Never Gave Anyone Hell: A Timeline

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Never Gave Anyone Hell
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"I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell."

- Harry Truman
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Where's the Beef?
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HT: Listen Clinton, I've heard enough of this OPA talk for a lifetime. Controls will come back in August and that'll be that. They'll be phased out soon enough. There's no need to panic over it. We've fought this fight before and we've lost. The last thing we need before the election is another fight over the OPA, I'm so damn tired of this right now.

CA: But look at this! Farmers are just dumping meat into the market right now, what will be left on the 20th?

HT: There's always meat Clinton. No farmer worth his salt would sell all their meat at once. It was true in Missouri. Its true across the country.

CA: With price controls back no one will sell, the prices are too damn low, so they'll sell all they can when the prices are up. Then it'll all disappear.

HT: A meat eating fairy? Magically stopping the meat? That's my justification for wading into the mud over price controls?

CA: Harry, please. I'm not asking you to meddle in the OPA's prices, I'm asking you to let me sit down with some folks and try to stabilize the market.

HT: Clinton you're Secretary of Agriculture, this isn't only your territory. I've already got a Commerce Secretary who wants to run the State Department. I can't…

CA: This isn't a coup Harry. Its just some soft gloves trying to keep a meat shortage from happening.

HT: A shortage I don't even know exists.

CA: Tell you what. I'll throw together a report, get some farmers and shops to talk to my people. See what they're planning to do

HT: Fine. You do that Clinton then we'll see how real this drop off is.

CA: Thank you Mr. President.

_____

"I uh, remember that conversation. Clinton came to me and told me about how farmers were dumping meat before the deadline and how there'd be a shortage once the OPA took charge again. He told me all about that so I told him to get together something we could do about it. And of course Clinton did, good man that he is, and I sent him to do his thing[1].

"Yeah, it did get some heat in the papers. We'd just promised to free up the markets and here we were meddling and cajoling farmers into selling their goods for a lower price then they could be. But I'll be damned if getting red meat has ever made a working man angry."

- Former President Harry S Truman

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"As Truman slouched towards the midterms his advisors advised him to stay off the campaign trail. Contrary to some assumptions Truman was not universally unpopular, most people agreed with the broad ideals of liberalism and very few believed that the country was heading for disaster. However the president was tainted by defeat after defeat. His efforts to protect price controls were fruitless, though the OPA was renewed everyone saw it would not last much longer. His plans for universal healthcare, universal military training and universal employment had all been shot down easily by Congress. His handling of wage issues and labor was seen as uneven and pleased nobody. Truman's foreign policy had been decently received, but it was not stellar enough to improve his image. The 1946 elections looked poor already for the liberal democrats that Truman had tirelessly courted since his inauguration, and he still faced opposition from the most prominent liberal of them all, Henry Wallace."

- "Harry Truman: At Home", Alonzo Hamby

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HT: Henry, I've told you. You can't just come in here and shove a speech in my face. Its foreign policy?

HW: Yes.

HT: Then send it to the State Department.

HW: I want it from the top.

HT: I don't have time to read everything someone in my cabinet wants to say.

HW: So I'll just go then…

HT: Well I can't just let them say whatever either. I don't want you going off and destroying my policy.

HW: Then look at my speech.

HT: I don't have any time!

HW: So what should I do? Not give it?

HT: I just damn told you to go to the State Department!

HW: You know the State Department won't like what I have to say.

HT: Then I doubt I will either.

HW: Just read my speech!

[groan]

HT: Give it to one of my Secretaries, staffer, whatever. They'll look over it and talk to me about it

HW: Do you give me your word that you'll at least read the whole thing over?

[sigh]

HT: Yes.

HW: Thanks Harry.

[door]

[cursing]

_____

"Booooooooooooooooooooo…"

- Many, many, Left Wing activists after Henry Wallace's speech, which was perceived as caving to President Truman.

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MrT said:
Was there any way for Truman and Wallace to reconcile?

Gorgon said:
The White House wasn't big enough for the two of them, they both wanted to run the country and in totally different ways. Some sort of split was inevitable, frankly I'm amazed they didn't break off sooner.

Sox said:
Gotta keep up appearances for the midterms.

Gorgon said:
Because that worked so well…

Sox said:
Could be worse.

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Democratic Party: 49 (-8)
Republican Party: 47 (+9)
Progressive Party: 0 (-1)


The Democrats (left to right): President Pro Tempore Kenneth McKeller (TN), Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley (KY), Senate Majority Whip Lister Hill (AL)

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The Republicans (left to right): Senate Minority Leader Arthur Vandenberg (MI), Senate Minority Whip Kenneth Wherry

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Republican Party: 230 (+39)
Democratic Party: 204 (-38)
American Labor Party: 1 (0)


The Republicans (left to right): Speaker of the House Joseph Martin (MA-14), House Majority Leader Charles Halleck (IN-2), House Majority Whip Leslie Arends (Il-17)

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The Democrats (left to right): House Minority Leader Sam Rayburn (TX-4), House Minority Whip John McCormack (MA-12)

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[2]

The American Labor Party: Vito Marcantonio (NY-18)

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RN: Damn. What do I do now?

=====

1: Our POD folks.
2: Anyone got any good young McCormack pictures?

Astute readers will note that many parts of this opening are retreads of the opening parts of Upon the Precipice.
 
Chapter 2: Labor Pains
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"I am certainly sorry that we can't try Lewis in your court. I am sure he would get a fair trial and then be hanged."
- Harry Truman to his friend, Circuit Judge Sherman Minton.
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SickleStar45 said:
Honestly, I don't get why so many liberals like Truman. He back stabbed the unions in '46, I don't give a damn about Hartley, what he did to UMWA was inexcusable.

TUL said:
Truman had never liked the Big Unions, and he never would. Lewis was making an unpopular, illegal move, and Truman took him to town. It made him more popular then if he hadn't.

SickleStar45 said:
But it hurt the worker.

CrimsonConfederate said:
In a limited context. Look at what Truman did next. He plowed right at Congress.

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"Truman found the Senate quite amiable to his foreign policy proposals. Minority Leader Vandenberg was himself a internationalist, and opposition to Communism was strong, so he had both the Democrats and quite a few Republicans on board. This meant that, when it came to foreign affairs, Truman had a wide berth to work with. Robert Taft led an undaunted isolationist faction, but found himself steamrolled by the Vandenberg supported Democratic leadership."

- Harry Truman: Abroad, by Alonzo Hamby

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HT: Those bastards. Damn em all. David, don't worry, they'll have hell to pay.

DL: Thank you for your support Mr. President, but with the…

HT: Oh you'll be approved. Kenneth is a good man, but those leeches have smeared you, and I'm gonna smear em right back. They're just doing it for personal satisfaction, no real policy about it.

DL: I think that it would be best for the Atomic Energy Commission…

HT: Not to be smeared as Communist.

DL: I think that Americans can see that I am not a Communist.

HT: They will after I'm done.

_____

"Truman's unnecessarily hostile tone during the nomination of David Lilienthal was seen as crass by many Washington observers, but it geared the President up for a fight over unions that would consume the rest of his career.

The Majority of Americans during the late 40's agreed that Unions held too much power. Truman probably agreed with this assessment, but he needed Union support to have any chance to be reelected, so he kept his cards close to his chest.

Meanwhile House Republicans churned out their own piece of "Labor Reform", which came mainly from New Jersey Congressman Fred Hartley. The bill was harsh, ending jurisdictional strikes, certain Union campaign contributions, closed shops and other controversial union practices. Hartley's Bill passed the House with flying colors, and went to the Senate. Though the bill was intended to be a shot across the bow to Labor it actually managed to pass the Senate on the backs of Conservative Democrats. Truman vetoed it, automatically.

The House Voted to override in favor of the Hartley Bill, again with Southern Democratic support. But the Senate could not get to the 64 votes needed to override the veto, largely due to the work of Majority Leader Barkley[1]. Conservatives decried Truman to "buckling to Union pressure" while previous ambivalent Unions found themselves supporting Truman.

Meanwhile Robert Taft began to craft another Labor Bill, designed to win over the 15 Democrats the Republicans would need if they hoped to override Truman's inevitable veto. Taft, somewhat reluctantly, hacked off several provisions from the Hartley Act. He dropped the ban on political contributions but retained the jurisdictional strike position. In an effort to appeal to the Democrats who had not yet supported the bill he replaced the ban on closed shops with a provision the returned that power to the states.

This proved enough.

The House would, after some fuming by firebrands, pass a virtually identical bill. The bill would find its way to Truman's desk under the official title "National Labor Relations Act of 1947". Truman found this bill much more appealing then the Hartley Bill, but still felt compelled to veto it. The House again overrode the Veto overwhelmingly. Truman and the Senate leadership worked relentlessly to try and strong arm votes, but to no avail. The Taft Bill became law over the screaming objections of the President.

'I'll be damned' said the President. 'If I ever trust McKeller with anything this important again.'"

- Labor: A Documentary

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HT: AUSTEN!

WA: Mr. President?

HT: YOU JUST ABOUT PULLED THE RUG FROM UNDER ME!

WA: I'm not su…

HT: The Speech, you fool, the speech.

WA: For the UN?

HT: Yes, that damn speech. It's a complete reversal of my policy. And you just planned to give it out.

WA: I had assumed Clifford has informed you.

HT: He did, not even 48 hours before you were set to give the damn thing.

WA: You know as well as I do that Partition isn't going to work like its supposed to. In order to keep the Arabs on our side against the Reds we've got to take a nuanced position.

HT: I've got millions of Jewish voters who look at your "nuanced position", sneer, and vote for Dewey or Taft. Edit the speech. Something nice and noncommittal for the delegates.

WA: Sir, are you sure? This could have ramifications on our Mideast policy?

HT: I'm sure.[2]

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1: 18 Democrats voted to override Taft-Hartley IOTL, more then is needed to get the bill over the hump even here. However with their party in control Senators feel the pressure a bit more, leaving it just short.

2: The End Result here is that Truman saves a bit of face on the Israel Independence Issue. But nothing substantial is changed on the ground in the Levant.
 
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