Truman (178 page)

Read Truman Online

Authors: David McCullough

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Presidents & Heads of State, #Political, #Historical

BOOK: Truman
2.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

“Dear Bob”: Robert Hannegan to FDR, July 14, 1944, HSTL.

“By naming Truman”: Tully, 276.

“The President has given”: Quoted in Byrnes, 226.

“Well, you know Jimmy”: Ibid., 226–27.

Hannegan showing note to no one: St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
July 21, 1944.

He was determined to stay out: Salter, ed.,
Public Men In and Out of Office.
4–5.

“Hell, I don’t want”: Ibid.

“I don’t want that”: Quoted in Truman,
Harry S. Truman,
183.

“I’m satisfied”: Tom Evans, Oral History, HSTL.

Writing years later, Margaret: Truman,
Bess W. Truman,
227.

they “got Truman”: Edward McKim, Oral History, HSTL.

“I’m sure he wanted”: Quoted in Steinberg,
The Man from Missouri,
203.

it wasn’t so much: John Snyder, author’s interview.

“that miserable time”: HST to Mrs. Emmy Southern, May 13, 1945, in Ferrell, ed.,
Off the Record,
23.

“scared to death”: Childs, “He Didn’t Want the Job,”
Liberty,
September 23, 1944.

“I have been associated”: Washington Post, July 18, 1944.

“the coolest and cruelest”: Drury, 218.

“already soaring campaign stock”: St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
July 18, 1944.

“It was generally regarded”: Claude Pepper, author’s interview.

Hannegan’s corner suite:
Life,
July 31, 1944.

“Do you want to see it?”: Washington
Post,
July 28, 1944.

“Clear it with Sidney”: Quoted in Byrnes, 227.

Sidney Hillman:
Time,
July 24, 1944.

Hillman’s support: HST “Autobiographical Sketch,” HSTL.

“It’s Byrnes!”: Quoted in Flynn, 182.

“I browbeat the committee”: Ibid.

200,000 Negro votes: Byrnes, 228.

“Bob, it’s Truman”: Steinberg, 213.

An hour or so later: Byrnes, 229.

Turner Catledge account:
The New York Times,
July 19, 1944.

“If I were you”: Quoted in Barkley, 190.

“Feel sorry for me”: St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
July 19, 1944.

secret caucus:
Time,
July 31, 1944.

“the stage manager”: Barkley, 191.

“Whenever Roosevelt”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 192.

“Oh, shit”: George Elsey, Notes, Ayers Papers, HSTL.

“Well, if that’s the situation”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 193.

“Ye gods!”: Truman,
Souvenir,
66.

“In a political”: Wallace, 368;
Time,
July 31, 1944.

“What is the job”: Quoted in Burns,
Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom,
507.

“I sat there”: Claude Pepper, author’s interview.

“And then when I got”: Ibid.

“So I called Bob”: Quoted in Miller,
Plain Speaking,
194.

Martha Ellen Truman: Ibid., 149.

Interviewed by reporters: Washington
Star,
July 20, 1944.

Bennett Clark…pulled himself together: Miller, 194.

“a good deal of pressure”:
The New York Times,
July 22, 1944.

Truman and hot dog: Truman,
Souvenir,
67.

“Christ Almighty”:
Time,
July 31, 1944.

he accepted “with all humility”:
The New York Times,
July 22, 1944.

“Now, give me a chance”: St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
July 22, 1944.

“the Missouri Compromise”:
Life,
July 31, 1944.

“the Common Denominator”: Kansas City
Star,
July 22, 1944.

“I don’t object to Truman”: Baruch,
The Public Years,
339.

one of the weakest candidates: Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette,
July 23, 1944,

“the mousy little man”:
Time,
July 31, 1944.

“Poor Harry Truman”:
New Republic,
July 31, 1944.

“unusual capacity”: Kansas City
Star,
July 22, 1944.

“He has known the dust”:
The New York Times,
July 22, 1944.

an excellent choice: St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
July 22, 1944.

Even Richard Strout:
New Republic,
July 31, 1944.

“On the credit side”: Drury, 220.

“Are we going to have to”: Quoted in Truman,
Bess W. Truman,
231.

“Dad tried to be cheerful”: Ibid., 233.

Margaret learns of grandfather’s suicide: Ibid., 234.

“He seized my arm”: Ibid.

“I wish I could tell you”: Ibid., 235.

looking over the old gray Victorian house:
Life,
August 21, 1944.

“I had hoped”: Walton,
Henry Wallace, Harry Truman and the Cold War,
20–21.

the critical part played by Ed Flynn:
The New Yorker,
September 8, 1945.

“People seemed to think”: Daniels, 259.

his father’s “irritability”: Roosevelt and Shalett,
Affectionately,
F.D.R., 351–52.

FDR seizure: Ibid.

FDR lunch with Truman: There has been speculation that at this lunch Roosevelt told Truman about the atomic bomb. The source is an interview with Truman’s friend Tom Evans made many years later as part of the Truman Library’s oral history program. There is no possibility that it is correct, since the President’s daughter, Anna Roosevelt Boettiger, was also present at the lunch, as were a half dozen or so photographers, cameramen, and servants. Nor would Roosevelt have brought up the matter on such an occasion in any event.

“I wonder why we are made”: HST to EWT, December 28, 1945,
Off the Record,
75.

“I am not a deep thinker”: Wallace,
The Price of Vision,
373.

“smarter by far”: Martin,
My First Fifty Years in Politics,
176.

FDR told Truman not to travel:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 5.

FDR’s hand shook: Truman,
Harry S. Truman,
p. 203.

“You should have seen”: Ibid., 201.

He was greatly concerned: Harry Vaughan, Oral History, HSTL.

Ed McKim and Truman: McKim, Oral History, HSTL.

“Harry is a fine man”: Hatch,
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
376.

“There never was a greater”: HST to EWT, June 15, 1946,
Dear Bess,
526.

“He’s so damn afraid”: HST to EWT, December 21, 1941, ibid., 470.

“You know how it is”: Drury, 327.

“he lies”: Ickes Diary, December 16, 1944, LC.

“Harry, what the hell”: Quoted in Miller, 199; also Miller Tapes, LBJL.

“You can’t afford”: Audio Collection, HSTL.

Recruitment of Matt Connelly: Matt Connelly, Oral History, HSTL.

“I’m glad to see you, Harry”: Steinberg, 225.

it was “the farmer-neighborliness”: McNaughton and Hehmeyer,
This Man Truman,
182.

Truman dream about FDR: Pearson, “The Man Who Didn’t Want to Be President,” Vertical file, HSTL, April 16, 1945.

A rumor spread: Truman,
Harry S. Truman,
204.

Klan story: Hearst papers, October 26, 1944.

Curley speech: Connelly, Oral History, HSTL.

Chicago
Tribune attacks:
October 17, 1944.

“hotter than a depot stove”: HST to EWT, July 25, 1945,
Dear Bess,
521.

Teamsters appearance: Burns,
Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom,
523.

“He improved visibly”: Sherwood,
Roosevelt and Hopkins,
825.

“I was shocked”: Truman,
Bess W. Truman,
240.

“And he knew”: Harry Easley, Oral History, HSTL.

“I still think”: Quoted in Hassett,
Off the Record with F.D.R.,
294.

only if it was “absolutely urgent”: Leuchtenburg,
In the Shadow of FDR,
6.

“The amiable Missourian”:
Time,
February 5, 1945.

“He circulated around”: Gunther,
Procession,
256–57.

Truman answered, “People”: Ibid., 260.

“the most natural thing”: St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,
April 15, 1945.

“Harry looks better than he has”: Truman,
Bess W. Truman,
247.

“I used to get down here”: HST to MET and MJT, April 11, 1945,
Off the Record,
13.

“Truman says simply”: Frank McNaughton Papers, December 14, 1944, HSTL.

Pendergast’s death: Washington
Post,
January 27, 1945.

Pendergast funeral: Miller, 210.

“I was just a kid”: Lauren Bacall, author’s interview.

“Anything can happen”: Washington
Post,
February 11, 1945.

Bess was furious: Truman,
Bess W. Truman,
245.

“I saw the President”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 3.

April 12 Pendergast letter: T.J. Pendergast to HST, April 7, 1945, HSTL.

“We will see”: Ibid.

“It’s wonderful, this Senate”: Drury, 410.

Senator Hawkes:
Congressional Record,
April 12, 1945, 3284.

Senator Reed: Ibid, 3285.

“I have a Missouri”:
Remarks by Former President Harry S. Truman,
88th Congress, 2nd Sess, Sen. Doc. No. 88, May 8, 1964.

remarked…that Roosevelt was fortunate: Drury, 410.

“Truman doesn’t know”: Ibid.

“Dear Mamma and Mary”: HST to MET and MJT, April 12, 1945, HSTL.

Tells Harry Vaughan: HST to MET and MJT, April 16, 1945, HSTL.

“Steve Early wants you”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 4.

as “quickly and as quietly”: HST to MET and MJT, April 16, 1945, HSTL.

“I ran all the way”: HST to MET and MJT, April 16, 1945, HSTL.

“Harry, the President is dead”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 5.

“Is there anything
we
”: Ibid.

Part Three

9. The Moon, the Stars, and All the Planets

“So ended an era”: Drury,
A Senate Journal,
412.

“Yes, it’s true”: Quoted in
Yank,
122.

“The armies and fleets”:
The New York Times,
April 13, 1945.

Stettinius…with tears streaming:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 6.

“It was a very somber”: Stimson Diary, April 12, 1945, Yale University.

Margaret feeling as if under anesthesia: Truman,
Harry S. Truman,
229.

Truman would later tell his mother: HST to MET and MJT, April 16, 1945, HSTL.

first decision as President: HST Diary, April 12, 1945, in Ferrell, ed.,
Off the Record,
15–16.

brief remarks to the Cabinet:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 9–10.

a matter of utmost urgency: Ibid., 10.

had conducted himself admirably: Stimson Diary, April 12, 1945.

“I guess the party’s off’: Edward McKim, Oral History, HSTL.

immediately to sleep: Miller,
Plain Speaking,
215.

“What a great, great tragedy”: Lilienthal,
Journals,
April 14, 1945, Vol. I, 693.

“From a distance”: Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life,
429.

“It seems very unfortunate”: Ibid.

Eisenhower shaken: Eisenhower,
Eisenhower at War,
1943–1945, 763–64.

Lester Atwell: Quoted in Flower and Reeves, eds.,
The Taste of Courage,
996.

“He’s got the stuff’: Quoted in McNaughton Papers, April 13, 1945, HSTL


a grand person
”: Vandenberg, ed.,
The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg,
April 13, 1945, 167.

“Oh, I felt good”: John J. McCloy, author’s interview.

He was straightforward: Acheson,
Present at the Creation,
104.

“I hate to confess it”: Stone,
The War Years
1939–1945, 274.


GET IN THERE
”: Telegram from Jim Pendergast to HST, April 12, 1945, HSTL.

“I can’t really be glad”: Quoted in
Off the Record,
17.

“a jewel”: HST Diary, April 15, 1945, ibid., 19.

“There have been few men”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 13.

Truman later wrote: Ibid., 29.

“It seemed still”: Quoted in Daniels,
The Man of Independence,
27.

“Eddie, I’m sorry”: Quoted in Truman,
Harry S. Truman,
234.

“everything from Teheran”: HST Diary, April 13, 1945,
Off the Record,
17.

“What a test”: Kansas City
Star,
April 15, 1945.

Truman left the White House: Drury, 412.

“Isn’t this nice”: Quoted in ibid., 413.

“Boys, if you ever pray”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 19.

“For just a moment”: Drury, 413.

“executive contempt for Congress”: Vandenberg, April 13, 1945, 167.

Stettinius report: Quoted in
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 15.

“never did talk”: Truman,
Letters from Father,
March 3, 1948, 106.

“It is needless”: Washington
Post,
April 13, 1945.

“I’m President Truman”: Paul Horgan, Oral History, HSTL.

“I still can’t call”: Wallace,
The Price of Vision,
448.

“He’s the only one”: HST to Eleanor Roosevelt, September 1, 1945,
Off the Record,
63.

“Have confidence”: Barkley,
That Reminds Me,
197.

“I have come down here”: Quoted in Hardeman and Bacon,
Rayburn: A Biography,
311–12.

“No…He just made it”: HST Diary, April 14, 1945,
Off the Record,
18.

not on trial: Bishop,
FDR’S Last Year,
646.

“But after all”: Morgenthau,
Diaries,
Vol. III, 423.

“Terrible”:
Memoirs,
Vol. I, 31.

“Mr. President”: Ibid, 42.

“With great humility”:
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. Harry S. Truman
…(cited hereafter as PP, HST), April 16, 1945, 2.

Other books

Evie's War by Mackenzie, Anna
Desert Wind by Betty Webb
Dragon's Lair by Denise Lynn
Bound to Be a Groom by Megan Mulry
She Will Build Him a City by Raj Kamal Jha
What It Is by Burleton, Sarah
The Moonlight by Nicholas Guild
The Secret Princess by Rachelle McCalla