diff --git a/Lib/unittest/case.py b/Lib/unittest/case.py
index b639c64d02a7aa..e5734b6b7a298b 100644
--- a/Lib/unittest/case.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/case.py
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ def shortDescription(self):
         the specified test method's docstring.
         """
         doc = self._testMethodDoc
-        return doc and doc.split("\n")[0].strip() or None
+        return doc.strip().split("\n")[0].strip() if doc else None
 
 
     def id(self):
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py b/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py
index c2401c39b917e3..f855c4dc00b316 100644
--- a/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py
@@ -610,6 +610,15 @@ def testShortDescriptionWithMultiLineDocstring(self):
                  'Tests shortDescription() for a method with a longer '
                  'docstring.')
 
+    def testShortDescriptionWhitespaceTrimming(self):
+        """
+            Tests shortDescription() whitespace is trimmed, so that the first
+            line of nonwhite-space text becomes the docstring.
+        """
+        self.assertEqual(
+            self.shortDescription(),
+            'Tests shortDescription() whitespace is trimmed, so that the first')
+
     def testAddTypeEqualityFunc(self):
         class SadSnake(object):
             """Dummy class for test_addTypeEqualityFunc."""
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-02-02-14-46-34.bpo-39450.48R274.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-02-02-14-46-34.bpo-39450.48R274.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..55fed519a2d806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-02-02-14-46-34.bpo-39450.48R274.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Striped whitespace from docstring before returning it from
+:func:`unittest.case.shortDescription`.