The papers of Edward Jacobson document his business and personal affairs, and particularly his long friendship with Harry S. Truman. Through this friendship, Jacobson-a Kansas City haberdasher who never sought public office in his life-played an important part in the founding of the modern state of Israel.
Eddie Jacobson and Harry Truman met in Kansas City as young men and renewed their acquaintance during World War I, when they served together in the 129th Field Artillery. While stationed at Camp Doniphan in Oklahoma, the two men operated the regimental canteen with such success that they decided, upon their return from Europe after the Armistice, to go into business together. The Truman & Jacobson haberdashery opened for business on November 28, 1919, at 104 West 12th Street in downtown Kansas City, a prime location just across the street from the Muehlebach Hotel. The store ran into financial difficulties during the postwar economic recession and finally closed in September, 1922, leaving Truman and Jacobson heavily in debt. For the next two decades Jacobson worked as a traveling salesman of men's clothing. In 1945, he was able to open his own store in Kansas City, Westport Menswear.
Jacobson's friendship with Truman survived their business failure and continued through the 1 930s and 1940s, as Truman advanced from county administrator to U.S. Senator to Vice President and, ultimately, President of the United States. As one of Truman's closest Jewish friends, Jacobson lobbied the President in behalf of a cause that was very important to him: the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine as a refuge for survivors of the Nazi Holocaust in Europe. On a number of occasions, often at the behest of Jewish leaders who were aware of his close ties to the President, he corresponded or met with Truman to urge that the United States support this cause. During a memorable face-to-face encounter at the White House on March 13, 1948, it was Jacobson who persuaded Truman to meet with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist movement. Two months later, on May 14, 1948, the United States became the first nation to grant diplomatic recognition to the new state of Israel.
The Correspondence File consists of correspondence and other items, much of it documenting Jacobson's relationship with Truman and his involvement in the founding and early history of the state of Israel. This series contains approximately forty letters from Truman to Jacobson, and copies of fewer than ten letters from Jacobson to Truman, dating from 1945 to 1955. Although most of this correspondence is personal in nature, a few letters touch upon the Palestine issue. Especially notable are Jacobson's letter of October 3, 1947, supporting the United Nations partition plan for Palestine, and the President's letter of February 27, 1948, expressing his frustration over the refusal of Jews and Arabs to reach a peaceful settlement. Subsequent letters between the two friends concern such matters as a proposal, made by a Kansas City Jewish leader in 1952 and immediately dismissed by Jacobson, that Jacobson be named president of Israel ("I'll say that he couldn't nominate a better man," Truman wrote, "but I sincerely hope you won't take it, for your own welfare and benefit.") The last communication between the two men in Jacobson's papers is a handwritten letter from Truman, dated June 30, 1955, in which the former President describes his plans to visit Israel, perhaps in the company of Jacobson. Jacobson died soon thereafter, and Truman never made the trip.
