I'm John Batsch with Nick Bonker.

The end of this story is a tragedy, the sneak attack by North Korea in late June of 1950, June 25th, 26th.

However, building up to this, Harry Truman has a vision, he calls it the fair deal. It includes health care reform. It includes

housing all the things that are needed for a country that's returning to normal, but all the veterans out there all the people who were in

war industries are now spending money and there need to be consumer goods and

Harry Truman understands that and he's still thinking

of the future always the future not just thinking of Joseph Stalin.

There's a moment where he goes on the road and it's very happy again to be on the road with with his wife, Bess, and Margaret his daughter.

And they wind up in Chicago, I believe, at the Blackstone Hotel. At this point how does Truman think of

the struggles that Achinson is having with McCarthy and what does Truman make of

McCarthy's ambition?

Does he think that he's a tool of Taft?

Does he think that he's a threat by himself?

Well at first, when McCarthy began his campaign in late January early February 1950

June had been kind of dismissed him he didn't really take McCarthy very seriously

and he thought that probably McCarthy could simply be dealt with if there was a kind of phalanx of

Democratic senators who got up in Congress and refuged all his various allegations.

So he didn't take McCarthy very seriously to begin with.

But gradually as the weeks went by, so it became clearer and clearer that McCarthy was really

getting traction with the American people.

Not only that, but of course Truman's own popularity rankings were slipping very badly.

His approval ratings had always kind of swung up and down pretty dramatically throughout

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