I'm amused by this one as well -- a friendly little 'yeah, hope I'll be able to make the reunion!' note in the middle of the electoral campaign of his life.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 1 August 2008 14:39 (fifteen years ago) link
According to the McCullough bio, he really was as no-nonsense as his publicists claimed – in the best sense of the word. The consequences could be dire, too. I'm still struggling to understand the situation at Potsdam: to what degree did Truman comprehend the complex series of nods and hints that FDR gave Stalin re Soviet intentions in Berlin and Eastern Europe, and Churchill's own written go-ahead to Stalin about keeping Poland, the Baltic states, etc.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 1 August 2008 14:47 (fifteen years ago) link
alfred -- check out charles mee's "meeting at potsdam" for some good insight into that.
truman actually came to regret the creation of the CIA and recommended in an interview with merle miller late in life that it be disbanded and replaced with a more accountable agency.
― J.D., Friday, 1 August 2008 19:42 (fifteen years ago) link
oh, well that makes up for it
― and what, Friday, 1 August 2008 19:43 (fifteen years ago) link
A lot of Truman can be blamed on FDR's clandestine semiotics: he told so many advisors so many different things, and met Truman just twice after inauguration, that it's no wonder Truman had to improvise.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 1 August 2008 19:54 (fifteen years ago) link
david brooks longs for the days of a tight-knit "bipartisan" washington oligarchy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/opinion/01brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
― J.D., Friday, 1 August 2008 19:59 (fifteen years ago) link
could play the piano AND callously incinerate hundreds of thousands
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 1 August 2008 20:07 (fifteen years ago) link
That Merle Miller "oral biography" of Truman is pretty wild to read.
Especially when HST uses the word "nigger" on every other page.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 1 August 2008 20:17 (fifteen years ago) link
OMG he used the word "chippie"! That is my favorite word for a floozy!
― Abbott, Friday, 1 August 2008 23:42 (fifteen years ago) link
"Nigger" however is not my favorite anything.
― Abbott, Friday, 1 August 2008 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link
created the illegal CIA
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 20:47 (fifteen years ago) link
Congress approved its charter.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 20:49 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/specialy/twinpeaks/foto/twin_peaks_12.jpg
can't believe no-one did this
― akm, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 22:56 (fifteen years ago) link
truman deserves some shit for creating the CIA but it was a reasonably defensible agency until eisenhower took over and started using it to overthrow liberal foreign governments.
― J.D., Wednesday, 17 December 2008 01:06 (fifteen years ago) link