by inherited land, but his appeal helped establish a broader form of support for those who followed him.