Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, 1953-1971

by David McCullough

  Most sincerely,

  Dean

  Truman is looking forward to getting Acheson’s critique of the draft of his memoirs. The book Truman refers to, Civilization and Foreign Policy (1955), is by State Department official Louis J. Halle, Jr.

  January 11, 1955

  Dear Dean:

  You were right about Louis Halle’s book, if I may pose in my stuffed shirt capacity as a “judge.”

  That inscription to me and the Introduction by you would make it a great book for me if nothing else were between the covers. But I have certainly enjoyed reading it.

  You know, Dean, I think you and I will live to see what we tried to do appreciated for what it is. Not many who have had our positions lived to see what they’d done appreciated.

  I hope you and Alice, if she’ll allow me to call her by the first name, had a grand holiday season and I hope 1955 brings you everything you want. Bess and I had a happy time because “Miss Skinny” was at home. You know I called her “skinny well fed” as she grew up because I didn’t have a boy. But I wouldn’t trade her for a house full of boys although I always wanted a couple and another girl. It didn’t happen and I’m amply compensated!

  We are going great guns on the book. I hope you and Alice can come out and spend a few days with us so I can put you under the cross examination with no “objections” allowed.

  The damned thing is turning out much better than I thought it would but I need your opinion badly.

  My best to you, Mrs. Acheson and all your family. Say hello to the gang.

  Sincerely,

  Harry

  Acheson’s comment about Milwaukee refers to the fact that Senator Joseph McCarthy represented that district of Wisconsin. Acheson refers to political commentator Walter Lippmann’s book Essays in the Public Philosophy (1955), also published under the title The Public Philosophy.

  January 20, 1955

  Dear Mr. President,

  I am so glad that you liked the Halle book. It seemed to me really first class, laying out, as it did, the problems we faced both abroad and from the very nature of the American public, what the choices were and what the right choice was and is. I wish everyone could and would read it, including Mr. John Foster Dulles.

  Alice and I are off tonight for Pittsburgh where I speak on Friday—not on public matters—to the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Its members ought to be a fine lot of McKinley conservatives if the term “Philadelphia lawyer” describes them. But I am to talk on legal subjects. I am fooling them by reminiscing about the old Supreme Court and when I went to work for Justice Brandeis thirty-six years ago. If the speech gets printed I’ll send you a copy.

  From Pittsburgh we go on to Milwaukee to see our daughter, Jane, whose place I have never been to. While we were in office Milwaukee did not seem the most ideal spot in which to relax. We shall be there over the weekend. Then Alice goes on to Michigan to get her nephew married and I come home.

  We would love to come to Kansas City to see you and Mrs. Truman. Our last opportunity in November ran into all sorts of Court and college engagements. So you name the most convenient time for you and we will bend our lives to suit. It would be better for us if it could be after the middle of February and not the weekend of the 25th, 26th and 27th when we have guests on our hands. My engagements in the office are so flexible and light that I can arrange to get away at almost any time. The week of Feb. 7–12 I am spending at Yale where I have taken on a heavy schedule of lectures and seminars for undergraduate and graduate students. The two weeks before I had better spend on preparation, but if sometime in those weeks were much better for you please let me know. And whenever we come do not let us be a burden on Mrs. Truman. You will know how to avoid that and our earnest desire [is] that it should be avoided.

  Walter Lippmann has a new book out in which he makes the amazing discovery that the weakness of the democracies today comes from encroachments on the executive power, by legislative bodies pandering to an ignorant and volatile public swayed by mass media of communication. If he had known this and used his power—which isn’t much but something—to support the executive when we really had one instead of joining the chorus of misinformation, I could read him with more patience. One of the editors of a great weekly told me the other day that the feather bed which the whole press and radio, TV, etc. put under this administration was quite unbelievable. He said that if we had done one quarter of the fool and other things which this crowd has our great free press would have gone utterly crazy with denunciation. Perhaps some day the populace will see that the king has no clothes on.

  Our most affectionate greetings to you both.

  As ever,

  Dean

  Truman suggests the Muehlebach Hotel’s Presidential Suite as a place where Acheson might stay when he comes to Kansas City. During Truman’s presidency the suite served as his headquarters when he and his staff came to town. Barney Allis was the hotel’s owner.

  January 25, 1955

  Dear Dean:

  As usual your good letter gave me a lift. When I hear from you I always feel better.

  I am anxious for you to come out and discuss parts of the book. If you and Mrs. Acheson (Alice) can come out Feb. 16th and stay with us the rest of the week or as long as you feel you can we’ll be delighted and I’ll make you believe you had a real “one man grand jury” session!

  We’d love to have you and Alice stay with us or if you prefer “great eastern” style I’ll have Barney Allis put you in the Presidential Suite at the Muehlebach Hotel.

  Sincerely,

  Harry Truman

  Walter George was the senior senator from Georgia, often supportive of the Eisenhower administration, and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from January 1955 to January 1957. Acheson feels that the administration is being played for fools by Chiang Kai-shek.

  January 31, 1955

  Dear Mr. President,

  I shall set my plans for Kansas City Wednesday, February 16th, with great joy. I ought to get back here by Saturday, February 19th. Alice would love to come, but is doubtful whether she can. She has just been away for ten days during which the cook has collapsed with various ailments. So that department is in disorder. Then next week she has to be away again with me. So she is breathless at the moment and unable to be clear about the future. She wants you to know that she would love to see you and her beloved Mrs. Truman.

  I should, of course, love to stay with you and have no longing for the Muehlebach’s Presidential elegance, which I know. But above all I do not want to bother Mrs. Truman by adding to household cares.

  Until the 16th! What a magnificent mess these people are making of the Far East. And our Democrats are not very bright, particularly Walter George who gets committed when he doesn’t know the play.

  Yours,

  Dean

  February 4, 1955

  Dear Mr. President:

  This is just a note to you before I leave for a week at New Haven, to tell you our plans for coming to you.

  As Alice has written Mrs. Truman, to her great joy she has gotten things straightened out so that she will be able to come with me. We are planning to arrive at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, February 16, via TWA, Flight No. 1. And we have gotten reservations to return on a TWA Flight which leaves Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m.

  If these plans can be changed in any way to be more convenient to you, we shall do it as soon as you tell us how. Miss Evans will take care of everything here while I am away.

  We are looking forward to our visit like children to the holidays. Alice saw Margaret yesterday and reports that she was (1) very well and gay, and (2) prettier than ever. She gave her consent to our visit.

  Most warmly,

  Dean

  February 5, 1955

  Dear Dean:

  I was pleased no end when yours of Jan. 31 came. Margaret saw Mrs. Acheson at the reception and told us that both of you were coming. I’m glad you’d rather stay at our small town residence
than at the Presidential Suite of Barney Allis’ hotel.

  I’m so anxious for your comments on what I say about Korea, MacArthur and the Employee Security Program that I’d do most anything to get them. Let me know your time of arrival on the 16th so I can meet you. I have no Secret Service, no Intelligence Service. So you’ll have to tell me.

  Sincerely,

  Harry Truman

  February 9, 1955

  HONORABLE DEAN ACHESON

  YOUR TIMING IS PERFECTLY ALL RIGHT. MRS. TRUMAN AND I WILL BE LOOKING FOR YOU AND MRS. ACHESON TO ARRIVE AT TWELVE EIGHTEEN FEBRUARY SIXTEENTH. WE ARE EXCEEDINGLY HAPPY.

  HARRY S TRUMAN

  February 19, 1955

  THE HON AND MRS HARRY S TRUMAN

  SAFELY HOME WITH THE HAPPIEST MEMORIES AND DEEPEST GRATITUDE FOR THE BEST VISIT EVER

  AFFECTIONATELY

  ALICE AND DEAN

  Truman met the Achesons at the Kansas City airport and drove them to a luncheon at the Muehlebach Hotel, where they gave a press conference. Among the luncheon guests were the small staff who were assisting Truman with his memoirs. Much of Acheson’s time during the next three days was spent giving interviews to Truman’s three main associates on the memoir project—journalist William Hillman, advertising executive David Noyes, and University of Kansas professor and chief writer Francis Heller.

  February 21, 1955

  Dear Mrs. Truman,

  What a glorious visit you gave us! We delighted in every minute of it. Even when the three man grand jury had me under examination I was reliving days which were the best and fullest I have ever lived. It started with the very first moment when we came out of the plane and saw you and the President and Margaret waiting for us at the bottom of the steps. That nearly did us in. But I think the greatest joy came in seeing you three all so well and so happy, in your own home, and surrounded by the affectionate devotion of your own community. It was so right and sound and inspiring. It made us feel all over again the strength and grandeur of the fabric of this America of ours.

  And what luck for us that Margaret was at home with you at just this time. Not only because she is the greatest fun in her own right, but because, too, the Trumans reach their highest form in trio. Each one eggs on and complements the other two. If she had not been home I should never have seen—and participated in—the overpowering of the President’s curiosity by the new guitar.

  We came home refreshed and happy with new memories to add to the volumes that we have of you—the evening at home, the evening in the railway car, the evening at the ballet. During the drives with the President—whose prowess behind the wheel I slandered shamelessly last May—we had more concentrated talk about events and people than we could have packed into a whole year of our Monday and Thursday meetings.

  It was great happiness for us. I only hope that as we took off into the rain, which stopped a little East of Chicago and is catching up with us now, we did not leave you exhausted by your kindness to us.

  My newspaper friends say that under the President’s expansive influence the Kansas City press got more out of me in a few minutes than my friends here have been able to get in two years. The morning mail brings demands for a TV interview.

  We are grateful and happy. These are the messages which go to you from us.

  Most affectionately,

  Dean

  Truman is looking forward to his next meeting with Acheson in Washington in April, at a testimonial dinner for House Speaker Sam Rayburn.

  March 7, 1955

  Dear Dean:

  I haven’t yet fully believed that grand visit of yours and Alice’s really took place. It was just too good to be an actual fact—but it was and how happy it made Bess, Margaret and me.

  Bess has a letter, later than yours, from Alice about a luncheon or a dinner at your house while we are in Washington for Sam Rayburn’s dinner. If Sunday luncheon after church (the Boss wants to go to church) will suit you that will be all right for us. Then we can go to the station and catch the train for home as we did on another occasion.

  You’ve no idea how much good and what a life saver you did and gave to me. When I see you we’ll go into detail. You’ll probably have another spasm at length from me soon.

  Sincerely,

  Harry Truman

  Acheson recalls in a telegram the so-called Truman Doctrine speech to Congress. The President had decided to provide economic assistance to Greece and Turkey, because Greece was pressed by communist elements and Turkey by the Soviet Union.

  “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States,” President Truman told the Congress on March 12, 1947, “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.”

  March 12, 1955

  Telegram for Harry S Truman, Independence MO

  EIGHT YEARS AGO YOU ANNOUNCED A GREAT AND GALLANT DECISION

  IT WAS ONE OF THE TURNING POINTS IN HISTORY TODAY YOU AND IT LOOK BETTER THAN EVER

  OUR LOVE

  DEAN

  Truman has been asked by Senator Walter F. George to testify on April 18 before the committee about proposed revisions to the United Nations Charter.

  March 29, 1955

  Dear Dean,

  I am enclosing for you a copy of a letter from Walter George, together with a copy of my reply to him and a copy of the note which I have sent to Dr. Wilcox.

  I shall appreciate it most highly if you will make some suggestions to me as to what sort of statement I should make to the committee on Foreign Relations.

  I am perfectly willing to appear because I want to show the country that when an appearance is in the public’s interest and for a real purpose I am more than happy to appear.

  We are looking forward to a grand time with you and Mrs. Acheson.

  Sincerely,

  Harry Truman

  You are due for a hell of a long hand letter one of these days!

  Acheson worries that Republican senators on the Committee on Foreign Relations may ask Truman questions about difficult current foreign-policy problems when he appears before the committee. William F. Knowland was a Republican senator from California.

  March 31, 1955

  Dear Mr. President,

  I shall try to be helpful about the U.N. Testimony when I get back here from a journey to New Haven and Albany which starts tomorrow and runs until Wednesday.

  I am sorry you got let in for this, because Knowland and Co. may try to get you into Formosa and a lot of things and there isn’t much that one can or should say about U.N. Charter revision now. But we shall do our best and hope the Committee can’t meet on the 18th after all. We can have some talk about it when you are here.

  All is set for a big welcome for you and Mrs. Truman here and in no spot is it more eagerly expected than at 2805 P St. I also look forward to the letter, but save that for a time when we shall not have you yourself.

  Our warmest greetings.

  Most sincerely,

  Dean

  Truman arrived in Washington, D.C., on April 15 and attended a formal dinner in his honor that night. The next day he lunched with members of his Cabinet and White House staff and attended a formal dinner in honor of Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. At that dinner he lashed out at the Eisenhower administration: “This administration has been playing partisan politics with our security,” he said in his strongest whistle-stop style; “this administration has been playing partisan politics with our foreign policy, this administration has been playing partisan politics with our Civil Service, this administration has been playing special privilege partisan politics with our nation’s resources. I regret to say that we have not seen such cynical political behavior in any administration since the early twenties.” The Chicago Sun-Times the next day ran the headline, in their largest font, TRUMAN OPENS FIRE ON IKE AS DEMOCRATS EYE 1956. A former member of Truman’s Cabinet who heard the speech
, Wilson W. Wyatt, wrote to Truman, “Now that you have led the way I hope that all of our Democratic speakers will be willing to tell the simple Anglo-Saxon truth about the Eisenhower myth.” The day after the Rayburn dinner, April 17, Truman and Acheson shared a private dinner at 2805 P Street, and the next morning, Truman testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about the importance of the United Nations.

  Truman refers to Republican Senator Homer E. Capehart of Indiana and Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky, Truman’s Vice President (1949–53), who had been reelected to the Senate in 1954.

  April 20, 1955

  Dean:

  What a time we had in the capital of the United States! The Boss says she had the best time she’s had in years. Your luncheon was the highlight even if you did make me cry. You know I’m a damned sentimentalist but I hate to show it!

  That appearance before the Foreign Relations Committee was something to write home about. Thanks to your good advice I don’t believe I made any major errors. The attitude of the private citizen respectfully appearing before the august high committee of the Senate of the United States seemed to please them. Even the Republicans asked friendly questions, including Knowland but for one. Only Capehart tried to be a smart-aleck and Barkley said he got his tail in a crack and that it was still there when the Committee quit business.

  All of them paid tribute of the highest order to the statement. I am eternally indebted to you for your help, criticisms and suggestions.

  Now I’m feeling much better after exploding at the Rayburn dinner. Of course I’ll catch hell for that and be right in my element. I don’t want to be an “elder statesman” politician. I like being a nose buster and an ass kicker much better and reserve my serious statements for committees and schools. But I had a grand time, only not enough time, with you.

  Sincerely,

  Harry

  Acheson regrets that he will not be present at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Harry S. Truman Library on May 8, Truman’s birthday.