Bush is no Truman

President Harry Truman with Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Timothy Gay
Boston Globe

THE PRESIDENT was so down in the dumps that aides decided to surprise him with a party. With the economy sputtering and his foreign policy under siege, the president's pals thought a light-hearted evening away from the White House would buoy the boss's spirits.

Cabinet officers and cronies took turns toasting the chief executive, their playful gibes drawing cathartic laughter. Finally, the administration's gray eminence, the architect of its national security structure, rose to speak. The old warrior was as feared as he was admired. Chatter came to an abrupt halt.

"The full stature of this [president] will only be proven by history," he said, "but I want to say here and now that there has never been a decision made under this man's administration, affecting policies beyond our shores, which has not been in the best interest of this country. It is not the courage of these decisions that will live, but the integrity of the man."

Guests were stifling tears as the president stood to respond. But words wouldn't come; he was too moved.

In the sweetest fantasies of today's Republicans, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would be the stars of this scenario. Alas, the president to whom the poignant toast was directed was Democrat Harry Truman. And as documented by David McCullough's "Truman," the encomium was delivered by Truman's secretary of state (and later defense) George Marshall.

(More here.)