Every year, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation seeks out full-time college students with leadership potential who are in the top quarter of their class and pursuing careers in government, the non-profit sector, education, or other areas of public service. The Foundation provides those they select with financial support for graduate work, and for leadership training with other students who are also committed to careers in which they can work to positively impact the world.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation is an Independent Federal Agency established by Congress as an official living memorial scholarship program in honor of the 33rd President of the United States. President Truman often spoke about the importance of developing leaders at a young age, and that was the inspiration for his friends John W. Snyder, who was Secretary of the Treasury during Truman’s administration, and Stuart Symington, then Senator of Missouri, to work together after his death in 1972 toward the creation of the Foundation, which came to fruition through an act of Congress. Truman’s daughter, Margaret Truman Daniel, was also a big supporter of the idea, and the bill passed in December 1974, with President Gerald Ford signing it into law on January 4, 1975. The act authorized the Foundation to award scholarships to students who demonstrate strong potential and plan a career in public service, and to conduct a nationwide competition to select the recipients. The first scholarships awarded by the Foundation were in the 1977-1978 academic year, and since then the Foundation has gradually added elements to its scholarship program. In May 1989 it held its first Scholar Leadership Week, and in 1991 it had its first annual Summer Institute. The first Public Service Law Conference was in 2002, and the Truman Fellows Program was initiated with the scholars selected in 2004.  

Among Truman Scholar Recipients who have gone on to make a national name for themselves: Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano; CNN analyst and New Yorker staff writer Jeffrey Toobin; and George Stephanopoulos, who is currently ABC chief political correspondent and anchor of ABC’s “This Week” and “Good Morning America,” and was formerly Communications Director for President Bill Clinton.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the President and Congress, every year awards 60 to 65 $30,000 scholarships to college students with good academic and leadership records who plan to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government or elsewhere in public service. Across the country, colleges or universities nominate candidates. Six hundred to 700 compete annually for the scholarships, with the Foundation trying every year to select at least one scholar from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Islands (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands). The Foundation also selects one scholar per year from an institution whose students have never received the award.

Applicants must be full-time students pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree, and they are required to be U.S. citizens, or U.S. Nationals from a Pacific Island, or expecting to receive citizenship by the date the scholarship will be awarded. He or she must also have already participated extensively in at least two of the following: student government; community-related service activities; government internships, commissions, boards, advocacy or interest groups, non-partisan political activities, or military/ROTC; or partisan political activities. They must also agree to work in public service for three of the first seven years after finishing their Foundation-funded graduate degree.

The Foundation’s judges include 100 senior public servants, including federal judges, college and university presidents, and past Truman Scholarship winners. So far the Foundation has awarded more than 2,000 Truman Scholarships.

The Foundation is governed by a 13-member Board of Trustees, eight of whom are appointed by the U.S. President. Those eight are comprised of a state governor, a federal judge, the chief executive of a city or county, a state judge, a representative of higher education, and three members of the public. The other five include two U.S. Senators, two U.S. Representatives, and the United States Secretary of Education. Operations are overseen by a full-time executive secretary.

From the Web Site of the Truman Scholarship Foundation:

Advice and Guidance for Candidates

Faculty Reps

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Become A Truman Scholar

Meet the 2011 Truman Scholars

Board of Trustees and Officers

The average salary for staff workers at the Truman Scholarship Foundation is $117,786. Five people are employed by the Foundation. Other agency expenses are paid from interest generated by the trust fund.