Word: trumanism
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Friends of Truman circulated the report that the former President--with the advice and connivance of FBI Chief J. Edger Hoover--allowed White's promotion in order not to tip off the Soviet spy apparatus and allow the FBI to collect more evidence. The story sounded plausible and Truman did not contradict it. But Hoover...
...nationwide address Truman said Brownell's charges were false, that he lied. He added, "The course we took protected the public interest and security and ...permitted the intensive FBI investigation then in progress to go forward. No other course could have served both purposes...
...Truman said he received an FBI report on White on Feb. 6, 1946, after the Senate had confirmed his new appointment. On receiving the dossier, he reportedly conferred with State Secretary James Byrnes and Treasury Secretary Fred Vinson. Vinson then went into a huddle with Hoover and Attorney General Tom Clark. All three agreed White was "unfit for service...
Since the FBI's evidence against White was not sufficient to indict him at that time, Hoover spoke of three alternatives Vinson and Clark planned to present to Truman: 1) Fire White without explanation; 2) Ask him to resign without explanation; 3) Allow him to take the new post, while the Attorney General continued the investigation and the Treasury Secretary supervised the appointment of reliable men around White. Truman adopted the last alternative, but White somehow was permitted to surround himself with suspected Communists...
Hoover stressed the point that Truman did not adopt that course on his advice. "At no time was the FBI a party to an agreement to promote Harry Dexter White and at no time did the FBI give its approval to such an agreement. Such an agreement ...would be inconceivable." The FBI, he maintains, does not advise but informs However, it is clear that through his reports, and through private conversation with Vinson and Clark, Hoover did advise the Administration of White's dangerous activities and warned them against advancing the security risk to the highly sensitive post...