“But all of us wanted”: Truman, Bess W. Truman, 316.
“We are here today”: PP, HST, July 20, 1945, 195.
“of lasting inspiration”: Clay, Decision in Germany, 44–45.
“General, there is nothing”: Bradley and Blair, 444–45.
“Uncle Joe looked”: HST Diary, July 20, 1945, Off the Record, 55.
“immensely powerful document”: Stimson Diary, July 21, 1945.
“successful beyond the most optimistic”: Groves Memorandum, Foreign Policy of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 1362.
HST and Byrnes both looked pleased: Stimson Diary, July 21, 1945.
“It was apparent”: Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors, 273.
“We will not recognize”: Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 216.
the Russians had no intention: Leahy, 406.
“Started with caviar”: HST to MET and MJT, July 23, 1945, HSTL.
“He talked to me confidently”: HST to EWT, July 22, 1945, Dear Bess, 521.
“Watch the President”: Moran, Diaries, 303.
“There was no pretense”: Rigdon, with Derieux, White House Sailor, 183–84.
“swagly.” “He never came on”: Floyd Boring, author’s interview.
“I thought it was nice”: Emilio Collado, Oral History, HSTL.
“I’m going to mass”: HST to EWT, July 22, 1945, HSTL.
“Although it was a target”: Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service in Peace and War, 625.
“prosecute the war against Japan”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 391.
“alone with his work”: Stimson Diary, July 24, 1945.
July 23, 1945, cable: Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 1374.
“said that was just what he wanted”: Stimson Diary, July 24, 1945.
HST wrote of a consensus: Memoirs, Vol. I, 415.
“I asked General Marshall”: HST to Professor F. Cate, undated letter, HSTL.
battle casualties during HST’s three months in office: Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II, Department of the Army.
“We had only too abundant”: Charlton Ogburn, Jr., author’s interview.
“The basic policy of the present”: Combined Intelligence Committee Report, July 8, 1945, HSTL.
conscription of Japanese people: The New York Times, August 5, 1985.
“the spirit of mercy”: Bohlen, 231.
“At no time, from 1941 to 1945”: Stimson and Bundy, 613.
“I know FDR”: Daniels, The Man of Independence, 281.
“I’ll say that we’ll end”: HST to EWT, July 18, 1945, Dear Bess, 519.
“It is just the same as artillery”: The New York Times, May 3, 1959.
“We knew the Japanese were determined”: Lilienthal, Journals, Vol. II, 198.
A petition drawn up: Wyden, Day One, 180.
“Are not the men”: Compton, 242.
“It is hard to imagine”: Evan J. Young of Clinton Laboratories to M.D. Whittaker, undated, HSTL.
“What a question”: Compton, 247.
“The historic fact”: Churchill, 553.
“Truman made no decision”: George Elsey, author’s interview.
“The final decision”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 419.
HST later told Arthur Compton: Compton, 245.
“I casually mentioned to Stalin”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 416.
Stalin’s response offhand: Bohlen, 237.
“If he had had the slightest idea”: Churchill, 580.
“not grasped the importance”: Byrnes, 263.
“No one who played”: Ibid., 265.
“We have discovered”: HST Diary, July 25, 1945, Off the Record, 55.
“The idea of using the bomb”: Harriman and Abel, 490.
“We are asking for the reorganization”: Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 360.
“If a government”: Ibid.
an iron fence had descended: Ibid., 362.
“I do not want to fight”: Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 313.
“The question is not ripe”: Ibid., 373.
Churchill full of foreboding: Moran, 306.
“What a pity”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 389.
old order passing: HST Diary, July 30, 1945, Off the Record, 58.
It was too bad about Churchill: HST to MET and MJT, July 28, 1945, HSTL.
“enslaved as a race”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 392–93.
“kill it with silence”: Sherwin, A World Destroyed, 236.
“Mr. Attlee is not so keen”: HST to MET and MJT, July 29, 1945, HSTL.
“We shall see”: HST to EWT, July 29, 1945, Dear Bess, 522.
HST in an optimistic mood: Forrestal Diaries, 79.
“The time schedule on Groves’ ”: Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 1374.
“Suggestion approved”: Declassified “Urgent—Top Secret Message,” Stimson to HST, July 30, 1945: HST’s handwritten message on back, HSTL.
“Everything seemed momentous”: Elsey, author’s interview.
“We have accomplished a very great deal”: HST to EWT, July 25, 1945, Dear Bess, 521.
“Pray for me”: HST to EWT, July 29, 1945, ibid., 522.
“We are at an impasse”: HST Diary, July 30, 1945, Off the Record, 58.
“It is a question of give and take”: PP, HST, August 9, 1945, 209.
foolishness in the extreme: Kennan, Memoirs, 259, 290.
“Marshal Stalin I have accepted”: Murphy, 278.
Stalin broke in: Ibid., 279.
HST called Russians pigheaded: HST to MET and MJT, July 31, 1945, HSTL.
“police government”: HST Diary, July 26, 1945, Off the Record, 57.
“They went away”: Donovan, 73.
“I like Stalin”: HST to EWT, July 29, 1945, Dear Bess, 522.
“The President seemed to have been”: Ayers Diary, August 7, 1945, HSTL.
Stalin was a fine man: Wallace, The Price of Vision, 490.
“Stalin is as near”: Daniels, The Man of Independence, 23.
“an innocent idealist”: HST to Dean Acheson, March 15, 1957, unsent, Off the Record, 348–49.
“for operational purposes”: Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), 1945, Vol. II, 1321.
Discussion of Poland’s frontier: Ibid., 597–601.
Stalin on HST: Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers, 221.
“That will save two days”: HST to MET and MJT, July 31, 1945, HSTL.
HST found the King “very pleasant”: HST Diary, August 5, 1945, Off the Record, 59.
“Here was the greatest news story”: Smith, Thank You, Mr. President, 256.
“completely rested”: Official log of the Augusta, HSTL.
“Results clear-cut”: Memoirs, Vol. 1, 421.
“This is the greatest thing”: Smith, 257.
“Big bomb dropped”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 421.
“Please keep your seats”: The New York Times, August 7, 1945.
“He was not actually laughing”: Smith, 258.
“We were all excited”: Elsey, author’s interview.
“Sixteen hours ago”: PP, HST, August 6, 1945, 196–200.
“But even if my legs”: Kansas City Star, July 28, 1965.
“Some of our scientists”: Leahy Diary, August 8, 1945, LC.
“ultimatum to end all ultimatums”: The New York Times, August 8, 1945.
Stimson and Marshall worried: Mosley, Marshall. Hero for Our Times, 338.
“Additional bombs”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 420.
“For the second time”: L.A. Times, August 9, 1945.
Russell telegram to HST: Richard B. Russell to HST, undated, HSTL.
HST note to Russell: HST to Richard B. Russell, August 9, 1945, HSTL.
“I reali
ze the tragic significance”: PP, HST, August 9, 1945, 212.
“Would it not be wondrous?”: Washington Times, August 6, 1985.
“Could we continue”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 428.
Stimson said the emperor: Ibid.
“we’d tell ’em how to keep him”: HST Diary, August 10, 1945, Off the Record, 61.
“subject to the Supreme Commander”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 429.
“all those kids”: Wallace, 474.
“Nearly every crisis seems to be”: HST to MET and MJT, August 12, 1945, HSTL.
“it began like the days”: Ayers Diary, August 14, 1945, HSTL.
“might get a story”: Sue Gentry, author’s interview.
“I have received this afternoon”: PP, HST, August 14, 1945, 216.
“I felt deeply moved”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 437.
“This is a great day”: The New York Times, August 15, 1945.
“The only thing new”: Miller, Plain Speaking, 69.
“Everyone had been going”: HST to MET and MJT, August 17, 1945, Off the Record, 62.
Part Four
11. The Buck Stops Here
“Everybody wants something”: HST to MET and MJT, September 22, 1945, HSTL.
more prima donnas per square foot: HST to MET and MJT, October 23, 1945, HSTL.
“You can’t do anything worthwhile”: PP, HST, October 7, 1945, 380.
“cut out the foolishness”: Ibid., October 10, 1945, 394.
“We must go on”: Ibid., September 6, 1945, 291.
Wallace’s estimate of drop in GNP: Wallace, The Price of Vision, 495.
“The Congress are balking”: HST to MET and MJT, October 23, 1945, HSTL.
“Anything else, Mr. President?”: PP, HST, September 18, 1945, 326.
“If anyone in the government”: HST to EWT, June 22, 1945, Dear Bess, 523.
“The pressure here”: HST to MET and MJT, October 13, 1945, HSTL.
“We can’t stand another global war”: PP, HST, October 7, 1945, 381.
“did everything…mouth of a cannon”: Quoted in Phillips, The Truman Presidency, 129.
“in the doldrums”: Ayers Diary, October 19, 1945, HSTL.
call for universal military training: PP, HST, October 23, 1945, 404, 413.
HST shows new presidential flag: Ibid., October 25, 1945, 415–417.
“It was disintegration”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 509.
“Tiny lines had grown”: Gunther, Procession, 260.
Encounter with Oppenheimer: Lilienthal, Journals, Vol. II, 118.
“See what a son-of-a-bitch”: Quoted in Wallace, 519.
Marshall ends call abruptly: Miller, Plain Speaking, 252.
“paid much less attention”: Samuel Rosenman, Oral History, HSTL.
“Mr. President, you should know”: Wallace, 530.
“wild accidents”: Quoted in Lerner, Actions and Passions, 219.
“one of the most hazardous”: Time, December 8, 1947.
“Well I’m here in the White House”: HST to EWT, December 28, 1945, Dear Bess, 523–24.
“able and conniving”: HST Diary, July 7, 1945, in Ferrell, ed, Off the Record, 49.
“I told him I did not like”: Memoirs, Vol. I, 550.
“a horse’s ass”: Clifford quoted in Jonathan Daniels interview notes, HSTL.
Acheson impressions of HST: Acheson, Present at the Creation, 136.
HST longhand letter for Byrnes: HST to James F. Byrnes, January 5, 1946, unsent, Off the Record, 79–80
“1946 is our year of decision”: PP, HST, January 3, 1946, 1.
“This is a disaster”: Quoted in Goulden, The Best Years 1945–1950, 113.
“I personally think there is”: PP, HST, January 24, 1946, 92.
The “blunt truth”: Time, January 14, 1946.
Chicago Tribune cartoon: Reprinted in Time, February 4, 1946.
“at best, undistinguished”: MacKaye, “Things Are Different in the White House,” Saturday Evening Post, April 20, 1946.
People were “befuddled”: HST to MET and MJT, January 23, 1946, HSTL.
“An oil man”: Ayers Diary, January 18, 1946, HSTL.
Ickes resignation: The New York Times, February 14, 1946.
a chronic “resigner”: Quoted in Miller, 226.
“There would have been no rest”: HST to MET and MJT, February 7, 1946, HSTL.
American Mercury article: Crawford, “Everyman in the White House,” February 1946.
“appears to consider it necessary”: Leahy Diary, February 21, 1946, LC.
Stalin statement on war: Donovan, 187.
Justice Douglas reaction: Ibid.
“I will call you Harry”: Ross Diary, March 7, 1946, HSTL.
“Harry, what does a sequence count?”: Quoted in Daniels, The Man of Independence, 279.
“He took a boy’s delight”: Ross Diary, March 7, 1946, HSTL.
Churchill wish to be born American: Gilbert, Winston Churchill. Never Despair, 146.
“You stop drinking”: Ibid., 147.
“do nothing but good”: Ibid.
HST and Churchill on eagle’s head: Ross Diary, March 9, 1946, HSTL.
“Iron curtain” speech: Quoted in Gilbert, 198.
HST denies knowing what Churchill would say: Wallace, 558.
HST pleads “no comment”: PP, HST, March 8, 1946, 145.
“the Long Telegram”: Donovan, 187–88.
“here and now”: Matt Connelly Papers, HSTL.
“He was in his study”: Ross Diary, March 23, 1946, HSTL.
Mary Jane’s reaction to HST press conference: Mary Jane Truman, Oral History, HSTL.
492Life article: Busch, “A Year of Truman,” April 8, 1946.
“Here is to be seen”: The New York Times Magazine, April 7, 1946.
494Time article: May 6, 1946.
“I can hold a Cabinet meeting”: PP, HST, May 2, 1946, 227.
“Big money has too much”: HST to MET and MJT, January 23, 1946, HSTL.
“I’m going to give you the gun”: Quoted in Daniels, 325.
“We have a society”: The New York Times, May 22, 1946.
“That’s the way he is”: Ibid., May 26, 1946.
a “complicated”: J. C. Truman, author’s interview.
“This was the fifth day”: Ayers Diary, May 23, 1946, HSTL.
HST meeting with veterans: Washington Star, May 24, 1946.
“There were poignant scenes”: Newsweek, June 3, 1946.
Telegrams flooding the White House: White House Correspondence File, HSTL.
“At home those of us”: HST speech draft, undelivered, Clifford Papers, HSTL.
“In the manner of Lincoln”: Phillips, 115.
“I’d never been in the White House”: Clark Clifford, author’s interview.
“Alone of all the Truman entourage”: Quoted in Allen and Shannon, The Truman Merry-Go-Round, 61.
“The President is intelligent”: Clifford, with Holbrooke, Counsel to the President, 274.
“I come before the American people”: PP, HST, May 24, 1946, 274.
“He said they had verbally agreed”: Clifford interview, Daniels notes, HSTL.
“For the past two days”: PP, HST, May 25, 1946, 277.
“Spotlights ablaze”: New Republic, June 3, 1946.
“he could be tough”: The New York Times, May 26, 1946.
“Draft men who strike”: New Republic, June 3, 1946.
“I was the servant”: Film Collection, HSTL.
“Nothing about the Wallace affair”: George Elsey, author’s interview.
“If Mr. Slaughter is right”: PP, HST, July 18, 1946, 350.
HST’s health: Ross Diary, July 20, 1946, HSTL.
“Had the most awful day”: HST to MET and MJT, July 31, 1946, HSTL.
“She’s on the way out”: HST to EWT, August 9, 1946, Dear Bess, 530.
“Be good and be tough”: MT [Margaret Truman] to HST, June 14, 1946, Truman, Letters from Father, 142.
“I still have a n
umber of bills”: HST to EWT, August 10, 1946, Dear Bess, 530.
“It’s just wonderful”: MacDonald, “President Truman’s Yacht,” Naval History, Winter 1990.
“See, he had no airs”: Clifford, author’s interview.
“He always plays a close hand”: Ted Marks, Oral History, HSTL.
“The Williamsburg”: MacDonald, “President Truman’s Yacht.”
“This is a paradise”: HST to MT, August 23, 1946, Truman, Letters from Father, 69.
“did all sorts of antics”: Truman, Harry S. Truman, 366.
“The furniture was taking headers”: HST to EWT, September 2, 1946, Dear Bess, 534.
“Night before last”: HST to EWT, September 9, 1946, ibid., 535.
disliked living there: HST to EWT, September 3, 1946, ibid., 534.
“You better lock your door”: Truman, Letters from Father, 144.
“I’m in the middle”: HST to EWT, September 10, 1946, Dear Bess, 536.
HST press conference: PP, HST, September 12, 1946, 426–29.
“If the President”: Ross Diary, September 21, 1946, HSTL.
Wallace account: Wallace, 612–13.
tried to skim through it: HST Diary, September 17, 1946, Off the Record, 94.
Reston column: The New York Times, September 13, 1946.
“The criticism continued to mount”: Ross Diary, September 21, 1946, HSTL.
“I’m still having Henry Wallace trouble”: HST to MET and MJT, September 18, 1946, HSTL.
“Henry told me”: HST to EWT, September 20, 1946, Dear Bess, 539.
“Everything’s lovely”: Quoted in Acheson, 192.
“Henry is the most peculiar fellow”: HST to MET and MJT, September 20, 1946, HSTL.
“He wants to disband”: Quoted in Donovan, 227.
Byrnes telegram: Byrnes, Speaking Frankly, 241–42.
“so nice about it”: HST to EWT, September 21, 1946, Dear Bess, 539.
“I would rather be anything”: HST to MET and MJT, September 20, 1946, HSTL.
“No man in his right mind”: HST to MT, September 9, 1946, Truman, Letters from Father, 71.
“a liar, double-crosser”: HST to MT, September 17, 1946, ibid., 75.
“Sept. 26, 1918”: HST Diary, September 26, 1946, Off the Record, 98.
Ickes called him “stupid”: Time, September 30, 1946.
32 percent poll results: Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935–1971, 604.
“Nothing on meat”: PP, HST, October 10, 1946, 447.
Truman continues electronic surveillance: Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, 344.
“The shrill pitch of abuse”: Time, October 28, 1946.
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