Dates: 1863-1976; Bulk Date Span: 1961-1976
Novelist; writer for Talent Associates television series and interviewer of Harry S. Truman; author of Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974)
The papers of Merle Miller at the Harry S. Truman Library concern his “oral biography” of Harry S. Truman, Plain Speaking, and include manuscripts and manuscript fragments, interview transcripts, research notes, correspondence, printed reviews of the book, and other printed materials.
Size: About 6.8 linear feet (approximately 13,600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Merle Miller donated his copyright interest in his papers and tape recordings to the government of the United States. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. Other copyright interests are presumed to belong to the creators of documents or their heirs.
Processed by: Raymond H. Geselbracht, Carol Briley, Randy Sowell, Daphne Shelton, Michelle Loveall, and Mary Sue Luff (1993-2001); Randy Sowell (2023).
| 1919 (May 17) | Born, Montour, Iowa | |
| 1935-40 | Student, University of Iowa and London School of Economics | |
| 1942-45 | Served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an editor of Yank magazine | |
| c. 1945-49 | Editor, Time and Harper's magazines | |
| 1948 | That Winter (first published novel) | |
| 1949 | The Sure Thing | |
| 1961-62 | Interviewed Harry S. Truman as writer for television series on Truman, to be produced by David Susskind's company, Talent Associates | |
| 1964 | Only You, Dick Daring! (with Evan Rhodes) | |
| 1974 | Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman | |
| 1980 | Lyndon: An Oral Biography | |
| 1986 (June 10) | Died, Danbury, Connecticut |
The papers of Merle Miller at the Harry S. Truman Library mostly relate to his book, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974). Published shortly after Mr. Truman’s death and in the midst of the Watergate scandal, Plain Speaking became a best-seller and contributed to a wave of retrospective public enthusiasm for President Truman as a man of simple integrity and forthright honesty.
Merle Miller was a novelist and magazine editor who was employed in 1961-62 as writer and "general organizer" of a documentary television series on the life and Presidency of Harry S. Truman. Produced by David Susskind and his company, Talent Associates, the proposed series enjoyed the full cooperation of Mr. Truman. The series was to consist of extensive interviews with the former President and others, along with film of the historic events they were discussing. In conducting research for the series, Miller spent hours talking with Mr. Truman, usually in the former President’s office at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, and usually in the company of Truman’s friends and literary associates, David Noyes and William Hillman. About seven hours and forty minutes of these conversations were recorded on audiotape. (For more information about the sound recordings, see the "Merle Miller Sound Recordings" section of the finding aid, immediately following this section.)
When the television networks displayed little interest in a series on Truman’s life, Susskind abandoned the project after completing only two films (one on Truman’s life and career, and the other on the Korean War). This ended Miller’s association with the former President. Subsequently, Screen Gems took over the television project and completed the series under the title Decision: The Conflicts of Harry S. Truman (1964). Still later, relying in part on the tape recordings of his conversations with Truman, Miller prepared an "oral biography" of the ex-President. At various times entitled "The Last Roman," or "Voices," it was ultimately published as Plain Speaking in early 1974. (Advance excerpts from the book were published in late 1973.) It consisted mostly of an extended dialogue between Miller and Truman, filled with the former President’s colorful and sometimes profane comments on his life and times, and interspersed with snatches of narrative describing the circumstances surrounding the interviews and comments from other persons whom Miller had interviewed for the television project.
The Merle Miller Papers are comprised of six series: the Manuscript File; the Research Interview File; the Research Subject File; the Research Notecard File: the Correspondence File; and the Review Article File. The Manuscript File includes two nearly complete typewritten manuscripts of Plain Speaking (one of them entitled "Voices"), along with manuscript fragments, outlines of programs for the Talent Associates television series, an introduction written by Miller for a book of Truman quotations, and the manuscript of an article dealing with Miller’s novel, The Sure Thing (1949).
The Research Interview File consists mostly of transcripts and summaries of interviews conducted by Miller in preparation for the planned television series. Included are transcripts of some of Miller’s recorded interviews with the former President, as well as transcripts and summaries of interviews with other persons, ranging from such prominent figures as Dean Acheson and Omar Bradley to Mr. Truman’s relatives and friends in Independence.
The Research Subject File contains research notes, manuscript fragments, interview transcripts, newspaper clippings, printed materials, and other items relating to a variety of topics connected with Truman’s life and Presidency. Also included in this series are two charts listing various Truman-related topics. Apparently, Miller used these charts during the writing of Plain Speaking to organize his notes and subject matter.
The Research Notecard File consists mostly of typed research notes for the book, derived from published sources or from the interviews with Truman.
The Correspondence File includes many letters to Miller from friends and readers expressing their admiration for Plain Speaking and congratulating him on the book’s success, along with a few negative letters, and copies of a few of Miller’s replies to this mail from the public. The series also includes correspondence regarding public appearances by Miller to promote the book, as well as brochures and other promotional materials prepared for the hardcover and paperback editions of Plain Speaking.
The Review Article File consists mostly of newspaper clippings and other printed materials featuring reviews of Plain Speaking; articles about Miller; best-seller lists on which Plain Speaking appeared; reviews of a television adaptation of Plain Speaking that appeared on the Public Broadcasting System in 1976; and German-language reviews of the book’s German edition.
Miller originally donated this collection of papers to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, along with research materials relating to his book about President Johnson, Lyndon: An Oral Biography. The papers relating to Truman and Plain Speaking were transferred to the Truman Library in 2023.
More information about Merle Miller and his association with Mr. Truman can be found in the Secretary’s Office File and the Television File of Truman’s Post-Presidential Papers, and in the Truman Library’s Vertical File. The Library’s audiovisual collection includes the Decision series of television films that Screen Gems completed after Talent Associates abandoned the project, as well as outtakes from the films.
The Merle Miller Sound Recordings consist of seven hours and forty minutes of recorded conversations between Mr. Truman, Merle Miller, William Hillman, David Noyes, and others who cannot be identified. The recordings of these conversations have been transferred to the Truman Library’s audiovisual collection and have been open to researchers since 1993.
The conversations occurred between the summer of 1961 and the winter of 1962. According to Miller’s account in the preface of Plain Speaking, "Mr. Truman and I had days, sometimes weeks, of conversations, interviews if you insist, many of them on tape, many not." For those conversations that were taped, the two recording venues that can be identified with some confidence from evidence in the recordings are Mr. Truman’s office at the Truman Library and some location in New York City. The conversations suggest that all the participants understood that what they said was being recorded. David Noyes, who speaks in a strong, deep, confident voice, occasionally explicates (sometimes at length) things that Truman has said. William Hillman, who speaks in a softer, gravelly voice, enters the conversation infrequently, usually to clarify some factual detail.
The recordings have a haphazard quality to them and seem to begin and end without much technical finesse. The sound quality is not very good. Some of the recordings are at three-and-three-quarter inches per second, others at seven-and-one-half inches per second; one recording changes in mid-course from one speed to the other. The eleven individual tapes carry, with one exception, letter designations: A, 2A, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, and K. It is not clear what these letters meant to Miller, other than that they gave identities to the tapes. They do not seem to establish any meaningful order among the tapes. The interview that Miller identifies in Plain Speaking as being his first with Truman, for example, is recorded on the tape marked "H." Because Miller’s letter markings do not seem to convey much meaning, the tapes have been given numbers, from one to eleven, and then the designation A and B in instances where one of Miller’s tapes has been copied onto two tape reels.
The eleven tapes include a considerable amount of apparently haphazard duplication. About half of tape 1A, for example, is duplicated on tapes 4B and 10B, and the remainder of tape 1A is duplicated on tape 8A. A scheme showing the relationships among individual recordings is attached as an appendix to this finding aid, along with logs of the individual tapes. These tape logs are intended to guide researchers through the recordings and are not intended as complete descriptions. They include counter markings and elapsed time indications for specific topics discussed during the interviews.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
| Container Nos. | Series | |
| 1-2 | MANUSCRIPT FILE, 1961-1975 Two nearly complete typewritten manuscripts of Plain Speaking, manuscript fragments, outlines of television programs, and other items. Arranged in alphabetical order. |
|
| 3-4 | RESEARCH INTERVIEW FILE, 1961-1973 Transcripts and summaries of interviews. Arranged in alphabetical order. |
|
| 5-10 | RESEARCH SUBJECT FILE, 1863-1976 (Bulk Date Span, 1961-1973) Research notes, manuscript material, interview transcripts, newspaper clippings, printed materials, charts, and other items concerning various topics relating to Truman’s life and Presidency. Arranged in alphabetical order. |
|
| 11-13 | RESEARCH NOTECARD FILE, c. 1961-1973 Research notes for Plain Speaking, arranged in numbered folders. |
|
| 14 | CORRESPONDENCE FILE, 1955-1976 (Bulk Date Span, 1973-1976) Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other printed materials mostly documenting the public response to Plain Speaking and the efforts of Miller and his publishers to promote the book. Arranged in alphabetical order. |
|
| 15-17 | REVIEW ARTICLE FILE, 1948-1976 (Bulk Date Span,1973-1976) Newspaper clippings and other printed materials, mostly reviews of Plain Speaking and information about its position on best-seller lists, with other items. Arranged in alphabetical order. |
[ Top | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix]
Box 1
- Introduction by Merle Miller to The Quotable Harry S. Truman, and "The Liberal Novelist in the McCarthy Era" by Ruth Prigozy
- Manuscript Fragments [1 of 3]
- Manuscript Fragments [2 of 3]
- Manuscript Fragments [3 of 3]
- Outlines of Television Programs
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 1-40
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 42-69
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 70-171
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 172-289
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 290-378
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 379-473
Box 2
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: pgs. 474-563
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: The Bomb and the 1940 Campaign
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: The Cause and Cure of Hysteria
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: The Korean Decision
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: General Marshall and the Marshall Plan
- Plain Speaking Manuscript: McCarthy Footnote and Pendergast
- Script Fragments and Confidential Memo
- Script of Television Program: "Plain Speaking" by Merle Miller, adapted by Carol Sobieski
- Suggestions and Recommendations
- Voices [early draft of Plain Speaking] Manuscript: Introduction and pgs. 4-125
- Voices Manuscript: pgs. 126-289
- Voices Manuscript: pgs. 290-430
- Voices Manuscript: pgs. 297-378, Chapters 20-23
- Voices Manuscript: pgs. 509-564, and Footnotes
Box 3
RESEARCH INTERVIEW FILE, 1961-1973
- Acheson, Dean
- Bradley, Omar
- Bronson, Mrs.
- Brown, Robert
- Burrus, Rufus
- Chiles Family
- Donnelly, Eugene
- Duncan, Richard
- Evans, Tom
- Flynn, Mike
- Gould, Sgt.
- Graham, Wallace
- Grandma Moses of Ex-Presidents [description of conversation with Harry S. Truman about his piano-playing]
- Gross, Ernest
- Hinde, Edgar [and Edgar Hinde, Jr.]
- Jacobson, Mrs. Eddie [Bluma]
- Lembcke, Rev.
- Meisburger, Eddie
- Miscellaneous Interviews [with Harry S. Truman and others]
- Muccio, John
- Murphy, Tom
- Noland, Ethel
- Palmer, Mrs. W.L.C.
- Perry, Dexter
- Peters, Mize
- Porter, Bud
- Richards, Lew
- Ridge, Judge Al
- Script Fragments for Susskind Program
- Spina, Frank
- Susskind Interview [with Harry S. Truman]
- Truman, Gen. and Mrs. Ralph
- Truman Interview Fragments [Harry S. Truman]
- Truman Interview: Tape 2
Box 4
- Truman Interview: Tape 2A
- Truman Interview: Tape 3
- Truman Interview: Tape 4 [partial duplicate of Tape 8]
- Truman Interview: Tape 5
- Truman: Outline
- Westwood, Paul [Mike]
RESEARCH SUBJECT FILE, 1863-1976 (Bulk Date Span, 1961-1973)
Box 5
- A-Bomb, Merle Miller Memo on
- Acheson
- Acting
- Adams Papers
- Architecture
- Arthur, Chester
- Assassination
- Autograph Hunters
- Baruch
- Battery D
- Berenson, Bernard
- Bibliography
- Birth in Lamar
- Boyhood-Mary Jane [Truman]
- Boyhood Sickness
- Bryan Tape [Truman's recollections of William Jennings Bryan]
- Castro, Fidel
- Character
- Charts [listing various topics for Plain Speaking]
- Children
- Chiles Family
- Churchill
- Churchill's Address for Peace ["Iron Curtain" speech]
- Civil Rights
- Civil War-Missouri-Kansas Border and Order No. 11
- Clark, Tom
- Clifford, Clark
- Clinton's Drug Store
- Clippings, 1948
Box 6
- Connelly, Matt
- Constitution
- Conway, Rose
- Courtesy
- Courthouse and Jackson Statue
- Crisp on Sincerity and Counterfeits [Truman comments]
- Cronies
- Crowds
- Decisions
- Democratic Convention
- Dewey, Thomas E.
- Drinking
- Driving
- Education
- Eisenhower
- Family Closeness
- Farmers
- Fields on Truman [Alonzo Fields, White House butler]
- First Tour of Library-Manuscript
- Food-HST's Tastes
- Generals
- Gentry, Sue
- German Surrender
- Grandview
- Greatness
- Haberdashery
- Hersey [excerpts from John Hersey's New Yorker profile of the President]
- Hinde, Edgar
- History, Good
- Hitler
- Hoover, Herbert
- Hoover, J. Edgar
- Hope, Bob
- Hopkins, Harry
- Hume Letter
- Humor
Box 7
- Independence and Rejects [mostly material left out of the book]
- Independence History
- Independence, 219 N. Delaware
- Intellectuals
- Introduction-Book Teaser
- Jackson, Andrew
- Jacobson, Eddie
- James, Jesse
- Johnson, Andrew
- Johnson, Lyndon
- Kennedys, Truman on
- Korea
- Korea-Leavenworth [filming of television program at Fort Leavenworth, December 15, 1961]
- Last Roman, The
- Leadership
- Letters to Mother and Mary Jane
- Lewis, Ham-Senate
- "Life with Grandfather"-McCall's, January, 1967 [article by Margaret Truman Daniel]
- Lincoln and Johnson, Andrew
- Lippmann
- Long, Huey
- Luce, Clare Boothe
- Loyalty and Hysteria
Box 8
- MacArthur-Truman the Jew ["The Late General MacArthur, Warts and All," by Faubion Bowers, Esquire, January, 1967]
- Margaret-Look Piece [profile of Margaret Truman Daniel, April 18, 1967]
- Margaret's Book [Harry S. Truman]
- Marks, Ted
- Marshall, George
- Marshall Plan
- Masons
- Maxims
- Mexico-Visit to Chapultepec Castle
- Miller's Last Meeting with Truman Before Leaving for Spain
- Millionaire
- Miscellaneous
- Mormons [RLDS]
- "Mr. Speaker"-Congressional Magazines [profile of Sam Rayburn in Atlantic Monthly, October, 1942, and other printed materials]
- Music
- 1948 Campaign
- Nixon
- Noland, Ethel
- Nominating Conventions of 1860
- Oppenheimer-Look Article ["With Oppenheimer, on an Autumn Day," by Thomas B. Morgan, December 27, 1966]
- Palmer, Mrs. W. L. C.
- Pendergast, Tom
- Plutarch
- Point 4
- Poker
- Political Campaign, 1944
Box 9
- Politics
- Politics, Early
- Post-Presidency
- Presidents-Good and Bad
- President's Personal Library
- Problems of the Presidency [printed materials and portion of the transcript of David Susskind's interview with Mr. Truman]
- Rayburn, Sam
- Reading-Pure Truman
- Rejects [mostly material left out of the book]
- Religion
- Roosevelt [Franklin], Comparison With
- Roosevelt [Franklin], Death of
- Roosevelt [Franklin], Truman Relationship With
- Roosevelt, Theodore
- Ross, Charlie
Box 10
- Senate
- Short Biography
- Sleep and Sleeping-Truman
- Society
- Speeches
- Stevenson, Adlai
- Summersby, Kay
- Susskind on Character
- Tapes, Miller's Notes From
- Tiernan on Truman
- Truman, Bess Wallace
- Truman Doctrine
- Truman Library
- Truman's 83rd Birthday and the Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of His Taking Office
- Truman's Eyesight
- Truman's Father
- Truman's Mother
- Turnip Day
- Twain, Mark
- U.S. News and World Report
- Wake Island
- Walking
- Wallace, Madge
- White House ["Ghosts in the White House," by John Hersey, New Yorker, April 28, 1951]
RESEARCH NOTECARD FILE, c. 1961-1973
Box 11
- Notecards [1 of 24]
- Notecards [2 of 24]
- Notecards [3 of 24]
- Notecards [4 of 24]
- Notecards [5 of 24]
- Notecards [6 of 24]
- Notecards [7 of 24]
- Notecards [8 of 24]
- Notecards [9 of 24]
Box 12
- Notecards [10 of 24]
- Notecards [11 of 24]
- Notecards [12 of 24]
- Notecards [13 of 24]
- Notecards [14 of 24]
- Notecards [15 of 24]
- Notecards [16 of 24]
- Notecards [17 of 24]
Box 13
- Notecards [18 of 24]
- Notecards [19 of 24]
- Notecards [20 of 24]
- Notecards [21 of 24]
- Notecards [22 of 24]
- Notecards [23 of 24]
- Notecards [24 of 24]
CORRESPONDENCE FILE, 1955-1976 (Bulk Date Span, 1973-1976)
Box 14
- Correspondence, Harry S. Truman and Irving Caesar, 1955
- Correspondence with Merle Miller on Plain Speaking, Etc. [1 of 3]
- Correspondence with Merle Miller on Plain Speaking, Etc. [2 of 3]
- Correspondence with Merle Miller on Plain Speaking, Etc. [3 of 3]
- Plain Speaking Correspondence, 1974 [1 of 2]
- Plain Speaking Correspondence, 1974 [2 of 2]
- Promotional Materials [1 of 2]
- Promotional Materials [2 of 2]
REVIEW ARTICLE FILE, 1948-1976 (Bulk Date Span, 1973-1976)
Box 15
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [1 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [2 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [3 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [4 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [5 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [6 of 12]
Box 16
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [7 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [8 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [9 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [10 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [11 of 12]
- Articles and Reviews-Plain Speaking [12 of 12]
- Articles on Merle Miller
- Articles on Plain Speaking, German [1 of 2]
- Articles on Plain Speaking, German [2 of 2]
Box 17
- Articles on the Plain Speaking PBS Special
- Best Seller Lists [1 of 4]
- Best Seller Lists [2 of 4]
- Best Seller Lists [3 of 4]
- Best Seller Lists [4 of 4]
- Books by Merle Miller [list]
|
Counter
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Time
|
Conversation Topics |
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Tape 1, Side A - SR94-1
|
||
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45
|
- the witchcraft hysteria in seventeenth century Massachusetts | |
|
- Jefferson accused of being a "Jacobin" |
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27
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1:20
|
- Anit-Masonic movement in the campaign of 1832 |
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- Know-Nothing movement |
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50
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2:10
|
- these two movements were the foundation for the Ku Klux Klan |
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- description of the origin of the Anti-Masonic movement |
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75
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3:30
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- the Know-Nothing and Anti-Masonic movements became anti-Catholic, and then became anti-everything -- the Ku Klux Klan, "the orneriest outfit the country every produced" |
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- Nathan Bedford Forest organized and then tried to disband the Ku Klux Klan |
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127
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5:45
|
- Alien and Sedition Laws |
| - post World War I hysteria | ||
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- not as bad as earlier hysteria |
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173
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7:46
|
- Joe McCarthy |
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- "a no-good son-of-a-bitch" |
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212
|
9:25
|
- something in the American character prevents hysteria from carrying on too long - vast majority of Americans are people of common sense - some hysteria in agricultural areas during depression of 1930s |
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- common sense returned and things calmed down |
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- reasons why people became hysterical |
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|
|
- common sense always returns |
|
310 |
13:32 |
- John Birch Society |
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334 |
14:30 |
- the politician's role in a time of hysteria |
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|
|
- he must have guts and do what's right |
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|
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- if the people see that a politician is trying to do what's right, they will stay with him |
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|
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- Americans have good common sense |
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412 |
17:32 |
- Truman was not a "made up" person |
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|
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- 1960 campaign: a public relations quality - his office went to his head |
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515 |
21:20 |
- the 1930s |
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|
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- a period of demagoguery |
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|
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- this is not a special time |
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|
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- there are always problems in the world |
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598 |
24:24 |
- lessons in history |
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|
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- one generation does not learn the previous ones until the lessons are brought home with a hammer blow |
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615 |
25:00 |
- youngsters today think they know how to do things better, but they will learn eventually that they are part of a continuum |
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634 |
25:35 |
- the need for international law that can be enforced |
| Tape 1, Side B - SR94-2 24 minutes, 55 seconds 7 1/2 inches per second |
||
| - tomorrow's topics | ||
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- Korean War |
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| - interview method; creating a story | ||
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100
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4:34
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- Reconstruction period |
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- Kansas and Missouri during the Civil War; raiding and destruction |
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- Order Number 11, moving everyone in the area into "posts" |
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206
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9:08
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- Truman's family in the Civil War |
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220
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9:33
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- Andrew Johnson tried to prevent a punitive reconstruction -- "Redestruction" |
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- the Radical Republicans |
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| - compassion as an important quality in a leader | ||
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297
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12:50
|
- when Truman realized he might become President, and how it affected him |
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340
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14:40
|
- Point Four program |
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- justification |
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378
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15:59
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- examples of Truman's work on the Truman Committee identifying and combating graft and fraud |
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- investigations |
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590
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24:10
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- Stimson asked Truman not to investigate the atomic energy project |
| Tape 2, Side A - SR94-3 47 minutes, 47 seconds 7 1/2 inches per second |
||
| - decision to drop the atomic bomb - letter from Mr. Price to Truman |
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29
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1:05
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- Miller's explanation of the purpose of the interview |
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- to get a sense of what the television programs should be like |
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|
60
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2:35
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- Truman's return to Independence after the presidency - Truman's school days |
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130
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5:40
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- the Independence public library - reflections on education and on Truman's "destiny" |
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168
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7:25
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- the beginning of Truman's interest in American history |
| - the blackboard with the history of the country on the back | ||
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195
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8:33
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- wearing glasses and its consequences |
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- inferiority complex |
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- bad boys in Independence
- early life in Independence |
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- Truman's teachers |
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340
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14:35
|
- Truman's parents |
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- both parents influenced him |
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400
|
16:55
|
- her feelings when Truman became President |
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470
|
19:35
|
- reflections on "underdogs" in power - problems in the modern world |
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521
|
21:17
|
- Truman's first job, in Clinton's drug store |
|
- serving whiskey to do-gooders |
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620
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24:40
|
- Truman as railroad timekeeper |
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- hoboes, and Truman's affection for them |
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710
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27:35
|
- living away from home |
| - reflection on the reasons for reading | ||
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837
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31:29
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- to learn about people |
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921
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33:55
|
- a politician: "a man who understands free government" - Truman' entry into politics |
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- he needed a job |
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963
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35:15
|
- Truman as County Judge |
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- refinancing county warrants |
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1035
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37:00
|
- Truman as honest politician |
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- "no man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook" |
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38:13
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- President's have not gotten rich in office - their children have sometimes been ashamed of their father's origins |
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1150
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39:59
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- Andrew Johnson |
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- an Andrew Jackson democrat |
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|
1230
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41:50
|
- There have been no corrupt President |
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- they refused to make money from their office |
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1383
|
44:50
|
- the framers of the Constitution created an exceptionally good framework of government |
| Tape 2, Side B - SR94-4 17 minutes, 21 seconds 7 1/2 inches per second |
||
| - the Constitutional Convention was composed of both rich and poor | ||
|
- Patrick Henry opposed the Constitution -- a "high hat" |
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|
75
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2:37
|
- there was something special about the time when the Constitution was written - reflections on the Constitution |
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- "they knew what they were doing" |
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175
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5:22
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- reflections on the twentieth century |
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- religion |
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| - the remarkable strength of the American government since 1789 | ||
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255
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7:45
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- 1837 to 1860: a time of weak presidents |
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- these weak presidents failed to lead the country |
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444
|
12:25
|
- U.S. Grant |
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- a weak president and a crooked administration |
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| - Presidents Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison | ||
|
617
|
16:15
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- Truman's memories of Williams Jennings Bryan |
| Tape 3 - SR94-5 43 minutes, 3 second 3 3/4 inches per second |
||
| - where to go for lunch, and lunch companions | ||
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- Tom Evans |
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|
47
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3:47
|
- 1948 campaign |
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- "Whistlestop" coined by Senator Robert Taft |
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|
60
|
4:36
|
- Truman decided on character of campaign, drawing from his past experience |
|
117
|
8:52
|
- Truman talked to local political leaders everywhere in 1948 |
|
120
|
9:12
|
- his speech at Dexter, Iowa - his speech at Cadillac Square, Detroit |
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136
|
10:11
|
- the people's enthusiasm for him - the "non-political" train trip, June 1948 |
|
150
|
11:16
|
- Francis Myers published all Truman's campaign speeches - Truman's most exciting campaign stops |
|
- Seattle, Washington |
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|
177
|
13:20
|
- "Give 'em Hell, Harry" started in Seattle - the spontaneity of the campaign |
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- Truman did not believe in "working things up" |
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|
195
|
14:25
|
- never mentioned his opponent's name Eightieth Congress first attacked in Butte, Montana |
|
205
|
15:20
|
- Dewey was a "stuffed shirt" who did not know how to meet people |
|
230
|
16:56
|
- Truman mocked Dewey and his moustache - Truman explained to farmers that Dewey was not for them |
|
256
|
18:42
|
- a campaign day |
|
- up at 5:00 am |
||
|
269
|
19:34
|
- first campaign stop "whenever it happened," whenever there were a few or many people waiting to hear him -- from 10 to 1000 people |
|
280
|
20:20
|
- spoke to many small audiences |
|
300
|
21:50
|
- made as many stops as were necessary in a day |
|
330
|
23:45
|
- he never called a town by he wrong name |
|
377
|
26:35
|
- Truman did not believe in polls |
|
425
|
29:34
|
- the Louis Bean polls |
|
433
|
30:01
|
- Les Biffle's personal poll, the "chicken peddler" poll |
|
- he told Truman the people were for him |
||
| - Truman had been through hopeless campaigns before, and he won all but one of them - Truman's staff did not believe he could win |
||
|
533
|
35:58
|
- Battery D -- "my boys" |
|
- his barber |
||
|
570
|
38:00
|
- the chaplain, Father Tiernan |
|
Tape 4, Side A - SR94-6 |
||
| - William Jennings Bryan as orator - other good orators |
||
|
17
|
1:30
|
- Joe Robinson |
|
28
|
2:30
|
- Huey Long |
|
35
|
3:12
|
- Truman's first political speech, Lee's Summit, Missouri, August 15, 1922 |
|
- the last speech of the same campaign |
||
|
52
|
4:50
|
- the importance of friends in politics - reflections on the art of politics |
|
- Col. Crisp, an example of a counterfeit |
||
|
106
|
9:45
|
- the "front porch" campaign of 1920 - Gov. Cox of Ohio |
|
145
|
13:06
|
- Theodore Roosevelt |
|
- Truman saw him in Kansas City in 1904 |
||
|
168
|
15:14
|
- the election of 1912 - national political conventions |
|
- they haven't changed very much |
||
|
210
|
18:52
|
- Adlai Stevenson |
|
219
|
19:35
|
- people who are electable do not always make good presidents |
|
- Zachary Taylor, U. S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower |
||
|
253
|
22:37
|
- 1928 Republican National Convention in Kansas City |
|
284
|
25:00
|
- Al Smith |
|
- the religious issue |
||
|
311
|
27:12
|
- Truman's role in the 1928 campaign |
|
333
|
28:58
|
- 1932 campaign |
|
340
|
29:47
|
- Franklin D. Roosevelt |
|
359
|
31:24
|
- 1936 campaign |
|
365
|
31:56
|
- reflections on political techniques |
|
|
|
- meeting with and speaking with people |
|
428 |
36:38 |
- campaigning through media - radio and television make counterfeits of candidates |
|
468 |
39:48 |
- 1944 campaign |
|
|
|
- Truman's selection as vice presidential candidate - Truman tells the story at length. "That's the worst time I've ever spent in my life in any political organization." |
|
536 |
44:50 |
- Truman's campaigning - his meeting with Joseph Kennedy - his later statement, 1960, Richmond, Virginia: "It's not the Pope I'm afraid of, it's pop." |
|
580
|
47:52
|
- Truman thought his ticket would win in 1944 |
|
600
|
49:17
|
- the importance of believing in what one is saying and conveying that belief to others - the importance of personal campaigning |
|
698
|
55:55
|
- George Washington |
|
[the remainder of this tape duplicates Tape 3] |
||
| Tape 4, Side B - SR94-7 33 minutes, 50 seconds 3 3/4 inches per second [continuing apparently the conversation from tape 4A] |
||
| - meeting Father Tiernan in Paris in 1945 | ||
|
25
|
1:48
|
- Truman: he never cared about a man's religion or politics if he liked him [break for lunch] [noise] [counting] [crew chatter] [the venue is in New York City] [the following apparently precedes the conversation on Tape 1, Side A] |
| - Truman and New York City | ||
|
93
|
6:19
|
- hysteria in America
- the Mormons in Independence - Truman tells the early history of the Mormons |
|
145
|
9:56
|
- the prejudice of the people in Independence - "The people in Independence haven't changed a darned bit" |
|
149 |
10:12 |
- prejudice against African American |
|
155 |
10:40 |
- the Ku Klux Klan - its revival in the 1920s |
|
165 |
11:19 |
- in 1922, Truman went to one of their meetings in Eastern Jackson County and "told them exactly what I thought of them" |
|
175 |
11:50 |
- he persuaded his armed Democratic friends not to attack them - "I licked 'em" |
|
180
|
12:15
|
- he told them what he thought of them, and half of them voted for him anyway |
|
202
|
13:33
|
- the witchcraft hysteria in seventeenth century Massachusetts |
| [the rest of this tape duplicates Tape 1, Side A, which also contains additional conversation following what is recorded on this tape.] | ||
|
Tape 5 - SR94-8 |
||
| [noise] - the Korean War - the term "police action" |
||
|
18
|
52
|
- troops from several nations |
|
27
|
11:15
|
- world government - no single world power - Korea |
|
58
|
2:37
|
- Truman's speech in the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, ca. 1953 |
|
[noises] - progress toward world government |
||
|
105
|
4:50
|
- the Soviet Union does not carry out its agreements |
|
127
|
5:40
|
- they want to control the world |
| - discussion about the filming project | ||
|
177
|
7:52
|
- the Korean War
- Truman tried to protect the prisoners of war, to allow them to go where they wanted |
|
270
|
11:48
|
- the Russians were kept out of occupied Japan |
|
281
|
12:12
|
- the United States' primary desire at the Potsdam Conference was to commit the Soviet Union to entering the war against Japan
- the success of the atomic bomb explosion did not affect American policy in this respect |
|
325
|
14:00
|
- the morale of American troops |
|
339
|
14:35
|
- "brainwashing"
- as old as the Roman Empire, at least |
|
374
|
16:00
|
- reflections on learning from the lessons of history |
|
393
|
16:35
|
- Mark Twain
- the Drew Pearson of his time - Twain helped to write them |
|
489
|
20:15
|
- U. S. Grant and campaign of 1880 |
|
560
|
- 1960 election
- Eisenhower could have won |
|
|
625
|
24:30
|
- Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
- Truman was a "sissy" and could not identify with them when he was a boy |
| [noise] | ||
|
Tape 6, Side A - SR94-9 |
||
| [Truman answering questions put to him by an audience of military officers] [hum; voice: "Truman show, test one."] - Korean war - intervention: no one was against it |
||
|
13
|
:49
|
- possible use of atomic weapons |
| [hum; "test two"] | ||
|
22
|
1:29
|
- use of guided missiles |
| [hum; voice: "end of test. Harry S. Truman show number two, questions four through ten."] | ||
|
38
|
2:33
|
- intervention: no one was against it [repeat of above questions] |
|
68
|
4:27
|
- complaints of reservists at being called to active duty |
|
92
|
6:00
|
- purpose of visits of high ranking government officials to Korea |
| [interruption; voice: "Beginning of question twelve."] | ||
|
120
|
7:44
|
- commitment of ground forces in Korea |
| [voice: Questions fifteen and sixteen."] | ||
|
133
|
8:30
|
- the small number of US forces in Japan |
| [voice: "Continuation of questions fifteen and sixteen."] | ||
|
144
|
9:10
|
- the power of the President to employ troops |
| [voice: "Questions twenty-two to thirty."] | ||
|
165
|
10:29
|
- public support for the Korean War |
|
180
|
11:19
|
- the importance of American troops fighting under the United Nations flag |
|
195
|
12:12
|
- troops from other nations used in the Korean War |
|
211
|
13:13
|
- the Korean War |
|
- the authority given to the commander in the field during the Korean War |
||
|
224
|
13:54
|
- American planes could not pursue beyond the Yale River |
|
230
|
14:17
|
- the importance of the Department of Defense and the National Security Council in the conduct of the Korean War - the origins of the Central Intelligence Agency |
|
257
|
15:44
|
- a police force distinguished from an army - a policy action defined |
|
273
|
16:37
|
- effect of calling the Korean War a police action |
| [voice: "end of question thirty."] | ||
| [fragment of question; voice: "Questions thirty-two to thirty-four."] | ||
| [noise] | ||
| - the Korean War | ||
|
- origin of the 38th parallel as a demarcation line in Korea |
||
|
343
|
20:25
|
- the role of the Untied Nations in the intervention in Korea |
| - the importance of United Nations police actions | ||
|
371
|
21:53
|
- instances from 1930s when a policy action was needed, but did not occur |
| [voice: "Question thirty-six"] | ||
|
404
|
23:33
|
- influence of Truman' World War I experience on his decision making when President [voice: "Reel ran out...Continuation of question thirty-six...Correction the last question was question thirty eight...Questions forty and forty-one."] |
|
446
|
25:35
|
- the Korean War |
|
- proposed use of Nationalist Chinese troops in Korea - Truman would not commit five million men to China to save Chiang Kai-shek's regime |
||
|
467
|
26:40
|
- the battlefield of the future |
|
- battlefield conditions are always changing |
||
| [voice: "End of question forty-one. Test play of questions forty-three and forty-four."] | ||
|
523
|
29:12
|
- the role of the President in a policy action undertaken by the United Nations |
|
552
|
30:40
|
- the President has to think both about the United States and the rest of the world [voice: "...Question forty-six."] |
|
595
|
32:22
|
- the Korean War |
| - weapons used by the North Koreans - military procurement [voice: "...Question forty-eight."] |
||
|
639
|
34:12
|
- the North Korean invasion was a surprise to everyone
- one must be ready for whatever comes [voice: "...Questions fifty-one and fifty-two."] |
|
669
|
35:25
|
- possibility of future police actions |
|
680
|
35:45
|
- the role of the press at the time of national emergencies |
|
700
|
36:38
|
- Truman's closing words to the audience [voice: "Repeat of questions nine."] |
|
714
|
37:08
|
- the Korean War
- what Truman was doing when he learned of the North Korean invasion [voice: "...End of selected questions." Whistle] |
|
Tape 6, Side B - SR94-10 |
||
| [duplicate of Tape 6, Side A] | ||
|
Tape 7, Side A - SR94-11 |
||
| - William Jennings Bryan
- radishes for lunch |
||
|
38
|
1:46
|
- the United States survived the five weak Presidents before the Civil War |
|
58
|
2:46
|
- Truman as an optimist
- all leaders are optimists -- Churchill, Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt |
|
92
|
4:10
|
- Eisenhower probably did not know whether he was an optimist or a pessimist |
|
132
|
6:00
|
- discourtesy, and the importance of courtesy |
|
170
|
7:39
|
- Truman's two personal grudges |
|
- Lloyd Stark, who forgot those who supported him |
||
|
215
|
9:36
|
- why military men make bad president |
|
270
|
11:53
|
- Roman emperors
- Marcus Aurelius and other great emperors |
|
335
|
14:35
|
- Truman's views on the military - George Marshall |
|
395
|
16:59
|
- a great leader who understood men |
|
464
|
19:26
|
- Truman wanted to go to West Point |
|
485
|
20:17
|
- the midwest has produced many naval officers |
|
536
|
22:05
|
- reflections on being in the Senate
- story of Senators Ham Lewis and Huey Long [interruption] |
|
648
|
26:02
|
- the objectives of the interviews and of the television programs about Truman's presidency
- reaching the people through the modern medium about what happened in the past - the presidents and the press |
|
721
|
28:23
|
- development of the press conference |
|
750
|
29:24
|
- Truman's views on the press
- in the long run, the facts come out |
|
830
|
31:50
|
- Truman's experiences talking to people about American history |
|
864
|
32:52
|
- Truman's years in the US Senate
- the happiest time of his life |
|
1034
|
37:35
|
- the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program
- its origins, establishment and purpose |
|
1310
|
44:00
|
- Truman's liaison with President Roosevelt and General Marshall |
|
1432
|
46:16
|
- this committee contrasted to its Civil War counterpart |
|
Tape 7, Side B - SR94-12 |
||
| - Truman's advice that young politicians should read about the country's past | ||
|
26
|
:53
|
- reflections on local congressmen [interruption: lunch break] [crew talk] [interruption] |
|
76
|
3:35
|
- the date in August 29; venue in Truman's office at the Truman Library - Alonzo Fields' book [My Twenty-One Years at the White House, New York, 1961] |
|
90
|
4:39
|
- the visit of Truman's mother to the White House |
|
129
|
7:21
|
- Plans for future interviews |
|
152
|
8:55
|
- the 1948 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia - the time which Truman spent on the train platform, waiting to be called into the convention |
|
171
|
10:19
|
-talking with Alben Barkley - an open convention |
|
223
|
13:46
|
-call for the turnip day session |
|
247
|
15:21
|
- cooking turnips and turnip greens |
|
277
|
17:17
|
- origins of modern campaigns - election of 1876 |
|
345
|
21:37
|
- political campaigns became a fight between the people and special privilege |
|
370
|
23:00
|
- election of 1896 - the first of which Truman was fully aware |
|
414
|
25:36
|
- election night in Independence |
|
451
|
27:45
|
- Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first Presidential nominee to appear at the party convention to accept the nomination |
|
485
|
29:39
|
- Truman's work in the early 1930s as employment director for the State of Missouri |
|
511
|
31:04
|
- Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins offered the job to him |
|
530
|
32:05
|
- the microphone has ruined oratory |
|
Tape 8, Side A - SR94-13 |
||
| [duplicates the portion of Tape 1, Side A beginning "counterfeits never last long" and continuing to the end of the side] [interruption, crew voices] |
||
|
95
|
8:44
|
[duplicates Tape 1, Side B] [interruption, noise] |
|
395
|
33:57
|
- General Marshall - in World War I |
|
419
|
35:35
|
- Truman knew him slightly in World War I - Truman's work with him during the course of his work for the Truman Committee - he met him at an artillery school in France |
|
467
|
39:10
|
- his appointment to head a mission to China |
|
506
|
42:06
|
- his relationship with Margaret Truman - his reaction to Truman's letter to music critic Paul Hume |
|
534
|
44:05
|
- Chiang Kai-shek - Truman never met him |
|
540
|
44:34
|
- General Joseph Stilwell's opinion of him |
|
563
|
46:10
|
- General Marshall - Truman quickly recognized his special quality [interruption] |
|
585
|
47:35
|
- April 12, 1945, and the following morning - Truman's meeting with Sam Rayburn's "board of education" |
|
633
|
50:57
|
- Truman's first decision as President -- that the United Nations conference would occur as planned |
|
640
|
51:25
|
- his evening at home |
|
689
|
54:42
|
- the last report Truman had about Roosevelt's health, and Truman's last conversation with him |
|
713
|
56:16
|
- Truman's relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt while he was Vice President - Roosevelt told Truman about the atomic bomb, in a general way, and about the Yalta agreements |
|
824
|
1:03:12
|
- the United States' relationship with the Soviet Union - distrust grew after the Potsdam conference |
|
860
|
1:05:20
|
- Harry Hopkins' work for Truman - his work with the Russians |
|
911
|
1:08:30
|
- his suggestion that new White House staff be hired |
|
930
|
1:09:30
|
- the Bible that was used for Truman's swearing-in - Truman's first cabinet meeting |
|
1000
|
1:13:15
|
- April 13, 1945 -- arranging Roosevelt's funeral |
|
- Roosevelt's funeral - the parade from the White House to the train |
||
|
1081
|
1:17:23
|
- the Truman family's move into the White House - Bennett Clark's visit |
|
1140
|
1:20:15
|
- Truman's discussion with Henry Stimson - announcement of the end of the war in Europe |
|
1183
|
1:22:14
|
- discussion of interview methodology - Truman's desire to do the project well, and to help the people who are helping him - a Roger Maris anecdote [jokes and laughter] |
|
1322
|
1:28:14
|
- 1940 campaign - Lloyd Stark |
|
1416
|
1:31:52
|
- the mortgage on Truman's mother's farm foreclosed |
|
1429
|
1:32:10
|
- Roosevelt offered Truman a position with the Interstate Commerce Commission |
|
Tape 8, Side B - SR94-14 |
||
| - 1940 campaign [continued from Tape 8, Side A] | ||
|
- Roosevelt offered Truman a position with the Interstate Commerce Commission |
||
|
9
|
:34
|
- meeting at Sedalia with Truman's mother present |
| - Truman's mother did not say much to Truman about his political career | ||
|
- the Korean War - the need, for the television program, to make the Korean War intelligible to someone who does not know anything about it |
||
|
76
|
5:00
|
- background to the Korean War - the division of Korea following World War II |
|
- North Korean invasion of South Korea |
||
|
113
|
7:29
|
- meetings at Blair House |
|
130
|
8:30
|
- General MacArthur - the meeting at Wake Island |
|
165
|
10:45
|
- the Communist Chinese enter the war - Truman's dismissal of MacArthur |
|
- the reasons why the Korean War was fought - Korea's strategic location |
||
|
265
|
16:30
|
- background information from Truman's memoirs regarding the Korean War |
|
299
|
18:37
|
- Dean Acheson's speech before the National Press Club prior to the beginning of the Korean War |
|
328
|
20:09
|
- the Inchon landing - MacArthur had not anticipated it |
|
350
|
21:77
|
- the Yalu River |
|
365
|
22:09
|
- American readiness to fight the Korean War |
|
381
|
23:25
|
- the Constitutional provision for civilian control of the military |
|
- an instance from the War of 1812 |
||
|
485
|
28:04
|
- Truman dismissed MacArthur because he disobeyed orders |
|
29:52
|
- MacArthur's return to the United States |
|
|
537
|
30:45
|
- MacArthur's arguments against the Truman administration |
|
557
|
31:40
|
- the prisoner-of-war issue |
|
573
|
32:25
|
- the decision to enter the Korean war was the most important of Truman's presidency because it concerned the whole free world |
|
586
|
32:57
|
- the decision to enter the Korean War was made by the United Nations |
|
640
|
35:23
|
- the term "police action" |
|
Tape 9 - SR94-15 |
||
| [duplicates Tape 2, Side A and Tape 2, Side B, with the exception that a very brief portion at the beginning of Tape 2, Side A is not present. This tape has some technical distortions.] | ||
|
Tape 10 - SR94-16 |
||
| [duplicates Tape 4, Side A, which itself duplicates Tape 3. Three brief portions have been omitted, apparently inadvertently.] | ||
|
Tape 10, Side B - SR94-17 |
||
| [duplicates Tape 4, Side B, which itself duplicates part of Tape 1, Side A from the beginning to "counterfeits never last long."] | ||
|
Tape 11 - SR94-18 |
||
| [duplicates a portion of Tape 8, Side A, beginning "General Marshal-in World War I," and ending "Truman quickly recognized his special quality."] |