Never Felt It

Some men would have been ready to throw in the sponge. Few U.S. Presidents have ever been jeered at the way Harry Truman was jeered at last week. New Dealing Columnist Samuel Grafton mocked: "Poor Mr. Truman . . . an object for pity." The New Dealing Chicago Sun ran a merciless cartoon in clay (see cut). The lowest blow came from that low-blow expert, the Chicago Tribune. Squinting at the President, the Tribune pretended to see Edgar Bergen's Mortimer Snerd. Sample dialogue:

"Mortimer, how can you be so stupid?"

"Huh? Umph. What was the question?"

"Why did you fire the man who made the speech after you said you liked it?"

"Did I fire him? . . . I thought someone fired me."

"Mortimer, you're hopeless."

"What was the question?"

"It wasn't a question. It was a statement. You're hopeless."

Hearst's Washington columnist, unpleasantly good-natured George Dixon, passed along a capital gag. It purported to explain why Harry Truman was late to a press conference: "He got up this morning a little stiff in the joints and he is having difficulty putting his foot in his mouth."

It was the worst experience yet for the Vice President who never wanted to be President. But last week, in the uneasy calm after the awful fuss, he came out of his corner again. Was he groggy? Not at all. He had a never-touched-me air. Natty as ever in a new, blue, double-breasted suit, he faced the same cynical White House reporters who had cornered him in the Henry Wallace mess. Undaunted, he rushed into the nation's worst domestic mess: the shortage of meat.

Dauntless Harry Truman said, with emphasis, that he knew about these things because he lived in one of the greatest cattle-producing states and had spent all his young days feeding hogs and cattle. To the accompaniment of loud and appreciative laughter from his audience he added that he knew what he was talking about (see below).

To get away from it all for a few brief moments, he flew to West Point at week's end. There he saw the Army-Oklahoma football game and spoke with engaging frankness to the cadets: "In my youth, many, many years ago, I had hopes of being a member of this Corps. I didn't make it. I am sure--morally certain--that if I had made it, I think I would have made a good officer."

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