Truman News Conf. Chicago 6-6-60

Transcript (Download)

What did you say? The word wasn't vetoed.

It was put up to me through the Secretary of State that such flights would be a good thing to be made.

And the Secretary of State and I turned it down.

Why was that, sir? Because we didn't think it was right.

When was that? Oh, it was in the 1949 or 50s.

It's been a long time ago.

About the time you were born, I guess.

Why did you turn it down, sir? Because we didn't think it was right.

That's all there was to it.

What specifically was it? Was it over Russian territory? Over Russian territory, you know.

Over Chinese territory.

And anywhere else we thought we ought to find things out.

And we just decided that wasn't the way to do it.

Why did it want to do it? Oh, I don't know.

Some fell back there in the State Department and thought he was smart.

There are a lot of them like that.

Sir, are we being naive then, thinking that espionage is not a part of the legitimate government's activities? Espionage is a dirty deal and has to be done by somebody.

But I wasn't going to be a party to it.

Put it down that way.

That takes care of it.

Well, then, Mr.

Truman, do you feel that President Eisenhower was wrong in assuming responsibility for what he did? I don't know anything about why President Eisenhower did what he did.

And I'm not quoting him or saying anything about what he did.

That's his business, not mine.

I took care of it myself under the same circumstances, and that's all I can talk to you about.

President, may I ask this then? If you didn't want to be a party to it, did you still feel that it was necessary that it was done by a robot? I did not.

I thought it was necessary.

And I still think so.

I still think so.

I still think so.

Do you think you're playing the likes of a star? I say I still think so.

Truman, it might be some confusion here.

Are you talking about...

Well, you're usually confused.

Now, let's not confuse you.

What is you want to know? All right, well, I know you and your man can do it.

Are you talking about all kinds of espionage or just about the flights? Over this territory under the circumstances which they were made.

You didn't mean to say that...

It's all sorts of espionage.

And I never want to know anything about it because that wasn't my business.

But it went on during your administration.

I say I suppose so.

Be sure to get that suppose in there.

Do you have any reports coming to your desk about...

I had all sorts of reports about what was going on in the various cultures, but where they got them I didn't question.

I guess you didn't want to know about it at all.

I didn't have anything to do with the dirtiness of spying on other people.

I don't like it.

And I don't like it personally or individually or any other way.

Well, how did you...

I think these things behind the wall here, if you got any here, well, I hope they're working.

You did like yours.

If you'd shut off the airplanes when the rights got through inventing one, where would we have been? That's the answer to your question.

President, President Eisenhower got a note today and the other day that the time in competition re -evaluated the whole conflict of interest problem because he said there's a lot of good men and good women too that have been kept out of the government because of strict application of the conflict of interest.

There can be no too strict application of the conflict of interest.

You can right -actually correct today as to what's there.

Truman, on the subject of domestic politics, how's your candidate doing? Your presidential candidate? Oh, he's doing all right.

Would you care to assess the relative strength of the Democratic candidates? I can't give you an assessment because I don't know.

I'll tell you more about it on the 11th day of July when the Democratic convention meets.

You know, I don't like prophecies on what's going to happen at various times politically.

And neither do I care what the posters do.

They never come out correctly.

West Virginia is a shining example, if I'm not mistaken.

What do you plan on doing for November 11th? That's my business.

Do you think that Senator Kennedy has 600 votes, as he says? I don't know.

How do I know? I haven't counted.

I'm going to try to get him nominated, and that's all I can do.

What have you done so far outside of the door? Well, I've endorsed him.

I say I've endorsed him.

Are you making any other campaign speeches for him before the 11th of July? I'm not making campaign speeches at the press time.

Any chance that you're going to be there? No.

No chance in the world.

I'm too old to be there.

There's an old lady chasing me.

Her name's Annie Dominar, and I don't like her.

If she'd just turn the clock back instead of go forward, I'd be all right.

Do you accept these four and a half votes? All right.

Have you been healthy for the country or the party? I have no comment to make on anything Mr.

Stevenson had to say.

He's responsible for his own remarks, and you'll have to interpret them yourself.

I'm not going to need to interpret them for you.

I see you're running for your concerning the article from local agitation.

I haven't heard from him at all.

I've heard some remarks that you fellas quoted, but whether he said them or not, I don't know, because I don't approve of everything you say.

One last thing.

Thank you for your patience.

Now hold it up.

Why were you...

Give you both sides.

Get your cover, and then I'll give you the inside where it tells what it is.

It's not your first picture on the cover.

Just look at the cover.

Look at the recording.

What am I going to tell them about it? Go on and buy it.

Hey, don't make such a quick one.

Oh, is that right? That's right.

Identifier

F.2012-03-1061

Date Of Production

1960

Abstract

Black and white outtakes of a press conference with former U.S. president Harry Truman. He discusses espionage and says he supposes it happened under his administration, but he did not want to know about it as he doesn’t like it. He says he doesn’t know why President Dwight D. Eisenhower did what he did. This comment is possibly in reference to Gary Powers who was caught flying on a reconnaissance mission over Soviet airspace in 1960. He also discusses the upcoming 1960 presidential elections. He shows off the cover of his new book Mr. Citizen to the press.

Run Time

0:07:42

Format

16mm

Extent

277 feet

Color

B&W

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Negatives

Genre

Political

Form

Outtakes
Newsreels

Subject

Presidents
Politics and government
Political elections

Related Collections

SUBSERIES I: Politics & Government

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Main Credits

Koza, Frank (is filmmaker)

Participants And Performers

Truman, Harry S. (is participant)

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