Pres. Truman Writes with Sheaffer & Esterbrook

Thanks to a wonderful conversation with a man named Brad P., we received a great insight into the pens used by American president Harry S Truman. Brad reached out to us looking to sell an especially unique item: an Esterbrook dip pen used by Pres. Truman to sign an act to amend the Displaced Persons Act of 1948.

This framed presentation shows the Esterbrook dip pen used by President Harry Truman to sign the 1950 Act to Amend the Displaced Persons Act of 1948.

The original act helped pave the way for 200,000 European refugees to resettle in the United States after World War II. Unfortunately, the original act was discriminatory against Jewish refugees and others. This amended act took away the prejudiced restrictions of the original act making it easier for anyone of any race or religion to seek a new life in the United States. Ultimately, it aided more than 415,000 people in becoming legal residents and citizens of the U.S.A.

A man named Harry Rosenfield helped lead the effort to amend the original act to be more inclusive. This Esterbrook dip pen was given to him by the president to commemorate the achievement. As you can see by the entire framed presentation, the Truman pen comes with a signed photo of the act’s signing and a letter authenticating the pen’s role in the ceremony.

According to Brad, Mr. Rosenfield is the man in the far right of the photo, to whom a seated President Truman is speaking. Brad was able to identify two other people in this photo. “Clarence Pickett is far left,” Brad explained. “The Reverend Thaddeus Gullixson is in the rear, wearing the bow tie.”

Truman, apparently, liked the Esterbrook 2668 nib for signing documents. The 2668 nib was an upgraded nib for general writing.

As a graduate student at the University of Montana, I saw several of these Esterbrook dip pens, which had been used by Presidents Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson to sign various other bills into law. Why did UM have them? The library is named the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library and was established by the then longest serving Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, a Montana Democrat. Unfortunately, although I was into pens back then, this was before digital cameras and a good 5 or 6 years before I started ThePenMarket.com. As such, I don’t presently have a photo of those pens.

The Other Pen

What do you spy among the clutter of President Truman’s desk?

Take a good look at the photo. Pay close attention to President Truman’s cluttered desk. Do you see it? The other Truman pen appears to be a Sheaffer Lifetime desk pen from the 1920s or ’30s. This likely would have been his daily driver at work. I am reasonably certain it is a lever-filler. The photo doesn’t really focus on the pen, and I can’t quite tell if the pen is all black or maybe a darkened jade. You can only see a small portion of the base, which is a lighter colored glassy stone. Maybe someone who knows Sheaffer desk pens well can tell what it is.

In the event you want to read it, we are including the letter authenticating the Esterbrook pen and its place in history. Written on White House stationary, it is signed by Truman’s personal secretary William Hassett. It dates back to June 16, 1950.