American Experience (1988) s10e02 Episode Script

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Narrator:
IN THE FALL OF 1945,
AMERICA WAS STILL CELEBRATING
THE END OF THE GREATEST WAR
IN HISTORY
AND HARRY S. TRUMAN WAS
THE UNLIKELY LEADER
OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST NATION.
"NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS,"
TRUMAN WROTE
"DID I EVER THINK
OR WISH FOR SUCH A POSITION."
McCullough:
HE CAME FROM
AN OBSCURE BACKGROUND
WITHOUT MONEY, WITHOU
THE PRIVILEGE OF EDUCATION
WITH NO SENSE THA
HE IS A FIGURE OF DESTINY
TO BECOME IN HIS LIFETIME
THE MOST POWERFUL
HUMAN BEING ON EARTH.
Narrator:
HE WAS ONLY
A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE
A FARMER UNTIL HE WAS 33
A HABERDASHER
GONE BANKRUPT AT 38.
NO ONE IN WASHINGTON
HAD EVER HEARD OF HARRY TRUMAN
BEFORE HE WAS 50.
Man:
HERE WAS A LITTLE HABERDASHER
FROM MISSOURI
A SMALL BUSINESSMAN.
FOR HIM TO STEP INTO THE SHOES
OF THE GREAT F.D.R.
THERE WAS AN ENORMOUS
FEELING OF LETDOWN.
Narrator:
AMERICANS HAD DOUBTED
HARRY TRUMAN
AND HARRY TRUMAN
HAD DOUBTED HIMSELF.
BUT THEY HAD RALLIED BEHIND HIM,
AND HE HAD LED THEM TO VICTORY.
BUT NOW,
EVEN AS AMERICANS CELEBRATED
THEIR PATRIOTIC HARMONY
WAS BEGINNING TO COME APART.
TRUMAN WOULD FIND IT EASIER
TO LEAD THE COUNTRY IN WAR
THAN TO GOVERN IT IN PEACE.
HE WOULD SAY, "SHERMAN
WAS WRONG: PEACE IS HELL."
Narrator:
12 MILLION G.I.s
WERE COMING HOME.
THEY WANTED JOBS
AND HOUSES AND CARS
COFFEE, BUTTER
AND MEAT ON THE TABLE.
AFTER YEARS OF GOING WITHOU
THEY LONGED TO GET ON
WITH THEIR LIVES.
BUT HARRY TRUMAN KNEW
HE COULDN'T GIVE THEM
ALL THEY WANTED.
Man:
YOU CAN'T IMAGINE A PRESIDEN
HAVING MORE ON HIS SHOULDERS
THAN PRESIDENT TRUMAN DID
IN THOSE DAYS
AFTER THE END OF THE WAR.
THE WHOLE THING CAME DOWN
ON HIS HEAD.
THERE HAD NOT BEEN PLANNING
VERY WELL ON POSTWAR POLICY
BECAUSE THE ECONOMISTS
HAD BEEN GIVEN TO UNDERSTAND
THAT THE WAR MIGHT LAS
UNTIL 1946 IN ANY CASE
THE WAR WITH JAPAN.
ALL OF A SUDDEN THE ATOMIC BOMB
THREW EVERYTHING OUT OF KILTER.
Narrator:
FOR FOUR LONG YEARS,
AMERICANS EVERYWHERE
HAD WORKED TOGETHER
TO FIGHT AND DEFEAT FASCISM.
NOW THAT SPIRIT OF COOPERATION
HAD VANISHED.
LABOR AND BUSINESS WERE ONCE
AGAIN AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS.
THE GOVERNMENT HAD KEP
A TIGHT LID ON WAGES AND PRICES
AND IN RETURN, THE UNIONS
HAD AGREED NOT TO STRIKE.
NOW, THEIR PATRIOTIC
SACRIFICE OVER
WORKERS WALKED OFF THE JOB.
THEY WANTED HIGHER WAGES
AND THEY WANTED TRUMAN
TO HOLD THE LINE ON PRICES.
Reuther:
THE EXPECTATIONS
OF WORKING PEOPLE ZOOMED
TO MAKE UP FOR
ALL THE YEARS THAT WERE LOST.
YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU KEEP PEOPLE
IN A STRAITJACKE
FOR AS MANY YEARS AS THE WAR
LASTED, YOU HAVE AN EXPLOSION.
Narrator:
TRUMAN WAS DETERMINED
TO KEEP PRICES FROM RISING
BUT FACING INCREASING PRESSURE
FROM BUSINESSMEN
WHO WANTED TO SET PRICES
THEMSELVES, TRUMAN WAVERED.
HE HELD THE LINE ON SOME PRICES
AND LET OTHERS GO UP.
Man:
HE DOESN'T GIVE THE COUNTRY
ANY SENSE OF DIRECTION
AND HE COMES TO BE THE PERSON
THAT A PUBLIC FED UP WITH
ONE STRIKE AFTER ANOTHER
BLAMES FOR LABOR DISORDER.
Narrator:
BUT THE PRESIDENT WAS DETERMINED
TO PROVE THAT HE COULD LEAD THE
NATION, THAT HE COULD CARRY ON
IN THE TRADITION
OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT.
TRUMAN PROPOSED AN INCREASE
IN THE MINIMUM WAGE
AID FOR HOUSING
AND A BILL FOR THE FIRS
PREPAID MEDICAL INSURANCE
IN THE NATION'S HISTORY.
BUT A COALITION OF REPUBLICANS
AND CONSERVATIVE
SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS
REFUSED HIM EVERYTHING.
THE PRESIDENCY, TRUMAN WROTE,
WAS "LIKE RIDING A TIGER.
A MAN HAS TO KEEP ON RIDING
OR BE SWALLOWED."
CHRISTMAS MORNING, 1945.
TRUMAN WOKE TO FIND THE CAPITAL
COVERED IN ICE AND SNOW.
BESS AND MARGARE
WERE IN INDEPENDENCE
AND THE PRESIDENT MISSED THEM.
Man:
I'VE NEVER KNOWN AN INDIVIDUAL
WHO LOVED HIS WIFE
AND HIS DAUGHTER
AND HIS FAMILY SO DEEPLY
BUT THEY, OF COURSE,
WERE ALWAYS INTERESTED
IN TRYING TO GET EXCUSES
TO GO BACK TO INDEPENDENCE.
Narrator:
ANXIOUS TO SEE HIS FAMILY
DESPERATE TO ESCAPE
THE TURMOIL IN WASHINGTON
HE ORDERED THE PRESIDENTIAL
PLANE TO FLY HIM HOME.
EDITORIALS WOULD CALL THE FLIGH
"FOOLHARDY," "ABSURD"
"ONE OF THE MOST HAZARDOUS
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEYS
EVER UNDERTAKEN."
THE PLANE, BUFFETED BY SLEE
AND SNOW, ARRIVED AN HOUR LATE.
Hamby:
WHEN HE FINALLY GETS
TO THE WALLACE HOUSE
ON DELAWARE STREET,
BESS IS FURIOUS AT HIM
FOR TAKING SO LONG
TO GET OUT THERE
FOR TAKING, UH
SUCH A BIG RISK.
Narrator:
THREE DAYS LATER
BACK IN WASHINGTON, FORLORN,
TRUMAN WROTE BESS A LETTER:
"WELL, I'M HERE
IN THE WHITE HOUSE
"THE GREAT WHITE SEPULCHER
OF AMBITIONS AND REPUTATIONS
"YOU CAN NEVER APPRECIATE
WHAT IT MEANS TO COME HOME
"AS I DID THE OTHER EVENING
"AFTER DOING AT LEAST A HUNDRED
THINGS I DIDN'T WANT TO DO
"AND HAVE THE ONLY PERSON
IN THE WORLD
"WHOSE APPROVAL
AND GOOD OPINION I VALUE
LOOK AT ME LIKE I'M SOMETHING
THE CAT DRAGGED IN."
HE FINISHED THE LETTER,
BUT BESS NEVER GOT IT.
HE LEFT IT TUCKED
DEEP INSIDE HIS DESK DRAWER.
THE NEW YEAR BROUGH
A NEW WAVE OF STRIKES
5,000 BEFORE THE YEAR WAS OVER.
AS A DEMOCRAT, TRUMAN
NEEDED UNION SUPPOR
BUT HE HAD REMOVED
THE LID ON PRICES
APPEASING BUSINESSMEN,
AND THE UNIONS WERE ANGRY.
THE COST OF ALMOST EVERYTHING
SKYROCKETED
AND WORKING MEN
AND WOMEN DEMANDED
THAT THEIR WAGES KEEP UP.
AT ONE POINT, MORE THAN
A MILLION WORKERS
WALKED OFF THE JOB
AT THE SAME TIME.
TRUMAN BELIEVED THAT THE UNIONS
WERE HOLDING THE COUNTRY HOSTAGE
AND PERSONALLY BETRAYING HIM.
Reuther:
WHILE HARRY SUPPORTED LABOR
AND THE RIGHT TO STRIKE
HE WAS NEVER HAPPY
WHEN THERE WAS A STRIKE.
HE WAS SEEING I
AS A SMALL BUSINESSMAN
AND IT COULD WRECK
A SMALL BUSINESS.
HE JUST DIDN'T LIKE
STRIKES OF ANY KIND
AND HE WAS
VERY FRANK ABOUT THAT.
Narrator:
THEN, IN MAY,
THE RAILWAY WORKERS WENT OU
FORCING THE COUNTRY
TO A STANDSTILL.
TRUMAN WAS FURIOUS.
WHILE NEGOTIATORS SEARCHED
FOR A COMPROMISE
A FRUSTRATED TRUMAN PROPOSED
A SOLUTION NO PRESIDEN
HAD EVER DARED:
HE THREATENED TO DRAF
THE STRIKING RAILWAY WORKERS
INTO THE ARMY.
THAT KIND OF A THREAT WASN'
EVEN MADE DURING THE WAR!
AND I THINK EVERYONE
IN THE LABOR MOVEMEN
WERE QUITE SHOCKED BY THA
BUT THEY FELT, "WELL, THIS IS
AN OFF-THE-CUFF TRUMAN THREA
BUT HE WON'
CARRY THROUGH ON THAT."
Narrator:
BUT TRUMAN STUCK BY HIS PLAN.
WHEN HIS ATTORNEY GENERAL
QUESTIONED ITS CONSTITUTIONALITY
TRUMAN TOLD HIM
"WE'LL DRAFT 'EM
AND THINK ABOUT THE LAW LATER."
McCullough:
IT WAS AS HIGH-HANDED,
AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL A MEASURE
AS IMAGINABLE.
BUT HE MEANT IT, BECAUSE
HE SAW THE COUNTRY BEING
THE VERY LIFE OF THE COUNTRY
AT STAKE.
Narrator:
NEVER BEFORE HAD THERE BEEN
A TOTAL NATIONWIDE RAIL STRIKE.
MORE THAN
17,000 PASSENGER TRAINS
24,000 FREIGHT TRAINS
NEARLY ALL OF THEM
HAD STOPPED RUNNING.
THE COUNTRY WAS PARALYZED.
TELEGRAMS FLOODED
THE WHITE HOUSE:
"ZERO HOUR IS HERE."
"WHO IS TO RULE OUR NATION?"
"WHY DON'T YOU GO AHEAD AND AC
IN THIS NATIONAL CRISIS?"
"LESS TALK AND MORE ACTION."
Hamby:
TRUMAN'S ANNOYED AT CRITICISM.
HE THINKS PEOPLE ARE NOT TAKING
HIM SERIOUSLY ENOUGH
AND MAYBE HE'S STILL GO
THIS SNEAKING SUSPICION
TO OVERCOME
THAT HE'S NOT QUITE
UP TO THE JOB.
TRUMAN FACED EVERY NEW CHALLENGE
WITH FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY.
THIS LEADS TO A BUILDUP OF ANGER
THAT ERUPTS EVERY
ONCE IN A WHILE
WITH PARTICULARLY VIVID
CONSEQUENCES IN THE PRESIDENCY.
Narrator:
DEEPLY TROUBLED, TRUMAN
SAT DOWN AT HIS DESK
AND DRAFTED
ONE OF THE STRANGEST SPEECHES
EVER TO COME
FROM A PRESIDENT'S PEN.
"I AM TIRED OF GOVERNMEN
BEING FLOUTED," HE WROTE.
"LET US GIVE THE COUNTRY
BACK TO THE PEOPLE
"HANG A FEW TRAITORS, MAKE OUR
OWN COUNTRY SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY
"TELL RUSSIA WHERE TO GET OFF
COME ON, BOYS,
LET'S DO THE JOB."
Man:
HE CALLED ME AND SAID
"I WANT TO GET YOUR REACTION
TO THIS SPEECH."
AND I STARTED OUT,
AND I SAID, "OH, MY GOD
THIS IS THE WORST I EVER SAW."
I BELIEVE IT WAS HIS WAY
OF LETTING OFF STEAM.
AND I FINALLY ASKED HIM, SAID
"DO YOU INTEND TO GIVE
THAT SPEECH?"
AND HE SAID, "WELL,
NOT QUITE THIS SPEECH."
( Congress members applauding)
Narrator:
ON MAY 25, 1946
EVEN WHILE NEGOTIATIONS
TO SETTLE THE STRIKE CONTINUED
THE PRESIDENT WENT BEFORE
A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS.
THIS IS NO LONGER A DISPUTE
BETWEEN LABOR AND MANAGEMENT.
IT HAS NOW BECOME A STRIKE
AGAINST THE GOVERNMEN
OF THE UNITED STATES ITSELF.
( applause)
I REQUEST THE CONGRESS
IMMEDIATELY
TO AUTHORIZE THE PRESIDEN
TO DRAFT INTO THE ARMED FORCES
OF THE UNITED STATES
ALL WORKERS WHO ARE ON STRIKE
AGAINST THEIR GOVERNMENT.
Clifford:
HE WAS GETTING TO THE CRESCENDO
AND I GOT A CALL
THAT SAID, "THE RAILROAD STRIKE
HAS BEEN SETTLED."
AND I WROTE ON A PIECE OF PAPER
AND I TOOK IT TO LES BIFFLE,
THE SECRETARY
AND LES THEN TAKES IT UP.
ENORMOUSLY DRAMATIC.
WORD HAS JUST BEEN RECEIVED
THAT THE RAIL STRIKE
HAS BEEN SETTLED
ON TERMS PROPOSED
BY THE PRESIDENT.
( applause)
GREAT CHEERS, GREAT CHEERS.
IT WAS THEY WORKED OU
THE DETAILS AFTERWARD
AND THE RAILROADS WERE RUNNING.
( train whistle blowing)
Narrator:
THE STRIKE WAS OVER.
BUT TRUMAN HAD PAID
A HIGH PRICE.
HIS GUT RESPONSE HAD COST HIM
THE SUPPORT OF THE UNIONS
HE SO DESPERATELY NEEDED.
Hamby:
THE LABOR LEADERS AND THE
LIBERALS IN GENERAL ARE SHOCKED
HORRIFIED, NOT WITHOUT REASON.
AND FROM THIS POINT ON
IT IS GOING TO BE
VERY, VERY TOUGH FOR TRUMAN
TO DRUM UP
LABOR-LIBERAL ENTHUSIASM
FOR THE DEMOCRATIC TICKE
IN THE '46 ELECTIONS.
Narrator:
THE 1946 MIDTERM ELECTIONS
WOULD BE, FOR TRUMAN,
A DISASTER.
REPUBLICANS BLAMED THE PRESIDEN
FOR AMERICA'S PROBLEMS
AND MOST AMERICANS
SEEMED TO AGREE.
TRUMAN'S POPULARITY PLUMMETED.
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT TRUMAN
REALLY HITS ROCK BOTTOM
IN THE 1946 CAMPAIGN.
FOR AN AWFUL LOT OF PEOPLE
HE'S STILL VERY MUCH
IN THE SHADOW OF F.D.R.
McCullough:
HE WASN'T COPING VERY WELL
AND PEOPLE WERE BEGINNING
TO MAKE FUN OF HIM:
"TO ERR IS TRUMAN."
"I'M JUST MILD ABOUT HARRY."
THERE WERE PERIODS THERE
WHEN TRUMAN DIDN'
LOOK UP TO THE JOB.
REPUBLICANS WOULD SAY,
YEAH, HE WAS A LITTLE MAN
CAME OUT OF NOWHERE,
THE HABERDASHER.
Narrator:
THERE WERE SHORTAGES
OF PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING:
BREAD, MEAT, HOUSING.
AND INFLATION WAS THREATENING
TO UNDERMINE THE ECONOMY.
PRICES HAD SHOT UP SIX PERCEN
IN A SINGLE MONTH.
WAS THAT MILLIONS AND MILLIONS
OF POTENTIAL DEMOCRATIC VOTERS
PEOPLE WHO HAD VOTED
FOR ROOSEVEL
THEY SAID, "TO HECK WITH IT,
THEY BUNGLED IT."
AND THE REPUBLICANS SAID,
"HAD ENOUGH?"
THAT WAS THEIR SLOGAN.
PEOPLE AGREED WITH THEM.
TRUMAN GETS BLAMED.
THEY STAY HOME.
THE REPUBLICANS SWEEP TO POWER.
Narrator:
THE REPUBLICANS WON CONTROL
OF THE SENATE
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
EVEN THE STATE GOVERNORSHIPS.
Lichtenstein:
THE ELECTIONS OF '46
WERE A REPUBLICAN SWEEP
A HUGE TURNAROUND, AND WHY?
NOT BECAUSE EVERYONE
VOTED REPUBLICAN
BUT BECAUSE THE DEMOCRATS,
THE NEW DEALERS
THE LABOR PEOPLE
THEY STAYED HOME.
Narrator:
DISCREDITED BY HIS OWN PARTY
VOTED DOWN
BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
HARRY TRUMAN, PUNDITS WERE
SAYING, WAS AN EMBARRASSMENT.
THE DISASTROUS ELECTION OVER
TRUMAN FLED TO HIS VACATION
HIDEAWAY ON FLORIDA'S KEY WEST.
"DEAR BESS,
I'M SEEING NO OUTSIDERS.
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN
HOW PUT OUT THEY GET.
"I'M DOING AS I DAMN PLEASE
FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS
"AND TO HELL WITH ALL OF THEM.
"THE ONLY REGRET I HAVE
IS THAT YOU ARE NOT HERE.
"YOU KNOW, I GUESS
I'M A DAMN FOOL
"BUT I'M HAPPIER
WHEN I CAN SEE YOU.
"EVEN WHEN YOU GIVE ME HELL
I'D RATHER HAVE YOU AROUND
THAN NOT."
BESS CONTINUED TO SPEND
AS MUCH TIME AS SHE COULD
WHEN ASKED HOW IT FEL
TO BE FIRST LADY, SHE REPLIED
"SO-SO."
SHE LOOKED, HER HUSBAND
SAID APPROVINGLY
"EXACTLY AS A WOMAN OF HER AGE
SHOULD LOOK."
WHEN BESS AND HARRY TRUMAN
HAD FIRST MOVED
INTO THE WHITE HOUSE
BESS'S MOTHER, MADGE WALLACE,
HAD MOVED IN, TOO.
AFTER MORE THAN A QUARTER
OF A CENTURY
SHE CONTINUED TO CALL
HER SON-IN-LAW "MR. TRUMAN."
SHE DIDN'T CARE MUCH FOR
THE PRESIDENT, SHE NEVER DID.
THAT WAS THE THING
THAT STICKS OUT IN MY MIND.
BUT SHE JUST NEVER, NEVER
WE COULD NEVER FIGURE IT OU
WHY SHE JUST DIDN'T CARE
FOR THE PRESIDENT.
Man:
I THINK THAT SHE FEL
THAT MISS BESS WAS ABOVE HIM.
EVEN THOUGH HE WAS PRESIDENT,
HE WAS BENEATH MISS BESS.
HE WAS A FAILURE
IN HIS HABERDASHERY.
SHE WOULD TELL YOU.
OH, SHE DIDN'T MIND
TELLING YOU
THAT EVEN THOUGH HE WAS THE
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
THAT SHE DIDN'T CARE MUCH
FOR HIM OR FOR HIS MOTHER.
I'M SORRY, BUT THAT'S
THE WAY IT WAS.
Narrator:
AS 1947 BEGAN
HARRY TRUMAN HAD BEEN PRESIDEN
FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS.
HUMILIATED IN
THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS
HE HAD LITTLE HOPE
OF ADVANCING THE LEGACY
OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT'S NEW DEAL
THROUGH THE STUBBORN,
REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED CONGRESS.
BUT IN THE TWO YEARS TO COME
THE PRESIDENT WHO HAD BEEN
REJECTED AT HOME
WOULD MAKE DECISIONS THAT WOULD
DETERMINE THE FATE OF THE WORLD
FOR THE NEXT HALF CENTURY.
EUROPE WAS DEVASTATED.
THE WAR HAD LEFT A CONTINEN
IN RUINS.
AS POVERTY AND STARVATION SPREAD
CHAOS THREATENED TO OVERWHELM
THE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES.
SOME FEARED THE ELECTION
OF COMMUNIST GOVERNMENTS;
OTHERS, STALIN
AND THE RED ARMY.
THE RUSSIAN DICTATOR
REMAINED AN ENIGMA
HIS INTENTIONS UNCLEAR.
STALIN DID NOT YET HAVE
THE ATOMIC BOMB
BUT THE SOVIET UNION WAS
A GREAT MILITARY POWER
ITS ARMIES SPREAD
ACROSS EASTERN EUROPE
POISED TO ENFORCE STALIN'S WILL.
AT POTSDAM, TRUMAN HAD BEEN
IMPRESSED WITH STALIN
EVEN LIKED THE MAN.
WHEN THE WAR ENDED, THE
PRESIDENT, LIKE MOST AMERICANS
THAT STALIN WOULD NOT IMPOSE
COMMUNISM ON EASTERN EUROPE.
BUT TRUMAN'S OPTIMISM DWINDLED
AS HE SAW POLAND, ROMANIA
YUGOSLAVIA, BULGARIA,
EAST GERMANY
FALL BEHIND
A COMMUNIST IRON CURTAIN.
THAT THE RUSSIANS WERE NO
A THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES.
BUT IN THE BEGINNING OF 1946
TRUMAN SAID HE WAS GROWING
TIRED BABYING THE SOVIETS.
"I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD PLAY
COMPROMISE ANY LONGER"
HE WROTE HIS SECRETARY OF STATE.
"UNLESS RUSSIA IS FACED
WITH AN IRON FIS
ANOTHER WAR IS IN THE MAKING."
ONE MONTH LATER, STALIN DECLARED
THAT COMMUNISM AND CAPITALISM
WERE INCOMPATIBLE.
HE CALLED WAR INEVITABLE.
RUSSIA AND AMERICA WERE MOVING
INTO TWO OPPOSING CAMPS.
THE TURNING POINT CAME
IN GREECE AND TURKEY
WHERE TRUMAN FEARED
FURTHER COMMUNIST EXPANSION.
IN A CIVIL WAR IN GREECE
GREEK COMMUNISTS THREATENED
TO TOPPLE THE MONARCHY.
IN TURKEY, THE SOVIET UNION
WAS DEMANDING CONTROL
OF THE STRATEGIC
DARDANELLES STRAITS.
TWO LOCAL CONFLICTS
WOULD BECOME THE CATALYS
FOR A WORLDWIDE STRUGGLE
AGAINST COMMUNISM.
Man:
I THINK AT THIS POIN
TRUMAN BEGINS TO SEE STALIN
AS AN EXPANSIONIST DICTATOR.
AND AT THAT POINT YOU CAN BEGIN
TO SEE TRUMAN CHANGE
AND BELIEVE THAT THE ONLY THING
THAT THE SOVIETS UNDERSTAND
AS HE SAYS, IS STRENGTH,
NOT NEGOTIATIONS.
Narrator:
TRUMAN HAD CHANGED HIS MIND.
NOW HE WOULD HAVE TO CHANGE
THE MINDS
OF STILL-AMBIVALENT AMERICANS.
HE WOULD HAVE
TO CONVINCE CONGRESS
THAT A CRISIS
IN TWO FARAWAY COUNTRIES
THREATENED THE SECURITY
OF THE UNITED STATES
THAT $400 MILLION
IN MILITARY AID WAS NEEDED
TO SAVE GREECE AND TURKEY.
LaFeber:
TRUMAN HAD TO GO
TO THIS REPUBLICAN CONGRESS
THAT HAD GOTTEN INTO POWER
IN THE ELECTIONS OF 1946
BY PROMISING TO CUT TAXES
AND TO CUT AID OVERSEAS.
TRUMAN WAS NOW
GOING TO HAVE TO GO
TO THESE PENNY-PINCHING
REPUBLICANS
AND GET $400 MILLION.
THE QUESTION WAS,
HOW DID YOU DO THIS?
Narrator:
UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE
DEAN ACHESON HAD THE ANSWER.
ACHESON WOULD ONE DAY BECOME
SECRETARY OF STATE
AND TRUMAN WOULD CALL HIM HIS
"TOP BRAIN MAN" IN THE CABINET.
IN 1947, ACHESON, TRUMAN
AND SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE
MARSHALL GATHERED TOGETHER
A BIPARTISAN GROUP OF THE MOS
INFLUENTIAL MEN IN CONGRESS
AND ACHESON LAID OU
TRUMAN'S REQUEST FOR AID
IN THE STARKEST TERMS.
Man:
IF YOU WANT THE CONGRESS
TO SUPPOR
THE APPROPRIATIONS NEEDED
THERE HAS TO BE A BI
OF A CRISIS ATMOSPHERE.
AND SO ACHESON MADE
A VERY IMPASSIONED SPEECH
AND HE LAID IT ON VERY HEAVILY
ABOUT HOW THE RUSSIANS
WOULD SWEEP ACROSS EUROPE.
LaFeber:
WHAT ACHESON SAID WAS
IF THE SOVIETS COULD WIN
IN GREECE AND IN TURKEY
THEN THEY WOULD BE IN A POSITION
WHERE THERE WOULD BE
SOVIET PRESSURE ON ITALY
ON THE MEDITERRANEAN.
ONCE THAT PRESSURE
WAS ESTABLISHED
THERE WOULD BE PRESSURE
ON WESTERN EUROPE
AND PRETTY SOON THE UNITED
STATES WOULD BE STANDING ALONE.
SENATOR VANDENBERG, WHO WAS
A LEADER OF THE REPUBLICANS
SAID TO ACHESON AND TO TRUMAN
"IF YOU CAN GE
THAT KIND OF A VIEW ACROSS
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE,
WE'LL SUPPORT YOU."
LaFeber:
THERE WAS THE STORY
THAT VANDENBERG SAID TO TRUMAN
"MR. PRESIDENT, YOU'RE GOING
TO HAVE TO SCARE HELL
OUT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE."
WHETHER OR NO
VANDENBERG SAID THA
THAT'S EXACTLY
WHAT HARRY TRUMAN DID.
Newsreel narrator:
PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN COMES
BEFORE A JOINT SESSION
OF CONGRESS
TO MAKE A MOMENTOUS
ANNOUNCEMENT.
A TENSE ATMOSPHERE PREVAILS, FOR
THE NATION'S LAWMAKERS REALIZE
THAT THIS MAY BE
THE CURTAIN RAISER FOR EVENTS
THAT WILL SHAPE THE DESTINY
OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD.
THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION
WHICH CONFRONTS THE WORLD TODAY
NECESSITATES MY APPEARANCE
BEFORE A JOINT SESSION
OF THE CONGRESS.
I BELIEVE THAT IT MUST BE
THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES
TO SUPPORT FREE PEOPLES WHO ARE
RESISTING ATTEMPTED SUBJUGATION
BY ARMED MINORITIES
OR BY OUTSIDE PRESSURES.
Man:
HE WAS REMINDING AMERICANS OF
WHAT GRADUALLY HAD BEEN SINKING
INTO THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS,
THAT THE AIM OF THE SOVIET UNION
WAS TO EXPAND ITS HEGEMONY
OVER AS MUCH OF THE WORLD
AS IT POSSIBLY COULD, AND
THAT WAS NOT TO BE PERMITTED.
WE WOULD HELP FREE PEOPLES
MAINTAIN THEIR FREEDOM.
IF WE FALTER IN OUR LEADERSHIP
WE MAY ENDANGER
THE PEACE OF THE WORLD
AND WE SHALL SURELY ENDANGER
THE WELFARE OF THIS NATION.
( applause)
LaFeber:
TRUMAN, THE MIDWESTERN
POLITICIAN, UNDERSTOOD EXACTLY
HOW YOU SELL THESE KINDS OF
THINGS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
BECAUSE WHAT HE DID WAS TO GIVE
A DEFINITION OF THE WORLD
THAT AMERICANS COULD UNDERSTAND
AND WHICH THEY COULD
BECOME COMMITTED TO
BECAUSE WHAT TRUMAN SAID WAS
"THE WORLD IS ESSENTIALLY
NOW DIVIDED IN TWO.
"ARE THE TOTALITARIAN
AND THE ENSLAVED PEOPLES.
ON THE OTHER SIDE
ARE THE FREE PEOPLES."
HE THEN LOOKED
AT THE REPUBLICANS
AND SAID,
"WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
"IF YOU ARE ON THE SIDE
OF THE FREE PEOPLES
THAT PUT THE REPUBLICANS IN
A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE POSITION
WHICH IS EXACTLY, OF COURSE
WHAT ACHESON AND TRUMAN
HAD IN MIND
AND TRUMAN GOT HIS $400 MILLION
WITHIN A MATTER OF WEEKS.
Newsreel announcer:
PRESIDENT TRUMAN SIGNS THE BILL
FOR $400 MILLION AID
TO GREECE AND TURKEY.
Narrator:
THE PRESIDENT HAD COMMITTED
AMERICANS TO A BATTLE
AGAINST COMMUNISM
ALL ACROSS THE WORLD.
THE POLICY BECAME KNOWN
AS THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE.
Man:
I WAS SCARED BY IT.
I WONDERED HOW FAR-REACHING
THIS WAS GOING TO BE.
WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN?
THIS IS A SWEEPING,
SWEEPING DECISION
ASKING FOR AN OPEN-ENDED
FAITH IN A POLICY
OF PROTECTING THE FREE PEOPLE
AND BRINGING FREEDOM
WHERE IT DIDN'T EXIST,
AROUND THE WORLD.
AND THAT WAS THE THAT HAS
NO LIMITS HAD NO LIMITS
AND IT WAS AWFULLY HARD TO KNOW
EXACTLY WHERE THOSE LIMITS WERE.
Shulman:
IT LED TO A MORE ABSOLUTE
VIEW OF THE CONFLICT.
AND I ONCE REMONSTRATED
WITH ACHESON ABOUT THIS
IN MY INNOCENCE
I WAS VERY YOUNG THEN
AND HE MADE IT CLEAR TO ME THA
IF YOU WANT TO GET THINGS DONE
YOU HAVE TO GE
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPOR
AND YOU HAVE TO DO
WHAT'S NECESSARY TO GET IT.
AND THIS WAS ESSENTIALLY
WHAT CAME TO BE
THE LANGUAGE
OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
IT BECAME
MORE AND MORE ALARMIST.
Narrator:
THE PRESIDENT WOULD RESIS
COMMUNIST AGGRESSION ABROAD.
HE HAD ISSUED A DECLARATION
OF COLD WAR.
BUT IN WESTERN EUROPE,
THERE WAS MORE TO FEAR
FROM STARVATION AND CHAOS
THAN FROM THE RED ARMY.
IT HAD BEEN THE WORST WINTER
IN LIVING MEMORY.
THE WAR HAD BEEN OVER
FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS
AND WESTERN EUROPE SEEMED
ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE.
LaFeber:
IF WESTERN EUROPE WAS
NOT HELPED, AND QUICKLY
MASS STARVATION WOULD BREAK OUT,
AND THERE WAS THE REAL DANGER
THAT WESTERN EUROPE WOULD BEGIN
MOVING TO THE LEFT VERY RAPIDLY.
THE ANALYSIS MADE WITHIN THE
STATE DEPARTMENT AT THIS POIN
INDICATED THAT THE WAY TO DEAL
WITH THIS WAS NOT MILITARILY.
THE WAY TO DEAL WITH THIS
WAS ECONOMICALLY
TO PUMP IN BETWEEN EIGH
AND 17 BILLION DOLLARS
SO THAT THE EUROPEANS
WOULD HAVE THE MONEY
TO BUY FOOD
FROM THE UNITED STATES
Narrator:
TRUMAN HAD ALREADY MANAGED
TO PERSUADE A RELUCTANT CONGRESS
TO GIVE HIM $400 MILLION
FOR THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE.
NOW HE CONVINCED CONGRESS
TO GIVE HIM 13 BILLION MORE.
NO PRESIDENT HAD EVER RECEIVED
SO MUCH MONEY
TO AID PEOPLE
WHO WEREN'T AMERICANS.
HE CALLED HIS ECONOMIC AID
PROGRAM THE MARSHALL PLAN
AFTER HIS SECRETARY OF STATE,
GEORGE MARSHALL
A MAN WHO COMMANDED THE RESPEC
OF THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
Elsey:
SOME OF THE WHITE HOUSE STAFF
SUGGESTED TO PRESIDENT TRUMAN
THAT THEY DIDN'T MUCH
LIKE THIS IDEA
OF GENERAL MARSHALL
GETTING CREDIT FOR IT.
"THE CONGRESS WILL DO ANYTHING
THAT GEORGE MARSHALL WANTS.
"IF MY NAME IS ON I
"IT PROBABLY WILL BECOME
CONTROVERSIAL.
"I DON'T WANT I
TO BECOME CONTROVERSIAL.
WE'LL HAVE NO MORE TALK
ABOUT CHANGING THE NAME."
LaFeber:
TRUMAN WOULD LATER SAY
THAT THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE
AND THE MARSHALL PLAN
WERE TWO HALVES
OF THE SAME WALNUT.
THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE WAS
THE MILITARY AND
POLITICAL COMMITMENT.
THE MARSHALL PLAN WAS THE $13
BILLION IN ECONOMIC COMMITMEN
TO REBUILD WHAT TRUMAN CALLED
"THE FREE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD."
IT BECAME VERY POPULAR
VERY QUICKLY.
NO ONE EXPECTED
THAT SORT OF ALTRUISM
THAT SORT OF SWEEPING THING
COMING OUT OF US.
THIS WAS MUCH BIGGER
THAN ANYBODY HAD REALIZED.
Donovan:
A GREAT APPEAL OF
THE MARSHALL PLAN WAS
THAT THESE BILLIONS THA
WERE BEING APPROPRIATED
WERE BEING SPEN
IN THE UNITED STATES
TO FARMERS AND MANUFACTURERS.
THAT MONEY WASN'
SPENT IN EUROPE.
IT WAS SPENT HERE, AND THAT WAS
A GREAT APPEAL TO CONGRESS.
Reuther:
THIS WAS A TERRIBLY
IMPORTANT DECISION.
ALSO, IT WAS A COMPASSIONATE
ONE, AND UNDERSTOOD AS SUCH.
IT WAS A REAL BADGE OF HONOR
FOR HARRY TRUMAN.
( cheering)
Narrator:
WHILE THE PRESIDEN
WAS RESCUING EUROPE
AND MOBILIZING AMERICANS
TO FIGHT COMMUNISM OVERSEAS
REPUBLICANS CHARGED THAT THERE
WERE COMMUNISTS HERE AT HOME
IN TRUMAN'S OWN ADMINISTRATION.
IN THE '30s,
REPUBLICANS HAD CLAIMED
THAT THERE WERE COMMUNISTS
IN ROOSEVELT'S NEW DEAL.
NOW THEY WERE DEMANDING
THAT TRUMAN TAKE ACTION.
Clifford:
AND THERE WERE LOTS
OF PRESSURES DEVELOPING
ABOUT COMMUNISTS INFILTRATING
OUR WHOLE SYSTEM
AND HE FELT OBLIGED
TO DO SOMETHING.
HE DID NOT BELIEVE
THERE WERE DISLOYAL EMPLOYEES.
HE DID NOT BELIEVE THAT.
HE SAID ON A NUMBER OF
OCCASIONS, "OUR ENEMY IS ABROAD.
OUR ENEMY IS NOT HERE AT HOME."
LaFeber:
TRUMAN IS IN
A TERRIBLE POSITION HERE
BECAUSE IF HE HAD
NOT DONE ANYTHING
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN OPEN
TO THE ACCUSATION
THAT HE WAS TOUGH
ON COMMUNISM ABROAD
BUT HE WAS OVERLOOKING
COMMUNISTS
WITHIN HIS OWN GOVERNMENT,
WHATEVER FEW THERE WERE.
Narrator:
ON MARCH 21, 1947,
AGAINST HIS OWN BETTER JUDGMEN
THE PRESIDENT ISSUED AN
EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTIVE ORDER:
HE ESTABLISHED A LOYALTY PROGRAM
MAKING THE POLITICAL BELIEFS
OF EVERY FEDERAL EMPLOYEE
SUBJECT TO INVESTIGATION
BY THE F.B.I.
Woman:
TRUMAN, TRYING
TO MOBILIZE PUBLIC OPINION
FOR THE COLD WAR
EXAGGERATED
THE COMMUNIST MENACE.
HE PRESENTED THE COLD WAR
AS A KIND OF CRUSADE
AGAINST COMMUNIS
TOTALITARIANISM.
AND YOU DON'T BREAK UP
YOUR CRUSADE
INTO "THIS IS THE EUROPEAN
PART WE'LL FOCUS ON THIS
AND LET'S NOT LOOK
AT THE AMERICAN PART."
IT WAS A TOTAL CRUSADE.
Narrator:
HARRY TRUMAN WAS LEADING AMERICA
IN A NEW KIND OF WAR
AND HE PREPARED THE COUNTRY
AS IT HAD NEVER
BEEN PREPARED BEFORE.
HE CREATED THE DEPARTMEN
OF DEFENSE.
HE ESTABLISHED THE NATIONAL
SECURITY COUNCIL
AND THE C.I.A THE CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
PUTTING THE UNITED STATES IN
THE BUSINESS OF PEACETIME SPYING
FOR THE FIRST TIME
IN ITS HISTORY.
SOON THERE WOULD BE
ANOTHER FIRST:
NATO, AMERICA'S FIRS
PEACETIME ALLIANCE
A BULWARK SET IN WESTERN EUROPE
AGAINST COMMUNISM.
TRUMAN WAS CHANGING THE WAY
AMERICANS LOOKED AT THE WORLD
AND AT THEMSELVES.
LaFeber:
I THINK TRUMAN'S
GREAT CONTRIBUTION
WAS TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GE
AMERICANS TO COMMIT THEMSELVES
TO A WAR WHICH WAS COLD
RATHER THAN HO
A WAR WHICH HAD
NOT BEEN DECLARED
A WAR WHICH IS EXTREMELY COMPLEX
AND YET WHICH TRUMAN DEFINED
AS A RATHER SIMPLE WAR
BETWEEN THE ENSLAVED
AND THE FREE PEOPLES.
THIS IS HOW HE GOT AMERICANS
TO COMMIT THEMSELVES
TO THE COLD WAR, IN WHICH
RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN SOLDIERS
WERE BEGINNING TO PEER ACROSS
BOUNDARIES AT EACH OTHER.
Narrator:
THE COLD WAR HAD BEGUN
AND IT WOULD LAS
FOR THE NEXT HALF CENTURY.
AFTER THREE YEARS IN OFFICE,
TRUMAN WAS AT LAST ENJOYING
BEING PRESIDEN
OF THE UNITED STATES.
DOZENS OF NEWSPAPERS DESCRIBED
THE "NEW" HARRY TRUMAN
( applause)
CALM
FORCEFUL
RADIATING AUTHORITY.
McCullough:
HE HAD DECIDED
THAT HE REALLY LIKED THE JOB
AND THAT HE WAS
PRETTY GOOD AT IT.
AND HE TOOK THE PRESIDENCY
VERY SERIOUSLY
BUT HE DIDN'T TAKE HARRY TRUMAN
ALL THAT SERIOUSLY ALL THE TIME.
AND SOMETIMES HE DIDN'T SEEM
VERY PRESIDENTIAL
AND OF COURSE
HIS OPPONENTS SAW THOSE
AS WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES
TO BELITTLE HIM.
Narrator:
REPORTERS MADE FUN OF HIS SHIRTS
AND HIS POKER GAMES
CRITICIZED HIS CRONIES AND
HIS FONDNESS FOR GOOD BOURBON.
BUT TRUMAN ALWAYS
REMAINED HIMSELF.
Shulman:
HE NEVER MADE ANY EFFOR
TO CREATE
A PUBLIC-RELATIONS IMAGE.
HE WAS WHAT HE WAS AND
HE NEVER PRETENDED OTHERWISE.
AND IT WAS EARTHY
IT WAS, UH
IT CAME OU
OF THE HEARTLAND OF AMERICA
WITH ALL ITS VIRTUES
AND ITS LIMITATIONS, TOO.
HE ALWAYS SAID HE WAS
A FARMER FROM MISSOURI
TRYING TO DO HIS DAMNEDEST.
I THINK HE GAVE EVERYONE
THE IMPRESSION
NO MATTER WHAT YOUR POSITION WAS
THAT YOU WERE AN IMPORTANT PAR
OF WHAT HE WAS
TRYING TO ACHIEVE.
I REMEMBER THE VERY FIRST TIME
THAT THE PRESIDEN
OF THE UNITED STATES
INVITED ME, AS A JUNIOR STAFF
MEMBER, TO COME TO DINNER.
( piano playing)
PRESIDENT TRUMAN
SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO.
I BEGAN TO SOAR INTO THE CLOUDS.
AND AFTERWARDS,
HE TURNED FROM THE PIANO
AND LOOKED AT ME
AND SORT OF SMILED AND SAID
"IF I HADN'T GOTTEN INTO TROUBLE
BY GETTING INTO POLITICS
"I WOULD HAVE MADE
A HELL OF A GOOD PIANO PLAYER
IN A WHOREHOUSE."
AND THIS THIS WAS
OF COURSE BROUGHT ME
DOWN TO EARTH.
HE TENDED TO LOOK DOWN
ON HIMSELF AS A PERSON
YET HE REVERED
THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE.
Shulman:
AND ONE TIME,
IN A MOOD OF REFLECTION
HE SAID, "YOU KNOW, THE
PRESIDENT REALLY IS TWO PEOPLE
AND ONE OF THEM
IS THE PRESIDENT."
AND THEN HE SORT OF
STRAIGHTENED IN HIS CHAIR
AND YOU COULD FEEL THE SENSE
OF OBLIGATION THAT HE HAD
WHICH LIFTED HIM
AND HIS HIS DIGNITY
AND HIS SENSE
OF PRINCIPLED COMMITMENT.
AND THEN HE SORT OF SLUMPED
A LITTLE BIT AND SAID
"AND THEN THERE'S ALSO
THE PRESIDENT AS A HUMAN BEING
AND THE WEAR AND TEAR
THAT GOES WITH THE JOB."
Narrator:
TRUMAN HAD SAID MANY TIMES
HE NEVER WANTED TO BE PRESIDENT.
NOW HE HAD CHANGED HIS MIND
HE WANTED THE JOB
FOR FOUR MORE YEARS.
HE HAD FAILED HIS PARTY IN 1946.
HE WANTED TO REDEEM HIMSELF
IN 1948.
BUT HE WAS ABOUT TO RISK
FRACTURING THE DEMOCRATS
BY REACHING OUT TO AMERICANS
WHO BY TRADITION AND CULTURE
HE HAD DISMISSED
NEARLY ALL HIS LIFE.
IN THE SOUTH, SEGREGATION
RULED BY LAW AND CUSTOM
AS IT HAD FOR GENERATIONS.
ALL ACROSS AMERICA, AFRICAN
AMERICANS CONFRONTED POVERTY
PREJUDICE, LIMITED OPPORTUNITY.
AND BLACK SAILORS AND SOLDIERS
WHO HAD FOUGHT OVERSEAS
FOR AMERICA'S FREEDOM
DIDN'T LIKE WHAT THEY FOUND
WHEN THEY RETURNED HOME.
Man:
HERE WE ARE AT THE END
OF WORLD WAR II.
WE HAD DEFEATED ONE OF THE
GREAT RACISTS IN HUMAN HISTORY
HITLER, AND OF COURSE
MUSSOLINI AND JAPAN
BUT THE WHOLE CLIMATE SAID,
"WE ARE GOING TO REMAIN THE SAME
"EVEN THOUGH THE WAR AIMS WE HAD
"WERE LOFTY AND IDEALISTIC
AND BEAUTIFUL AND
"AND PRESAGED A NEW WORLD,
AND SO FORTH
BUT YOU ARE STILL A NIGGER."
THE UNITED STATES WAS ADVERTISED
AS THE ARSENAL FOR DEMOCRACY
BUT WHEN IT COMES
TO THE RACE QUESTION
THINGS HAVE GO
TO REMAIN THE SAME.
Narrator:
IN 1946, A HORRIBLE SERIES
OF RACIAL MURDERS IN THE SOUTH
SHOCKED AMERICA.
TRUMAN WAS OUTRAGED.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS
CLAMORED FOR ANTI-LYNCHING LAWS
BUT DIDN'T EXPECT MUCH FROM
THE PRESIDENT FROM MISSOURI.
Hamby:
IT SEEMS A PRETTY SURE BE
THAT PRIVATELY HE BELIEVED
THAT MOST BLACKS WERE INFERIOR
TO MOST WHITES
AND I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY
THAT NEITHER HE NOR BESS
WOULD HAVE BEEN PLEASED
IF MARGARET HAD BROUGH
SIDNEY POITIER HOME FOR DINNER.
UH, BUT HE ALSO CAME
FROM A BACKGROUND
THAT SAID EVERYONE DESERVED
AN EQUAL CHANCE IN LIFE.
Narrator:
ON JUNE 28, 1947, TRUMAN
WROTE HIS SISTER A LETTER.
"I'VE GOT TO MAKE
A SPEECH TOMORROW
"TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
"AND I WISH I DIDN'
HAVE TO MAKE IT.
MAMA WON'T LIKE WHAT I SAY."
THERE IS NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON
FOR DISCRIMINATION
BECAUSE OF ANCESTRY
OR RELIGION OR RACE OR COLOR.
Narrator:
NO PRESIDENT HAD
EVER BEFORE ADDRESSED
THE NEARLY 40-YEAR-OLD
N.A.A.C.P.
TRUMAN BECAME THE FIRST, AS
HE SPOKE TO A RALLY OF THOUSANDS
AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.
A SOUTHERNER BY BIRTH
AND INCLINATION
HE ARGUED FOR EQUAL RIGHTS
FOR ALL AMERICANS.
WE CANNOT ANY LONGER AWAI
THE GROWTH OF A WILL TO ACTION
IN THE SLOWEST STATE OR
THE MOST BACKWARD COMMUNITY.
( applause)
OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMEN
MUST SHOW THE WAY.
Woman:
WELL, I THINK EVERYBODY
WAS THRILLED
AND I THINK THE APPEARANCE
THAT HE HAD WITH THE N.A.A.C.P.
RESOUNDED ALL OVER.
TRUMAN PROVED TO BE
QUITE A SURPRISE.
HE WAS VERY DIFFEREN
FROM WHAT WE HAD THOUGHT OF
IN TERMS OF A PERSON
OF HIS BACKGROUND.
Narrator:
BUT TRUMAN HESITATED
TO PUT CIVIL-RIGHTS LEGISLATION
BEFORE CONGRESS.
HE FEARED THAT IF HE ACTED
TO HELP AFRICAN AMERICANS
HE WOULD LOSE THE SUPPOR
OF SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS.
Hamby:
THERE'S A GREAT CONFLICT HERE
AND POLITICALLY
TRUMAN HAS TO CHOOSE
IS HE GOING TO GO
WITH THE SOUTH
OR IS HE GOING TO GO WITH, UH
THE NORTHERN LIBERALS
AND THE, UH
BLACK CONSTITUENCY
AND THE CIVIL-RIGHTS PROGRAM
THEY FAVOR?
Narrator:
ON FEBRUARY 2, 1948, TRUMAN
BECAME THE FIRST PRESIDEN
TO SEND A SPECIAL MESSAGE
TO CONGRESS ON CIVIL RIGHTS.
HE CALLED FOR ANTI-LYNCHING
LAWS, ABOLITION OF THE POLL TAX
ESTABLISHMENT OF
A COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS
DESEGREGATION
OF THE ARMED FORCES.
Jarrett:
IT WAS A GREAT MESSAGE.
YOU HADN'T HAD ANYTHING
LIKE THAT BEFORE!
PRIOR TO THAT,
WE COULDN'T EVEN GET A PRESIDEN
TO MAKE AN ORATORICAL STATEMENT.
HE RECOGNIZED THAT THE CHANCES
OF MUCH LEGISLATION
ANY LEGISLATION,
GETTING THROUGH THAT CONGRESS
WAS PRACTICALLY NIL.
THE POINT WAS,
YOU HAD TO START SOMETIME
AND HE WAS GOING TO START.
Narrator:
SOUTHERN NEWSPAPERS
CALLED TRUMAN'S
CIVIL-RIGHTS LEGISLATION
A "DISMAYING DOCUMENT"
BASED ON A "PERNICIOUS FALLACY."
"HERE WE HAVE THE MAKING
OF A VERITABLE GESTAPO."
Man:
MOST OF THE SOUTHERN SENATORS
FELT IT WENT TOO FAR.
SENATOR BYRD, SR., WAS IN THE
SENATE AT THAT TIME AND HE FEL
THAT SOME OF THE CIVIL-RIGHTS
LEGISLATION WENT TOO FAR
EQUAL THIS, EQUAL THAT
THE WHOLE THING JUST REEKED
IN TERMS OF HOW
THE SOUTHERNERS LOOKED AT I
WITH CONCESSIONS TO NIGGERS.
LET'S PUT IT THE WAY
THIS IS WHAT THEY SAID.
I RECALL MRS. LEONARD THOMAS
ONE OF THE ALABAMA
NATIONAL COMMITTEEMEN
CAME TO TRUMAN AND SAID TO HIM
"PLEASE DON'T FORCE
MISCEGENATION ON THE SOUTH.
"PLEASE TELL THE SOUTH
THAT YOU REALLY DON'T BELIEVE
"AND YOU'RE GOING TO
TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID
ABOUT CIVIL RIGHTS."
AND TRUMAN LOOKED AT HER
AND PULLED OUT A COPY
OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
AND SAID, "I'M THE PRESIDEN
OF ALL THE PEOPLE.
THAT I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE BACK
A WORD OF WHAT I SAID."
Narrator:
THE BATTLE OVER CIVIL RIGHTS
WAS A POLITICAL DISASTER.
A GALLUP POLL SHOWED THA
THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS
OPPOSED THE PRESIDENT'S STAND.
CIVIL RIGHTS WAS HURTING
TRUMAN'S CHANCES
FOR RE-ELECTION.
McCullough:
AT THE SAME TIME
AS HIS CIVIL RIGHTS MESSAGE
WAS SPLITTING
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
THE ISSUE OF WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN
IN PALESTINE COMES TO THE FORE.
Narrator:
SINCE THE END OF THE 19th
CENTURY, THE JEWISH PEOPLE
HAD ASPIRED TO ESTABLISH
A HOMELAND IN PALESTINE.
NOW, AFTER THE DEVASTATION
OF THE HOLOCAUS
JEWS FIERCELY LOBBIED TRUMAN
TO RECOGNIZE A NEW
JEWISH STATE THERE
EVEN ENLISTING EDDIE JACOBSON
HIS OLD PARTNER
IN THE HABERDASHERY
TO WIN TRUMAN TO THEIR CAUSE.
BUT SECRETARY OF STATE
GEORGE MARSHALL FEARED
THAT ARABS, CLAIMING
PALESTINE AS THEIR OWN
WOULD CUT OFF
THE WORLD'S SUPPLY OF OIL
AND THROW THE MIDDLE EAS
INTO TURMOIL.
McCullough:
MARSHALL WAS THE AMERICAN
THAT HARRY TRUMAN ADMIRED
MORE THAN ANY OTHER.
NOW, FOR TRUMAN
TO GO AGAINST GEORGE MARSHALL
WAS FOR HIM ONE OF
THE MOST DIFFICULT MOMENTS
Narrator:
FORCED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN
THE ADVICE OF GEORGE MARSHALL
AND HIS SYMPATHIES
FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE
TRUMAN, ON MAY 14, 1948, GAVE
DE FACTO RECOGNITION TO ISRAEL.
HE DID WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS RIGH
AND AT THE SAME TIME WON
THE VOTES OF JEWISH CITIZENS.
IN 1948, TRUMAN WOULD NEED
ALL THE VOTES HE COULD GET.
IN SPITE OF
HIS TRIUMPHS OVERSEAS
MANY AMERICANS STILL QUESTIONED
HIS EFFECTIVENESS AT HOME.
( crowd cheering, band playing
"Columbia, Gem of the Ocean")
Narrator:
ON JUNE 21, THE REPUBLICANS
CONVENED IN PHILADELPHIA.
AFTER THREE DAYS
OF CELEBRATING FREE ENTERPRISE
AND DENOUNCING HARRY TRUMAN,
THEY NOMINATED FOR PRESIDEN
THE URBANE, PROGRESSIVE GOVERNOR
OF NEW YORK, THOMAS DEWEY.
I PRAY GOD THAT I MAY DESERVE
THIS OPPORTUNITY
TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY.
IN ALL HUMILITY,
I ACCEPT THE NOMINATION.
( cheering and applause)
Narrator:
FOUR YEARS EARLIER,
DEWEY HAD RUN A STRONG RACE
AGAINST THE UNDEFEATABLE
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT.
THIS TIME AROUND, REPUBLICANS
GIDDILY ANTICIPATED VICTORY
AGAINST ROOSEVELT'S STAND-IN
HARRY TRUMAN.
Hamby:
HE STILL APPEARED TO A LO
OF AMERICANS TO BE A LITTLE GUY
AN ORDINARY MAN,
SOMEONE WHO UTTERLY LACKED
THE CHARISMA
OF HIS PREDECESSOR, ROOSEVELT.
AMERICANS STILL REALLY WONDERED
WHETHER SOMEONE WHO APPEARED
TO BE SO MUCH LIKE THEMSELVES
COULD REALLY HANDLE
THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
OF THE PRESIDENCY.
Narrator:
IN JULY, THE DEMOCRATS GATHERED
IN THE SAME PHILADELPHIA HALL
WHERE TWO WEEKS EARLIER
THE REPUBLICANS HAD GIVEN THEIR
NOMINATION TO THOMAS DEWEY.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, TELEVISION
WAS THERE TO REPORT THE STORY.
To the people's interests,
a way in which
rescued the American economy
of free enterprise
Narrator:
TRUMAN WATCHED
FROM THE OVAL OFFICE
WHAT NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE
WOULD CALL
"THE WORST-MANAGED,
MOST DISPIRITED CONVENTION
IN AMERICAN HISTORY."
Donovan:
THERE WAS NO AIR CONDITIONING,
AND IT WAS FROM THE BEGINNING
A SWELTERING CONVENTION
IN THE HOTEL ROOMS
AS WELL AS IN THE HALL.
IT WAS A DISMAL CONVENTION FROM
THE START BECAUSE THE CONVENTION
THOUGHT THAT THEY WERE GOING
TO NOMINATE A LOSER.
NO ONE IN THAT CONVENTION HALL
THOUGHT TRUMAN COULD WIN.
Narrator:
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
WAS SPLITTING APAR
AND NO ONE THOUGHT HARRY TRUMAN
COULD HOLD IT TOGETHER.
LEFT-LEANING DEMOCRATS
HAD ALREADY TURNED
TO THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY AND
THEIR CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDEN
HENRY WALLACE.
( cheering)
CONSERVATIVE SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS
FURIOUS OVER TRUMAN'S
STAND ON CIVIL RIGHTS
WERE THREATENING TO WALK OU
OF THE CONVENTION.
THE DELEGATION FROM MISSISSIPPI
COULD NOT BE TRUE TO THE PEOPLE
OF THAT GREAT STATE
IF THEY DID NOT JOIN
IN THIS WALKOUT.
Narrator:
IN THE END, THREE DOZEN
SOUTHERN DELEGATES BOLTED.
AND WE BID YOU GOOD-BYE.
Narrator:
TWO DAYS LATER
THEY FORMED THEIR OWN PARTY,
THE "DIXIECRATS."
McCullough:
AND IT SEEMED
ANOTHER DEVASTATING BLOW
TO TRUMAN'S PROSPECTS.
THE COMBINATION
OF THE SOUTHERNERS WALKING OU
AND HENRY WALLACE LEADING HIS
OWN PROGRESSIVE PARTY CAMPAIGN
PLUS ALL THE GLOOM AND DOOM
THAT SEEMED TO PREVAIL
THROUGHOUT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
SPELLED ONLY DEFEAT,
SPELLED A VERY BLEAK FUTURE.
Narrator:
BUT AS HARRY TRUMAN
ARRIVED IN PHILADELPHIA
IN A SMALL, WINDOWLESS ROOM
BENEATH THE CONVENTION FLOOR
HE SAT WITH VICE-PRESIDENTIAL
NOMINEE ALBEN BARKLEY
McCullough:
THEY KEPT HIM WAITING TILL
ALMOST 2:00 IN THE MORNING.
EVERYBODY WAS EXHAUSTED.
THEY FELT DEMORALIZED,
THEY DIDN'T
MANY OF THEM WANT HARRY TRUMAN
TO BE THEIR CANDIDATE
THE SOUTHERNERS HAD WALKED OU
OF THE CONVENTION.
AND SO AT 2:00 IN THE MORNING
OUT CAME HARRY TRUMAN
IN HIS WHITE LINEN SUI
AND HE STOOD UP THERE,
AND HE SAID
SENATOR BARKLEY AND I
WILL WIN THIS ELECTION
AND MAKE THESE
REPUBLICANS LIKE IT.
DON'T YOU FORGET THAT.
( cheering)
Hamby:
HE'S A FIGHTER.
TRUMAN IS NOT ABOU
TO SLINK OUT OF TOWN
WITH HIS TAIL BETWEEN HIS LEGS.
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM CRIES
ABOUT CRUELLY HIGH PRICES
Narrator:
TRUMAN HAD COME
INTO THE PRESIDENCY
BEWILDERED AND FRIGHTENED;
NOW THE DELEGATES SAT STUNNED
AS A FIRE-BREATHING TRUMAN
TORE INTO THE REPUBLICANS.
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
COMES OUT FOR SLUM CLEARANCE
I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET THEM
TO PASS THAT HOUSING BILL
EVER SINCE
THEY MET THE FIRST TIME.
Narrator:
TRUMAN CHALLENGED
THE REPUBLICANS
TO LIVE UP TO THEIR PROMISES.
I AM THEREFORE CALLING
THIS CONGRESS BACK INTO SESSION
ON THE 26th OF JULY!
( wild cheering)
IF THERE'S ANY REALITY
BEHIND THAT REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
WE OUGHT TO GET SOME ACTION
OUT OF THE SHORT SESSION
OF THE 80th CONGRESS.
THEY CAN DO THIS JOB IN 15 DAYS
IF THEY WANT TO DO I
AND THEY'LL STILL HAVE TIME
TO GO OUT AND RUN FOR OFFICE.
Narrator:
TRUMAN HAD COME OUT FIGHTING
BUT STILL, NO ONE THOUGH
HE COULD WIN.
ALL THE POLLS MADE HIM
A SURE LOSER.
McCullough:
EVERYBODY THOUGH
HE WAS GOING TO LOSE.
I MEAN, THAT'S NOT JUS
A FIGURE OF SPEECH.
EVEN HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW
WAS QUITE SURE
THAT HARRY TRUMAN
WAS GOING TO LOSE.
Narrator:
TRUMAN'S REPUBLICAN OPPONEN
WAS EVERYTHING TRUMAN WAS NOT.
EDUCATED, SMOOTH, SOPHISTICATED,
TOM DEWEY WAS PREPARED, HE SAID
TO TURN BACK 16 YEARS
OF DEMOCRATIC RULE.
I PLEDGE TO YOU
THAT ON NEXT JANUARY 20
THERE WILL BEGIN IN WASHINGTON
THE BIGGEST UNRAVELING,
UNSNARLING, UNTANGLING OPERATION
IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY.
( cheering and applause)
Donovan:
FROM THE BEGINNING,
DEWEY WAS TRANSFIXED BY POLLS
AND BY TIME MAGAZINE
AND EVERYONE ELSE
WHO WAS BOOSTING HIM
FOR PRESIDENT.
HE WAS VERY PLEASED
WITH HIMSELF
VERY SURE THAT HE WAS GOING
TO GO ON AND BE A GREAT FIGURE.
THEY WERE SO CONFIDEN
THAT SOME OF THE DEWEY PEOPLE
HAD ALREADY BOUGHT HOUSES
IN WASHINGTON.
Narrator:
ON SEPTEMBER 17, TRUMAN SET OU
ON WHAT WOULD BECOME
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CAMPAIGNS
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Donovan:
HE WAS SAYING GOOD-BYE
TO EVERYBODY AND SO FORTH
AND ALBEN BARKLEY,
A VERY GOOD-HEARTED MAN
CAME UP AND SAID,
"GIVE 'EM HELL, HARRY!"
AND TRUMAN SAID SOMETHING
"I'LL GIVE 'EM HELL,
I'LL GIVE 'EM HELL, ALBEN."
WE HAD NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT.
THE TRAIN'S STARTING OU
ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON
SO EVERYONE'S WRITING
ABOUT "GIVE 'EM HELL."
Narrator:
FROM THEN ON,
"GIVE 'EM HELL, HARRY"
WOULD BECOME
HARRY TRUMAN'S BATTLE CRY.
( train whistle blaring)
DURING THE NEXT SIX WEEKS,
TRUMAN WOULD TRAVEL 22,000 MILES
CRISSCROSSING THE COUNTRY
THREE TIMES.
THE ISSUES,
HE SAID, WERE SIMPLE
THE REPUBLICANS WANTED
TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK
DESTROY FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT'S
NEW DEAL.
TRUMAN WAS GOING TO STOP THEM.
Truman:
IF YOU GIVE THE REPUBLICANS
COMPLETE CONTROL
OF THIS GOVERNMEN
YOU MIGHT JUST AS WELL TURN I
OVER TO THE SPECIAL INTERESTS
AND WE'LL STAR
ON A BOOM-AND-BUST CYCLE
AND TRY TO GO THROUGH
JUST WHAT WE DID IN THE '20s
AND END UP WITH A CRASH,
WHICH IN THE LONG RUN
WILL DO NOBODY ANY GOOD
BUT THE COMMUNISTS.
Narrator:
TRUMAN KEPT UP A GRUELING PACE
GIVING NO QUARTER
TO HIS OPPONENTS.
WHEN THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY
CANDIDATE HENRY WALLACE
ARGUED FOR CO-OPERATION
WITH THE SOVIET UNION
TRUMAN ATTACKED WALLACE
AS A COMMUNIST PAWN.
WHEN THE SEGREGATIONIS
DIXIECRAT PARTY
NOMINATED STROM THURMOND, TRUMAN
DESEGREGATED THE ARMED FORCES
WINNING THE VOTES
OF BLACK AMERICANS
AND CHANGING THE AMERICAN
MILITARY FOREVER.
Jarrett:
THE ARMED FORCES
THE SEAT OF SEGREGATION,
THE SEAT OF RACISM
AND TO HAVE HIM ISSUE THA
ORDER, FOR WHATEVER REASON
WAS A GREAT LEAP FORWARD
IN HISTORY.
Women:
ALL WE DO IS GO OUT WALKING ♪
WHERE THE SUN SHINES
BRIGHT AND GAY ♪
BUT WHAT DO WE DO, WHAT DO
WE DO ON A DEW-DEW-DEWEY DAY? ♪
Narrator:
CAMPAIGNING AS IF
HE HAD ALREADY WON
TOM DEWEY TOOK NO RISKS,
OFFERED NO SURPRISES.
McCullough:
HIS WHOLE CAMPAIGN WAS BEING RUN
ACCORDING TO WHAT THE POLLS
WERE TELLING HIM TO DO:
DON'T ROCK THE BOAT;
DON'T SAY ANYTHING
TO ANTAGONIZE ANYONE;
DON'T SAY ANYTHING
CONTROVERSIAL;
JUST BE CALM, SMOOTH,
SPEAK IN PLATITUDES.
WE BELIEVE IN HONESTY,
LOYALTY, FAIR PLAY
CONCERN FOR OUR NEIGHBORS
THE INNATE ABILITY OF MEN
TO ACHIEVE.
THESE CONVICTIONS,
ARCHED OVER BY OUR FAITH IN GOD
ARE THE INNER MEANING
OF THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE.
Donovan:
HE DIDN'T SEEM TO HAVE MUCH
EMPATHY, IF THAT'S THE WORD.
YOU WOULDN'T CUDDLE UP
TO TOM DEWEY.
McCullough:
THE DEWEY CAMPAIGN
WAS VERY EFFICIEN
IT WAS VERY CAREFULLY
ORCHESTRATED.
THE OFFICIAL DRINK ONBOARD
THE DEWEY TRAIN WAS THE MARTINI;
THE CARD GAME WAS BRIDGE.
ON THE TRUMAN TRAIN,
THINGS WERE QUITE DIFFERENT.
THE DRINK OF THE HOUR WAS
NEARLY ALWAYS BOURBON
AND THE CARD GAME WAS POKER.
TRUMAN KEPT THAT TRAIN
REALLY MOVING.
AND HE TRAVELED AND TRAVELED
AND TRAVELED
BUT HE SEEMED
TO DRAW ENERGY FROM IT.
HE LOVED IT.
AND AS HE PROGRESSED,
HE GOT BETTER.
AND THE MORE HE TRAVELED,
THE MORE THE CROWDS TURNED OU
AND THE LARGER THE CROWDS WERE.
Woman:
EVERY TOWN WE'D PULLED INTO
HAD A HIGH SCHOOL BAND
THAT PLAYED "THE MISSOURI WALTZ"
BEFORE THE PRESIDENT SPOKE.
AND EVERYBODY GO
SO SICK OF IT.
ALWAYS THERE WAS
"THE MISSOURI WALTZ."
AND TRUMAN, I'M TOLD,
HATED "THE MISSOURI WALTZ"
AND EVERYWHERE HE HAD
"THE MISSOURI WALTZ"!
Reuther:
HARRY WAS
A DAMNED GOOD CAMPAIGNER.
HE LOVED TO GET OU
AND MIX WITH PEOPLE
AND HE KNEW HOW TO TALK
THEIR LANGUAGE.
YOU KNOW, HE WAS
NO HIGHFALUTIN GUY.
HE COULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY EVERY
FACTORY WORKER, EVERY COAL MINER
EVERY TEXTILE WORKER,
EVERY HOUSEWIFE.
Truman:
I'VE BEEN IN POLITICS
A LONG TIME
AND IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU
IF THEY CAN PROVE IT ON YOU,
YOU'RE IN A BAD FIX INDEED.
( crowd laughs)
Donovan:
HE UNDERSTOOD PEOPLE.
HE ESPECIALLY UNDERSTOOD
PEOPLE OF HIS AREA
THE MIDWEST, THE FARMERS.
VOTE FOR YOUR FARMS.
VOTE FOR THE STANDARD OF LIVING
THAT YOU'VE WON
UNDER A DEMOCRATIC
ADMINISTRATION.
GET OUT THERE ON ELECTION DAY
AND VOTE FOR YOUR FUTURE.
( cheering)
YOU KNOW, I COVERED EVERY INCH
OF THE TRUMAN
WHISTLE-STOP CAMPAIGN.
I WAS IN EVERY FARMYARD AND
MAIN STREET AND THE REST OF IT.
AND I'D SEE THESE BIG CROWDS
AND I'D THINK, "WELL,
DEWEY HAS BIGGER CROWDS."
WHATEVER I FELT, I THOUGH
DEWEY WAS GOING TO WIN.
I DIDN'T KNOW ANYONE
WHO THOUGHT OTHERWISE ANYBODY.
Narrator:
AS THE CAMPAIGN DREW TO A CLOSE,
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WAS PREDICTING DEWEY WOULD
RUN AWAY WITH THE ELECTION.
THE GALLUP POLL WAS
SO CERTAIN OF THE OUTCOME
IT STOPPED POLLING
BEFORE THE END OF OCTOBER.
McCullough:
THE NIGHT OF THE ELECTION
THE HEAD OF THE SECRET SERVICE
WENT TO NEW YORK
TO BE WITH MR. DEWEY
BECAUSE HE CLEARLY WAS GOING
TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT.
AND IT JUST LOOKED
LIKE A SURE THING.
AND THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'
THINK IT WAS A SURE THING
Narrator:
ONE EVENING, THREE OR FOUR DAYS
BEFORE THE ELECTION
AN ANXIOUS BESS TRUMAN
WENT QUIETLY
TO SEE HER HUSBAND'S AIDE,
CLARK CLIFFORD.
Clifford:
AND SHE SAID,
"CLARK, DO YOU THINK
HARRY REALLY BELIEVES
THAT HE CAN WIN?"
AND I SAID, "HE GIVES EVERY
ASSURANCE OF IT, MRS. TRUMAN."
SHE SAYS, "WELL, HE KEEPS
SAYING HE'S GOING TO WIN."
"WELL," I SAID,
"THAT'S THE WAY HE FEELS."
I SAID, "HE'S GOING TO FEEL
THAT WAY RIGHT UP TO THE END."
"BUT," SHE SAID, "IT'S SO HARD
TO FIND ANYBODY ELSE
WHO THINKS THAT HE CAN WIN."
I THINK SHE FELT THAT HE DID NO
HAVE ANY CHANCE OF WINNING.
Narrator:
ON ELECTION NIGHT,
TO ESCAPE REPORTERS
TRUMAN CHECKED INTO A HOTEL
IN EXCELSIOR SPRINGS
JUST OUTSIDE OF INDEPENDENCE.
HE HAD A HAM AND CHEESE
SANDWICH, A GLASS OF BUTTERMILK
AND WENT TO SLEEP.
HE LEARNED HE HAD PULLED OFF
THE GREATEST UPSE
IN THE HISTORY
OF AMERICAN POLITICS.
NOT ONE POLLSTER
OR RADIO COMMENTATOR
OR NEWSPAPER COLUMNIS
HAD GOT IT RIGHT.
NO ONE HAD DARED PREDIC
A TRUMAN VICTORY.
Dewey:
I'VE SENT THE FOLLOWING WIRE
TO PRESIDENT TRUMAN:
"MY HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS
TO YOU ON YOUR ELECTION
"AND EVERY GOOD WISH
FOR A SUCCESSFUL ADMINISTRATION.
"I URGE ALL AMERICANS
TO UNITE BEHIND YOU
IN SUPPOR
OF EVERY EFFORT TO"
( crowd cheering)
Reuther:
TRUMAN CAME THROUGH
AS A FEISTY FIGHTER
AND WE LOVED THAT, YOU KNOW.
THE LABOR MOVEMENT CAME AROUND
TO ADMIRE TRUMAN.
WE KNEW THAT ON BASIC ISSUES,
HE WOULD STAND WITH THE PEOPLE
INCLUDING WORKING PEOPLE
AGAINST SPECIAL INTERESTS
AND THAT HE WAS CONCERNED
AND DETERMINED TO HELP CARRY
THROUGH THE LEGACY OF F.D.R.
McCullough:
WE'LL NEVER KNOW
HOW MANY PEOPLE VOTED FOR HIM
BECAUSE, EVEN THOUGH THEY
THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO LOSE
CERTAINLY, A VERY GREA
MANY PEOPLE SAID LATER
"I VOTED FOR HARRY TRUMAN
"EVEN THOUGH I WAS SURE
HE WAS GOING TO LOSE
BECAUSE I LIKED HIM."
IT WAS THE HIGH POIN
OF HIS POLITICAL LIFE.
HE HAD MADE ALL THE SMARTIES
LOOK FOOLISH.
MOST HAPPY TO HAVE TOGETHER
ALL THE SEPTEMBER DEMOCRATS
AND THE OCTOBER DEMOCRATS
( loud laughter)
AND THE MONDAY DEMOCRATS
AND THE TUESDAY DEMOCRATS
AND THE WEDNESDAY DEMOCRATS.
( laughter and cheering)
Donovan:
HE GOT A TREMENDOUS WELCOME
WHEN HE CAME BACK TO WASHINGTON
ONE OF THE BIGGEST TURNOUTS
THE TOWN HAD SEEN.
HE JUST GLOWED WITH IT.
BUT, BOY, HE CAME BACK
TO A TOUGH SECOND TERM
JUST A TOUGH SECOND TERM.
Narrator:
64 YEARS OLD
TRUMAN HAD REDEEMED HIMSELF
AND HIS PARTY
BUT IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS
HE WOULD NEED
ALL HIS MISSOURI OPTIMISM
TO CONFRONT THE CHALLENGES
HE WOULD MEET ABROAD
AND THE FRUSTRATIONS
HE WOULD SUFFER AT HOME.
Truman:
EVERY SEGMENT OF OUR POPULATION
AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL
HAVE A RIGH
TO EXPECT FROM OUR GOVERNMEN
A FAIR DEAL.
Narrator:
AT HOME, TRUMAN ONCE AGAIN
EVOKED THE SPIRI
OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT,
AND ASKED CONGRESS TO SUPPOR
WHAT HE NOW CALLED
THE "FAIR DEAL"
A HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE, CIVIL
RIGHTS, AID TO EDUCATION
HEALTH INSURANCE
FOR ALL AMERICANS.
ONE CRITIC CALLED IT "THE SAME
OLD DOG WITH A NEW NAME."
( warning siren blows)
OVERSEAS, TRUMAN WAS FACING
A NEW THREA
IN REACTION TO AMERICA'S EFFORTS
TO STRENGTHEN WEST GERMANY
THE RUSSIANS HAD BLOCKADED
WESTERN-CONTROLLED BERLIN
CUTTING ALL RAIL, HIGHWAY
AND WATER TRAFFIC
2 1/2 MILLION BERLINERS HAD ONLY
ENOUGH FOOD TO LAST A MONTH.
BUT TRUMAN WOULD FORCE
THE COMMUNISTS TO BACK DOWN.
IN A DARING MOVE, TRUMAN ORDERED
A FULL-SCALE AIRLIF
TO FLY FOOD AND SUPPLIES
FOR MORE THAN A YEAR
TO THE BELEAGUERED BERLINERS.
TRUMAN HAD ONCE AGAIN CONFRONTED
THE SOVIET UNION
BUT HIS EFFORTS TO STAND FIRM
WERE CHALLENGED BY TWO BLOWS
THAT CAME IN SWIFT SUCCESSION.
LaFeber:
IN LATE AUGUST OF 1949
TRUMAN LEARNED
FROM AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE
THAT THE SOVIETS HAD EXPLODED
AN ATOMIC DEVICE.
Narrator:
AMERICA'S MONOPOLY
ON THE ATOMIC BOMB HAD ENDED.
CHINA, THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY
IN THE WORLD
FELL TO MAO ZEDONG'S COMMUNISTS.
McCullough:
IN CONGRESS AND IN THE COUNTRY,
THERE WAS A FEELING
THAT SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG
IN WASHINGTON
SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG
IN THE GOVERNMEN
AND OUT OF THIS FEAR
AND THIS UNCERTAINTY
AROSE THE VOICE
OF SENATOR JOE McCARTHY
WHO BEGAN TO RANT AND RAVE
ABOUT COMMUNIST CONSPIRACY
AND HIGH TREASON IN HIGH PLACES.
Narrator:
AS AMERICANS GREW
INCREASINGLY FRIGHTENED
BY A WORLD THAT SEEMED TO BE
SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL
THE PRESSURE ON TRUMAN MOUNTED
TO SPEND MORE MONEY ON DEFENSE.
EARLY IN 1950, THE NATIONAL
SECURITY COUNCIL TRIED
TO CONVINCE THE PRESIDEN
TO QUADRUPLE MILITARY SPENDING
BUT TRUMAN TURNED
THEIR REQUEST ASIDE.
HE BELIEVED THAT THE BEST WAY
TO FIGHT COMMUNISM WAS
BY BUILDING A STRONG AMERICA
AND TO TRUMAN, THAT BEGAN
WITH A BALANCED BUDGET.
LaFeber:
THERE'S A STORY THAT HARRY
TRUMAN MADE HIS DEFENSE BUDGE
HE WOULD TAKE
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY
COMING INTO THE GOVERNMEN
EVERY YEAR
PUT IT ON A PIECE OF PAPER,
SUBTRACT FROM THAT FIGURE
WHATEVER WAS NEEDED
FOR EDUCATION
WHATEVER WAS LEFT WAS THE
DEFENSE BUDGET FOR THAT YEAR.
Narrator:
BUT THEN, IN EARLY SUMMER,
EVERYTHING CHANGED.
HARRY TRUMAN WAS ABOU
TO CONFRONT THE COMMUNISTS
ONE MORE TIME, AND HE WOULD NEED
ALL HIS STAMINA AND GRI
TO KEEP FROM GOING UNDER.
SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1950,
WAS A BAKING HOT SUMMER DAY
IN INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI.
TRUMAN WAS HOME SPENDING
THE WEEKEND WITH HIS FAMILY
IN THE HOUSE WHERE HE AND BESS
HAD LIVED WITH BESS'S MOTHER
EVER SINCE THEY WERE MARRIED
30 YEARS BEFORE.
AT 9:00, HE RECEIVED
A PHONE CALL
FROM SECRETARY OF STATE
DEAN ACHESON.
"MR. PRESIDENT," ACHESON SAID,
"I HAVE VERY SERIOUS NEWS.
THE NORTH KOREANS
HAVE INVADED SOUTH KOREA."
Narrator:
SUPPORTED BY TANKS AND ARTILLERY
SEVEN NORTH KOREAN
INFANTRY DIVISIONS
SOME 90,000 MEN
HAD LAUNCHED A SURPRISE ATTACK.
THE CRISIS
THAT WOULD HAUNT TRUMAN
FOR THE REST OF HIS YEARS
IN OFFICE HAD BEGUN.
NOT LONG AFTER TRUMAN
HAD BECOME PRESIDEN
KOREA WAS DIVIDED
AT THE 38th PARALLEL
INTO TWO HOSTILE PARTS
A SOVIET-SUPPORTED NORTH
AND AN AMERICAN-BACKED SOUTH.
NOW THE NORTH HAD ATTACKED
THE SOUTH, WITH JUST ONE GOAL:
TO UNIFY KOREA
UNDER COMMUNIST RULE.
Elsey:
HE WAS CONVINCED
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING
THAT THE SOVIETS
WERE BEHIND THIS.
HE HAD NO DOUBTS AT ALL OF THAT.
WE'D SEEN IT AS THEY'D TAKEN
OVER THE SATELLITE COUNTRIES
AS THEY HAD POKED AND PRODDED
AND PRESSED ELSEWHERE.
LaFeber:
HIS INITIAL RESPONSE WAS
THAT THIS WAS
A SOVIET-DIRECTED ATTACK
AND THAT HE WAS BEING
DIRECTLY CHALLENGED BY STALIN.
STALIN DID SUPPORT THE INVASION,
BUT AT NORTH KOREA'S INSISTENCE
AND IT WAS FROM A SAFE DISTANCE
BY SENDING SOVIET SUPPLIES
AND ADVISERS.
WHAT THE UNITED STATES
GOT INVOLVED WITH IN 1950
WAS NOT AGGRESSION
FROM THE SOVIET UNION.
WHAT WE GOT INVOLVED WITH WAS
AN INCREDIBLY BLOODY
CIVIL WAR IN KOREA.
THERE WERE AS MANY
AS 100,000 KOREANS KILLED
BEFORE THE KOREAN WAR
OF 1950 OCCURRED
AND I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY
THAT TRUMAN KNEW VERY LITTLE
ABOUT THIS BACKGROUND.
Narrator:
AS TRUMAN HEADED BACK
TO WASHINGTON
HE TURNED TO THE WAR THAT HAD
ENDED JUST FIVE YEARS BEFORE
TO HELP HIM UNDERSTAND
THE WAR HE WAS FACING NOW.
"COMMUNISM WAS ACTING
IN KOREA," HE WROTE
"JUST AS HITLER AND THE JAPANESE
HAD ACTED EARLIER.
"IF THE COMMUNISTS WERE
PERMITTED TO FORCE THEIR WAY
"INTO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA
"NO SMALL NATION
WOULD HAVE THE COURAGE
TO RESIST THREATS
AND AGGRESSION."
AS HIS PLANE TOUCHED DOWN
AT NATIONAL AIRPOR
THE PRESIDENT APPEARED GRIM.
"BY GOD,"
HE WOULD TELL HIS ADVISERS
"I'M GOING TO LET THEM HAVE IT."
THAT SAME EVENING, TRUMAN
AUTHORIZED WEAPONS AND SUPPLIES
TO REINFORCE THE SOUTH KOREANS.
THE NEXT DAY, HE ORDERED
AMERICAN PLANES TO STRIKE
AT THE NORTH KOREAN ARMY.
TRUMAN HOPED
THAT AMERICA'S SHOW OF STRENGTH
WOULD FORCE THE NORTH KOREANS
TO BACK DOWN.
HE DID NOT WAN
TO SEND AMERICAN SOLDIERS
TO FIGHT A LAND WAR IN ASIA.
BUT TRUMAN WAS BEING PUSHED
CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE ABYSS.
ON JUNE 27, JUST THREE DAYS
AFTER LAUNCHING THEIR ATTACK
THE NORTH KOREAN ARMY
OVERRAN SEOUL
THE CAPITAL OF SOUTH KOREA.
THAT EVENING, TRUMAN APPEALED
TO THE UNITED NATIONS FOR HELP.
"WE STARTED THE UNITED NATIONS,"
HE TOLD AN AIDE.
"IT MUST BE MADE TO WORK."
FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE WORLD
ORGANIZATION DEVOTED TO PEACE
AUTHORIZED AN ARMY TO WAGE WAR.
THAT AMERICAN SOLDIERS WOULD
CARRY THE BURDEN OF THE FIGHTING
AND THE PRESIDENT, UNWILLING
TO RISK AMERICAN LIVES
WITHHELD THE ORDER THAT WOULD
SEND THEM INTO ACTION.
LaFeber:
I THINK THAT TRUMAN THOUGH
THAT BY GETTING THE UNITED
NATIONS TO CONDEMN THE ATTACK
THAT BY BEEFING UP
SOUTH KOREAN FORCES
HE COULD PROBABLY
HANDLE THE SITUATION.
THE COMMUNISTS WOULD LEARN
THEIR LESSON, WOULD BACK OFF
AND WE'D BE BACK
TO BEFORE THE WAR.
THAT HE MIGHT BE TAKING THE
WORLD INTO ANOTHER TERRIBLE WAR.
AND THIS TIME
IT WOULD BE AN ATOMIC WAR
BECAUSE NOW IT WAS KNOWN THA
BOTH SIDES HAD THE ATOMIC BOMB.
Narrator:
BY JUNE 30, LESS THAN A WEEK
AFTER THE FIGHTING BEGAN
THE SITUATION SEEMED HOPELESS.
AMERICAN SUPPLIES AND PLANES
HAD NOT BEEN ENOUGH
TO STOP THE RELENTLESS ADVANCE
OF THE NORTH KOREAN ARMY.
THE PRESIDENT WAS GOING TO HAVE
TO SEND AMERICAN BOYS.
Man:
I HEARD HIM SAY,
"I KNOW THAT SOMEDAY
"I WILL HAVE TO STAND
BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD
"AND ACCOUNT FOR EVERY YOUNG
LIFE THAT IS ABOUT TO BE LOS
"BECAUSE OF WHAT I AM
ABOUT TO DO.
"BUT IN THE FULFILLMEN
OF THE OATH THAT I TOOK
WHEN I BECAME PRESIDENT,
I HAVE NO CHOICE."
AS ONE OF THE YOUNG MEN
WHO MIGHT BE COVERED BY THA
THAT'S THE FIRST TIME I REALIZED
WE WERE NOT DEALING
WITH A BANKRUPT HABERDASHER.
Narrator:
ON JUNE 30,
THE PRESIDENT APPROVED
THE USE OF A COMBAT TEAM
AND TWO DIVISIONS IN KOREA.
WHAT THE CHINESE OR THE RUSSIANS
WOULD DO NOW
HE WROTE IN HIS DIARY,
HE DID NOT KNOW.
THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES HAD TO STAND FIRM.
"I'M NOT GOING TO TREMBLE LIKE A
PSYCHOPATH BEFORE THE RUSSIANS"
HE TOLD A WORRIED SENATOR.
"I AM NOT GOING
TO SURRENDER OUR RIGHTS
OR THE RIGHTS
OF THE SOUTH KOREANS."
Hamby:
TRUMAN HOPES THIS IS GOING TO BE
A QUICK ENTERPRISE
AND WE CAN TAKE CARE OF IT.
CLEARLY, HE AND PERHAPS SOME OF
THE PEOPLE IN HIS ADMINISTRATION
HAVE UNDERESTIMATED
THE FORMIDABLE CHARACTER
OF THE NORTH KOREAN ARMY.
Narrator:
THE FIRST AMERICANS
THROWN INTO ACTION WERE GREEN.
THEIR ENEMY WAS NOT.
WELL TRAINED AND COMBAT HARDENED
THE NORTH KOREANS
PUSHED THE AMERICANS
FURTHER AND FURTHER SOUTH
ACROSS UNKNOWN TERRAIN
THROUGH DRENCHING DOWNPOURS
AND PUNISHING HEAT.
TRUMAN'S CUTS
IN THE DEFENSE BUDGE
HAD LEFT AMERICA UNPREPARED
FOR THE WAR IT NOW FACED.
LaFeber:
BY JULY AND AUGUST OF 1950
KOREA WAS A FULL-FLEDGED
CONVENTIONAL WAR.
TRUMAN MADE THE DECISION
AT THIS POIN
TO BUST THE DEFENSE BUDGET.
HARRY TRUMAN, WHO HAD OPPOSED
HIGH DEFENSE BUDGETS
HAD SENT A $13 BILLION
DEFENSE BUDGET IN '49.
HE IS SENDING IN A DEFENSE
BUDGET OF $50 BILLION
AND THE UNITED STATES
IS NOW BEGINNING TO MOVE
INTO THE PERIOD
OF THE MODERN DEFENSE BUDGET.
Narrator:
WHILE THE MASSIVE REARMAMEN
OF AMERICA BEGAN AT HOME
NEWS FROM THE FRON
REMAINED GRIM.
AT THE END OF JULY,
4,000 AMERICANS WERE DEAD
ALMOST 14,000
WOUNDED OR MISSING.
THE NORTH KOREANS WERE
SO MUCH STRONGER
THAN WE INITIALLY REALIZED
THAT THEY REALLY PRACTICALLY
PUSHED US RIGHT OFF
Narrator:
THE UNITED NATIONS ARMY
NOW CLUNG
TO ONLY A TINY CORNER OF
THE SOUTHEASTERN TIP OF KOREA.
TRUMAN HAD EXPECTED
TO OVERWHELM THE COMMUNISTS
TO HURL THEM BACK ABOVE THE 38th
PARALLEL INTO NORTH KOREA.
INSTEAD, AFTER JUST SIX WEEKS,
THE WAR SEEMED LOST.
WITH DISASTER LOOMING
A DARING PLAN WAS DEVISED BY THE
HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS FORCES
THE FABLED HERO OF WORLD WAR II
WHOSE EXPLOITS IN THE PACIFIC
HAD MADE HIS NAME
A HOUSEHOLD WORD
GENERAL DOUGLAS MacARTHUR.
McCullough:
IT'S SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT TODAY
TO IMAGINE THE AURA AROUND
GENERAL DOUGLAS MacARTHUR
THE SIZE OF THE SHADOW HE CAST.
AMERICANS LOOKED UPON HIM
AS A KIND OF GOD
AN INFALLIBLE GOD.
HE WAS ONLY ABOUT FIVE FOOT NINE
BUT IF YOU WERE IN HIS PRESENCE
YOU WOULD SWEAR THA
HE WAS ABOUT SIX FOOT SIX.
HE ALWAYS DOMINATED ANY GROUP,
AND HE HAD ALL THE PROPS:
THE OPEN-COLLARED SHIRT,
THE SUNGLASSES
THE CRUSHED HAT, THE PIPE.
HE TOOK UNCLEAR DIRECTIVES AND
INTERPRETED THEM HIS OWN WAY.
HE WAS VERY MUCH
THE AMERICAN CAESAR.
Narrator:
TO SAVE HIS ARMY
TRAPPED ON THE TIP OF KOREA
MacARTHUR SENT A MESSAGE TO
TRUMAN ASKING HIM TO APPROVE
ONE OF THE MOS
DARING OPERATIONS
IN AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY.
Walters:
I ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS.
HE SAID, "TELL THE PRESIDEN
I WILL LAND AT INCHON
"ON THE 15th OF SEPTEMBER
"AND BETWEEN THE HAMMER
OF THIS LANDING
"AND THE ANVIL
OF THE EIGHTH ARMY
I WILL SMASH AND DESTROY
THE ARMIES OF NORTH KOREA."
AND THE HAIR STOOD UP
ON THE BACK OF MY NECK.
Narrator:
ON SEPTEMBER 15, 1950,
WITH TRUMAN'S FULL SUPPOR
MacARTHUR STRUCK WITHOUT WARNING
AT THE PORT OF INCHON,
30 MILES FROM SEOUL.
THE RISKS WERE ENORMOUS:
DANGEROUS 30-FOOT TIDES;
ENEMY GUNS TRAINED
ON MINE-INFESTED WATERS.
ONE PENTAGON STRATEGIS
CALLED IT A 5,000-TO-ONE SHOT.
BUT MacARTHUR'S GAMBLE PAID OFF.
THE NORTH KOREANS WERE CAUGH
COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE.
INCHON FELL IN LESS THAN A DAY.
"I SALUTE YOU ALL,"
TRUMAN CABLED MacARTHUR
"AND SAY TO ALL OF YOU
FROM ALL OF US AT HOME
WELL AND NOBLY DONE."
13 DAYS LATER,
SEOUL WAS RETAKEN.
AT THE SAME TIME,
U.N. ARMIES IN THE SOUTH
WERE FIGHTING THEIR WAY NORTH
WITH THE ENEMY IN FULL RETREAT.
McCullough:
SUDDENLY, THE NORTH KOREANS
INSTEAD OF BEING
THIS INVINCIBLE INVADING ARMY
WERE CAUGHT IN A GIANT PINCER.
Narrator:
IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS
MacARTHUR HAD TURNED
THE WAR AROUND.
"GENERAL MacARTHUR,"
LIFE MAGAZINE WROTE
"IS A GREAT SOLDIER
AND A GREAT AMERICAN."
BY LATE SEPTEMBER, U.N. FORCES
HAD PUSHED THE COMMUNISTS
BACK ABOVE THE 38th PARALLEL
THE LINE SEPARATING THE TWO
ARMIES BEFORE THE WAR BEGAN.
THERE, MacARTHUR'S ARMY HALTED.
Elsey:
THE OBJECTIVES WERE
TO RESTORE THE STATUS QUO.
THE INITIAL IDEA WAS
NOT AN INTEN
TO CAPTURE NORTH KOREA
AND UNIFY KOREA.
THAT WAS NOT THE INTENT AT ALL.
Narrator:
BUT TEMPTING THE PRESIDEN
AND ALL HIS ADVISERS
WAS THE CHANCE TO DRIVE
THE COMMUNISTS
ONCE AND FOR ALL
FROM THE PENINSULA
BY CROSSING THE 38th PARALLEL
AND PURSUING THEM
INTO NORTH KOREA.
TRUMAN FACED
A DANGEROUS DECISION.
HE KNEW THAT TO ORDER THE TROOPS
ACROSS THAT LINE
RISKED PROVOKING
NORTH KOREA'S ALLY, CHINA;
THAT THE CHINESE ARMY
WAS ALREADY MASSING
ON THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER;
THAT THE CHINESE GOVERNMEN
HAD ALREADY ISSUED
EXPLICIT WARNINGS.
McCullough:
THE PREVAILING WISDOM
AROUND THE PRESIDEN
WAS THAT THE LAST THING
IN THE WORLD
WOULD BE TO GET INVOLVED WITH A
MAJOR LAND WAR WITH THE CHINESE.
Narrator:
BUT WITH THE ENEMY IN RETREA
TRUMAN'S NATIVE OPTIMISM
TOOK OVER.
MacARTHUR RECEIVED A MEMORANDUM
FROM THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT.
"YOUR MILITARY OBJECTIVE,"
IT READ
"IS THE DESTRUCTION OF
THE NORTH KOREAN ARMED FORCES."
McCullough:
AND ACROSS THEY WEN
HAVING BEEN WARNED
THROUGH DIPLOMATIC CHANNELS
THAT IF THEY PROCEEDED
TO CROSS THE PARALLEL
THAT THE CHINESE
WOULD COME INTO THE WAR.
BUT IT WAS FEL
THAT THAT WAS A BLUFF.
Narrator:
TWO WEEKS LATER, TRUMAN
PREPARED TO LEAVE AMERICA
ON A MISSION THAT CAUGH
EVERYONE BY SURPRISE.
"I'VE A WHALE OF A JOB
BEFORE ME"
TRUMAN WROTE HIS COUSIN.
"HAVE TO TALK
TO GOD'S RIGHT-HAND MAN."
TRUMAN WAS HEADING
FOR A TINY ISLAND
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC
TO MEET WITH GENERAL
DOUGLAS MacARTHUR.
THE GENERAL HAD BEEN MAKING
TROUBLE FOR THE PRESIDENT.
MacARTHUR'S OUTSPOKEN
ANTI-COMMUNIST OPINIONS
HAD INFLAMED AN ALREADY TENSE
SITUATION WITH THE CHINESE.
MANY FEARED MacARTHUR
WANTED TO RETAKE
THE COMMUNIST CHINESE MAINLAND.
Battle:
MacARTHUR HAD A CONTEMP
FOR HIGHER AUTHORITY.
HE WAS HIS SUPREME AUTHORITY.
THAT'S THE WAY HE SAW HIMSELF.
HE WAS NOT TROUBLED
BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITS
UPON GENERALS.
HE WAS NOT TROUBLED
BY ANY OBLIGATIONS HE HAD.
I'M SURE HE HAD A CERTAIN
CONTEMPT FOR THE PRESIDENT.
I DON'T THINK THERE'S
MUCH DOUBT OF THAT.
Narrator:
TRUMAN HAD NEVER
LIKED MacARTHUR.
IN HIS DIARY, THE PRESIDEN
DESCRIBED THE GENERAL
AS "MR. PRIMA DONNA,"
"BRASS HAT"
A "PLAYACTOR"
AND A "BUNCO MAN."
"IT'S A VERY GREAT PITY WE HAVE
TO HAVE STUFFED SHIRTS LIKE THA
IN KEY POSITIONS," TRUMAN WROTE.
Simmons:
THE MEN WERE SO DISSIMILAR.
HERE WAS THIS IMPERIOUS FIGURE
VERY MUCH DIFFERENT THAN
THE MIDWESTERN COMMON MAN
WHO WAS TRUMAN.
Narrator:
AS TRUMAN HEADED FOR WAKE ISLAND
AND THE MEETING WITH
HIS DOMINEERING GENERAL
HE WAS DETERMINED TO LE
MacARTHUR KNOW WHO WAS BOSS.
TRUMAN PUT ON HIS BEST PUBLIC
FACE, BUT TENSIONS RAN HIGH
FROM THE MOMENT THE PRESIDEN
GOT OFF THE PLANE.
Walters:
AND AS I RECOLLECT IT, MacARTHUR
SHOOK HANDS WITH THE PRESIDENT
HE DID NOT SALUTE HIM
WHICH STRUCK ME, AS A YOUNG
OFFICER, RIGHT AWAY
YOU KNOW, SORT OF ODD.
MANY YEARS LATER,
I WAS IN INDEPENDENCE
AND I SAW MR. TRUMAN,
AND I SAID, "MR. PRESIDEN
CAN I ASK YOU
AN INDISCREET QUESTION?"
HE SAID, "THERE ARE
NO INDISCREET QUESTIONS.
"THERE ARE ONLY
INDISCREET ANSWERS.
"I'M A SPECIALIST IN THEM.
I SAID, "AT WAKE ISLAND,
WHEN YOU DEPLANED
AND STARTING DOWN THE STAIRS"
AND HE INTERRUPTED ME:
"DID I NOTICE THA
MacARTHUR DID NOT SALUTE?
"YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGH
I NOTICED IT!
AND I KNEW I WAS GOING
TO HAVE TROUBLE WITH HIM."
Narrator:
IN A DILAPIDATED CHEVROLE
TRUMAN AND MacARTHUR SET OFF
FOR A PRIVATE MEETING.
WITH THEM WAS TRUMAN'S SECRE
SERVICE AGENT FLOYD BORING.
OH, MAN, TENSION?
YOU COULD YOU COULD ALMOS
FEEL IT, THE TENSION IN THE AIR.
Narrator:
BORING OVERHEARD THE PRESIDEN
LACE RIGHT INTO THE GENERAL.
Boring:
NEVER SAID "HOWDY" OR NOTHING.
THE PRESIDENT SAID TO HIM
"I'M THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF,"
AND HE WAS MAD.
"I'M THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF.
"YOU'RE JUST YOU'RE A GENERAL
IN THE ARMY REMEMBER THAT.
"WHY DO YOU INSIS
ON GOING INTO CHINA?
"WE DON'T WANT TO DO THAT."
HE SAID, "I WANT YOU TO STOP IT.
"OTHERWISE, YOU'RE GOING
TO BE RECALLED.
WE'RE GOING TO GET RID OF YOU."
GENERAL MacARTHUR
DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING.
YEAH, HE KNEW
THE OLD MAN WAS MAD.
Narrator:
THE TENSION STILL LINGERED
LATER THAT AFTERNOON
AS THE FORMAL MEETING
GOT UNDER WAY
IN A PINK CINDER-BLOCK SHACK.
TRUMAN QUICKLY MOVED
THE DISCUSSION
Walters:
TRUMAN SAID, "ALL THE
INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS WE HAVE
"INDICATE THAT THE CHINESE ARE
PREPARING TO COME INTO THE WAR.
WHAT HAPPENS
IF THE CHINESE COME IN?"
MacARTHUR ANSWERED AND SAID,
"THEY WILL NOT ENTER THE WAR
"AND IF THEY DO,
I SHALL MAKE OF THEM
THE GREATEST SLAUGHTER
IN THE HISTORY OF WARFARE."
Narrator:
MacARTHUR ASSURED THE PRESIDEN
THAT THE WAR WOULD BE OVER
BY CHRISTMAS.
THE CONFERENCE RAN LESS
THAN THREE HOURS.
THIS, THEIR FIRST MEETING,
WAS TO BE THEIR LAST.
TRUMAN AND MacARTHUR WOULD
NEVER SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN.
Elsey:
TRUMAN THOUGHT THE MEETING WITH
MacARTHUR HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
HE'D BEEN ENCOURAGED
BY MacARTHUR'S ASSURANCE
THAT HE COULD BEGIN SENDING
TROOPS BACK HOME BY CHRISTMAS.
SO HE CAME HOME
CONFIDENT AND COMFORTABLE.
AND, OF COURSE,
JUST A FEW WEEKS LATER
CONTRARY
TO MacARTHUR'S ASSESSMEN
THE CHINESE ENTERED IN FORCE
AND THINGS JUST FELL APART.
MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A MILLION
CHINESE COMMUNIST SOLDIERS
POURED INTO KOREA.
IN SPITE OF THE ASSURANCES
HE HAD GIVEN THE PRESIDEN
MacARTHUR,
HOPELESSLY OUTNUMBERED
WAS POWERLESS TO STOP THEM.
FOUR DAYS LATER,
THE PRESIDENT RECEIVED A CABLE
FROM HIS BELEAGUERED GENERAL:
"WE FACE AN ENTIRELY NEW WAR.
"THIS COMMAND IS NOW
FACED WITH CONDITIONS
BEYOND ITS CONTROL
AND ITS STRENGTH."
ONE OBSERVER DESCRIBED
THE PRESIDEN
AS HE REPORTED THE NEWS
TO HIS AIDES:
"HIS MOUTH DREW TIGHT,
HIS CHEEKS FLUSHED.
"FOR A MOMENT, IT ALMOST SEEMED
AS IF HE WOULD SOB.
"THEN, IN A VOICE THAT WAS
INCREDIBLY CALM AND QUIE
"HE SAID, 'THIS IS THE WORS
SITUATION WE HAVE HAD YET.
WE'LL JUST HAVE TO MEET I
AS WE'VE MET ALL THE REST.'"
VICTORY HAD APPEARED
ALMOST WITHIN REACH.
NOW, IN THE BITTER
KOREAN WINTER
MacARTHUR'S FORCES REELED
UNDER THE COMMUNIST ATTACK.
MacARTHUR TOLD THE PRESIDEN
HE FEARED HIS ARMY
WAS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED.
Simmons:
MacARTHUR'S BEHAVIOR IN THIS
TIME PERIOD IS VERY STRANGE.
THIS IS MacARTHUR,
THE INVINCIBLE, THE INFALLIBLE
BUT HE HAD FAILED.
HE WAS TALKING ABOUT EVACUATING
THE EIGHTH ARMY FROM KOREA.
AND BEING MacARTHUR,
IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN HIS FAULT;
IT MUST HAVE BEEN
SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT.
Narrator:
THE GENERAL URGED THE PRESIDEN
TO WAGE ALL-OUT WAR.
HE WANTED TO BLOCKADE
THE CHINESE COAS
AND BOMB THE CHINESE MAINLAND.
TRUMAN REFUSED.
IN AN ATOMIC AGE, HE FEARED
PROVOKING A THIRD WORLD WAR.
Simmons:
BOILED DOWN, MacARTHUR WANTED
TO FIGHT THE WAR TO WIN THE WAR.
TRUMAN WANTED TO CONFINE THE WAR
TO THE KOREAN PENINSULA.
HE WANTED TO KEEP I
AS SMALL AN AFFAIR AS POSSIBLE.
Narrator:
AS THE COMMUNISTS CONTINUED
TO PUNISH MacARTHUR'S ARMY
THE GENERAL TOLD REPORTERS
THAT HE WAS FIGHTING
UNDER "AN ENORMOUS HANDICAP."
TRUMAN ORDERED THE GENERAL
TO STOP TALKING TO REPORTERS.
MacARTHUR ESCALATED HIS DEMANDS.
LaFeber:
I THINK IT'S FAIR
TO SAY MacARTHUR PANICKED.
AT ONE POINT IN LATE DECEMBER,
HE'S ASKING TRUMAN
TO TARGET 26 DIFFERENT AREAS
WITHIN CHINA
FOR THE DROPPING
OF NUCLEAR BOMBS.
I THINK MacARTHUR'S TOP
PREFERENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN
TO USE SMALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS
ON THE MASSES OF CHINESE.
AND HE FIGURED, TWO OR THREE
THE CHINESE WOULD STOP
AND WITHDRAW.
THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT PREPARED
TO MAKE THAT DECISION.
Narrator:
EACH DAY, TRUMAN'S WAR BECAME
MORE AND MORE UNPOPULAR.
NEWSPAPER REPORTS
AND PHOTOGRAPHS
OF AMERICAN BOYS CAPTURED,
WOUNDED AND KILLED
UPSET AND CONFUSED
ORDINARY CITIZENS.
TO A NATION ACCUSTOMED
TO THE GLORIOUS VICTORIES
OF WORLD WAR II
TO UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
TO EVEN FORCING AN ENEMY
TO SURRENDER WITH AN ATOMIC BOMB
TRUMAN'S LIMITED WAR
SEEMED SENSELESS.
Shulman:
THIS WAS PROBABLY THE WORST PAR
OF THE PRESIDENT'S
ADMINISTRATION FOR HIM
THE CASUALTIES WE WERE TAKING,
THE PROTESTS FROM FAMILIES
AND THE DIFFICULTY
OF UNDERSTANDING
WHAT A LIMITED WAR MEANT.
I MEAN, "WHY NOT NUKE 'EM?"
Narrator:
THE PRESSURE ON TRUMAN GREW
INCREASINGLY INTENSE.
HE WAS WORKING 18-HOUR DAYS, AND
THE STRAIN WAS STARTING TO SHOW.
ONE MORNING, WITH UNITED STATES
MARINES TRAPPED
AT A RESERVOIR IN NORTH KOREA,
TRUMAN MET WITH HIS ADVISERS.
Shulman:
WE WERE WORKING ON A SPEECH
AND MR. TRUMAN CAME IN
FROM HIS OFFICE AND SAT DOWN
IN A VERY DEJECTED WAY,
AND HE SAID
"YOU KNOW, NORMALLY
I SLEEP LIKE A BABY
"BUT THIS TIME I COULD
HARDLY SLEEP ALL NIGHT LONG.
I WAS THINKING ABOUT THOSE BOYS
UP AT THE RESERVOIR."
AND THEN HE SLUMPED IN HIS CHAIR
AND HE HE SAID
"YOU KNOW, THERE MUST BE
A THOUSAND PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN
WHO CAN DO THE JOB BETTER
THAN I CAN."
THERE ISN'T MUCH
YOU CAN SAY TO THAT.
AND HE TOOK OFF HIS GLASSES
AND PUT THEM ON THE TABLE
AND THAT WAS
A STARTLING THING FOR ME
BECAUSE I HAD BEEN ACCUSTOMED
TO SEEING HIS EYES
RATHER LARGE IN HIS FACE
AND I REALIZED
WHEN HE TOOK HIS GLASSES OFF
IT WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE
VERY THICK LENSES
AND IT MAGNIFIED HIS EYES.
AND WHEN HE TOOK HIS GLASSES OFF
HIS EYES APPEARED SMALL
IN HIS FACE
AND IT CHANGED
HIS APPEARANCE TO ME.
I STARED AT HIM JUST AS LONG
AS I COULD POLITELY DO
AND THEN HE PUT HIS ELBOWS
ON THE TABLE AND HE SANK HIS
HIS THUMBS INTO HIS EYE SOCKETS
AND SAT THERE FOR A WHILE.
AND WE WERE ALL QUIET.
AND THEN FINALLY
HE RAISED HIS HEAD
AND TOOK HIS GLASSES
AND PUT THEM ON.
HE SAID,
"BUT THE JOB IS MINE TO DO
"SO I HAVE TO DO THE BEST I CAN.
LET'S GO ON WITH THE DRAFTING."
Narrator:
TENSION AND EXHAUSTION WERE
TAKING THEIR TOLL ON TRUMAN.
VICTORY IN KOREA WOULD HAVE BEEN
THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMEN
OF HIS PRESIDENCY,
PROOF THAT HIS DETERMINATION
TO HOLD THE LINE AGAINS
COMMUNISM WAS WORKING.
INSTEAD, TRUMAN FACED DISASTER
AND IN THE DAYS AFTER
THE CHINESE ATTACK, HE DRIFTED.
McCullough:
THIS WAS THE DARKEST TIME
OF HIS YEARS IN THE PRESIDENCY.
IT WAS A VERY BLEAK PROSPEC
THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FACED
AND THE PRESIDEN
WAS BEING BESIEGED ON ALL SIDES.
Narrator:
ON DECEMBER 5, HIS BELOVED
FRIEND AND PRESS SECRETARY
CHARLIE ROSS, DIED
OF A HEART ATTACK.
TRUMAN HAD KNOWN ROSS
SINCE HIGH SCHOOL
AND THE SUDDEN LOSS
OF HIS LIFELONG FRIEND
McCullough:
AND TRUMAN WAS DEEPLY UPSET,
DEEPLY DISTRAUGHT.
AND THAT WAS THE SAME NIGH
THAT THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER
MARGARET TRUMAN, WAS HAVING
A FIRST CONCERT EVER SINGING
IN CONSTITUTION HALL,
IN WASHINGTON.
Narrator:
MARGARET HAD STUDIED
TO BECOME A SINGER
AND THE GRIEVING PRESIDEN
KEPT HIS PROMISE
TO HEAR HER PERFORM
HIS PENT-UP FRUSTRATIONS WAITING
LIKE A STICK OF DYNAMITE,
READY TO EXPLODE.
( Margaret Truman singing)
Narrator:
PAUL HUME, THE WASHINGTON POST'S
RESPECTED MUSIC CRITIC
HAD NO IDEA
WHAT WAS IN STORE FOR HIM
AS HE JOINED THE SELL-OUT CROWD.
Hume:
HERE WERE THE MEMBERS
OF THE CONGRESS
THE SUPREME COURT,
ALL THE BIG SHOTS
THEY WERE ALL THERE
TO HEAR HER SING
WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL
HAD SHE BEEN ABLE TO SING WELL.
( Margaret Truman
singing in Italian)
Hume:
AS SOON AS SHE STARTED TO SING
I COULD TELL
THAT SHE DID NOT HAVE
THE BASIC TECHNICAL CONTROL
OF THE VOICE THAT YOU NEED.
THE PITCH WASN'T THERE,
THE TONE WASN'T THERE.
SHE JUST DIDN'T HAVE
WHAT IT TOOK.
I WOULD HAVE BEEN THRILLED
IF I COULD HAVE WRITTEN
A RAVE REVIEW.
WHAT I WROTE WAS, "SHE IS FLA
A GOOD DEAL OF THE TIME
"THAN AT ANY TIME
WE HAVE HEARD HER IN PAST YEARS.
"THERE ARE FEW MOMENTS
IN HER RECITAL
"WHEN ONE CAN RELAX
AND FEEL CONFIDEN
THAT SHE WILL MAKE HER GOAL,
WHICH IS THE END OF THE SONG."
Narrator:
THE NEXT DAY, TRUMAN OPENED
THE WASHINGTON POST TO PAGE 12
AND FOUND PAUL HUME'S
DEVASTATING CRITIQUE
OF HIS DAUGHTER'S SINGING.
THE PRESIDENT ERUPTED.
FURIOUS, HE DASHED OFF
A SCATHING RESPONSE.
Hume:
THE LETTER CAME IN
AND I OPENED IT UP
AND I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT,
AND I GASPED.
Narrator:
"I'VE JUST READ YOUR LOUSY
REVIEW OF MARGARET'S CONCERT.
"SOMEDAY I HOPE TO MEET YOU.
"WHEN THAT HAPPENS,
YOU'LL NEED A NEW NOSE
"A LOT OF BEEFSTEAK
FOR BLACK EYES
AND PERHAPS A SUPPORTER BELOW."
THAT'S STRONG LANGUAGE FROM THE
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Narrator:
WHEN THE LETTER BECAME PUBLIC
NEWSPAPERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
BERATED THE PRESIDEN
FOR HIS LACK OF SELF-CONTROL.
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
EVEN QUESTIONED
TRUMAN'S MENTAL COMPETENCE
AND EMOTIONAL STABILITY.
McCullough:
HE WAS A MAN WHO WAS BEING
BATTERED AND BESIEGED
HE HAD TO BLOW HIS STACK
ABOUT SOMETHING, IT SEEMS TO ME
AND THE SOMETHING WAS
PAUL HUME'S REVIEW.
Narrator:
THE WHITE HOUSE WAS FLOODED
WITH LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS.
ONE LETTER CAME
FROM DISTRAUGHT PARENTS
WHO ENCLOSED A PURPLE HEART.
"AS YOU HAVE BEEN
DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE LOSS OF OUR SON'S LIFE
IN KOREA," TRUMAN READ
"YOU MIGHT JUST AS WELL
KEEP THIS EMBLEM.
"ONE MAJOR REGRET IS THA
YOUR DAUGHTER WAS NOT THERE
TO RECEIVE THE SAME TREATMEN
AS OUR SON."
BY EARLY 1951, THE COMMUNISTS
HAD RETAKEN SEOUL AND INCHON
AND DRIVEN MacARTHUR'S FORCES
BELOW THE 38th PARALLEL.
AGAIN, THE GENERAL URGED
THE PRESIDENT TO WIDEN THE WAR.
AGAIN, THE PRESIDENT REFUSED.
THEN, ON JANUARY 25
THE LONGEST RETREAT IN
AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY ENDED.
MacARTHUR'S BLEAK ASSESSMENTS
HAD BEEN WRONG.
HIS FIELD COMMANDER,
GENERAL MATTHEW RIDGWAY
TOOK UNITED NATIONS FORCES
ON THE OFFENSIVE.
ASSAULTING THE COMMUNISTS
WITH TANKS AND ARTILLERY
RIDGWAY BEGAN DRIVING THEM BACK.
BY THE END OF MARCH,
FORCES UNDER RIDGWAY'S COMMAND
HAD REACHED THE 38th PARALLEL
ONCE AGAIN.
THERE THE WAR STALEMATED.
MORE THAN 50,000
AMERICAN SOLDIERS
HAD BEEN KILLED OR WOUNDED.
SOUTH KOREAN CASUALTIES
NUMBERED OVER 160,000.
TRUMAN CAUTIOUSLY BEGAN
EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITY
OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CHINESE
TO STOP THE FIGHTING
AND RESTORE A DIVIDED KOREA.
Donovan:
WHAT TRUMAN WANTED
AND WHAT THE AMERICAN
POLICYMAKERS WANTED
WAS TO GET OUT OF THERE
AS DECENTLY AS WE COULD.
Narrator:
AT JUST THAT MOMENT,
MacARTHUR STEPPED IN
AND UNDERMINED
THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN.
THE GENERAL ISSUED
HIS OWN PROCLAMATION
DEMANDING THE CHINESE COMMANDER
SURRENDER TO HIM.
THE PRESIDENT WAS IN A RAGE.
MacARTHUR HAD WRECKED HIS HOPE
FOR NEGOTIATIONS.
"I WAS READY TO KICK HIM
INTO THE NORTH CHINA SEA"
"I WAS NEVER SO PUT OU
IN MY LIFE."
Walters:
I GUESS IN THE BACK OF HIS MIND
MacARTHUR FIGURED, "THIS IS
A CAPTAIN OF ARTILLERY;
WHAT DOES HE KNOW
ABOUT THIS WAR?"
AND IN TRUMAN'S MIND:
"I'M THE PRESIDENT;
I DECIDE AMERICAN FOREIGN
AND MILITARY POLICY."
Elsey:
WITH GENERAL MacARTHUR MAKING
MORE AND MORE STATEMENTS
THAT WERE CALLING INTO QUESTION
NATIONAL POLICY
SOME OF TRUMAN'S ADVISERS
BEGAN TO URGE
THAT HE RELIEVE THE GENERAL.
WELL, THAT'S SOMETHING
YOU JUST DON'T CASUALLY DO.
YOU DON'T RELIEVE A COMMANDER
IN THE FIELD
IN THE MIDS
OF MAJOR HOSTILITIES.
Narrator:
BUT WHEN MacARTHUR SENT A LETTER
TO THE HOUSE MINORITY LEADER
CRITICIZING THE PRESIDENT'S
CONDUCT OF THE WAR
"THIS LOOKS LIKE THE LAS
STRAW," HE WROTE IN HIS DIARY.
"RANK INSUBORDINATION."
McCullough:
TRUMAN KNEW THE FIRESTORM
HE WOULD FACE.
HE KNEW HE WOULD BE ATTACKED
IN THE PRESS.
BUT HE ALSO KNEW
THAT EVENTUALLY
THE PEOPLE AND HISTORY
WOULD SEE
THAT HE HAD DONE
THE RIGHT THING.
Narrator:
ON APRIL 11, MacARTHUR
WAS HAVING LUNCH IN TOKYO
WHEN HIS WIFE HANDED HIM
A BROWN SIGNAL CORPS ENVELOPE.
"I DEEPLY REGRET,"
THE MESSAGE READ
"THAT IT BECOMES MY DUTY AS
PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF
"OF THE UNITED STATES
MILITARY FORCES
TO REPLACE YOU
AS SUPREME COMMANDER."
TRUMAN HAD FIRED ONE
OF THE MOST POPULAR GENERALS
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
McCullough:
AND HE DID IT VERY ABRUPTLY
AND HE DID IT KNOWING FULL WELL
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN.
Narrator:
MacARTHUR CAME HOME
TO A HERO'S WELCOME.
ON CAPITOL HILL,
REPUBLICANS ATTACKED TRUMAN.
SENATOR JOSEPH McCARTHY
TOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE
"THE SON OF A BITCH
OUGHT TO BE IMPEACHED."
THE PRESIDENT WAS DELUGED
WITH WILD TELEGRAMS
DENOUNCING HIM AS A PIG,
A LITTLE MAN, A JUDAS.
McCullough:
WHO WAS HE, THIS LITTLE
PIP-SQUEAK CAPTAIN
TO FIRE THE GREAT, BELOVED,
AWESOME GENERAL MacARTHUR?
Simmons:
MacARTHUR IS RECEIVED
IN A TUMULTUOUS FASHION
IN EVERY CITY
TICKER-TAPE PARADES
JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
HE ADDRESSED THE CONGRESS;
HE MADE THAT FAMOUS SPEECH.
I STILL REMEMBER THE REFRAIN
OF ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR
BARRACK BALLADS OF THAT DAY
WHICH PROCLAIMED MOST PROUDLY
THAT "OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE"
( some applause)
"THEY JUST FADE AWAY."
"OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE;
THEY SIMPLY FADE AWAY"
I'VE NEVER BEEN QUITE SURE
WHAT THAT MEAN
BUT IT SOUNDS SOUNDS GREAT.
MacArthur:
AND LIKE THE OLD SOLDIER
OF THAT BALLAD
Narrator:
TRUMAN WASN'T LISTENING.
THE PRESIDENT ME
WITH HIS SECRETARY OF STATE
LATER HE READ
WHAT THE GENERAL HAD SAID
AND PRIVATELY REMARKED,
"IT'S A BUNCH OF DAMN BULLSHIT."
Elsey:
TRUMAN TOOK IT ALL IN STRIDE.
HE SAID, "THIS WILL BLOW OVER.
"BRING THE GENERAL HOME
"LET HIM HAVE HIS TICKER-TAPE
PARADES THAT'S OKAY.
ALL THIS WILL BE GONE
IN A FEW MONTHS," AND IT WAS.
( artillery booming)
Narrator:
THE STALEMATE
IN KOREA CONTINUED.
( heavy gunfire continues)
ON JULY 10, 1951, PEACE TALKS
BEGAN, BUT THEY WOULD BOG DOWN
AND DRAG ON FOR THE RES
OF TRUMAN'S DAYS IN OFFICE.
THE WAR IN KOREA WOULD GO ON
IN THE END TAKING MORE
THAN 54,000 AMERICAN LIVES.
TRUMAN'S ONLY COMFOR
WAS IN KNOWING
THAT HE HAD KEP
THE STRUGGLE FROM SPREADING
THAT HE HAD PREVENTED THE HORROR
OF A FULL-SCALE NUCLEAR WAR.
Hamby:
THE LAST TWO YEARS
OF THE ADMINISTRATION
ARE BY FAR THE TOUGHES
OF TRUMAN'S PRESIDENCY.
HE REALLY BEGINS
TO FEEL THE STRESS.
AND IN EARLY 1952,
WHEN HE'S STILL TOYING AROUND
WITH THE IDEA
OF RUNNING FOR PRESIDEN
BESS TELLS HIM SHE DOESN'T THINK
HE COULD SURVIVE ANOTHER TERM.
SHE SAYS SHE DOESN'T THINK
SHE COULD EITHER.
McCullough:
SHE HAD BEEN BIDING HER TIME,
GRITTING HER TEETH
FROM THE TIME HE FIRST TOOK
THE OATH OF OFFICE IN 1945.
I THINK SHE WOULD HAVE LEFT HIM
HAD HE CHOSEN TO RUN AGAIN.
( applause)
Narrator:
ON MARCH 29, 1952
TRUMAN TOLD HIS FELLOW AMERICANS
WHAT MANY ALREADY SUSPECTED.
I SHALL NOT BE A CANDIDATE
FOR RE-ELECTION.
I HAVE SERVED MY COUNTRY LONG
AND, I THINK,
EFFICIENTLY AND HONESTLY.
I SHALL NOT ACCEP
A RENOMINATION.
I DO NOT FEEL THAT IT IS MY DUTY
TO SPEND ANOTHER FOUR YEARS
IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
Narrator:
WITH HIS FAIR DEAL AND
CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRAMS CRUSHED
THE WAR STALEMATED IN KOREA,
TRUMAN KNEW IT WAS TIME TO GO.
Man:
HIS RATINGS WERE LOWER THAN
NIXON'S ON THE DAY HE RESIGNED.
I MEAN, IT WAS PROBABLY
AS LOW AN APPROVAL RATING
Narrator:
ONLY ONE PERSON RESPONDED
WITH UNADORNED GLEE.
"WHEN YOU MADE
YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT"
"MRS. TRUMAN LOOKED THE WAY
YOU DO WHEN YOU DRAW FOUR ACES."
AND SHE THOUGH
HARRY TRUMAN HAD HAD ENOUGH.
HE'D DONE HIS DUTY.
HE'D DONE IT WELL.
IT WAS TIME TO CALL IT QUITS.
Narrator:
THAT JULY, THE DEMOCRATS
CONVENED IN CHICAGO
TO NOMINATE ADLAI STEVENSON
FOR PRESIDENT.
TRUMAN TOLD STEVENSON
"ADLAI, IF A KNUCKLEHEAD
LIKE ME CAN BE PRESIDEN
"THINK WHAT A REALLY EDUCATED
SMART GUY LIKE YOU COULD DO
IN THE JOB."
BUT THE REPUBLICANS HAD ALREADY
NOMINATED THE HERO OF D-DAY
GENERAL DWIGHT DAVID
EISENHOWER.
THE DEMOCRATS, TRUMAN KNEW,
DIDN'T STAND A CHANCE.
WHEN THE CAMPAIGN WAS OVER
TRUMAN'S DEMOCRATS HAD SUFFERED
A DEVASTATING DEFEAT.
AFTER 20 YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS
THE REPUBLICANS HAD
RECAPTURED THE WHITE HOUSE.
McCullough:
THE SPOTLIGHT WAS
ON THE NEW PRESIDENT.
AND THE OUTGOING PRESIDEN
WAS SUDDENLY A CITIZEN AGAIN
DRIVING AWAY IN A CAR,
HAVING TO STOP AT A RED LIGH
FOR THE FIRST TIME
IN SEVEN YEARS.
TRUMAN HAD LUNCH WITH HIS STAFF
AND CABINET FOR THE LAST TIME.
Donovan:
AND WHEN HIS OLD FRIEND
THE RETIRING SECRETARY OF THE
TREASURY, JOHN SNYDER, ARRIVED
HE SAW THE PRESIDENT STANDING
LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW.
AND SNYDER WENT OVER AND SAID
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING
OUT THE WINDOW FOR?"
AND TRUMAN TURNED AROUND
AND SAID
"AN HOUR AGO,
IF I HAD SAID SOMETHING
"IT WOULD HAVE GONE AROUND
THE WORLD IN 15 MINUTES
ALL AROUND THE WORLD."
HE SAID, "NOW I COULD TALK
FOR TWO HOURS
AND NO ONE WOULD GIVE A DAMN."
Narrator:
ON JANUARY 20, 1953
HARRY TRUMAN, PRIVATE CITIZEN,
SET OUT FOR HOME.
McCullough:
I'M NOT SURE THEY EXPECTED
ANYBODY WOULD TURN UP
TO SAY FAREWELL.
BUT WHEN THEY SAW
THE IMMENSE CROWD THAT HAD COME
AND THE CHEERING
AND THE AFFECTION
THAT WAS EXPRESSED BY THE CROWD,
THEY WERE SIMPLY OVERWHELMED.
( cheering)
Donovan:
AND I WENT BACK TO INDEPENDENCE
WITH THEM, AND IT WAS A SCREAM.
AND SOMEONE WOULD BE SITTING
IN A COMPARTMENT READING A PAPER
AND ALL OF A SUDDEN:
"HELLO THERE."
HERE'S HARRY,
HERE'S PRESIDENT TRUMAN.
AND HE'D GO UP AND BUY
A NEWSPAPER AT THE NEWSSTAND
( laughing):
AND THE NEWSPAPER GUY.
AND HE WAS HAVING
A GREAT HIGH TIME OF I
AND SO, I THINK, WERE THEY.
IT WAS JUST A JOYOUS RIDE
BACK TO INDEPENDENCE.
Narrator:
AFTER NEARLY 20 YEARS
IN WASHINGTON
HARRY AND BESS TRUMAN CAME HOME.
Bodine:
WHAT WITH HIS POPULARITY RATING
BEING SO LOW AND ALL OF THA
THE GENERAL ASSUMPTION WAS
THERE WOULD BE
MAYBE A FEW FRIENDS
AT THE RAILROAD STATION
TO GREET THEM.
INSTEAD, AS I RECALL, I THINK
THE CROWD WAS 10,000 PEOPLE.
WELCOME HOME,
NEIGHBOR.
Man:
HOORAY FOR HARRY!
McCullough:
THE BIGGEST CROWD EVER
TURNED OUT IN THE LITTLE TOWN.
MRS. TRUMAN WAS SO TOUCHED
BY THIS THAT SHE SAID
THAT THIS MAKES
ALL THESE LAST YEARS
IN THE WHITE HOUSE WORTH IT.
Narrator:
TRUMAN WENT ON TO LIVE
IN THE OLD HOUSE
ON NORTH DELAWARE STREE
THAT HAD ONCE BEEN
HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW'S.
THERE HE WOULD SPEND
THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
AMERICANS GREW ACCUSTOMED
TO SEEING HARRY TRUMAN
PICTURED WALKING
THE STREETS OF INDEPENDENCE
OR HEARING HIM BLUNTLY
SPEAK HIS MIND.
NOW HE WAS ONE OF THEM
AND THEY SEEMED MORE FOND
OF CITIZEN TRUMAN
THAN PRESIDENT TRUMAN.
GRADUALLY
HIS REPUTATION REVIVED.
AMERICANS BEGAN TO REMEMBER
THE FORMER PRESIDEN
AS THAT FEISTY MAN FROM MISSOURI
WHO WORKED HARD AND WASN'
AFRAID TO SPEAK HIS MIND.
THEY REMEMBERED THE TRUMAN
WHO SAID, "THE BUCK STOPS HERE."
McCullough:
HE'S A BELIEVABLE MAN.
THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS
HE IS SO APPEALING TO US.
HE HAS NO PRIVILEGED BACKGROUND.
HE HAS NO GREAT VOICE.
HE ISN'T HANDSOME.
HE HAS NO GLAMOUR.
BUT IN THAT MAKEUP
IS IRON, REAL IRON.
Narrator:
IN 1961, EIGHT YEARS AFTER
HE HAD LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE
HARRY TRUMAN WAS INVITED BACK
BY PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY.
ONCE AGAIN, TRUMAN SAT DOWN
AT HIS OLD PIANO
AND PLAYED THE MUSIC HE HAD
PRACTICED EVERY MORNING
AS A BOY.
TRUMAN PASSED HIS FINAL YEARS
STILL RISING EARLY
STILL TAKING HIS MORNING WALK
JUST AS HE HAD DONE
ALL HIS LIFE.
"I TRIED NEVER TO FORGET WHO
I WAS AND WHERE I'D COME FROM
AND WHERE I'D GO BACK TO,"
TRUMAN SAID.
Shulman:
HARRY TRUMAN WAS A VINDICATION
OF THE DEMOCRATIC IDEA
OF LEADERSHIP.
HERE IS A MAN OU
OF THE HEARTLAND OF AMERICA
AN ORDINARY GUY, NO
A HIGH-POWERED INTELLECTUAL
BUT A MAN OF COMMON SENSE
AND A MAN OF PERSONAL DECENCY.
Narrator:
ON DECEMBER 26, 1972,
HARRY TRUMAN DIED.
HE WAS 88 YEARS OLD.
TEN YEARS LATER,
BESS WAS BURIED BESIDE HIM
IN THE COURTYARD OF THE LIBRARY
THAT WAS NAMED IN HIS HONOR.
"WHEN FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT DIED,"
TRUMAN SAID
"I FELT THERE MUST BE A MILLION
MEN BETTER QUALIFIED THAN I
"TO TAKE UP
THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK.
"BUT THE WORK WAS MINE TO DO,
AND I HAD TO DO IT.
AND I TRIED TO GIVE I
EVERYTHING THAT WAS IN ME."
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