About Us

The Truman Foundation is the nation’s official living memorial to our thirty-third president and the presidential monument to public service. We are an independent federal agency within the White House complex.

Created by Congress in 1975, the Foundation was President Truman’s idea. A pragmatic Midwesterner who did not attend college, President Truman did not want a brick-and-mortar monument. Instead, he encouraged a living memorial that would give life to the values of service that animated his career. In that spirit, the Truman Foundation supports Americans answering the call to serve.

Our mission makes us a beacon for public service. Our vision is of a country that deeply values public servants. In pursuit of this mission and vision, we award the Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders, in addition to programs across the course of Truman Scholars' careers.