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Truman, when he came into office, had been impressed by the Roosevelt habit of holding press conferences. He'd seen it in operation. Steve Early was still in Washington, and he said, “Well, you'll have to have a press conference, Mr. President.” Steve Early stayed around for some months and helped him, which was proper to do. Early was fully sold on the idea of the press conference.

I myself assisted Mrs. Truman to make the decision not to have press conferences. Coming down on the train from Hyde Park after the burial of President Roosevelt, we were all on a special train. President Truman asked I suppose everybody to come into his little compartment one by one. Mrs. Roosevelt also had a compartment at the end. We all went visiting. The President sent word that he'd like to see me. I came in, and he was there with Mrs. Truman. We just had a friendly talk about nothing special. While I was with her, somebody came in and said that Mrs. Roosevelt was ready to see him. He apparently had asked to see her earlier, and she had been dressing, or something. So he excused himself and went into Mrs. Roosevelt's compartment. I sat with Mrs. Truman awhile. She's very emotional really. She felt terribly. She'd been all wrought up over the funeral and felt awfully about Roosevelt's