January 20, 1953: A Nasty Transfer of Power

January 20, 1953: It is Inauguration Day. President Harry S Truman has completed what amounts to his 2nd term, and Dwight D. Eisenhower is to be sworn in as the 34th President of the United States.

At first, the two men admired each other. But not only had that stopped being the case, they now despised each other.

In 1948, Eisenhower, the leading American General of World War II, was courted by both major parties to run for President. Truman appeared to be terribly unpopular, and seemed to be willing to refuse to run for a term of his own, after serving what would have been Franklin Roosevelt's 4th term, if "Ike" would run as a Democrat. But he wouldn't run under either Party.

In 1952, having lost 5 straight elections, and finally free of the shadow of FDR, the Republicans practically begged Ike to run as their nominee. This time, he decided that he was a Republican, and won their nomination easily. Truman didn't like this, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

Ike accepted the Party's nomination of Senator Richard Nixon of California as his Vice President. Truman's opinion of Ike dropped significantly, as he knew that Nixon was already one of the most unprincipled men in the history of American politics, despite being only 39 years old, and having served less than 6 full years in public office.

Truman said, "The the General doesn’t know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday." While such turns of phrase were common in politics, Ike, being a rookie politician, wasn't used to it, and his opinion of Truman dropped precipitously.

The last straw, for Truman, was a speech that Ike gave on October 3, nationally broadcast from the Milwaukee Arena (later known as the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, or "The MECCA"), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That State's Senator, Joseph R. McCarthy, he of the lies about "Communists" and "subversives" serving in Truman's Administration, was running for re-election. Among the Administration officials he had attacked was George C. Marshall, who had been a 5-star General, and Secretary of State in Truman's 1st term, and Secretary of Defense in Truman's 2nd term. He was also a Republican. And a close friend of Ike's.

Ike had a speech ready to go, in which he would defend Marshall, who had been an early backer of his:

I know that charges of disloyalty have in the past been levelled at George C. Marshall. Any of his alleged errors in judgment while serving in capacities other than military, I am not here discussing. But I was privileged throughout the years of World War II to know General Marshall personally, as Chief of Staff of the Army. I know him, as a man and a soldier, to be dedicated with singular selflessness and the profoundest patriotism to the service of America. Here we have a sobering lesson of the way freedom must not defend itself.

Eisenhower was taken aside by Party officials, and told that if he said that, it would damage McCarthy's chances of re-election, thus damaging the Party's bid to take control of the Senate; and would also damage the Party's chance of winning Wisconsin in the Electoral Vote, thus possibly hurting his own chance of being elected President.

Eisenhower could have said, "Marshall is my friend, and I'm going to make that statement, and you and McCarthy can both go to Hell." Instead, he dropped the paragraph from the speech. Truman found out about it, and hit the roof. He accused Eisenhower of "moral blindness."

On October 25, in Detroit, Eisenhower gave a speech about the Korean War:

Where will a new Administration begin? It will begin with its President taking a simple, firm resolution. The resolution will be: To forego the diversions of politics, and to concentrate on the job of ending the Korean War, until that job is honorably done. That job requires a personal trip to Korea. (Break for applause.)

I shall make that trip. Only in that way could I learn how best to serve the American people in the cause of peace. I shall go to Korea.

Truman considered this statement to be grandstanding. But anybody who was still undecided in the election now had the final piece to their puzzle. Eisenhower won in a landslide. His victory in Wisconsin, as in the nation at large, was never truly in doubt: He won the State's 12 Electoral Votes with just under 61 percent of the popular vote. McCarthy was re-elected, with 54 percent: Not a landslide, but a solid win.

Truman and Ike met just once between the election on November 4 and the Inauguration on January 20, at the White House on November 18. Truman considered the briefing his duty, but did nothing more than his duty. Ike claimed he'd learned nothing of value from the meeting. On December 2, Ike kept his promise, and made a 3-day visit to Korea, to see for himself what was really going on. Although he'd promised to take this trip, the fact that it had happened was not made public until he returned.

The tradition is that, on the morning of the Inauguration, when there is a new President rather than a re-elected one, the President-elect and his wife are driven by the Secret Service to the White House, where they are greeted by the outgoing President and First Lady. They pose for pictures, then go inside and have coffee, and then the outgoing and incoming Presidents ride to the Capitol Building together.

This time, Ike refused to get out of the car, and kept Truman waiting. Apparently, Ike still thought of himself as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, and of Truman as a Captain in World War I. Never mind that Ike never actually saw a day in combat, in any war, and Truman had.

Their patience finally exhausted, Harry and Bess Truman came out, and Harry told  the Secret Service to let Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower out of the car, to carry out the tradition. Ike did not appreciate this. Mamie's reaction is unrecorded.

There was a big surprise inside the White House: Captain John Eisenhower, U.S. Army, the President-elect's only surviving child, had been recalled from serving in the Korean War, to attend the festivities. Having seen combat, he had been reassigned to the headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart, outside Savannah, Georgia. When the two Presidents were alone, Ike could barely maintain his composure, complaining that John should have stayed with his mates and done his duty.

Truman laid down the law. Literally. He told the President-elect, "Until Noon today, I am the Commander-in-Chief, and he goes where I tell him to go, and I told him to come and watch his father get sworn in as the President of the United States. Once you're the President, you can tell him to go wherever you want."

The ride to the Capitol would have been cold even if the ceremony had been held at the height of Summer. Eisenhower broke the silence by saying, of Truman's 1949 Inauguration, "I did not attend your Inauguration out of consideration for you, because if I had been present, I would have drawn attention away from you." Not willing to let this ego trip slide, Truman reminded Ike that he was still in the Army at the time, and, again, that he, Truman, was his Commander-in-Chief, saying, "Ike, I didn't ask you to come, or you would have been here."

Attending the Inauguration were Truman, Eisenhower, Vice President-elect Nixon, former President Herbert Hoover, Senator John F. Kennedy, Senate Minority Leader Lyndon Johnson, Representative Gerald R. Ford, and, as a guest of his father, Senator Prescott Bush, George H.W. Bush -- 8 men who would eventually serve as President of the United States: The 31st, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th and 41st Presidents.

Fred Vinson, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who had sworn Truman in at his 1949 Inauguration, did so for Eisenhower as well.

Ike had never been considered a great public speaker, and never would be. His Inaugural Address was not considered, then or now, especially memorable.

Captain Eisenhower attended various Inaugural festivities. The next day, President Eisenhower ordered him to return to duty. The new President, having had time to think about it, sent the former President a letter, telling him he appreciated the gesture of calling his son home for the festivities -- but not apologizing for having objected in the first place.

On July 27, 1953, an armistice was signed, ending the Korean War. John Eisenhower then served on the Army's general staff, and later in the White House, as assistant to the Staff Secretary, General Andrew Goodpaster.

Harry Truman and Ike Eisenhower met only twice more, at funerals: At Marshall's in 1959, and at Kennedy's in 1963. Both meetings progressed as if there had never been any animosity between them.

John Eisenhower retired from the Army in 1963, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He remained in the Army Reserve until 1975, having reached the rank of Brigadier General -- having gotten there in his own right. In 1969, shortly after Ike's death, remembering John's service to his father at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Nixon appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. By that point, John's son David, for whom Camp David was named, had married Nixon's daughter, Julie.

John Eisenhower became a military historian, writing biographies of General Winfield Scott and General/President Zachary Taylor; and books about the Mexican-American War, the U.S. involvement in the Mexican Revolution, World War I, the U.S.-British alliance, and the Battle of the Bulge. He died in 2013.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy got along fine during the transition of 1960-61. Johnson and Nixon had no love lost between them, but there was no problem between them in the transition of 1968-69. Ford and Jimmy Carter were fine in 1976-77; Carter and Reagan had no problems in 1980-81; being of the same party, Reagan and the elder Bush had no problems in 1988-89; Bush and Bill Clinton were fine with each other in 1992-93; Clinton and George W. Bush were fine with each other in 2000-01; and Bush and Barack Obama were fine with each other in 2008-09.

Obama treated Donald Trump properly during the transition of 2016-17, and on January 20, 2017, Trump, always concerned with "optics" above all, played the part, before launching into the most disgusting Inaugural Address of all time. Trump left Washington before his time was up on January 20, 2021, and Joe and Jill Biden did not make the visit to the White House for coffee, because there was no one to visit. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen were not asked to stand in for the Trumps, though they did attend the ceremony.

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January 20, 1953 was a Tuesday. Jeffrey Epstein, financier, sex criminal, and perhaps the closest thing Donald Trump had to a true friend, was born on this day.

Baseball and football were out of season. No games were scheduled in the NHL. There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals, 70-59 at the Butler Fieldhouse (now the Hinkle Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.