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Part: 12 Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536 Page 682683684685686687688689690691692693694695696697698699703704705706707708709710711712713714715716717 of 1143
sides of the coversation and Hannegan answered, ‘No, he's Roosevelt? very stubborn’--this is all a quotation from Truman--and Truman replied, ‘Well, tell him I need him and I want him to do this, and he can't take the responsibility to let me down.’
“Well,” said Truman, “this did it, and I said to Hannegan, ‘I'll run.’ It was then five a.m. in the morning and everyone was committed to someonelse for Vice President. There was no one to nominate me, so I went down to Champ Clark's room. You know how drunk he got. Well, I got very drunk and told him, and he nominated me.” Then he said, “Don't tell this, I just can't believe there's only one man among 155 million people who can do this job,” meaning the job of President for the next four years.
Matt Connolly entered the room to get us out but the President said firmly to him, “I'm talking,” and Matt departed. I said, “Well, maybe there are some other people who can do the job but they haven't had any practice at all. Don't you think you did a better job now than you did the first six months when you were President?” “Oh, yes,” the President said enthusiastically, “it takes practice, and we can't let a man like Kefauver have it; he's a nice man, but...” “Well, wouldn't it be terrible to let Taft or Eisenhower get it?” I asked. He said, “Yes, that must not happen!” I said, “So, that means you must run,” and then he said, “Well, I can't let the Democratic Party down.”
“Eisenhower is doing a good job where he is,” I said. “He should stay there. He's a great soldier and is doing a good
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