May 10, 1948
Dear Clint:
I appreciate fully the circumstances which prompt your letter of May seventh. I had hoped that conditions would permit you to continue longer in your present post of responsibility.
Although I do so reluctantly and with deep regret, I acquiesce in your decision and accept, effective at the close of business this day, your resignation as Secretary of Agriculture. In doing so, I hope sincerely that you will return to the legislative councils of the Nation.
In slightly less than three years since I called you from the House of Representatives to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture, you have justified abundantly the confidence which I reposed in you. Thanks to your wise policies the farmers of the Nation enjoy today the greatest prosperity in their history. It is also due to your foresight that agriculture has not gone into the decline which was so disastrous to American farmers after World War I. You have avoided the postwar pitfalls which caused the earlier dislocation of agriculture, still a bitter memory to its victims.
Every American farmer can bear witness to the benefits which have accrued from your administration. Nor has your activity been reflected solely in the prosperity of the American farmer and our domestic economy. Your contribution in devising means and furnishing provisions for the relief of hunger and want in countries devastated by the war has been of highest importance.
You came into the Cabinet after broad legislative experience as a member of the House of Representatives. In consenting to your release at this time, I do so in the hope that the period immediately ahead is but the preliminary to your re-entry to the Halls of Congress--next time as a member of the Senate.
Gratefully and sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[The Honorable, The Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.]
NOTE: Mr. Anderson served as Secretary of Agriculture from June 2, 1945, through May 10, 1948. His letter of resignation was released with the President's reply.
Dear Clint:
I appreciate fully the circumstances which prompt your letter of May seventh. I had hoped that conditions would permit you to continue longer in your present post of responsibility.
Although I do so reluctantly and with deep regret, I acquiesce in your decision and accept, effective at the close of business this day, your resignation as Secretary of Agriculture. In doing so, I hope sincerely that you will return to the legislative councils of the Nation.
In slightly less than three years since I called you from the House of Representatives to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture, you have justified abundantly the confidence which I reposed in you. Thanks to your wise policies the farmers of the Nation enjoy today the greatest prosperity in their history. It is also due to your foresight that agriculture has not gone into the decline which was so disastrous to American farmers after World War I. You have avoided the postwar pitfalls which caused the earlier dislocation of agriculture, still a bitter memory to its victims.
Every American farmer can bear witness to the benefits which have accrued from your administration. Nor has your activity been reflected solely in the prosperity of the American farmer and our domestic economy. Your contribution in devising means and furnishing provisions for the relief of hunger and want in countries devastated by the war has been of highest importance.
You came into the Cabinet after broad legislative experience as a member of the House of Representatives. In consenting to your release at this time, I do so in the hope that the period immediately ahead is but the preliminary to your re-entry to the Halls of Congress--next time as a member of the Senate.
Gratefully and sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[The Honorable, The Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.]
NOTE: Mr. Anderson served as Secretary of Agriculture from June 2, 1945, through May 10, 1948. His letter of resignation was released with the President's reply.