Talk:Harry S. Truman

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Frequently asked questions

This section is here to provide answers to some questions that have been previously discussed on this talk page.
Note: This FAQ is only here to let people know that these points have previously been addressed, not to prevent any further discussion of these issues.

To view an explanation to the answer, click the [show] link to the right of the question.

General Concerns and Questions

Q1: Should Truman's middle initial be written with a period after it? (Yes.)

A1:

Usage with or without the period can be viewed as correct. Truman did not have a middle name, only a middle initial but often signed his name with a period after the S. This is discussed within the article in the section Early life and career.

Q2: (Additional information on A1)

These formal style guides have been consulted:

The Associated Press Stylebook: use "S"
The Chicago Manual of Style: use "S."
The MHRA Style Guide: no guidance
The MLA Style Manual: no guidance
The United States Government Printing Office Style Manual 2000: use "S."
Related Talk discussions: [1], [2], [3], [4]

The original editor created the article as "Harry S. Truman" on August 23, 2001. The article has been stable with this title ever since. Per the Manual of Style "When either of two styles is acceptable, it is inappropriate for an editor to change an article from one style to another unless there is a substantial reason to do so."

Surprisingly, for a man of Truman's stature and given the nature of the events that he was involved in, the use of the period is the most discussed topic. See the talk page for current discussions and see the links at the top of the talk page for archived discussions.

Simply changing the "S." within the article will be reverted, as it will no longer match the article title.

To propose that the article be renamed, follow the instructions at requesting potentially controversial moves. Create the discussions as noted and give logical and compelling reasons for changing the article title along with supporting evidence.

The supporting article Bibliography of Harry S. Truman must also be considered.

As of the November 7, 2008 version,[5] there are only five instances where this could be changed:

article title
main infobox
lead
cabinet infobox
photo caption

You cannot change the "S." where it is used in a quote or as a proper name. As of the November 7, 2008 version,[6]:

There is a quote from Time and one from McCullough.
Book titles used in the article text are Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions and Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope.
Proper names used in the article are:
- Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs
- President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering
- Harry S. Truman Bridge
- Harry S. Truman Farm Home
- Harry S. Truman High School (Federal Way)
- Harry S. Truman High School (Independence)
- Harry S. Truman High School (Levittown)
- Harry S. Truman High School (New York City)
- Harry S. Truman Historic District
- Harry S. Truman Little White House
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital
- Harry S. Truman National Historic Site
- Harry S. Truman Parkway
- Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
- Harry S. Truman Lake and Harry S. Truman Visitor Center
- USS Harry S. Truman
There are 23 uses in the references section.
Also note the references listed in Bibliography of Harry S. Truman.

Q3: Are there any cases where the "S" without the period should be used? (Yes.)

A3: Yes, but only in two cases. Proper names used in the article are:

Q4: Wasn't Truman in the KKK? (No.)

A4: According to biographer David McCullough, Truman paid a small membership fee in an effort to gain political support from members, but there is no reliable evidence that he was ever inducted or active. See details on this list of KKK members in US politics.

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Harry S. Truman is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on September 19, 2007.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
April 11, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
August 13, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
April 12, 2007	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
August 30, 2007	Featured article candidate	Promoted
May 11, 2010	Featured article review	Demoted
September 11, 2012	Peer review	Not reviewed
October 16, 2012	Peer review	Reviewed
November 18, 2012	Featured article candidate	Promoted
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on May 8, 2020.
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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Harry S. Truman article.
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Harry S Truman

His name is "Harry S Truman" without a period after the middle initial, because the "S" does not stand for a middle name.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 01:34, 25 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 23 October 2020

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Harry S Truman is the correct identity, not Harry S. Truman. He did not have a middle name, only an initial Story Gordon (talk) 12:16, 23 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is addressed in the footnote linked in the first sentence. – Thjarkur (talk) 12:23, 23 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

New lead image

Should we change the lead image to this? The lighting doesn’t obstruct his face like it does in the current image, it’s in color still, it’s a looser crop which is preferred for bios, and it’s a more visually complex image which works better in an infobox. It was also taken during his presidency, in 1952. Thoughts? The Image Editor (talk) 23:50, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose - The lighting for the current image has minimal impact. A closer shot of his face is preferred. The proposed image has lower resolution. Sundayclose (talk) 04:05, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per Sundayclose. ― Tartan357 ^(Talk) 00:43, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose bad. --HurricaneTracker495 (talk) 22:40, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The proposed picture looks better. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.140.3.83 (talk) 10:08, 6 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

First Assassination Attempt is Missing

There is a good discussion of the second assassination attempt. It even calls it the second attempt, but there is no mention of the first attempt (letter bombs). You can find both attempts in the page of all the presidential assassination attempts, but not on Truman's own page.

Reactorfire (talk) 01:31, 1 November 2020 (UTC)Reactorfire 10/31/20[reply]

Lots of missing citation.

If you can't provide citation then you cant publish it. This wiki needs an overhaul. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.140.3.83 (talk) 10:05, 6 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

One thin dime.

One thin dime. ---Dagme (talk) 19:30, 21 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

New link for reference on cite note describing middle initial.

In the lead cite note where Truman's name is first written, the link used to describe the middle initial in President Truman's name has since been changed by the Truman Library website. Please use the following link in order to circumvent the 404 error: https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/trivia/use-of-period-after-s-truman-name 98.160.169.160 (talk) 20:40, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]