Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)
President, 1945-53

In 1951, a new state dining service to complement the redecorated state dining room at the White House was ordered by B. Altman and Company from Lenox China in Trenton, New Jersey. The principal design elements of the Truman china are a band of soft green between a plain gold line on the outer rim and a gold band etched with a cable or chain motif. The presidential seal is rendered in gold on the border of each piece and in the center of the service plates, which have a wider band of green and a heavier outer rim of gold. By executive order in 1945, President Truman standardized the design of the presidential seal so that the eagle faces the olive branch of peace rather than the bundle of arrows as seen on the Wilson and Roosevelt state services. Susan Gray Detweiler, from American Presidential China: The Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2008), pp. 79-80.