Evening star., 1952-02-21
Truman S Informal Address to Mosons

Truman 'sInf(
FOLLOWING is the tert of Presi-
dent TrunaGn's remarks at a
Masonic breakfast today at the
Stdtler Hotel:
Mr.. Chairman. Distinguished
Guests-and Mr.. Speaker:
am going to make an excep-
ton In the speaker. The people
that have been introduced to you
this morning are the Missouri
gang" There is not man at
this table. and that table. except
the speaker, that I haven't ap-
pointed to office. You have had
a pretty good look at them, and
there are just two Missourians
among them. I thought you ought
to know that, and that they come
from all over the United States.
People sometimes get some wrong
impressions Of the setup and the
organization that runs the Gov
ernment of the United States,
The most powerful man in the
Government of the United States,
except the President himself, Is
sitting right here: the Speaker Of
the House. And I have to be
polite to him all the time. That
is not hard to do. He and I
have been friends ever since I
can remember meeting him, a
long time ago in Texas. when he
was just an ordinary Congress-
man he wasn't even a chairman
of committee at that time. And
I have been proud to be a friend
of his, and have him for friend
of mine ever since.
Now, this breakfast that Frank
Land gives US once year is one
of the incest things that happens
to the President, for the simple
reason that it gives him a chance
to be himself, which is not very
often. g..
The President Of the. United
States is charged with being the
most powerful executive in the
world He is the head Of the most
powerful Nation in the world. but
the Office of the President of the
United States is q public rela-
tions Office. He doesn't very
often exercise the powers that are
delegated to him in the Con-
stitution and by the laws which
he is sworn to support and de-
fend and protect. He spends
most Of his time talking kindly
and giving lectures to people and
begging them to do what they
ought to do without being begged.
Those are the powers Of the
President.
Describes Press Job.
Just to give you an example,
the chairman introduced the press
secretary but didn't tell you what
his office was. Mr.. Short is the
press secretary. and he is native
of Mississippi, and he got his
public relations education on the
Baltimore Sun. And he is a good
press secretary, and he succeeded
a wonderful one, Charles G. Ross.
I went to school with him. He was
one of the real Missouri gang,
Charlie was. And I saw the other
day where the Post-Dispatch had
presented a picture and erected a
memorial. to him in Columbia, Mo-,
where Charlie was the dean Of the
School Of Journalism. Now that
is quite an admission for the great
Post-Dispatch to make. because
they are not very fond of me.
And the fellow next to Mr.. Short
is my correspondence secretary,
whose title Frank Land did not
give. And the correspondence
secretary is an indispensable man
around the White House. He de-
cides on what days to celebrate,
and what messages we will send to
organizations. such as this, to
make them feel that the President
has got a personal interest in
them. And he is genius at it
he makes them believe it.
And John Steelman there is the
Assistant to the President. He
does a lot of things that the Presi-
dent couldn't get done if he had
to do them himself. You see, the
Presidents day starts at five
thirty in the morning and it ends
about eleven o'clock at night
and then he Is not through. he
begins doing a lot Of things that
none of you would believe he has
to do. A counselor for the Presi-
dent is Mr.. Murphy. He works
with the Attorney General and all
the legal lights in the various
departments. Every one of these
gentlemen here who is chairman
of a commission has a counselor.
And it is the duty of Mr.. Murphy
to see that the counselors of these
various organizations understand
to some extent what the President
is trying to do. Most Of them do,
some of them don't. It is Muir
phys job to see that they do
understand it.
Praises Connolly.
Then the President has an ap-
pointment secretary, who happens
to be a native of the great State
of Massachusetts,. He was part
Of the organization that helped
the committee to investigate the