Within Truman Memo
Did Cleanup Damage Truman's Signature Stroke?
Damage to the long T stroke is cited as evidence that typed words were removed from a donor signature before it was transplanted.
On this page
- Where the Bush signature crossed typed text
- The thinner stroke on the MJ 12 image
- Why cleanup damage suggests a paste up
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Introduction
The “thinned T” is a small but unusually specific feature in the dispute over President Harry Truman’s signature on the alleged 24 September 1947 Truman–Forrestal MJ-12 memorandum. The claim is not merely that the signature resembles one on Truman’s genuine 1 October 1947 letter to Vannevar Bush. Critics argue that the Bush letter supplied the actual donor signature, and that whoever transferred it had to erase typed words that touched the top stroke of the “T” in “Truman”. That cleanup allegedly removed part of the pen stroke as well.
This matters because it offers something stronger than resemblance: a proposed physical trace of the copying process. Questioned-document examiner Peter Tytell reportedly regarded the narrowed T stroke as evidence of a “classic signature transplant”. The interpretation remains contested, particularly because researchers possess reproductions rather than the alleged original MJ-12 sheet, and no formal published Tytell report survives. Even so, the feature is difficult to explain away as ordinary variation between two handwritten signatures.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
Where the Bush signature crossed typed text
The donor proposed by critics is an authentic Truman letter to Vannevar Bush dated 1 October 1947. Philip J. Klass reported finding its original in the Bush collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Its significance lies in a combination of details rather than in a generic resemblance to Truman’s handwriting. Klass said the Bush and MJ-12 signatures followed the same form closely enough to superimpose after allowing for a small difference in reproduction size, and both contained the same accidental pen skid on the “H” of “Harry”.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
The crucial complication appears at the opposite end of the signature. On the genuine Bush letter, Truman signed beneath the conventional typed closing “Sincerely yours”. According to Klass’s account of Tytell’s examination, part of the horizontal top stroke of the capital “T” in “Truman” barely intersected the final “s” of the typed closing. In other words, the handwriting and typewriting occupied some of the same image area.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
That overlap creates a practical problem for anyone trying to reuse only the signature. Simply cutting out or photographically copying the Bush signature would also carry across part of the typed “Sincerely yours”. To make the signature suitable for placement on another document, the unwanted type would have to be removed while preserving the handwriting that crossed it.
This is what makes the T stroke more informative than the widely discussed matching skid mark in the “H”. The skid mark suggests that the two images share a common source. The T potentially records what happened when that source image was edited for reuse.
The thinner stroke on the MJ-12 image
Klass sent a copy of the Bush letter to the questioned-document examiner whom he initially identified only as “PT”, subsequently publicly identified as Peter Tytell. Klass reported that Tytell compared the two signatures using transparencies. Because the MJ-12 version was larger, the Bush signature was enlarged by about 3.6 per cent for the comparison. Once adjusted, Tytell concluded that the MJ-12 image represented what he called a “classic signature transplant”.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
His most specific observation concerned the exact region where handwriting and typewriting had intersected on the Bush original. Klass reported Tytell’s reconstruction as follows: someone removing “Sincerely yours” with typewriter correction fluid also removed a little of the adjacent handwritten line, leaving the top of Truman’s “T” narrower in the MJ-12 reproduction. Tytell regarded that localised thinning as especially diagnostic because it occurred where cleanup of the proposed donor document would predict damage.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
The argument therefore involves three linked observations:
- The proposed donor has unwanted typed material touching the signature. The final “s” of “yours” intersects the T stroke.
- The MJ-12 version lacks that typed material. The signature appears on a differently composed memorandum rather than beneath the Bush letter’s closing.
- The handwriting is reportedly diminished at the point where the unwanted type had to be removed. That is the “thinned T”.
Taken together, those features describe a plausible analogue paste-up technique: obtain a reproduction of the genuine letter, mask or paint out unwanted typewriting, isolate the cleaned signature, place it on the fabricated memorandum and photograph or photocopy the composite. The surviving MJ-12 material itself came to researchers through photographic reproduction rather than as an original ink-and-paper document, so such a process could also conceal physical cut edges and correction material that might have been conspicuous on the paste-up itself. Klass reported that the documents had arrived on 35-mm film, accompanied by photocopies, rather than with an inspectable original.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
Why cleanup damage suggests a paste-up
The force of the argument comes from its prediction. If two similar Truman signatures were simply independent genuine signatures, there would be no particular reason for one to lose line width precisely where the other collided with typed wording. If the Bush signature was instead the donor image, that is exactly the place where an editor would face difficulty separating Truman’s ink from the unwanted text.
This distinction is important in questioned-document work. Forensic literature treats exact or extremely close correspondence between independent handwritten signatures with suspicion, particularly when an accidental or unusual feature from a proposed model reappears in the questioned signature. Joe Nickell’s treatment of document forgery uses the MJ-12 example specifically: he describes the questioned Truman signature as superimposing on the genuine 1947 signature, including an anomalous pen stroke, and interprets this as evidence that the genuine signature was photographically copied and used in a cut-and-paste construction.[CORE]core.ac.ukCOREUniversity of KentuckyNovember 1, 2025…
The thinning adds a second kind of correspondence. The shared skid mark is an element that allegedly travelled with the copied signature; the narrowed T is an element allegedly created while preparing that signature for transplantation. That makes the two features complementary rather than redundant.
There is also a scale issue that initially appeared to count against exact copying. Klass measured the MJ-12 signature as roughly 3.6 per cent longer than the Bush version. He attributed this to repeated photocopying and reported Tytell explaining that contemporary copying processes could introduce small enlargement. Tytell’s transparency comparison therefore enlarged the Bush image before superimposition. Whether Klass’s precise reconstruction of three copying generations is correct is less secure than the underlying observation: simple differences in reproduced size do not by themselves establish that two images originated as separate handwritten signatures.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
How strong is the T-stroke evidence?
The T-stroke case is strongest as part of a pattern, not as an isolated speck on a degraded photocopy. Klass reported finding the genuine Bush original at the Library of Congress; the signatures share the anomalous H skid; Tytell reportedly obtained close superimposition after scale adjustment; and the one conspicuously altered area is the location where the Bush signature intersects wording that would have been unwanted in a transplant. Later forensic-writing literature has repeated the MJ-12 signature as an example of a copied genuine signature used in a fabricated document.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
There are nevertheless evidential limits. Most importantly, Tytell did not publish a formal laboratory report on the MJ-12 material. Klass’s 1990 article relays Tytell’s conclusions and says that Tytell demonstrated the comparison at a professional meeting. William Moore acknowledged at the time that the examiner had reached adverse conclusions but said opinions among examiners consulted by the MJ-12 researchers were mixed.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
MJ-12 defender Stanton Friedman later emphasised this weakness, describing Tytell’s view as an unpublished opinion and arguing that initial measurements showed differences between segments of the two signatures. Friedman also cited a later examination by James A. Black. Black reportedly considered the disputed signature “most likely a reproduction”, although Friedman argued that reproduction did not necessarily mean fraudulent transplantation: a legitimate briefing document, he suggested, might itself have reproduced Truman’s signature from another record.[The Black Vault]theblackvault.comThe Black Vault Update on Operation Majestic 12 DocumentsThe Black VaultUpdate on Operation Majestic 12 Documents - The Black Vault Case Files…
That defence is significant because it separates two propositions that are sometimes blurred together. A reproduced Truman signature does not automatically prove a forged memorandum. An official compiler could theoretically reproduce a genuine signature for a later briefing package. But that explanation has a harder time with the specific thinned-T claim. If the MJ-12 image merely reproduced an official signed copy, there is no obvious reason why its signature should carry the distinctive accidental H mark from the Bush letter while also showing apparent cleanup precisely where “Sincerely yours” touched the Bush signature. The transplant hypothesis explains both observations with one editing operation.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
An autopen or mechanical-signature explanation likewise addresses repeated geometry better than it addresses this particular feature. Robert Wood acknowledged that the September 1947 MJ-12 and October Bush signatures could be made into what he called a “dead match”, but proposed that Truman might have used an autopen-type device. Klass countered with a genuine Truman signature from 26 September 1947 that did not match the pair. More fundamentally, a mechanical signing hypothesis would still need to explain why the MJ-12 T appears altered at the exact location of the Bush letter’s typed-text intersection.[Center for Inquiry]cdn.centerforinquiry.orgCenter for Inquiry SUN #58S KEPTICS UFO NEWSLETTER By Philip J. KlDecember 6, 2024…
What the narrow T can and cannot establish
The thinned stroke does not identify whoever produced the MJ-12 material, nor can it independently establish every stage of Klass and Tytell’s proposed paste-up process. Because no physical original of the alleged Truman–Forrestal memorandum is available for modern examination, investigators cannot test the questioned area for correction fluid, adhesive, cut boundaries, ink chemistry or other direct signs that might settle the mechanism. The National Archives’ extensive searches also failed to locate an authenticated Truman–Forrestal MJ-12 original or corroborating executive-branch copy.[National Archives]archives.govNational Archives Project BLUE BOOKNational ArchivesProject BLUE BOOK - Unidentified Flying Objects | National ArchivesJune 25, 2024
What the feature does provide is a tightly constrained explanation for an otherwise peculiar image difference. The authentic Bush signature contains typed material crossing the T. The disputed MJ-12 image presents essentially the same signature without that material, retains an accidental mark elsewhere in the handwriting, and reportedly loses part of the pen stroke exactly where removal of the Bush letter’s typed closing would have required delicate cleanup.[Skeptical Inquirer]skepticalinquirer.orgSkeptical Inquirer
That is why the thinned T remains one of the more consequential details in the Truman–Forrestal signature dispute. The argument does not depend simply on saying that two Truman signatures “look too similar”. It identifies a proposed donor, an obstacle to reusing that donor, the editing operation needed to overcome the obstacle, and an apparent defect in the resulting image at the predicted location. Given the limitations of working from reproductions and the absence of Tytell’s formal report, it is better described as strong evidence for a signature transplant than as an independently conclusive forensic finding. But within the alleged MJ-12 documents, it substantially increases the difficulty of explaining the Truman signature as an ordinary, independently executed presidential signature.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: skepticalinquirer.org
Title: Skeptical Inquirer
Link:https://skepticalinquirer.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2019/03/Issue-02-12.pdf
2.
Source: core.ac.uk
Title: COREUniversity of Kentucky
Link:https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232564181.pdf
Source snippet
November 1, 2025...
Published: November 1, 2025
3.
Source: archives.gov
Title: National Archives Project BLUE BOOK
Link:https://www.archives.gov/research/military/[air-force
Source snippet
National ArchivesProject BLUE BOOK - Unidentified Flying Objects | National ArchivesJune 25, 2024...
Published: June 25, 2024
4.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The MJ-12 Conspiracy Debunked
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dF-iggJusY
Source snippet
Majestic 12 | Secret Documents Expose UFO Cover-Up Vol. 1...
5.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Majestic 12 | Secret Documents Expose UFO Cover-Up Vol. 1
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9VoC8MoeUs
Source snippet
The Majestic 12 Documents | The Truman Memorandum | A UFO Researcher's Discovery...
6.
Source: theblackvault.com
Title: The Black Vault Update on Operation Majestic 12 Documents
Link:https://www.theblackvault.com/casefiles/update-on-operation-majestic-12-documents/
Source snippet
The Black VaultUpdate on Operation Majestic 12 Documents - The Black Vault Case Files...
7.
Source: cdn.centerforinquiry.org
Title: Center for Inquiry SUN #58
Link:https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/docs/SUN/SUN58.pdf
Source snippet
S KEPTICS UFO NEWSLETTER By Philip J. KlDecember 6, 2024...
Published: December 6, 2024
8.
Source: en.ikwipedia.org
Title: Majestic 12
Link:https://en.ikwipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_12
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12 - IkwipediaJuly 21, 2026 — MAJESTIC 12 * Article * Discussion [Input] English * Read * Edit * Edit source * View history [Input] Tools...
Published: July 21, 2026
9.
Source: wikidisc.org
Title: Majestic 12 documents | Wiki Disc
Link:https://www.wikidisc.org/wiki/Majestic_12_documents
10.
Source: medium.com
Link:https://medium.com/stanton-friedmans-articles/update-on-operation-majestic-12-documents-ed2df58fd8a1
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Source: lurch2.blogspot.com
Title: majestic 12
Link:https://lurch2.blogspot.com/2013/09/majestic-12.html
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Source: khouse.org
Title: Majestic-12 | Koinonia House
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Source: internationalflyingsaucerbureau.com
Title: Majestic 12
Link:https://www.internationalflyingsaucerbureau.com/majestic-12/
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Title: Majestic 12
Link:https://ufo.fandom.com/wiki/Majestic_12
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Source: uapwoo.com
Title: Majestic-12 Documents
Link:https://uapwoo.com/majestic12.php
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Title: MJ 12 Document
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Additional References
18.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Top Secret / MAJIC By Stanton T. Friedman
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Je48I-xNjY
Source snippet
Majestic 12 Truman signature Ancient Aliens: Was JFK Silenced? (Season 12, Episode 9) | History...
19.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Majestic 12 Documents | The Truman Memorandum | A UFO Researcher’s Discovery
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gVxTygJ79E
Source snippet
Top Secret / MAJIC By Stanton T. Friedman - A Detailed Investigation into the MJ-12 UFO Documents...
20.
Source: en.ikwipedia.org
Title: 1952 MJ 12 surrender agreement
Link:https://en.ikwipedia.org/wiki/1952_MJ-12_surrender_agreement
Source snippet
12 - IkwipediaJuly 21, 2026 — MAJESTIC 12 * Page * Discussion [Input] English * Read * Edit * Edit source * View history [Input] Tools To...
Published: July 21, 2026
21.
Source: en.ikwipedia.org
Title: List of Majestic 12 members
Link:https://en.ikwipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Majestic-12_members
Source snippet
12 - IkwipediaJuly 21, 2026 — MAJESTIC 12 * Page * Discussion [Input] English * Read * Edit * Edit source * View history [Input] Tools To...
Published: July 21, 2026
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Source: trumanlibrary.gov
Link:https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/harry-s-truman-paperspresidents-secretarys-files
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Source: trumanlibrary.gov
Link:https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/[white-house
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Source: manuscripts.co.uk
Link:https://manuscripts.co.uk/stock/OLDPICS.HTM
25.
Source: medium.com
Link:https://medium.com/stanton-friedmans-articles/book-review-kevin-d-randles-case-mj-12-the-true-story-behind-the-government-s-ufo-conspiracies-9e06f4e82250
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Source: scribd.com
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/704526704/6d8c788246cbc2f54d9cb67e4a5c749d
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Link:https://www.facebook.com/muckrock/posts/the-fbi-file-on-majestic-12-may-be-the-bureaus-most-x-filesy-file-of-all-full-of/1767915323232585/