diff --git a/Lib/argparse.py b/Lib/argparse.py
index 4f3aea928bf6f4..1b192badc024d3 100644
--- a/Lib/argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/argparse.py
@@ -1602,6 +1602,22 @@ def _remove_action(self, action):
         self._container._remove_action(action)
         self._group_actions.remove(action)
 
+def _strtobool (val):
+    """Convert a string representation of truth to true or false.
+
+    True values are 'y', 'yes', 't', 'true', 'on', and '1'; false values
+    are 'n', 'no', 'f', 'false', 'off', and '0'.  Raises ValueError if
+    'val' is anything else.
+
+    <Based on strtobool located in module distutils.util>
+    """
+    val = val.lower()
+    if val in ('y', 'yes', 't', 'true', 'on', '1'):
+        return True
+    elif val in ('n', 'no', 'f', 'false', 'off', '0'):
+        return False
+    else:
+        raise ValueError("invalid truth value %r" % (val,))
 
 class ArgumentParser(_AttributeHolder, _ActionsContainer):
     """Object for parsing command line strings into Python objects.
@@ -1664,6 +1680,9 @@ def identity(string):
             return string
         self.register('type', None, identity)
 
+        # register bool with a type_func that translates string into bool instance logically and gracefully
+        self.register('type', bool, _strtobool)
+
         # add help argument if necessary
         # (using explicit default to override global argument_default)
         default_prefix = '-' if '-' in prefix_chars else prefix_chars[0]
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
index 9079d4bc7aa7fd..5aec281081a1a9 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
@@ -1650,6 +1650,29 @@ class TestTypeCallable(ParserTestCase):
         ('1024.675', NS(eggs=None, spam=1024.675)),
     ]
 
+class TestTypeBool(ParserTestCase):
+    """Test some args with bool type:"""
+
+    argument_signatures = [
+        Sig('mybool', type=bool),
+    ]
+    failures = ['wrong','123','-1','abc','!@#']
+    successes = [
+        ('True', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('False', NS(mybool=False)),
+        ('tRuE', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('fAlSe', NS(mybool=False)),
+        ('yes', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('no', NS(mybool=False)),
+        ('y', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('n', NS(mybool=False)),
+        ('t', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('f', NS(mybool=False)),
+        ('on', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('off', NS(mybool=False)),
+        ('1', NS(mybool=True)),
+        ('0', NS(mybool=False)),
+    ]
 
 class TestTypeUserDefined(ParserTestCase):
     """Test a user-defined option/argument type"""
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-07-15-22-00-00.bpo-37564.L4ftF7.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-07-15-22-00-00.bpo-37564.L4ftF7.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..33002a63dd48c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-07-15-22-00-00.bpo-37564.L4ftF7.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix ArgumentParser to treat ``type=bool`` according to common truth values.
+Values 'y', 'yes', 't', 'true', 'on', and '1' will be evaluated as True value,
+while 'n', 'no', 'f', 'false', 'off', and '0 will be evaluated as False value.
\ No newline at end of file