As I was about to leave the house in Independence for the Chicago Convention of the Democratic Party, the telephone rang. It was Jimmy Byrnes in Washington. He told me that President Roosevelt had decided on him for Vice president-that is the new nominee for Vice President at the Chicago Convention. Wallace was not popular as Vice President either in the Senate or with the politicians who ran things in the Party Organization. So when Byrnes called and told me that the President had decided to have him as his running mate for the 4th term I just took it for granted that things were fixed. Byrnes asked me to nominate him. I told him I'd be glad to do it if the President wanted him. <...> When I arrived in Chicago I had breakfast with Sidney Hillman who was a power in the labor section of the Convention. I asked him if he would support Byrnes. He said he would not-that there were only two men he would support. They were Wm. O. Douglas Justice of the Supreme Court and Harry S. Truman U.S. Senator from Missouri. I told him that I was not a candidate and that I had agreed to nominate Byrnes because he told me the President wanted him. Then I had a meeting with Phil Murray head of the C.I.O. and one with Whitney head of the Railroad Trainmen. Both told me exactly what Sidney Hillman had told me. The next morning William Green, head of the A.F. of L. asked me to breakfast at the Parker House. He told me that the A.F. of L. did not like Wallace and that they had decided to support me. I told him my position with Byrnes and that I was not a candidate. <...> On Tuesday evening Bob Hannegan came to see me and told me that President Roosevelt wanted me to run with him on the ticket for Vice President. This astonished me greatly. Hannegan showed me a long hand note in the Presidents hand writing which said "Bob, its Truman. FDR" It was written on a scratch pad from the President's desk. I told Bob that I was not a candidate and that I was committed to Byrnes who had told me that the President was for him. The President had written a letter in which he had said he would be satisfied with Wallace or Douglas and he had made a public statement in which he said if he were in the Convention as a delegate he would vote for Wallace. Later when he came to Chicago on his way to San Diego, Calif. He had dictated another note to Hannegan and Ed Pauley in which he said he would be satisfied with either me or Douglas. I reported all this to Byrnes and he still told me that the President wanted him. On Thursday before the Vice President was to be nominated Hannegan called me and asked me to come over to the Blackstone Hotel to a meeting of the Democratic Leaders. I went. Ed Flynn N.Y., Mayor Kelly, Chicago, Mayor Haig, Jersey City, George Allen, Ed Pauley, Bob Hannegan and several others were there. They began to put pressure on me to allow my name to be presented to the Convention. I said no and kept saying it. Hannegan had put in a call to San Diego for the President. When the connection was made I set on one twin bed and Bob on the other. When the President used the phone he always talked in such a strong voice it was necessary to hold the phone away from your ear to keep from being deafened. I could hear both ends of the conversation. Finally Roosevelt said, "Bob, have you got that fellow lined up yet?" Bob said "No, he is the contrariest Missouri mule I've ever dealt with." The President then said "Well, you tell him if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of a war that's his responsibility" and hang up went the phone. To say I was stunned is put it mildly. I sat for a minute or two and then began walking around the room. All the people in the room were watching me and not saying a word. Finally I said "Well, if that is the situation I'll have to say yes, but why the hell didn't he tell me in the first place." https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/longhand-notes-undated-file/undated-21-31?documentid=NA&pagenumber=1
On Tuesday morning Senator Truman and Sidney Hillman had orange juice, eggs, and bacon sent up by room service to Hillman’s suite at the Ambassador East, “the fancy hotel,” as Truman called it. Born in Lithuania, educated to be a rabbi, Hillman had been an eight-dollar-a-week apprentice pants cutter in the garment district of New York when Truman was still riding a plow on the farm. He had led his first strike at twenty-three and founded the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America by the time he was thirty. To party chiefs like Hannegan and Kelly, he was an amateur and therefore not wholly trustworthy, whatever the power of his PAC or his allegiance to the President. Hillman wasn’t even a registered Democrat. In addition, as co-director of the former Office of Production Management in Washington, he had come under heavy fire from the Truman committee, which had been mainly responsible for his removal. And so Truman had no reason to expect much from him in the way of cooperation or favors. Truman asked for Hillman’s support for Byrnes. Hillman declined and refused to be budged. He was working hard for Henry Wallace, Hillman said. If it could not be Wallace, then he wanted either Douglas or Truman. Truman said he was going to nominate Byrnes. Hillman said that would be a mistake. Truman reported directly to Byrnes all that Hillman had said, but Byrnes seemed not to care and with reason. By reliable reports he had already lined up more than 400 of the 589 votes needed to nominate. When Ed Flynn arrived in Chicago later that morning, Tuesday, the eighteenth, Hannegan rushed him into a corner to say it was all over. “It’s Byrnes!” Flynn said it was no such thing and demanded a meeting of the select committee, the same group as the night before, which convened again in the same secret North Side apartment, except that this time Sidney Hillman was included and Jimmy Byrnes was not. There was only one man to nominate, Flynn insisted, and that was Harry Truman because Harry Truman was what they had agreed to with the President. Flynn was extremely angry. “I browbeat the committee, I talked, I argued, I swore,” he later wrote. Hillman declared Byrnes unacceptable to organized labor. Flynn said Byrnes would cost no less than two hundred thousand Negro votes in New York alone. Byrnes was a “political liability.” Roosevelt could lose the election. Everyone agreed-Hannegan, the party’s chairman, Pauley, Walker, Alien, Hillman for labor, and Kelly, the big-city boss. Reporters were to call them “the Harmony Boys.” Flynn put through a call to Roosevelt in San Diego, and one by one each man got on the line. In the end Roosevelt agreed it should be Truman. https://www.americanheritage.com/i-hardly-know-truman
Воспоминания Трумэна:
As I was about to leave the house in Independence for the Chicago Convention of the Democratic Party, the telephone rang. It was Jimmy Byrnes in Washington. He told me that President Roosevelt had decided on him for Vice president-that is the new nominee for Vice President at the Chicago Convention.
Wallace was not popular as Vice President either in the Senate or with the politicians who ran things in the Party Organization. So when Byrnes called and told me that the President had decided to have him as his running mate for the 4th term I just took it for granted that things were fixed.
Byrnes asked me to nominate him. I told him I'd be glad to do it if the President wanted him. <...>
When I arrived in Chicago I had breakfast with Sidney Hillman who was a power in the labor section of the Convention. I asked him if he would support Byrnes. He said he would not-that there were only two men he would support. They were Wm. O. Douglas Justice of the Supreme Court and Harry S. Truman U.S. Senator from Missouri.
I told him that I was not a candidate and that I had agreed to nominate Byrnes because he told me the President wanted him.
Then I had a meeting with Phil Murray head of the C.I.O. and one with Whitney head of the Railroad Trainmen. Both told me exactly what Sidney Hillman had told me.
The next morning William Green, head of the A.F. of L. asked me to breakfast at the Parker House. He told me that the A.F. of L. did not like Wallace and that they had decided to support me. I told him my position with Byrnes and that I was not a candidate. <...>
On Tuesday evening Bob Hannegan came to see me and told me that President Roosevelt wanted me to run with him on the ticket for Vice President. This astonished me greatly. Hannegan showed me a long hand note in the Presidents hand writing which said "Bob, its Truman. FDR"
It was written on a scratch pad from the President's desk.
I told Bob that I was not a candidate and that I was committed to Byrnes who had told me that the President was for him.
The President had written a letter in which he had said he would be satisfied with Wallace or Douglas and he had made a public statement in which he said if he were in the Convention as a delegate he would vote for Wallace.
Later when he came to Chicago on his way to San Diego, Calif. He had dictated another note to Hannegan and Ed Pauley in which he said he would be satisfied with either me or Douglas.
I reported all this to Byrnes and he still told me that the President wanted him.
On Thursday before the Vice President was to be nominated Hannegan called me and asked me to come over to the Blackstone Hotel to a meeting of the Democratic Leaders. I went. Ed Flynn N.Y., Mayor Kelly, Chicago, Mayor Haig, Jersey City, George Allen, Ed Pauley, Bob Hannegan and several others were there. They began to put pressure on me to allow my name to be presented to the Convention. I said no and kept saying it. Hannegan had put in a call to San Diego for the President. When the connection was made I set on one twin bed and Bob on the other. When the President used the phone he always talked in such a strong voice it was necessary to hold the phone away from your ear to keep from being deafened. I could hear both ends of the conversation.
Finally Roosevelt said, "Bob, have you got that fellow lined up yet?" Bob said "No, he is the contrariest Missouri mule I've ever dealt with." The President then said "Well, you tell him if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of a war that's his responsibility" and hang up went the phone.
To say I was stunned is put it mildly. I sat for a minute or two and then began walking around the room. All the people in the room were watching me and not saying a word.
Finally I said "Well, if that is the situation I'll have to say yes, but why the hell didn't he tell me in the first place."
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/longhand-notes-undated-file/undated-21-31?documentid=NA&pagenumber=1
Reply
On Tuesday morning Senator Truman and Sidney Hillman had orange juice, eggs, and bacon sent up by room service to Hillman’s suite at the Ambassador East, “the fancy hotel,” as Truman called it. Born in Lithuania, educated to be a rabbi, Hillman had been an eight-dollar-a-week apprentice pants cutter in the garment district of New York when Truman was still riding a plow on the farm. He had led his first strike at twenty-three and founded the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America by the time he was thirty. To party chiefs like Hannegan and Kelly, he was an amateur and therefore not wholly trustworthy, whatever the power of his PAC or his allegiance to the President. Hillman wasn’t even a registered Democrat. In addition, as co-director of the former Office of Production Management in Washington, he had come under heavy fire from the Truman committee, which had been mainly responsible for his removal. And so Truman had no reason to expect much from him in the way of cooperation or favors.
Truman asked for Hillman’s support for Byrnes. Hillman declined and refused to be budged. He was working hard for Henry Wallace, Hillman said. If it could not be Wallace, then he wanted either Douglas or Truman.
Truman said he was going to nominate Byrnes. Hillman said that would be a mistake.
Truman reported directly to Byrnes all that Hillman had said, but Byrnes seemed not to care and with reason. By reliable reports he had already lined up more than 400 of the 589 votes needed to nominate.
When Ed Flynn arrived in Chicago later that morning, Tuesday, the eighteenth, Hannegan rushed him into a corner to say it was all over. “It’s Byrnes!” Flynn said it was no such thing and demanded a meeting of the select committee, the same group as the night before, which convened again in the same secret North Side apartment, except that this time Sidney Hillman was included and Jimmy Byrnes was not.
There was only one man to nominate, Flynn insisted, and that was Harry Truman because Harry Truman was what they had agreed to with the President.
Flynn was extremely angry. “I browbeat the committee, I talked, I argued, I swore,” he later wrote. Hillman declared Byrnes unacceptable to organized labor. Flynn said Byrnes would cost no less than two hundred thousand Negro votes in New York alone. Byrnes was a “political liability.” Roosevelt could lose the election. Everyone agreed-Hannegan, the party’s chairman, Pauley, Walker, Alien, Hillman for labor, and Kelly, the big-city boss. Reporters were to call them “the Harmony Boys.”
Flynn put through a call to Roosevelt in San Diego, and one by one each man got on the line. In the end Roosevelt agreed it should be Truman.
https://www.americanheritage.com/i-hardly-know-truman
Reply
Leave a comment