Harry Truman Used An Esterbrook?

[Tommy]

I was watching a PBS show about Harry Truman tonight and they showed a picture of him signing a document with what looked like an Esterbrook desk pen. So I did a little Googling and found this image from 1950. An Esterbrook? You would think the president of the United States would use a more expensive pen. Not to say it's a bad pen. They're great pens, just not what I would expect to see in the oval office.

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn133/tom1415/Truman_initiating_Korean_involvemen.jpg

[RayMan]

Esterbrook seems to have been a favorite of the White House in the 50's and 60's. I've seen pics of Kennedy using an Esterbrook to sign bills.

[WendyNC]

I'm not skilled enough to identify the pen, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Harry Truman used an Esterbrook. A former road paver and failed haberdasher, he wasn't exactly the type who'd worry about the brand of the pen as long as it did the job right.

[Kelly G]

Have you used an Esterbrook desk pen?

[Possum Hill]

OMG! I have an Esterbrook desk pen like that and I bought it in Missouri, not that far from Independence. It could be Harry Truman's pen or, alternatively, one of thousands of similar pens. Or maybe I picked it up in Nebraska.

[Artie]

That is a bill signer pen. They were embossed The White House and were used and given away when the president signed a bill. They probably bought them by the case. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson all used Esterbrook bill signers. Each presidents pen was embossed differently. When Johnson became president, he ordered all of the remaining Kennedy bill signers to be destroyed.

 

Truman also had a cheap pen that he gave away as a souvenir pen that said "I swiped this pen from Harry Truman"

Edited October 20, 2009 by Artie

[12345Michael54321]

I suspect that over the course of his long life and political career, Harry Truman used many makes of pen. Heck, he probably received fountain pens as gifts from various manufacturers, at least once he became President (and quite likely when he was a United States Senator, as well). I find nothing surprising about him using Esterbrooks some of the time.

 

And bear in mind, particularly if a President is signing something into law, signing an official proclamation, signing... well, all sorts of stuff, it's not uncommon for him to use multiple pens - sometimes literally a dozen or more pens - to sign a single document. So that there will be a dozen or more pens that really, truly, and officially were used to sign the thing, and thus a dozen prominent supporters can each be given a pen as a keepsake of the occasion.

 

Finally, the vast majority of people - then as now - weren't really "into" pens. To them, a pen was a pen, so long as it wrote and didn't make any trouble. If Truman happened to have an Esterbrook desk set, he'd likely make use of it, and not fret over whether a Parker 51 would give him a superior writing experience. (Mind you, he - like many people - may have had a personal pen which he owned for years, carried around in his pocket, and used often. Perhaps it even had some sentimental value to him. I'm just saying that he probably didn't take much notice of other pens, in general.)

--

Michael

[Artie]

http://www.loringpage.com/attpensetc/penbookupdate.html

 

Trying to get a link to Presidential pens to work. Didn't go to the right place before, maybe this one will work.

 

Correction on my previous post. Bill signers were embossed The President The White House. Each presidential signer pen was embossed with a different color and/or different font size.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Artie

[gross]

What is this - someone disparaging the fine Esterbrook fountain pen? These were people who were interested in writing something with a fountain pen. They were sure of themselves and did not feel the need to rely on the brand name or the glitter of the pen to reassure themselves or impress the people around them. They gave them out by the boxes, did they? Then they did the recipients a favor by giving them a pen that was a workhorse. The fact that they ordered them by the carton has no bearing on the selection, for these people could have ordered any pen by the boxcar load should they have chosen to do so.

 

Why should anyone be surprised that Harry Truman should use an Esterbrook? I should have been surprised had he been using another brand of fountain pen.

 

"My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference."--Harry S. Truman

[Ted H]

Found here: http://www.esterbrook.net/diplesspens.shtml

scroll to the bottom of page and see the Senator pen.

 

Check out photos of FDR and his desk. He had 'em all over the place.

[Pepin]

FDR and Eleanor both used Esterbrook desk pens as well. In fact, they used the same Estie in the Truman picture. Truman was a man of humble birth so I wouldn't expect anything fancy. When he was a battery commander in France during the Great War, he was impressed only by the quality of the French roads-nothing else. Not even French women. In fact, he stayed sober and kept correspondence with his future wife back home in Missouri. His fellow officers remembered him as a bespectacled bore. He has strong character-a lot like the Estie he writes with.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Pepin

[BillZ]

Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter used a 50 year-old Esterbrook. Probably still does.

[Tommy]

Thanks for the links, Artie and Ted. Lots of good info there about presidential pens. I did not mean to disparage the Esterbrook pen with my post. I have Esterbrooks and I love them. I guess it just struck me as odd to see a US president using something that was not top-of-the-line and very expensive. Those were different times, indeed.

[Lloyd]

I wonder if there was an offical White House NibMeister in those days to keep the President's pens functioning flawlessly.

[pb2]

Can anybody see the number on that nib? It looks a lot like the 2284 Signature nib I have for sale in a Black (yes, a Jet Black "J".

 

I was watching a PBS show about Harry Truman tonight and they showed a picture of him signing a document with what looked like an Esterbrook desk pen. So I did a little Googling and found this image from 1950. An Esterbrook? You would think the president of the United States would use a more expensive pen. Not to say it's a bad pen. They're great pens, just not what I would expect to see in the oval office.

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn133/tom1415/Truman_initiating_Korean_involvemen.jpg

[Ernst Bitterman]

I wonder if there was an offical White House NibMeister in those days to keep the President's pens functioning flawlessly.

 

 

1941-1945, the title of the office was Point Manipulator to the President. Can't have German words running around the White House, stirring up trouble and overhearing secrets!

[dwattsjr]

Pres. Truman has also been photographed using a Parker "51" fountain pen. If I remember correctly, that photo is in David Shepherd's excellent book on the "51".

[OcalaFlGuy]

Thanks for the links, Artie and Ted. Lots of good info there about presidential pens. I did not mean to disparage the Esterbrook pen with my post. I have Esterbrooks and I love them. I guess it just struck me as odd to see a US president using something that was not top-of-the-line and very expensive. Those were different times, indeed.

 

Now, I didn't help Harry, Jack, Lyndon or (especially) Obama choose their administrations signing pens and I don't work for any major pen company but I suspect that now as in the past, around each election time, the major pen companies come out with a proposal for the new administration. Knowing that each administration has an "official" signing pen it would only make sense for them to do so.

 

There is certainly some degree of advertising poetential (even if that's just the President being seen using them) and prestige to have it known that your pens are used by the President to sign bills.

 

I am convinced that Esterbrook was a master in this. I don't think it was any minor business transaction/happenstance that Esterbrook made those pens for Bell Systems, AT&T, AAA and the various school systems. I WOULD be VERY curious to know the pricing on those deals. I suspect those pens were sold at not alot above the break even point. What better way at that time to positively advertise your pen but to put one to use in the hands of as many people in the US as possible. I suspect Estie thought that someone having a positive writing experience with an Estie at their local phone company, AAA office or even maybe using the pen their child brought home from school, that seeing how inexpensive Esties were relative to other pens would seal up another purchase at Full Retail Pricing. I find it pretty interesting that I don't see any large numbers of Other Pen Companies pens embossed the same way as I do Esties.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Artie]

Those were different times. People expected powerful people to have nice things but not to go overboard with glitz. Everyone was recovering from the Depression and good functional things were appreciated. People in general had a loathing for people-especially government officials if they were perceived as indulgent over spending and wasteful excess activities. FDR's Presidential Limo was an older armored Lincoln that had been built for and owned by Al Capone before the government confiscated it.

[12345Michael54321]

I guess it just struck me as odd to see a US president using something that was not top-of-the-line and very expensive. Those were different times, indeed.

 

Naw, even in more modern times, Presidents have been known to wear cheap wristwatches, instead of something like an expensive, top-of-the-line Patek Philippe or a Rolex Presidential model. Or to hit the links with a set of good, but by no means top-of-the-line golf clubs. I know that Pres. G. H. Bush - who enjoys fishing - often uses good, sound fishing gear, but not necessarily super high end stuff.

 

When it comes to personal items, many Presidents use items of good quality and reputation, even if not of the highest quality and maximum prestige. And I'm honestly not sure that it was fundamentally different in the olden days, than it is today.

--

Michael