Walks with Former President Harry S. Truman: A Memoir by Leonard G. Rubin, Study Guides, Projects, Research of English Literature

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Walkin

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arlier this year, the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum

in Independence, Missouri, received for its holdings a

manuscript from Caryl Lee Fisher of New York City. It was

written by her late father, Leonard G. Rubin, who took long walks

with former President Truman in the 1950s and 1960s, when

the 33rd President and his wife visited their daughter, Margaret

Daniel, and her family in New York City.

Although the library knew of the walks in New York, it never had

any account of them. Samuel Rushay, supervisory archivist at the

Truman Library, said there are records in the library’s holdings that

clearly indicate that Truman and Rubin walked together regularly

in New York City during Truman’s post-presidency.

Rubin first met Truman shortly after Truman left office and returned

to Missouri. In those days, former Presidents received no Secret Service

protection and only a modest amount for office expenses. Truman

himself was not wealthy compared to other ex-Presidents and could

not afford the fancy surroundings his successors enjoy.

Most of the opinions Truman expressed in the walks have since

been incorporated into biographies and Truman’s own memoirs. A

few others are excerpted here.

Leonard Rubin found Harry S. Truman to be cordial, down-to-

earth, and an interesting walking companion.

E

By Leonard G. Rubin

Opposite: Former President Truman (back to camera) takes a walk in New York City.

Walking and Talking with Harry (^) Prologue 21

office of any small business establishment or law firm. The fact that it was located in the Federal Reserve Building meant that it would not cost the government any rent or use any of the allowance given to ex-Presidents for office space. [In those days, ex-Presidents received no pension, and Truman received only a $112. a month military pension until Congress passed the Former Presidents Act of 1958, which provided a presidential pension. He also had no Secret Service protection until the assassination of President Kennedy.]

Truman Begins Visit with Insights Into Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

In keeping with his reputation, Mr. Tru- man was frugal about spending government funds, even when he was no longer in office. As a senator, during the war, he had saved the government hundreds of millions of dol- lars by heading a committee that reviewed defense contracts. Looking to my left, I watched as the recep- tionist knocked on the door of the double office at the end of the hallway, entered and stepped out of sight. A moment later, Mr. Truman stepped out of his office and, seeing me looking in that direction, motioned for me to come in. I couldn’t believe my luck that, not only was President Truman there at that particu- lar time, but he was also willing to see me. I thought that he would probably give me a few minutes and send me on my way. Since I had asked to see him, I needed to think of an opening remark that would explain my visit. It has been observed by historians that often after a new President is elected, the media and the public find fault with the outgoing Presi- dent and make comments about all of the things the outgoing President should have done or not done while in office. Being an avid student of American history, I remembered reading that for years after the end of their terms, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and others were severely criticized for all of their “mistakes.”

“When people talk about my political career, they always

seem to say that I was an important part of the ‘Pendergast

Machine.’ My own honest evaluation of my position was as a

pip-squeak, little-known person who tried and did an honest

job as an obscure judge [county commissioner].”

—TRUMAN TO RUBIN on charges that as a U.S. senator, he

was a puppet of the corrupt Pendergast machine in Kansas City

Therefore, my opening remark was “Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Truman. I wanted to tell you that I am certain that his- torians will treat you much better than your contemporaries.” To my surprise, Truman’s instant reply was “Did you know that many comments and reports about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address were extremely uncomplimentary and insulting?” I replied that although I owned and had read all six volumes of Carl Sandburg’s great biography of Abraham Lincoln, I did not recall any particular comments about the

famous speech. Mr. Truman said, “When you get home, look it up and you will be surprised about what you read.” Later, when I looked at the passages that Truman had referred to, I appreciated what a bril- liant response he had made to my opening remark. Next, we began talking about U.S. his- tory, Presidents, and what made them great. An hour went by, which, at the time, seemed like a few minutes. Another hour went by. I was fascinated by Mr. Truman’s knowledge of American history. I knew that he had not graduated from college.

Then-Senator Harry S. Truman, an avid reader of history, in his Senate office about 1940.

22 Prologue Winter 2015

Impromptu Visit Ends with Invitation To Join Truman in New York Walks

However, this two-hour conversation changed my entire image of former Presi- dent Truman, whom, until that point, I had believed to be an intelligent, self-taught individual. Mr. Truman stunned me with his knowledge of American history, past Presi- dents, and his understanding of the details of congressional legislation. For example, he was an expert on every detail concerning the Missouri Compromise (States admitted to the union after 1820 would be admitted in pairs, one slave and one free to maintain the balance). He knew the exact statutes in the law books concern- ing this matter, including the names of the legislators involved. He also had a complete understanding of the impact of the Missouri Compromise on the states admitted to the union after 1820, especially during the Civil War years. Truman had an excellent memory and often remembered small details about topics

that interested him in the areas of econom- ics, sociology, and education. After our chat, I believed that he could have easily been the chairman of the American History Depart- ment at Harvard University! At that point, I concluded that the opening remark that I had agonized over had been the perfect one to touch off our discussion. Finally, Mr. Truman glanced at his watch and said, “We will have to end this interest- ing conversation. The ‘boss’ will be expect- ing me.”

I knew that he was referring to his wife, Bess, with whom he had lunch every day at their home in Independence. As we left his office together, he asked me, “Can I give you a lift?” I replied, “No thank you. I like to walk, and my hotel is just a short distance away.” We walked out of the office, followed by the man assigned to guard the ex-President. Truman commented, “You like to walk? I come to New York from time to time to visit my daughter. She... lives on the east side of Manhattan. I’ll have my secretary drop you a line and tell you the next time I am in town. I stay at the Carlyle Hotel, and you can come over and we’ll walk and talk again.” I was flattered by Truman’s interest in continuing our discussions. I told him that I owned the biography of him written by Hillman. “If I had known that I was going to see you, I would have brought it along for you to autograph,” I said. Truman replied, “Send it to me. I’ll sign it and send it back to you.” We reached the street where his car and driver were waiting. He shook my hand and said, “I’ll see you in New York,” got in his car with the guard, who sat with the driver and drove back to Independence.

Several Months Pass; A Postcard Arrives

I returned to New York, doubting that a man as busy as a former President of the

“Franklin Roosevelt and George Marshall made a great

choice in appointing him Supreme Allied Commander

during World War II. He had to get along with the Allied

heads of state as well as their military leaders.... [As

President,] he deliberately believed that a low profile for

himself and the U.S. government would suit the times.”

—TRUMAN TO RUBIN on Dwight D. Eisenhower

President Truman reads on the Truman Balcony of the White House in 1952.

Author Leonard George Rubin was a liai- son executive for the Non-Gov- ernmental Organizations of the United Nations, former market- ing executive, and faculty member of New York University’s School of Continuing Education and FIT. He died December 26, 2000, in New York City. He was 86.

The copyrighted photographs of President Tru- man on pages 16 and 21 were taken by George S. Zimbel. They are part of the George S. Zimbel Harry Truman Collection, which began in New York City in 1954 and continued for 10 years, ending when Mr. Zimbel did an 80th-birthday photograph of Mr. Truman at his library office in 1964. This was one of Mr. Zimbel’s indepen- dent photography projects and is archived at his office in Montreal.

Note on Sources

P

24 Prologue Winter 2015

or some relevant political or current issue. Mr. Truman would answer and I would comment on his answers or ask follow up questions. Occasionally when I disagreed with him about his analysis, I spoke up about it. He liked this as long as my argu- ment had a sound basis. Philosophically, I was in agreement with him most of the time, having been a loyal Democrat for my entire voting career. In some cases, I was perhaps a bit more liberal than the former President, but, in general, we were both “middle of the road” indi- viduals. Truman was very fair minded and tolerant of differing opinions. Early in our relationship, President Tru- man made this statement to me: “Mr. Rubin, I am perhaps the only President who has read the biographies of every one of my predecessors. In truth, where I thought that a particular occupant of this office was not important for one reason or another, I read a short biography of that individual. For example, William Henry Harrison only served one month in office and John Tyler became the first Vice President to succeed to the presidency. In 1848, Zachary Taylor, a Whig won the election. After a year in office, Taylor died and was succeeded by his Vice President, Millard Fillmore.... How- ever, one of the greatest biographies of a US President is Carl Sandburg’s six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln which I read from cover to cover. So you might say, I am a self-taught ‘expert’ on the presidency of the United States.” He served first in local political offices and was later elected senator from his home

state of Missouri. As a senator, he fought to save money for his country and at the same time help make decisions that would help win the war. He was selected to be Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Vice President for his fourth term. Harry S. Truman personifies the American dream, showing how far an hon- est, smart, hard-working person can go in the great democracy of the United States. As I had noted when I visited Mr. Tru- man in Kansas City, his lack of preten- tiousness was striking. After a few walks, I couldn’t resist asking Mr. Truman what he ate for breakfast. Staying at one of New York’s quiet but elegant hotels, I might have expected him to say that he ordered Eggs Benedict or some other fancy item. However, true to form, his answer was, “Usually, I start with orange juice, then cereal—Corn Flakes on hot days and oat- meal the rest of the time. I’m not a coffee drinker and prefer milk. Sometimes I add a little buttered toast.” After all of the years that have passed, I wasn’t certain about what, if anything, I would do about putting an account of these walks with President Truman on paper. Finally, when I had more time and my years of “9-to-5” activity were over, at the urging of my daughter, I began to record my experiences with the former President in some detail. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to make some notes at the time of the walks themselves so that the chap- ters really do reflect an accurate “from the horse’s mouth” account rather than the misty memories of walks taken 40 or more years ago. However, all of my records are

not completely accurate regarding dates because walks were canceled. Occasionally there were walks where some personal matters such as his trips, vacations, grandsons’ birthdays, or daugh- ter’s surgery were discussed and, out of respect, I omitted reconstructions of these conversations. The walks and talks took place over a three-year period. Mr. Truman usually stayed for a week to 10 days on each of his visits to New York City. During each stay, we usually managed to have anywhere from two to five opportunities to walk together. At the end of each walk, he would either say “See you tomorrow,” “Skip tomorrow and I’ll see you the day after,” or “call me about scheduling our next walk.” This article represents the discussions had over approximately 15 to 19 different meetings in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In writing about these walks with Mr. Truman, I have omitted my replies or com- ments unless they contributed materially to the subject matter. I have tried to accu- rately reconstruct Mr. Truman’s words and ideas in the first person and not my own since I believe these have value and interest to others.

“I believed that in spite of the polls and early indications that

[Thomas E.] Dewey would win, I felt confident that the best

way to win was to get on a train, make a whistle stop tour and

give my message directly to millions of people.”

—TRUMAN TO RUBIN on the 1948 election