Under Four Hats

"You know," said Harry Truman at a dinner honoring 21 freshman Democrats in the House, "I wear a lot of hats " First, "I am the President and the Chief Executive of the greatest republic in the world, and I wish I could fill that job as it ought to be filled ... I am head of the Democratic Party as long as I am President ... I am the social chief of state . . . and I have another job, which is Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States."

Then, urging the young Congressmen to work hard on Capitol Hill, the President unwound a bit. "There is one thing about this job," Harry Truman confided with a wry smile. "It has no future to it.

Every young man wants something to look forward to."

t The next night Harry Truman took off his Democrats' hat, picked up his social topper and escorted Bess to a full-dress reception in their honor at Washington's staid Congressional Club. There the President gave each one of the 500 guests a hearty handshake and a good word, beamed approvingly as the red-coated Marine orchestra played music from South Pacific, and took a disparaging sip of the nonalcoholic fruit punch.

But most of the week, Harry Truman had been wearing his Executive and Commander in Chief hats for the top-level conferences with French Prime Minister Rene Pleven. While briefcase-toting political and military advisers scurried importantly in & out of the green-draped Cabinet ^ Room, Truman and Pleven, talking in English without interpreters,' got down to brass tacks.

After two days of friendly conversation, they came to agreement on two major points: i) the U.S. would not pull out of Korea and France would fight on with stepped-up U.S. aid in Indo-China; 2) France would not back-pedal on European defense.

Pleven walked out of the White House wreathed in smiles. He had reassured himself on U.S. intentions, had also reassured the U.S. on France's willingness to do her part. He had made a big hit in Washington. Said Harry Truman: "I like this

Frenchman better than any European I've met since the end of the war."

Before he went home, Pleven and Foreign Policy Adviser Averell Harriman were honor guests at a luncheon of the National Press Club. Said Pleven: "France is your ally and not just a fair-weather friend ... I want this clearly understood by any group that may be plotting against us ... We will never forget that our cause is our way of life--that it must and will be defended."

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On the eighth anniversary of Stalingrad, Pravda triumphantly reprinted an old pre-Pearl Harbor Truman quote: "If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible." What Pravda carefully omitted was the final phrase: ". . . although I don't want to see Hitler victorious in any circumstances."

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