In Their Lives 11-12-53: Defiant President

Tweet

One thing about looking back at old newspaper articles from the years my family members were born in November: that old adage of “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is really true. As proof, I give you today’s headline from the year my brother was born. 11/12/53: Defiant Truman Refuses Subpoena Say what?? I thought we’d only had one president who needed changing every four hours! According to the papers, Truman wasn’t all that popular by the time 1952 rolled around, so there were a lot of headlines that said many Democrats were trying to ‘“distance themselves” from him. By the next year, the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee, who was looking for a “communist under every rock” while the American Communist Party had a candidate for president in 1952....) was looking into a former cabinet member of Truman’s, who was accused of being a Soviet spy. The committee decided to look into the former president’s actions, to see if he had passed along any secrets. So, they subpoenaed him. His answer: “I am inclined by my duties to the people of the United States to decline to reply.” Sound like anyone we know?? Now, here’s the part that isn’t typical Washington politics: the incumbent president, Republican Dwight Eisenhower, told the HUAC to cool their jets. (Well, since Ike was an Army guy, I suppose he actually told them, “At ease.” ) He went to Truman’s defense, stating that he had NO question about Truman’s loyalty as an American, and that a former president should not be coerced/forced to testify. So, Truman never did. Here’s an interesting song, invoking Truman’s name in the title, that goes back to 1975, showing the more things change the more they stay the same: