National Affairs: Up from Despair

As he stepped into a White House limousine with Mrs. Truman and daughter Margaret, Harry Truman was a cool and confident man. He boarded his special train for Philadelphia, changed to a white linen suit and two-toned shoes, then opened a black leather folder and went over his speech.

It was not a written speech; it was 18 pages of notes. Wavy-haired Clark Clifford, his White House adviser, and JudgeSamuel I. Rosenman, who wrote many of Franklin Roosevelt's, speeches, had given him a detailed outline, full of short, punchy sentences.

The biggest punch was...

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