"I Wouldn't Hesitate"

Four years ago, a humble and bewildered man bent to kiss a Bible in the crowded Cabinet Room in the White House. That was before the U.S. public had ever heard of the atom bomb, or felt a need for a Marshall Plan, a cold war or an Atlantic pact. Last week Harry Truman was four pounds heavier and a good deal more confident. What did he think of his four years in office? Well, said Harry Truman with a grin, they always say the first four years are the hardest.

One night last week he went to a party at Washington's Carlton hotel. Leaning one hand against a grand piano for support, he shook hands with about a hundred freshman Democratic Senators and Congressmen. He downed one Old Fashioned, and with the empty glass before him, made a little speech. His first big decision in office--to drop the atom bomb on Japan--was still on his mind. Said he: "I had to make a decision back in July 1945, and I had to make that decision on the basis of the welfare of not only this country but of our enemy country. And I made that decision because I thought 200,000 of our young men ... and some three or four hundred thousands of the enemy would be saved . . . Now I believe that we are in a position where we will never have to make that decision again, but if it has to be made for the welfare of the United States, and the democracies of the world are at stake, I wouldn't hesitate to make it again . . ."

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