Sublime

President Truman’s conduct had been exemplary. Not only had he quietly ordered John back from Korea, but he had also destroyed the only remaining copy of General Marshall’s 1945 letter, which could have been so embarrassing to Eisenhower.i

During the Korean War, Harry Truman went to war without any authorization of Congress. The Cuban missile crisis was a purely presidential decision, as was the 1998 intervention in Kosovo. The congressional role in authorizing war was at least diminished and sometimes omitted.

In 1946, President Truman appointed, by executive order, a blue-ribbon committee to study the civil rights problem in all its aspects, and the committee’s report, “To Secure These Rights,” called not only for a permanent FEPC, abolition of the poll tax, and federal laws against lynchings but also for the establishment of a permanent Commission on C

Worried that Truman’s move might improve the chances of the hated Harriman, many southerners felt they could not wait any longer for a Johnson commitment to stay in the race and climbed back off the fence—into Stevenson’s camp.

the end. The next day, two nationalists in New York, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, made their way down to Washington, D.C. They were seeking Harry Truman, who was living not at the White House (it was being renovated), but at the nearby Blair House. They wore suits, and they carried guns. Their idea was simple: shoot their way into Blair Ho

Eisenhower supported Bohlen with the full prestige of the presidency. “The reason I sent his name to the Senate, and the reason it stays there, is because I believe he is the best qualified man for the job,”

What Truman and Eisenhower had in their favour was earnestness. They were self-taught, hardworking, strong-willed men.

The president, who had a thicker skin than Ike, closed his letter, “From a man who has always been your friend and who always wanted to be.”13 Truman still liked Ike, and it was Eisenhower who was playing politics. His campaign hinged on differentiating himself from the Truman administration, and he feared the president’s embrace.