Half of our conference, starting off this afternoon is a paper by dr. Lisa ossian, who is a professor of history at Des Moines Area Community college. She received her masters degree in womens studies from Eastern Michigan University and her doctorate from Iowa State University in agricultural history and rural study, author of three books, the homefronts of iowa 19301945, the forgotten generation American Children in world war ii and the the depression dilemmas in rural iowa. Ossian has now directed her Research Interests in exploring hoovers post war food relief efforts. Her next book is tentatively titled to the grimmest spector, the world famine emergency, Herbert Hoovers mission and the invisible years 19467 she serves on the Editorial Board of economic war and culture and as editor of a forthcoming volume, american women and war 18521945. Her talk today is entitled a kind and understanding heart the politics of friendship between harry truman and Herbert Hoover 19461964. Please welcome lisa ossian. [ applause ] i changed my title a little bit. Do i have slides. I have the after lunch crowd so im hoping all of you didnt eat too much, okay, in that warm weather. What quality should a president possess a reporter asked Eleanor Roosevelt in the spring of 1946. She quickly responded, a kind and understanding heart. Perhaps this was the quality that Herbert Hoover and harry truman possessed throughout their friendship which began in the spring of 1945, a little over 42 years ago. Hoover and truman were on paper and on the surface very different men. Hoover was a republican. He was the depression era president. He was an engineering. And he was also a humanitarian. Truman was a democrat, the post world war ii president. He was a politician and he also had been a captain in the First World War. But as the joint project of the truman and Hoover Library so elegantly states in its introduction to their documentary history of this president ial friendship, it is easy to overlook the fact that they both had roots in farming communities, they had known Economic Hardship and self reliance, they were transformed by the con flageration of world war i and lived in the shad dove franklin d. Roosevelt. I would also add both men were in many ways quite similar in their hearts. Both were ethical men in their respective religions. One, hoover as a quaker and truman as a baptist. Both were practical leaders who developed strong comradery and loyalty from their men. Men who worked with both hoover and truman were loyal to them forever. They were both loving husbands who stayed absolutely true to their first and only housewives. Both fell in love once and that was it. I think truman, too, had a respect for hoover being a recent width doer when lou had died in 1944. They were also committed fathers who protected and nurtured their two sons and daughter and also their grandchildren. April 12th, 1945, this would be the first communication between the 31st and 33rd president. Herbert hoover sent a telegram offering condolences and assistance after the death of f. D. R. All americans will wish you strength for your gigantic task. You have the right to call for any service in aid of the country. Signed, Herbert Hoover. Truman would respond a week later, please accept my thanks for your message of the 12th. I need not assure you that your good wishes are deeply appreciated, very sincerely yours, harry s. Truman. He would write, in his handwritten note at the bottom, i assure you i shall feel free to call upon you, thanks for the offer. Truman would say to his staff later on at the end of april he was going to do something they wear not going to like. He was going to invite Herbert Hoover to the white house. So between handwritten letters and communication between their aides and letters and phone calls, the two president s would arrange their very first meeting. In my presentation, i will quote a lot from these two because, to me, if youre going to look at a relationship between friends and that, words matter. The words matter. The words that they used with each other were often very carefully chosen and very very well mannered. That would give them a very strong basis for their friendship. On the morning of may 28th, 1945, this would end Herbert Hoovers 12 year isolation from the white house. A meeting in the oval office that would last 55 minutes but create a friendship that would last until hoovers death in 1964. Hoover was asked to write, and he loved to write memorandums as you heard from the other previous speakers. It was couple pages but this was a couple of sentences. I saw trump man in the morning and he asked what i thought about the situation. It was degenerating all over the world partly due to mismanagement and he had to take it as it is and no time to be bothered with recrimination as to what might have been. Bare sub sist stance and hunger meant communism. Those were hoovers lines. Truman would always be very very brief, kind of pithy in his. He had a two line memorandum versus four pages. He would write, dear hoover, thanks a lot for your memorandum. It will be very useful to me. Then he added a p. S. , i appreciated very much your coming to see me. It gave me a lift. In his private writing truman wrote the following. Saw hoover yesterday and had a pleasant conversation on food and general trouble of u. S. President s, two in particular. We discussed our prima donnas and what makes them. Some of my boys that came in with me are having trouble with their dignity and prerogatives. Its hell when someone comes in Close Association with the president. Truman likes to use hell a lot in his writings. In his memoirs years later some historians faulted him for exact details of this first meeting. Certainly truman recorded the spirit of the occasion, the call, the respect, the urgency, the drama and even the humor, as he noted that hoover remembered the way to the oval office. So this would be their second meet, things were so complex at the ends of 1945 and decisions to be made and war in the pacific and in the fall. The two would not meet again until march 1st, 1946. Hoover was interrupted in a fishing trip. This is how seriously he took it. He dropped the fishing in florida and came immediately to the white house and agreed to serve as honorary chairman of the famine emergency committee. Later that afternoon, clinton anderson, the new secretary of agricultural and wallace, now secretary of commerce would join them. Truman would comment in this is memoirs later about this joint meeting, i told the group i thought this was the most important meeting we held in the white house since i had become president. Thats quite something considering all the major decisions truman had to make following that. Hoover would also write about the event, the inevitable aftermath of war is famine and with famine, civilization itself is jeopardize. The last great reservoir from which starvation can be halted is the United States. He talked about this responsibility being thrust upon the American People. Hoover would state very dramatically, we cannot fail. Within hours and a couple of days the entire trip would be planned. Hoover was back. If you notice in this picture he was smiling. I think he could almost be skipping out of the white house in that he was so thrilled, as we noticed, too, one, to be called back to the white house and also to be of use again, to be working for a cause he was really good at. He would make two radio addresses before the American Public on march 14th and 16th before the departure of this global famine survey. He would note that 800 Million People were at threat of starvation. More people were dying after world war ii than during it. This was the crisis situation. Truman knew nobody knew more about food and saving lives than hoover. He needed him. As hoover would say at the end of the radio addresses, i know that the heart of American People will respond with kindliness to suffering. Will you not take to your table an invisible guest . This is the famine survey hoover asks truman to make. They need famine information. Theres only four countries in the worlds that has enough food, the United States, canada, australia and argentina. The rest are in dire dire straits. Youll see in this they gate plane, c 54 nicknamed the faithful cow because it makes a mooing nonoi mooi mooing noise when it lands. They go to 22 countries 35,000 miles and circle the globe. There is sunshine all throughout the trip except one day in athens they had been having a drought so that was even welcomed. Theyre never late. A fantastic travel log. You will see, too, hoover is getting much better with pr and the photographs taken of him and all the articles being written, and that. If youll notice on this one, this little boy has a knife tucked into his belt. Its not quite the security that we live in. This was a very cherished photo of hoovers work and his care for children and that. Originally, the trip was only supposed to go through europe and that. Hoover really felt the need that it should go on to india, to china, to korea and japan. The Asian Countries were at greater starvation levels, at greater risk for communism as well. Hoover and truman will have the less than three minute phone call in cairo, egypt. Hoover had received a telegram he was supposed to cut the trip short and come home and talk to the American Public. Truman wanted hoover to return and promote the cause for food conservation. He was also personally a little worried about hoovers stamina. He was after all a 71yearold man and this was a grueling schedule. Hoover wanted to continue the trip through asia. They talked for a little over a minute and a half. In that time, hoover persuaded truman to let him continue the trip. One of his colleagues noted the phone rang shortly after hoover hung up and it was the operator saying they had paid for a three minute Long Distance phone call. Would they like to finish it. Hoover said, no, were done. Hoover and truman were always very practical men, even when it came to Long Distance phone calls. On may 7th, 1946, the day before the anniversary of the dday, truman would write to hoover he greatly appreciated his most recent letter and he would praise him for the work being done. Hoovers mission was now in honolulu, they had circled the globe and just about ready to come home and would spend the day at pearl harbor and truman saying i recognize the personal sacrifice and risk youre taking on such a hazardous journey but the results you obtained will be of value to this country in solving the world food problems. So, the day after they get back to washington is the meeting. This is the big meeting on may 13th, 1946, in the oval office at trumans desk again. If youre at the truman library, there are hundreds of photos of people seated by his desk. He loved that pose. Funny, too, you can only tell the time differences because the photos in the background will change. I dont know if it was somebody dusting and they would rearrange the family photos. This would be hoovers report at the end, and he would say to him, dear mr. President , we have completed your instructions. We have traveled some 35,000 miles, visited 22 country, which have a deficiency of food and informed ourselves of the situation in several others. So this would be the letter that was attached to the final report. Truman would respond in kind, i know the people of this country will do their part as you have done yours. We have never failed and we will not fail now. But that wasnt enough. So truman needed hoover to go to south america. They would meet again for the fourth time on may 16th, 1946, to discuss the russians and their obstinent spirit and he asked hoover to go to south america. Along the 35,000 miles we have traveled, i have seen with my own eyes the grimmest spector of famine in all the world. I was asked by the president to undertake this work in a purely advisory capacity. With our journey now to latin america my service will then end. Former president hoover would travel from may 25th until june, and would visit 11 countries in south america in those 25 days. He returns on june 19th, meets immediately with the president the following day. They discuss argentina in particular because it does have some food resources, and what to do about wheat shipments. Only like six months later would hoover admit to a friend of his how exhausted he really was, and he would tell him in a letter, every molecule of my body yells at me that it is tired. At the end of the year in 1946, a few weeks before christmas, truman would send hoover the following note. It must have been such a wonderful gift to hoover to finally be recognized for all of his hard work. As we heard from the other talks before thats all hoover wanted to do was to work and serve. Truman would write, you dont know how greatly i appreciated your letter of the 3rd. I think your suggestions are sound regarding americas participation in the distribution of food. Im more than happy to have your views on any subject you would care to write me about. Truman would state at the end, again, i want to say, i think you did a magnificent job last year for the welfare of the world. Those are the words everyone loves to hear no matter the age or experience. We seldom say that out loud or put them to paper. I am proud of you. Thank you. This would be where their relationship deepened and solidified due to their common interests and trust and as we would say, they had bonded. So truman meets hoover again the following year, the germanyaustria trip in 1947, the end of february. Theres more and more things going on in germany. What are we going to do in the post war era. We have the four zones and theyre not cooperating well. There was a lot of question what to do with the british zone, and that a lot of hunger. A lot of people saying, should we feed these nazis . They will just be at it again. Hoover would always respond we must. This is the humane thing to do. He was also concerned about the Economic Strategy as well. Germany is the heart of europe. If germany went down, everybody else was going to go down as well. Hoover very much knew that. He would write about this trip to germany and austria. Entirely aside from any humanitarian feelings for this mass of people, if we want peace, if we want to preserve the safety and health of our army of occupation, if we want to save the expense of even larger military forces to preserve order, if we want to reduce the size and expense of the army and occupation i can see no other course but to meet the burdens i have outlined. Our determination is to establish such a regime in germany as will prevent forever again the rise of militarism and aggression within these people. But those who believe in vengeance and punishment of a great mass of germans not concerned in this nazi conspiracy can have no misgivings for all of them. They need food and warmth and shelter. They have been sunk to the lowest level known in western history. If western civilization is to survive in europe it must also survive in germany. This would be the beginning what initially was called the hoover plain march and april of 1947. We now know it as the Marshall Plan. What hoover was recommending is we actually spend more money than the Marshall Plan would, and that we spend this money not only in europe but in asia as well. If we truly wanted to fight communism and save the taxpayers money. We needed to do this. This was hoovers argument in that. Both hoover and truman knew their names couldnt be attached to anything. There was a Republican Congress in 1946, who was listening to hoover but not to truman. Theres all sorts of things going on. General marshall had the status that could carry this through. So these matters going on. Then, were going to have a little bit of time thats difficult in their relationship. Other matters and issues are going to come about. The Republican Congress in the fall of 1946 has been very difficult for truman. He needs hoover or appropriation bills but some would argue did he manipulate hoovers trust at this time, and other things. There was a lot of contentiousness about the formation of the Marshall Plan and the role hoover played. Their friendship had really peaked for a while and then it would plummet and then start to go back up. So we would see throughout the years this building again, truman asks hoover to come and reformulate the government and make it much more efficient. So thats another aspect of that. Theres different social calls they make upon each other. When truman is no longer president in 1953, this is where the two men can really be as equals with each other. This is where their relationship can really deepen into more of a friendship. We will fast forward a little bit to the dedication of the Hoover Library in august 10th of 1962. All these kind of stories about truman coming here and getting caught in the crowds and it was such an exciting day and truman decided not to be too prepared. These were extemporaneous remarks he made to the crowd. My good friend, president hoover, who did a job for me as president of the United States that nobody else could do. For which i am and always will be grateful to him. I feel that i am one of his closest friends and he is one of my closest friends. And that is the reason i am here. I wanted to give you a little perspective on time. This is me in early 1963. As i have to remind my millennial students, it isnt really that long ago. Those are my two grandfathers. Its so nice to see hoovers grandson here. Theres a special relationship. Though my grandfathers were very different men, i think hoover was one of the few things they agreed on politically. So on december 19th, 1962, just eight days before my own birth, hoover would write from the waldorf histian towers i