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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

Q:

Was there ever an occasion where you wanted to give him some advice during the campaign?

Cerf:

I never felt up to that. That would have been presumptuous. Furthermore, that's not my act. I'm not a politician. In fact, I'm the most tactless person that you've probably ever met. You may have discovered that by this time.

Q:

No. I haven't found that.

Cerf:

Oh, I'm very tactless.

Q:

We've already gone over the F.D.R. situation...there were many politicians that you were familiar with, for instance Harry Truman. I know that you sent books to him, but I was wondering if there was anything more to that.

Cerf:

The way that I met Truman was casual. We distributed Bernie Geis's books. We haven't gone into the whole Geis business yet. But Geis published a book by Truman that we distributed. Just after publication date, Bernie gave a luncheon for Truman in Chicago and he and I sat down and started exchanging stories about Franklin D. Roosevelt. I had had all of these experiences with F.D.R.'s books and Truman thought them very funny.

Later I made a date with Truman to have breakfast. He was in New York, staying at the Carlyle Hotel up on Madison Avenue, in the suite later occupied by the Kennedys.





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