Harry S Truman

November 2, 2006 9:27 AM

In this article, a quotation reads "What is unique about Harry S Truman's name? His middle initial doesn't need a period after it". Why not?
posted by Heatwole to Society & Culture (21 answers total)

I'm pretty sure S doesn't stand for anything in his middle name. It's just S.
posted by jourman2 at 9:29 AM on November 2, 2006

His middle name is simply the letter S, so it's not an abbreviation.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 9:29 AM on November 2, 2006

He has no middle name, just the initial.
posted by rkent at 9:29 AM on November 2, 2006

Because his middle name was just the letter S.
posted by wanderingmind at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

His middle name is "S", it's not an abbreviation.
posted by Mitheral at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

From www.trumanlibrary.org
posted by JigSawMan at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Truman.27s_middle_initial
posted by blue_wardrobe at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

Ah yes, wikipedia confirms
posted by jourman2 at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

Because it doesn't stand for anything. It's simply "S", like the "J" in Homer J Simpson.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

Mr. Truman apparently initiated the "period" controversy in 1962 when, perhaps in jest, he told newspapermen that the period should be omitted. In explanation he said that the "S" did not stand for any name but was a compromise between the names of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

Seriously, you couldn't google this?
posted by amro at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

Rats. I can google, but I can't link.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 9:32 AM on November 2, 2006

Funnily enough, Wiki notes his middle name is S but still puts the period after it in the header of the article.
posted by Mitheral at 9:32 AM on November 2, 2006

Thanks all.
And amro, thanks for the quote, but do all questions have to be run through Google first? I like the idea that questions and answers cna be stored here for users.
Seriously, why did you bother?
posted by Heatwole at 9:37 AM on November 2, 2006

There's still some controversy. For example, his autobiography has a period after the S.
posted by null terminated at 9:37 AM on November 2, 2006

There's some controversy about this on the "talk" page from Harry S Truman (no period) over on Wikipedia. From the sounds of it, and from the first entry on the Harry S. Truman talk page (with period), it sounds like the period/no period thing has been the subject of several revert edits in the Truman entry.

The Truman Library leans towards using the period.
posted by flipper at 9:39 AM on November 2, 2006

amro, thanks for the quote, but do all questions have to be run through Google first?

Yes. Check the guidelines.
posted by amro at 9:43 AM on November 2, 2006

See also: Michael J Fox
posted by blue_beetle at 9:57 AM on November 2, 2006

I'll toss in this Snopes link for completeness.
posted by exogenous at 9:58 AM on November 2, 2006

So to sum up.
1) S is his middle name,
2) Homer's middle name is Jay, and
3) Please use the Google search engine to answer your question, if possible (other search engines may be substituted for Google).
posted by muddgirl at 10:06 AM on November 2, 2006

[a few off topic comments removed, yeah heatwole probably should have used google, but excessive complaiing about it belongs in metatalk]
posted by jessamyn at 1:58 PM on November 2, 2006

You can put a period after it if you want, if you are using it as an initial.

They just can't yell at you for NOT putting one.
posted by Sallyfur at 5:37 PM on November 2, 2006