Lyin’ Harry
October 18, 1952 — The Times Record
October 18, 1952 — The Times Record
| The Mossadegh Project | March 25, 2017 |
This scathing editorial was one of three published simultaneously in The Times Record of Troy, New York condemning “Truman and his gang.” In addition to this one impugning Harry Truman’s integrity, one slammed the Truman budget, and the other trashed Sec. of State Dean Acheson for being too soft on Communism.
• Harry Truman media archive
“RUDE, UNCOUTH, IGNORANT”
Four years ago President Truman wrote a letter to Bernard Baruch condemning him because he refused to contribute to the Democratic “kitty” after, as the President affirmed, he and his brother had received favor from the Democrats. [Baruch was a famed financier and Presidential adviser, formerly U.S. Representative on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission during Truman’s first term] The moral code of the President always has been that politics is not public service but give-and-take among those playing the game. Baruch had been favored so he was expected to pay for the favors. If he didn’t pay he was a cheapskate. He couldn’t expect any favors again.Baruch replied in a public acknowledgement of the episode. In it he made perhaps the most pertinent description of Harry Truman ever made. He said: “He is a rude, uncouth, ignorant man.” That covers most of the ground. He might have added, with absolute accuracy, that Truman’s word also never can be depended upon. He lies at will when he thinks he can gain by it.
We have never had such a man in the White House. One might almost add that we have rarely had such a man anywhere in public office.
Related links:
Not Much Altered. — The Times Record, October 18, 1952
Many Things Contribute to Mistrust of Truman — The Chester Times, July 17, 1951
Must Stay In Character — U.S. editorial, December 7, 1951
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
