Typed Letter Signed as President by Truman, Harry S - 1951

Washington, D.C.,, 1951. One page to Representative Edith Nourse Rogers, Washington, 10 December 1951 on White House Stationery. A sharp response to an angry Republican Congresswoman's demand for action against the perpetrators of Korean war crimes. In part: "I appreciated your telegram of December eighth very much and nobody is more anxious to see justice done with regard to the reported atrocities in Korea than I am but it is not possible to punish people when you have no way of obtaining possession of them for the purpose of punishment. I hope before we get through with the situation that we weill be ina position to mete out justice to those who perpetrated those terrible attrocities." The Korean War was filled with all too many ghastly stories of killed and tortured prisoners and civilians. This tough letter reveals a frustrated Truman who realised he could do very little regarding prisoners of war while the fighting raged. Two weeks after sending this letter Truman decreed that no North Korean prisoners would be repatriated bac to the Norht against their will. This made any hope of a peace settlement that much more difficult but Truman refused to change his position on this issue. Edith Rogers was the first Congresswoman from New England, a staunch Republican. Rogers represented the Fifth District of Massachusetts for 35 years. Half of the 1,200 bills she introduced during her career, concerned veterans or military affairs. She sponsored legislation to create what later became the Women's Army Corps, and was an author of the 1944 G.I. Bill of Rights, providing educational and financial benefits for veterans. Fine. 4to..