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At Laramie, in the University of Wyoming's auditorium ("You know, I never had the opportunity to go to college," Truman told the students), the President referred for the first time to the McCarthy vendetta aimed at his Secretary of State. Acheson, he noted, was now in Europe. "In this work that means so much to the peace of the world," said Truman with indignant emphasis, "I know that he has the confidence and support of the vast majority of the American people." His audience applauded.
"Men of Little Faith." In Idaho, Truman declared that if Congress 'had adopted the Brannan Plan, it would have "prevented all this talk about potatoes." Booming, bustling Pendleton, Ore. was picked for his prediction of an average $4,000-a-year income for every family by 1960.
By the time the tour readied Coulee City, Harry Truman was in high good spirits. He motored across 27 miles of sagebrush, most of which will be under water in 15 months, to the Columbia River's Upper Grand Coulee, where the dam, locked between bare hills, rises beside the desert. The formal purpose of his trip had been the dedication of the dam, Franklin Roosevelt Lake, and the whole Columbia Basin project. Above the roar of the huge torrent in the distant spillway, Harry Truman cried: "Thousands of family-sized farms will replace the sagebrush. Men of little faith . . . can't tell the difference between a waste of funds and a sensible investment . . ."
Bison & Birthdays. By this time reporters were exhausted, but 66-year-old Harry Truman was going strong. "This is a vacation for me," he said. Harry Truman liked people, and obviously, people liked him in a way that included no awe and not necessarily admiration. "Come back again, Mr. President," one woman called. "Thanks, I will," said Harry Truman. A railroad conductor beamed delightedly: "I went right up and shook hands with him." A reporter who had also traveled with Franklin Roosevelt noted the difference: Roosevelt had inspired worship, but from a distance. Harry Truman was one of the folks.
At nearly every stop there were banks of flowers for the Truman ladies, gifts for Harry. He got an Indian blanket in Pendleton, a miner's outfit in Butte, gold cuff links, bronze bison, six birthday cakes, and a peace pipe from Chief Bill Buffalo Hide of Montana's Blackfeet Indians. "You and Uncle Joe smoke that," said Chief Buffalo Hide. "O.K.," said Truman amiably but without conviction.
As the train, eastbound again, topped the Continental divide and swung down into the Missouri valley, the radio teletype clacked with queries to Washington on the Dakota floods for use in Dakota speeches. Truman spent a quiet Mother's Day in Wisconsin. In Joe McCarthy's home state, where the great vendetta might be a touchy subject, he talked only of world peace. But in Chicago, the greatest Democratic show in years was warming up.