What is the real story behind the “S” of the name of former president Harry S Truman?
What’s in an Initial? [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/33_truman/tguide/truman_dk.html] Truman did not have a middle name, but he did have a middle initial. Truman explained that the S was a compromise tribute to his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. For years there has been a controversy over whether or not the S should have a period after it; the Harry S. Truman Library does use the period, as does the Government Printing Office, but many people don’t, because the initial doesn’t stand for a name. Truman did not have a middle name, only a middle initial. It was a common practice in southern states, including Missouri, to use initials rather than names. In Truman’s autobiography, he stated, “I was named for…Harrison Young. I was given the diminutive Harry and, so that I could have two initials in my given name, the letter S. was added. My Grandfather Truman’s name was Anderson Shippe Truman and my Grandfather Young’s name was Solomon Young, so I received
