White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters
Page 57
“I was no”: Ibid., 96.
Five days later: “Roosevelt a Topic in Moley’s Weekly,” New York Times, October 25, 1933.
his notes from his initial: Moley, The First, 104–05.
Quiet invitations: Moley, After Seven, 283–84.
In December 1933: Ibid., 284–85.
was brash and blustery: Rosenman, Working, 115.
He played piano: Stanley High, Roosevelt—And Then? (New York: Harper & Bros., 1937), 47–48.
“I’d be called in”: Moley, After Seven, 284.
“For every time”: Moley, The First, 516–17.
Moley was openly: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Politics of Upheaval (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960), 576–77.
“the extent to which”: Moley, After Seven, 332.
For five more months: The account of the drafting of the 1936 State of the Union message through Moley hoping Roosevelt will be more business-friendly comes from Moley, ibid., 332–33.
His attitude became: Ibid., 343.
he invited the Rosenmans: Rosenman, Working, 98–99.
A Chicago native: “Democrats’ St. Paul,” Time, Monday, June 1, 1936.
Moley allowed FDR: Moley, After Seven, 344.
“this generation of Americans”: Schlesinger, Politics, 584.
What Moley did not know: Rosenman, Working, 104. 17 Three days before the speech: Ibid., 105.
Moley downplayed the exchange: Moley, After Seven, 346.
Moley produced a draft: Ibid., 345.
As he had four years earlier: Moley, After Seven, 347.
Roosevelt and Moley went through: Ibid., 349.
Years later he told: Schlesinger, Politics, 579.
Roosevelt marked up: Except where noted, the account of the drafting of the second inaugural address comes from Rosenman, Working, 142–44.
He sometimes prefaced…“you boys can fix it up”: Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins (New York: Harper & Bros., 1948), 213.
Sometimes his inserts: Ibid., 266.
“They won’t let me”: Ibid., 218.
“I’ll just ad-lib it”: Rosenman, Working, 484.
When a final text: Ibid., 144; reading copy of the second inaugural address, “FDR Inaugural Address—Capitol—January 20, 1933” folder, FDR Speech Files, FDR Library.
The president’s phone: Grace Tully, F.D.R. My Boss (Chicago: People’s Book Club, 1949), 234–35.
“‘Stay out of war’”: George Gallup, “What We, the People, Think About Europe: A Cross-Section of Opinion on Our World Role,” New York Times, April 30, 1939.
Roosevelt had himself added: Rosenman, Working, 189; undated second draft of September 3, 1939, fireside address, “FDR—Radio Address—White House—Sept. 3, 1939—War in Europe (Fireside No. 14)” folder, FDR Speech Files, FDR Library.
From 1939 onward: Rosenman, Working, 181.
When Roosevelt gave: Ibid., 198.
High was expelled: Charles Michelson, The Ghost Talks (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1944), 192–93.
“Nearly all the Democratic”: Rosenman, Working, 227.
Bullitt contributed briefly: Ibid.
Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish: Ibid., 269.
Like Howe, Hopkins: Rosenman OH, 170–71.
Winston Churchill once told: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 5.
Hopkins’s greatest strength: Rosenman, Working, 228.
the advent of the 1940 campaign: Rosenman OH, 180.
Their first choice: Rosenman, Working, 128; Rosenman OH, 180.
They finally lit upon: Rosenman OH, 181.
“Those of us”: Robert E. Sherwood letter to Roosevelt, May 16, 1933, “Sherwood, Robert E.” folder, President’s Personal File 7356, FDR Library.
“I saw Harry Hopkins”: Robert E. Sherwood letter to Roosevelt, January 25, 1940, “Sherwood, Robert E.” folder, President’s Personal File 7356, FDR Library.
Hopkins ran into Sherwood: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 49–50.
Sherwood would get his chance: Rosenman, Working, 232–33; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 184.
Work on the speeches generally: The description of the cocktail and dinner-hour speechwriting process comes from Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 213; Rosenman, Working, 19; and author interview with Ginsburg.
Rosenman drank Coca-Cola: Rosenman, Working, 5.
in a phrase coined: Quoted in ibid., 260–61.
The 1941 message: Except where noted, the account of preparing the 1941 State of the Union address comes from Rosenman, ibid., 262–65.
his secretary Dorothy Brady: Ibid., 297.
“The first is freedom”: Undated handwritten peroration for 1941 State of the Union message, “FDR message to Congress delivered in person—January 6, 1941” folder, FDR Speech Files, FDR Library.
Sixty years later: Michael Waldman, My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America’s Presidents, From George Washington to George W. Bush (Naperville, IL: sourcebooks media Fusion, 2003), 110.
Shortly before 5 pm: This account comes from Tully, FDR, 256, and from the original draft of FDR’s December 8 speech to Congress, on file at the FDR Library. Tully’s recollection of the wording of the first draft is incorrect—she uses the as-delivered remarks—but we can assume her other details are correct.
Rosenman continued commuting: John Hopkins interview of Samuel Rosenman, June 3, 1969, 8, “Rosenman, Samuel—Oral History Interview” folder, Papers of John Hopkins, HSTL.
Roosevelt had at first suggested: Clark Clifford, Counsel to the President (New York: Random House, 1991), 54.
“Next week Biddle”: Rosenman OH, 198–99.
In the spring of 1945: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 877.
Returning in late March: Ibid., 877–80.
“Because we know”: Ibid., 880.
“It was really best”: Rosenman OH, 182.
Taken into the Cabinet Room: William Safire, Before the Fall (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1975), 15–16.
2. “MISSOURI ENGLISH”
If the activity: Samuel Rosenman oral history, Columbia University, 1960, FDR Library, 215; Samuel Rosenman oral history, October 15, 1968, HSTL, 49–50; John Hopkins oral history interview with Samuel Rosenman, June 3, 1969, 12, “Rosenman, Samuel—Oral History Interview” folder, Papers of John Hopkins, HSTL.
Rosenman had not spoken: Rosenman Columbia OH, 210.
no more than twenty people: Richard Neustadt, “Notes on the White House Staff Under President Truman,” June 1953, “‘Notes on the White House Staff Under Truman’ by R. E. Neustadt” folder, Papers of Richard Neustadt, HSTL, 5. Neustadt places the figure at seventeen people late in 1944; it is reasonable to assume that he did not have a sudden influx of new hires in early 1945.
which would have paid: Rosenman Columbia OH, 212.
Stay until V-E Day: Ibid.
FDR was always pleasant: Ibid., 222–23.
On April 18: Description of the Map Room from George M. Elsey, An Unplanned Life (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), 19–20; Hugh Sidey, “How a Secret Room Got Its Start in WWII,” Time, September 29, 2002.
Lanky and good-looking: David McCullough, Truman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 448; author interview with Kenneth Hechler,
He had been a graduate: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 70. 33 On that first visit: Author interview with George M. Elsey,
Stay until V-J Day: Rosenman Columbia OH, 212.
“one of the ablest”: Robert H. Ferrell, ed., Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (New York: Harper & Row, 1980), 46.
He and press secretary Charlie Ross: Rosenman HSTL OH, 50.
it was the first speech: Rosenman Hopkins OH, 11.
“It’s very easy”: Ibid., 2.
Early that month: Clark Clifford, Counsel to the President (New York: Random House, 1991), 50.
“He was like a Greek god”: Author interview with Hechler.
“I handled fourteen”: Richard Holbrooke interview of Clark C
lifford, December 28, 1987, “December 28, 1987 [2 of 3]” folder, Papers of Richard C. Holbrooke, HSTL, 21.
Looking back: John Hopkins oral history interview with Clark Clifford, “Clark M.—Oral History Interview folder,” Papers of John Hopkins, HSTL, 2–3.
“He was energetic”: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 133.
Clifford quickly discovered: Clifford, Counsel, 53–56.
He again asked Truman: Rosenman Hopkins OH, 9.
By this time: The account of the drafting of the September 1946 message to Congress comes from Rosenman HSTL OH, 50, 58–63.
Rosenman later estimated: Rosenman Columbia OH, 216.
When Rosenman ran into: Ibid., 222.
Clifford too had noticed: Clifford, Counsel, 74.
He would lean so far: Clifford Hopkins OH, 5.
He would look up: Author interview with Elsey.
He sped through: Clifford, Counsel, 199.
He would read the speech: Leonard Reinsch oral history interview, March 13, 1967, HSTL, 40–41.
His secretary, Rose: James Sundquist, oral history interview, July 15, 1963, HSTL, 26; Kenneth Hechler, Working with Truman (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982), 224–25.
And because she put: Reinsch OH, 10–11; John Hopkins oral history interview with Charles Murphy, May 16, 1969, “Murphy Charles—Oral History Interview” folder, Papers of John Hopkins, Murphy, HSTL, 19.
During the 1944 campaign: Reinsch OH, 7–8.
Rosenman approached Truman: Rosenman Hopkins OH, 9.
Truman appealed to him: Clifford, Counsel, 66.
“Comes the deluge”: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 134.
In the mid-1940s: Clifford, Counsel, 87.
When the rail workers: McCullough, Truman, 498–99.
Truman handwrote his remarks: Handwritten Truman draft of railworkers speech to nation, “May 24, Railroad Speech—President Truman’s Notes for” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, 1946, HSTL.
“perilously out of control”: Clifford, Counsel, 89.
“It was as though”: McCullough, Truman, 500.
Truman likely never meant: Ibid., 480; Clifford, Counsel 89–90.
For Clifford, it was a decisive: Clifford, Counsel, 69–71.
a six-page draft: May 24, 1946, draft of Truman speech to the nation, with Truman markings, “1946, May 24, Railroad Speech [re strike]” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
Clifford later confessed: Holbrooke Clifford interview, December 28, 1987, 27.
Clifford and company missed: Clifford Hopkins OH, 3.
An hour before the speech: McCullough, Truman, 504.
Shortly after 4 pm: “The Decision,” Time, June 3, 1946.
The moment was so dramatic: Clifford, Counsel, 91.
“There is no policy-making body”: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 134.
“We used to call”: Stephen J. Spingarn oral history interview, March 24, 1967, HSTL, 832.
“He did not do”: Murphy Hopkins OH, 13; “An Investigation of the Speech and Statement Preparation Process During the Presidential Administration of Harry S. Truman, 1945–1953,” Unpublished dissertation by John Hopkins, on file at HSTL.
“Clark Clifford is an excellent”: Spingarn OH, 832.
“President Truman’s speeches”: Richard Neustadt, “Notes on the White House Staff Under President Truman,” “Notes on the White House Staff Under Truman’ by R. E. Neustadt” folder, Papers of Richard Neustadt, June 1953, HSTL, 18.
“Three years in the Map Room”: Author interview with Elsey.
“I wrote slowly”: Clifford, Counsel, 74.
“Read my annual message”: Quoted in Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 148.
Republican senator Arthur Vandenberg: Joseph Marion Jones, The Fifteen Weeks (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1955), 142.
He was willing: Clifford, Counsel, 132.
He accompanied Truman on weekends: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 138.
a devastating eighty-one-page case: Once locked away, the report can now be found in its entirety on the HSTL Web site at www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/studycollections/ coldwar/documents/index.php?documentdate=1946-09-24&documentid=41&study collectionid=&pagenumber=1.
Truman called him: Clifford, Counsel, 123–24.
A heavy-flaked…sent to Clifford: Jones, Fifteen Weeks, 153–54.
That day Elsey had sent: George Elsey letter to Clark Clifford, March 7, 1947, “1947, March 12, Speech to Congress on Greece [re aid to Greece and Turkey]” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
“This speech must be”: Clifford, Counsel, 133.
Truman thought the State draft: Ibid., 134.
Truman believed that: Francis H. Heller, The Truman White House (Lawrence, KS: Regents Press of Kansas, 1980), 74.
“Subjunctives, passives, polysyllabic”: Hechler, Working, 224.
Once the writers: Clifford, Counsel, 74–75.
“What impressed me”: Milton P. Kayle oral history interview, November 9, 1982, HSTL, 91.
speaking from his own experience: Jones, Fifteen Weeks, 153–54.
“Totalitarian regimes are born”: Clark Clifford handwritten “Notes on Greek-Turkish speech,” undated, “1947, March 12, Speech to Congress on Greece [re aid to Greece and Turkey]” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
“It is a grim job”: Ibid.
The revised State draft: Clifford, Counsel, 135.
“I was worried”: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 149.
“I believe it must be the policy”: Hand-marked, “Suggested Draft (Revised March 9, 1947),” “1947, March 12, Speech to Congress on Greece [re aid to Greece and Turkey]” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
Elsey sensed: Author interview with Elsey.
Clifford received: Clifford, Counsel, 190–91. The original Rowe memorandum can be found at www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/1948campaign/large/ docs/documents/index.php?documentdate=1947-09-18&documentid=17&studycolle ctionid=Election&pagenumber=1; the revised Clifford version at www.trumanlibrary.org/whistletop/study_collections/1948campaign/large/docs/documents/index.php?documentdate=1947-11-19&documentid=10&studycollectionid=Election&page number=1.
It “must be controversial”: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 158.
“looks and acts”: Spingarn OH, 73.
“It was the kind of work”: Hechler, Working, 50.
“Congress meets”: Ferrell, ed., Off the Record, 122.
“the Bible for the Democratic Party”: “Something for the Boys,” Time, January 19, 1948.
But Truman was so pleased: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 159.
Clifford had tried to have: Clifford, Counsel, 109.
“He was suddenly”: Quoted in Hechler, Working, 66–67.
The result: Harry S. Truman, Years of Trial and Hope (Garden City, NY. Doubleday & Co., 1956), 179.
“The audience gave me”: Ferrell, ed., Off the Record, 134.
“Returns from the radio”: Ibid.
There were kinks: McCullough, Truman, 626–27.
“We got the wrong rigs”: Meyer Berger, “Democrats Match Quaker Sabbath,” New York Times, July 12, 1947.
The passage of an historic: Robert Donovan, Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S Truman, 1945–1948 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1977), 406.
In Washington, confusion: Charles Murphy, “Some Aspects of the Preparation of President Truman’s Speeches for the 1948 Campaign,” December 6, 1948, “Speech Preparation memo, 1948 Presidential campaign” folder, Papers of Charles M. Murphy, HSTL, 7.
Four hours later—at 1:42 am: McCullough, Truman, 641.
Rayburn was introducing: “Emma & the Birds,” Time, July 26, 1948.
Of 2,622 words Truman spoke: Acceptance speech word count with underscores, undated, “1948, July 15, Acceptance Speech [before the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia] folder,” Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
“Entire speech was superb”: William Batt telegram to Clark Clifford, July 15, 1948, in ibid.
&nbs
p; As Truman departed: Clifford, Counsel, 226; sore throat: Ferrell, ed., Off the Record, 149.
“I remember it”: Clifford, Counsel, 187.
“I cannot remember”: Richard Holbrooke interview of Clark Clifford, April 21, 1988, “April 21, 1988 [1 of 2]” folder, Papers of Richard C. Holbrooke, HSTL.
First built as one of a series: Description of Ferdinand Magellan from McCullough, Truman, 654–54, and www.goldcoast-railroad.org/magellan.htm.
At no point would Truman’s staff: Murphy Hopkins OH, 12.
“It is surprising”: Albert Z. Carr letter to Matt, September 22, 1948, “1948, Campaign Trip, September 23, California—Major [address] (Los Angeles)” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
“Never use two words”: McCullough, Truman, 665–66.
Elsey had boarded: Elsey Hopkins OH, 50–51; Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 166–67.
“carnival shills”: Quoted in Clifford, Counsel, 227.
“Truman was entertainment”: Author interview with Elsey.
“In this sense”: Charles Murphy oral history interview, May 2, 1963, HSTL.
“It was a real ordeal”: Clark Clifford oral history interview, July 26, 1971, HSTL 273.
Clifford woke in cold sweats: Ibid.
Spared the stress: Samuel Rosenman oral history interview, April 23, 1967, HSTL, 84.
Not everyone agreed: McCullough, Truman, 666.
Even Clifford later conceded: Hechler, Working, 93.
“Perhaps the best way to describe”: William J. Bray, “Recollections of the 1948 Campaign,” undated, “Campaign Material, 1948” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
His memo won Elsey: Elsey, An Unplanned Life, 173.
Crossing out a paragraph: Draft of State of the Union message with Truman notations, January 2, 1949, “1949 January 5, State of the Union—drafts (folder 4)” folder, Papers of George M. Elsey, HSTL.
“The circumstances”: George Elsey memorandum to Clark Clifford, November 16, 1948, “State of the Union [Address, January 5,] 1949—Departmental Memos [1 of 3]” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
“Today we find”: “State-1” Outline for Inaugural Address, undated, “Inaugural Address, January 20, 1949 [2 of 4]” folder, Papers of Clark Clifford, HSTL.
Enter Benjamin Hardy: Clifford, Counsel, 249.
“This is the way”: Ben Hardy memo to Mr. Russell, November 23, 1948, “1949 January 20, Inaugural Address correspondence” folder, Papers of George M. Elsey, HSTL.