Oral History Interviews
The Truman Library has approximately 500 interviews supplementing the written record of Harry S. Truman's life and times. The interviews are available in transcript form and range in length from fewer than 10 to over 1,000 pages, with most being between 20 and 200 pages. Most of the interviews include a name and subject index attached to the transcript. There is a cumulative index for the entire oral history collection available in the research room at the Library.
The list below gives the name of the person interviewed, his or her principal positions, and the number of pages in the transcript. This list does not include information about specific copyright or donor restrictions. This information is included with the individual interview transcripts. Interviews that were conducted by an oral history program other than the Library's are properly accredited. Interviews with friends, neighbors, and personal associates of Harry S. Truman have been conducted by the National Park Service, and transcripts can be found on their website.
| SACHS, HANS-GEORG. | Counselor of the Ministerial Department for the Marshall Plan, Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-52. 32 pages. |
| SALANT, WALTER S. | Economist, Council of Economic Advisers, 1946-52. 98 pages. |
| SALTZMAN, CHARLES E. | Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas, 1947-49. 25 pages. |
| SANDERS, TED J. | Cameron, Missouri, friend of the Truman family. 88 pages. |
| SANDERS, WILLIAM. | Associate Chief, Division of International Organization Affairs, Office of Special Political Affairs, Department of State, 1945-48; Special Assistant, Bureau of U.N. Affairs, Department of State, 1950-52. 31 pages. |
| SANDIFER, DURWARD V. | Deputy Director, Office of U.N. Affairs, Department of State, 1947-49; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for U.N. Affairs, 1949-54. 139 pages. |
| SATTERTHWAITE, JOSEPH C. | Deputy Director, 1947-48, and Director, 1948-49, Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs, Department of State; Ambassador to Ceylon, 1949-53. 46 pages. |
| SCHNEIDER, J. THOMAS. | Chairman, Personnel Policy Board, Department of Defense, 1950-51; Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Affairs, 1952-53. 94 pages. |
| SCHUSTERMAN, GLORIA. | Daughter of Edward Jacobson, U.S. Army associate, friend, and business partner of Harry S. Truman, 24 pages. |
| SCHWABE, GEORGIA MAY | Wife of US Congressman Max Schwabe (served 1942-48) of Missouri. 25 pages. |
| SEIDMAN, HAROLD D. | Staff member, Bureau of the Budget, 1943-68; Assistant Director for Management and Organization, Bureau of the Budget, 1964-68. 158 pages. |
| SERVICE, JOHN STEWART. | Political adviser to the Commander in Chief of American forces in the China-Burma-India Theater, 1943-45; executive officer to the political adviser to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in the Far East, 1945-46; First Secretary of the American Legation, Wellington, New Zealand, 1946-48. Interview conducted by the Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley. 522 pages. |
| SHORT, MRS. JOSEPH H. | Correspondence Secretary to the President, 1952-53. 111 pages. |
| SIMS, PAULINE and PANSY PERKINS | Grandview, Missouri, friends of the Truman family. 71 pages. |
| SLATER, HAROLD M. | City Editor, St. Joseph News-Press, 1927-79. 74 pages. |
| SLAUGHTER, STEPHEN S. | Grandview, Missouri, neighbor and acquaintance of the Truman family. 105 pages. |
| SMITH, R. BURR. | Economist, Department of State, 1946-49; member, U.S. delegation, Far Eastern Commission, 1947-49; member, U.S. delegation, Austrian Treaty Conference, 1949; commercial attache, U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, 1950-53. 77 pages. |
| SNOW, CONRAD E. | Staff member in charge of clemency, Office of the Under Secretary of War, and member of the Clemency Board (Roberts Board), 1945-46; Assistant Legal Adviser for Political Affairs, Department of State, 1946-50; member, Advisory Board for War Criminals, High Commissioner for Germany, 1950; Chairman, Loyalty-Security Board, Department of State, 1947-52; Assistant Legal Adviser for Far Eastern Affairs, Department of State, 1950-56. 51 pages. |
| SNOY, JEAN CHARLES | Chairman, Organization for European Economic Cooperation, 1948-50. Two interviews, 51 pages. |
| SNYDER, JOHN W. | Secretary of the Treasury, 1946-53. 1,932 pages. Also interviews by the Oral History Committee of the Treasury Historical Association, 184 pages, and by the William Jewell College Oral History Project, 80 pages. |
| SOMMERS, DAVIDSON | Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, 1946; staff attorney, 1946-49, and General Counsel and Vice President, 1949-59, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), 1946-49. 57 pages. |
| SONNENHOL, GUSTAV A. | Information officer, Marshall Plan Ministry, Germany, 1949-54. 28 pages. |
| SOUTHARD, FRANK A., JR. | Director, Office of International Finance, Department of the Treasury, 1947-48; Associate Director, Research and Statistics, in charge of International Section, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, 1948-49; U.S. executive director, International Monetary Fund, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. alternate governor, Boards of Governors of the International Bank and the International Monetary Fund, 1949-62. 48 pages. |
| SPARKS, WILBUR D. | Investigator on the staff of the Special Committee of the Senate to Investigate the National Defense Program (Truman Committee), 1941-46. 190 pages. |
| SPINGARN, STEPHEN J. | Assistant general counsel, Department of the Treasury, 1946-49; member of the President's Temporary Commission on Employee Loyalty, 1946-47; Deputy Director of the Office of Contract Settlement, 1947-49; Special Assistant in the White House Office, 1949-50; Administrative Assistant to the President, 1950; member, Federal Trade Commission, 1950-53. 1,105 pages. |
| SPROUSE, PHILIP D. | Assistant Chief, 1947, and Chief, 1948, Division of Chinese Affairs, Department of State; Director, Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State, 1949; First Secretary, 1950-51, and Counselor, 1952-53, U.S. Embassy in Paris, France. 125 pages. |
| STASSEN, HAROLD E. | Member, U.S. delegation, U.N. Conference on International Organization, San Francisco, 1945. 40 pages. |
| STEELMAN, JOHN R. | Assistant to the President, 1946-53. 65 pages. Also an interview conducted by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, 78 pages. |
| STEPHENS, A. J. | Kansas City businessman and friend of Harry S. Truman. 55 pages. |
| STEWART, ANTOINETTE F. | Wife of Martin L. Friedman, Special Assistant in the White House Office, 1950-53. 22 pages. |
| STIKKER, DIRK U. | Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands, 1948-52. Two interviews, 108 pages. |
| STINEBOWER, LEROY D. | Deputy Director, Office of International Trade Policy, 1945; Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, 1946-49; Director, Office of Financial and Development Policy, 1949-52. 97 pages. |
| STOKES, ISAAC N. P. | Associate Chief, Division of International Organization Affairs, Department of State, 1945-48; Solicitor, Department of Commerce, 1949; general counsel, Office of U.S. Representative in Europe, Economic Cooperation Administration, 1949-50; Special Assistant, 1950-51 and general counsel, 1952-53, Mutual Security Agency. 104 pages. |
| STOWE, DAVID H. | Administrative Assistant to the President, 1949-53. 98 pages. Deputy to the Assistant to the President, 1947-49; Administrative Assistant to the President, 1949-53; aid to former President Truman during the 1960 presidential campaign. Also an interview conducted by Charles Morrissey, 135 pages. |
| STOWE, DAVID H. and WILLIAM BRAY. | Assistants to the Assistant to the President, John R. Steelman ca. 1944-49; aids to former President Truman during the 1960 presidential campaign. 90 pages. See also The Truman White House oral history interview. |
| STRAUSS, ANNA LORD | President, League of Women Voters, 1944-50. 55 pages. |
| STRAUSS, LEWIS L. | Member, Atomic Energy Commission, 1946-50; Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, 1953-58. 58 pages. |
| STRODE, JOHN J. | Grandview, Missouri, friend of the Truman family. 85 pages. |
| STROUT, RICHARD L. | Reporter, Washington, D.C. bureau, Christian Science Monitor, 1925-84. 69 pages. |
| SULLIVAN, JOHN L. | Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, 1945-46; Under Secretary of the Navy, 1946-47; Secretary of the Navy, 1947-49. 90 pages. |
| SUNDQUIST, JAMES L. | Administrative analyst, Bureau of the Budget, 1941-47, 1949-51. 56 pages. |
| SWEENEY, ROBERT L. | Employee and supervisor, Kansas City, Missouri, Post Office, 1926-64, and friend of Harry S. Truman. 46 pages. |
| SWOYER, MARTHA ANN | Daughter of J. Vivian and Luella Truman, niece of Harry S. Truman. 62 pages. |
| SWYDEN, VICTOR. | Member of the Kansas City, Missouri, Council, 1963-83; and GEORGE D. OWEN, Independence chief of police, 1967-72. 34 pages. |
| SYMINGTON, STUART. | Assistant Secretary of War for Air, 1946-47; Secretary of the Air Force, 1947-50; Chairman, National Security Resources Board, 1950-51; Administrator, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1951-52; U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1953-77. 86 pages. |