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

by David McCullough

  I appreciated your letter of the 25th and will arrange to arrive in New Haven at the time set.

  The suggested program suits me perfectly, and thanks to you I will remember to bring my dinner jacket.

  I read your article on Presidential disability. I wrote one myself for the North American Newspaper Alliance in which I included the Speaker, the President pro tem of the Senate, and the leaders of the Majority and Minority in both houses in a group to pass on the disability of the President.

  As you know, the difficulty between Thomas R. Marshall and Woodrow Wilson arose from Marshall’s statement that there was only one heart beat between him and the White House. It was said as a joke, but I do not believe Wilson appreciated jokes which affected him.

  I made another suggestion regarding the death of the President and the taking over of the office by the Vice President. It seems to me that it might be a good plan to have a constitutional arrangement whereby the Presidential Electors would meet, on the death, or perhaps the disability, of the President and elect a new Vice President, in which case there would be no necessity for a bill on succession. But I will talk it all over with you when I come back east.

  Sincerely yours,

  Harry

  My best to Alice.

  Truman left Independence for Yale on April 6. He arrived in New York City the following day and visited his daughter and son-in-law. On April 8 he took the train to Yale. After a day of tours and social events, he spent two days meeting in informal settings with students, talking about the presidency and American history. Acheson joined him for most or all of these gatherings. Truman left Yale for Washington, D.C., on April 11 and, after two days of social gatherings, left for home on April 13. Acheson on April 15 delivered a speech titled “Factors Underlying Negotiations with the Russians” at the second memorial Eddie Jacobson dinner in Kansas City; Edward Jacobson was Truman’s former business partner.

  April 16, 1958

  Dear Dean:

  I don’t know how to express my appreciation for your visit here. Your foreign relations speech was a knock-out. I have never listened to a more logical approach than the one you delivered. I was exceedingly anxious for you to speak here, because this place in times past was a strong center of isolationism.

  I have heard nothing but praise from everyone, and I have talked to a surprising number of people this morning who are well-informed on foreign affairs and half of whom are not Democrats.

  The only person who was not pleased was Mrs. Truman, and that was because she was not there to hear you. Although she seemed to be feeling somewhat better this morning and I wanted to be at the airport to see you off, I thought I should stay with her.

  I hope you can understand how very much I enjoyed my visit to Yale. I have never had a better time anywhere. It is what I have always wanted to do, but the opportunities were too infrequent. The visit to Yale and a recent one to the University of Oklahoma were, I believe, most successful.…

  Sincerely,

  Harry

  Acheson refers to dental problems Bess Truman was having. He also discusses an encounter with a Turkish journalist who believed that Eisenhower administration officials concerned with Turkish affairs did not measure up to Truman’s ambassador to Turkey during the early years of the Cold War, Edwin C. Wilson, or to George C. McGhee, who coordinated the distribution of U.S. foreign aid to Turkey from 1947 to 1949 and who served as U.S. ambassador for about a year at the end of Truman’s presidency. Neither Acheson nor his informant would have known of a secret National Security Council document, “U.S. Policy Toward Turkey,” issued in June 1957, which advised the U.S. to be wary of attaching conditions to its aid to Turkey to avoid impinging on that country’s sense of sovereignty. Presumably Edwin C. Wilson and George C. McGhee were not hampered by such a policy prescription during Truman’s administration.

  April 18, 1958

  Dear Mr. President:

  Thank you very much for your reassuring letter about my speech in Kansas City. At the time it seemed to me that it was not the speech for that gathering, but, if you approve, that is enough for me.

  I am glad that you stayed with Mrs. Truman and did not come to the plane. Please give her the most sympathetic and affectionate messages from Alice and me. I hate to think of all the discomfort and worse through which she has been.

  This morning I have had a most interesting talk with a Mr. Yalman, a Turk, who is the editor of the Turkish newspaper Vatan and who is on a tour of this country. He is the great advocate of the western position in Turkey and carries with him several bullets which were put into him by some communist rowdies during the troubles which your Greek-Turkish Program helped to bring to an end. The great days of U.S.-Turkish relations, he says, were under your administration, when Ed Wilson and George McGhee were venerated and powerful in Turkish affairs. Since then we have drifted with men who are afraid to interfere in “internal affairs of Turkey,” which, Mr. Yalman says, ought to be interfered with continuously, but tactfully. He is most eager to pay his respects to you, and will be coming east from San Francisco at a time when he could stop in Kansas City on May 12 if you could receive him. I am enclosing an envelope and a card. Would you note on it whether or not you could see him?…

  With warm regards.

  Sincerely,

  Dean

  April 30, 1958

  Dear Dean:

  … I am still thinking about the wonderful time you and I had at Yale and the fine speech which you made here for the Eddie Jacobson Foundation. It is the book on that subject, and I expect to use it, with your permission, all during the coming political campaign—if I am asked to participate.

  I thought it was proper for me to do just what I did in the Arthur Krock matter. If the Republican Congressman who asked me the question had quoted more than just two sentences from the interview, I believe I would have remembered it, but whether or not it reflects on me, I believe my action was right, and I am glad you approve.

  Bess is still having trouble with her dental affairs but seems to be improving gradually.

  Please give my best to Alice, and my best to you, as always.

  Sincerely yours,

  Harry

  May 15, 1958

  Dear Dean:

  I am very grateful to you and Alice for remembering my birthday. It was a happier one because of your kindness.

  You are very thoughtful people, and I wish I could hear from you and see you more often. I cherish our good, and bad, times together and wish we could relive them all.

  Sincerely yours,

  Harry

  Yale still rings in my ears. What a time we had!

  This is a transcript of a call Truman made to Acheson to ask for his advice on what to say to the press about President Eisenhower’s sending of thousands of marines to Lebanon. The Lebanese government had requested American troops in the wake of a military coup in Iraq and to prevent a feared invasion by Syria.

  July 15, 1958

  The President: How are you, Dean?

  Mr. Acheson: I’m just being cross-examined by the Army.

  The President: By whom?

  Mr. Acheson: By the United States Army …

  The President: What I was interested in … I have talked to Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson about the meeting last night authorizing the sending of the Marines into Lebanon, and, of course, I am being harassed by people who want statements from me, and I was anxious to talk to you before saying anything publicly. I would like to know your reaction, if you want to tell me.

  Mr. Acheson: You mean the agreement that Dulles made? Is there a proposal for a joint resolution in …?

  The President: Yes, in the Security Council of the UN, just like the one we got for Korea, only this comes after the fact.

  Mr. Acheson: But the United States Marines are not in there, are they?

  The President: Yes, 6,000 of them are now in Lebanon, at the request of the President of Lebanon, and the reason I wanted to talk to you is that I didn
’t want to go off half-cocked or do anything to upset any policy affecting the peace of the world.

  Mr. Acheson: Well, if that has been done, the only thing we can do is support it, but I think it’s probably a mistake. I don’t think they should have done it.

  The President: I don’t think they should have done it before the fact, either—I mean, before the UN approved it.

  Mr. Acheson: I think the President having taken this step, all of us have got to see him through, that under the circumstances, the President had no other choice. The peace of the world is at stake.

  The President: All I intend to say is that he had no other choice.…

  Mr. Acheson: I don’t know if I would say “He had no other choice.” My suggestion is to say something to the effect that the President, as the Commander in Chief and the head of the nation, is taking this step, and you think it’s the duty of everyone to stand by him. That just underwrites what he has done. He is the one who had to make the decision. We don’t approve or disapprove, but we stand by him.

  The President: I hope you’re having a good time up there.

  Mr. Acheson: I just came up to speak to the Army at their meeting on weapon development. You know, this is a very surprising thing. I didn’t know we had landed Marines.

  The President: I have talked to Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson about it. Sam was at the conference that authorized the thing at the White House, and he made quite a statement that [Lebanese President Camille] Chamoun asked us to come in, so we are not barging in.…

  Mr. Acheson: But the landing has taken place?

  The President: Yes, it’s civil war in a way, with outside help coming in.… (The President proceeds to quote Rayburn’s statement to him on the subject.) This thing was done at the request of Chamoun without the endorsement of the UN, and now they’re trying to get the endorsement of the UN. The Congressional leaders went along with the President on the subject.

  Mr. Acheson: Are they going to have a Congressional resolution?

  The President: Neither Sam nor Lyndon said anything to me about it. They are trying to get one from the UN, just as we did before Korea.

  Mr. Acheson: I think the whole thing’s a terrible mess. Lebanon has been left and probably the whole thing will blow up. I think if you make this statement, it’s the right one.

  The President: I’ll do my best to get one together. Don’t worry about this; it’s not our responsibility this time. I will be back in Washington on the 26th, and …

  Mr. Acheson: I am just here for today, and will be back tonight.…

  The passing of Acheson’s mother made Truman think of his own mother. He was always very sentimental on the subject of mothers. General Harry H. Vaughan was a Truman confidant.

  July 29, 1958

  Dear Dean:

  I have received a letter from Henry [Harry] Vaughan dated July 26th enclosing a clipping from a Washington paper about the death of your mother.

  I’ll never forget my experience back in 1947. So you very well know that my sympathy is heartfelt. There is no supporter like your mother. Right or wrong from her point of view you are always right. She may scold you for little things but never for the big ones. Wish I’d known about it sooner. You’d have heard from me sooner.

  Sincerely,

  Harry Truman

  The Former Presidents Act of 1958, which was introduced in 1955, gave Truman a pension of $25,000 and an allowance for his office staff.

  August 2, 1958

  Dear Mr. President,

  Thank you so much for your warm and understanding message about Mother’s death. What you say is very true—particularly of mothers like yours and mine who had such quality and strength.

  I am delighted to see that the Presidential Pension bill finally passed the House; you will get some help now in dealing with the mountains of mail you get—and also with the grocery bills. What an outrage that it has to take so long and that small minded men had to oppose it. However, they told me what I did not know—that you are an oil magnate!

  With deepest thanks for your note.

  Faithfully,

  Dean

  Truman sends Acheson a speech he had given on August 6, in Chicago, to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. His theme was the Cold War and the need for the United States to make a great effort to resist the Soviet threat. He warned against “peace at any price” demagogues and said that, in perilous times, “it is better to take too much action than too little.”

  August 7, 1958

  Dear Dean:

  Here’s what I talked to you about.

  After what you told me on the telephone, I believe you will like it.

  Sincerely,

  Harry

  The people mentioned in this letter were with the Democratic National Committee and its Democratic Advisory Council. Eisenhower’s speech to the United Nations, which Acheson ridicules, was on August 13. “Conversion of salt water” refers to Dulles’s proposal to finance condensation plants for producing fresh water from sea water in the Middle East.

  August 14, 1958

  Dear Mr. President:

  Thank you very much for your speech to the Eagles in Chicago, which you sent along to me in your note of August 7. I both agreed with it and enjoyed it.

  The statement on the Middle East which you and I liked was strongly approved by Hubert Humphrey and Tom Finletter. However, Paul Butler, Charlie Murphy, Phil Perlman, and Averell opposed it, with the result that Charlie Tyroler did not issue it. They opposed it on what I thought was a silly ground—that it was not constructive. Why one has to be constructive in criticizing a fool step by someone else I do not know.

  I said at a luncheon meeting of Civitans today that in one respect, which a lawyer could appreciate specially, Eisenhower’s speech to the UN was excellent. It adhered strictly to the principle that if one’s case is too weak to talk about, talk about something else. Apparently his principal plan to save the Middle East is by conversion of salt water.

  As ever,

  Dean

  “Krusie” is Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Sherman Adams, Eisenhower’s chief of staff, was forced to resign on September 22, 1958, as a result of allegations that he had accepted favors from a businessman who was being investigated by the government. Allen Dulles, brother of John Foster Dulles, was at this time director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

  August 19, 1958

  Dear Dean:

  It has been some time since I’ve written you a long hand letter. I’m glad you liked my speech to the Eagles in Chicago. I made them “scream” but not in the usual way. I’ve made that speech many times before and the smart news men never seem to recognize it.

  William J. Bryan made the “Cross of Gold and Crown of Thorns” speech three or four times before he had the chance to make it in Chicago in 1896. I’m of the opinion that the repetition of what’s right is just as important to the minds of men as perhaps the lies of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Krusie are. Sometimes I’m not so sure about that.

  You were right about Ike’s speech. It is in the same case situation as was Sherman Adams. The plan to take Sherm off the front page was Lebanon. I wonder if Korea was in that class also? I’ve never thought so. It seems now that “my war” in Korea may have been necessary!

  This President doesn’t know where he’s going nor why. Allen Dulles came to see me a day or two ago and wanted me to read the President’s speech before he made it to the U.N. I refused to look at it. I had no right to pass on his innocuous remarks and then give him hell about them.

  I wonder just where we are going and what we’ll do after we arrive, if we ever get there.

  Guess I’m becoming a pessimist. Hope I’m not. This G.D. Dem. Committee has been trying to schedule me for a number of appearances. Guess I’m a weak person and will probably take on most of them for no good reason.

  My best to Alice and to you.

  Harry Truman

  On August 23, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began s
helling two islands near the mainland coast, Quemoy and Matsu, which were occupied by the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. Eisenhower took measures in support of the Taiwanese government, and it seemed possible the United States might go to war with the PRC over the two small islands. As had happened during the Suez crisis almost two years earlier, Truman’s instinct was to support the President in time of peril. Acheson writes from London to ask if Truman’s statement as reported in the British press is accurate and complete, and to try to persuade him that the United States should not risk war, possibly nuclear war, over an unimportant and indefensible position.

  September 16, 1958

  Dear Mr. President,

  As the last paragraph of this dispatch in the Manchester Guardian suggests I am somewhat bewildered, but most of all, eager to know what you said in full. Could you send it to me in Washington? My secretary will forward it to me.

  I thought that we were in complete agreement on my statement. Does your statement (quoted) refer to the offshore islands Quemoy & Matsu? If so no amount of unity in the country can make a spot, as weak as Quemoy, strong. The Administration should not be encouraged to make the stand here. It would be a disaster involving, as it well could, defense by atomic weapons.

  I have just been at a conference called by the Prince of the Netherlands, some fifty or more people. A secret questionnaire was issued on the Formosa Straits issue. Of those who answered only two, one American out of twelve including members of this administration, & one European out of thirty, thought Eisenhower should be supported on these small islands. All the rest believed that the position had to be, and could be, liquidated at an acceptable price.

  Please don’t be hooked on one of their “my country right or wrong” gambits. In this way Foster can always drive us like steers to the slaughter pew.

  I eagerly await a word from you.

  Affectionately,

  Dean

  Acheson writes Truman a punishing letter that must have shaken the former President. Acheson has now seen Truman’s full statement on the crisis over Quemoy and Matsu, and he disagrees with his position in very strong language. The enclosed dispatch might have been Joseph Alsop’s “Quemoy: We Asked for It,” published September 3, 1958.