Last updated: April 26, 2022
Article
Dr. Wallace H. Graham Oral History Interview
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Dr. Wallace Graham Oral History Interview, Harry S Truman NHS, December, 1985 Part One
The audio in these files correspond to the transcripts below.
- Credit / Author:
- National Park Service
- Date created:
- 04/26/2022
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Dr. Wallace Graham Oral History Interview, Harry S Truman NHS, December, 1985, Part Two
The second part of Dr. Graham's oral history, corresponding with the transcript below.
- Credit / Author:
- National Park Service
- Date created:
- 04/26/2022
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Dr. Wallace Graham Oral History Interview, Harry S Truman NHS, Part Three
This audio corresponds with the transcription below.
- Date created:
- 04/26/2022
Truman Library
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW
WITH
DR. WALLACE H. GRAHAM
DECEMBER 9, 1985INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI
INTERVIEWED BY PAM SMOOT
ORAL HISTORY #1985-9
This transcript corresponds to audiotapes DAV-AR #3088-3090
HARRY S TRUMAN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
EDITORIAL NOTICE
This is a transcript of a tape-recorded interview conducted for Harry S Truman National Historic Site. After a draft of this transcript was made, the park provided a copy to the interviewee and requested that he or she return the transcript with any corrections or modifications that he or she wished to be included in the final transcript. The interviewer, or in some cases another qualified staff member, also reviewed the draft and compared it to the tape recordings. The corrections and other changes suggested by the interviewee and interviewer have been incorporated into this final transcript. The transcript follows as closely as possible the recorded interview, including the usual starts, stops, and other rough spots in typical conversation. The reader should remember that this is essentially a transcript of the spoken, rather than the written, word. Stylistic matters, such as punctuation and capitalization, follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. The transcript includes bracketed notices at the end of one tape and the beginning of the next so that, if desired, the reader can find a section of tape more easily by using this transcript.Dr. Wallace H. Graham and Jim Williams reviewed the draft of this transcript. Their corrections were incorporated into this final transcript by Perky Beisel in summer 2001. A grant from Eastern National Park and Monument Association funded the transcription and final editing of this interview.
RESTRICTION
Researchers may read, quote from, cite, and photocopy this transcript without permission for purposes of research only. Publication is prohibited, however, without permission from the Superintendent, Harry S Truman National Historic Site.ABSTRACT
Wallace H. Graham, M.D. (October 9, 1910—January 4, 1996) was a colonel in theUnited States Army when President Truman chose him to be his personal physician and medical advisor. From that point in September 1945 until the death of Bess Truman, Graham was the Truman family physician. In this interview, Graham describes his first meeting with Truman at Potsdam, some experiences from the Truman White House, and his relationship with the Trumans that developed during their retirement years. Persons mentioned: Harry S Truman, Bess W. Truman, James W. Graham, Harry H.< Vaughn, King Ibn Saud, King Faisal I of Saudi Arabia, James F. Byrnes, Margaret Truman Daniel, Adlai Stevenson, Madge Gates Wallace, Albert K. Chow, Li Zongren (also spelled Li Tsung-jen), Song Meiling (also spelled Soong Mei-Ling; aka Madame Chiang Kai-shek), Chiang Kai-shek, Eurico Gaspar Dutra, and Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, first earl of Halifax.
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH
DR. WALLACE H. GRAHAM
HSTR INTERVIEW #1985-9STEVE HARRISON: This is an interview with Dr. Wallace Graham, the Trumans’
family physician. It’s being conducted by Pam Smoot,
historian with the National Park Service at the Midwest
Regional Office in Omaha. Today’s date is December 9,
1985. We’re conducting the interview in the living room of
the Truman home at 219 North Delaware in Independence.
My name is Steve Harrison. I’ll be operating the tape
recorder.
DR. WALLACE H. GRAHAM: . . . for?
PAM SMOOT: For the National Park Service.
GRAHAM: National Park . . . [chuckling]
SMOOT: Yes, the National Park Service.
GRAHAM: Alright, that’s fine.
SMOOT: To better understand Harry and Bess Truman. The information that you’ll
provide us will help with the interpretation of Harry S Truman National
Historic Site.
GRAHAM: [reading the interview gift form] This is quite a document. What’s all this
for? I mean, I’m giving away my rights or my life. [laughter] Which is it?
Interesting. I’ve written quite a bit on both Mrs. T. and then the president,
that they have gone over themselves and okayed, but I haven’t done
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anything about it. Well . . . [reading]
SMOOT: Steve, you will be our witness, won’t you? You’re going to charge us.
GRAHAM: [pause as Dr. Graham reads] Okay.
SMOOT: Dr. Graham, would you please tell us your name, address, and your birth
date?
GRAHAM: Wallace Harry Graham. My address is 5157 Ward Parkway. I’m a medical
doctor, physician and surgeon, and my address is 5157 Ward Parkway,
Kansas City, Missouri, 64112.
SMOOT: Okay, and your birth date?
GRAHAM: My birth date is October 9, 1910.
SMOOT: Dr. Graham, where is your hometown?
GRAHAM: My hometown? Kansas City, Missouri.
SMOOT: Did you ever live in Independence at any time?
GRAHAM: No, never did.
SMOOT: Where did you attend medical school?
GRAHAM: Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska; and Harvard University.
SMOOT: Did you specialize in any particular area of medicine?
GRAHAM: Not in the undergraduate work and not in the graduate work—I mean, from
the standpoint of medical school. But following that, then, I had my
internship and then a residency, and I specialized in general surgery then. I
had a five-year residency in Walter Reed Army Hospital, and stayed on
there later as chief of section in surgery. [interview is interrupted by Lisa
Bosso who gives Dr. Graham a phone message from Research Hospital;
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and tape is turned off]
. . . two or three weeks. It must be a full moon or something.
[laughter] Really, this man’s wife, he says, “She’s gurgling down the hall,
doctor!” [laughter] Yes, she has Alzheimer’s disease, which is a disease of
the brain. But my gosh, being in the practice as long as I have though, and it
comes usually in elderly people, I’m coming to that phase of my practice
where a lot of them are getting it.
HARRISON: You’ve had the same patients for a long period of time?
GRAHAM: Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes. This one girl, she’s been a teacher, she’s been a
mathematician, and brilliant, and now she’s just . . . oh, she’s way out. Just
all of a sudden. Her husband thought he saw something peculiar about her
and put her in the hospital, and then I listened and she is out. I’ve got about
five of them.
SMOOT: You’d better watch yourself. [chuckling]
GRAHAM: Yes, barely got it [?] maybe catch it, and boom! [chuckling] What’s your
name, you say?
SMOOT: My name is Pamela Smoot.
GRAHAM: Pamela Smoot, yes.
SMOOT: I’m working on a Ph.D. at Michigan State University in American history.
GRAHAM: Great! It’s a marvelous school.
SMOOT: I think so.
GRAHAM: I have a son up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at Blodgett Memorial Hospital.
He’s in the sixth year of a residency in surgery up there. He says it’s too
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cold for anybody.
SMOOT: I know. It’s very chilly there.
GRAHAM: It’s bad enough here. [chuckling]
SMOOT: Dr. Graham, when did you first meet the Trumans?
GRAHAM: Well, I first met them at a reserve officers’ meeting through my father.
Now, that is very vague. This may be yea or nay, but I never made anything
of it. The fact is, I was reluctant to meet him. He was a senator at that time.
I hadn’t really known him at all, but my father knew him and he wanted me
to meet the senator. So I met the senator, and that’s it. Now, when did I see
him again? Well, I didn’t ever actually meet him where we knew each other
at all, except I asked him why he chose me as his surgeon. He said, “Well,”
he said, “I looked over all the doctors from Missouri,” and then he said, “I
settled down to Kansas City.” He said, “Jim Graham was a whale of a fine
doctor.” He said, “I figured some of it could have rubbed off on you.”
[chuckling] He said, “I figured I’d find out.”
I was over in Germany at the time, and I had put in for Japan. I was
in Stuttgart at the time, and he came over there for the Potsdam conference.
Matter of fact, I turned it down because the officer came through with a
group of officers and said, “Colonel Graham?” I said, “Yes?” “You’re
wanted at Potsdam immediately.” “Am I being transferred?” “No, the
President of the United States wants to see you.” I said, “No, he doesn’t. He
doesn’t know me and I don’t know him. He doesn’t want to see me. You’ve
got the wrong man.” They looked at me and they said, “Well, we think
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we’ve got the wrong man, too.” [chuckling] So they fiddled around another
day or so and then came back and said, “Yes, you’re the right man.” So I
put things together and I flew up from Stuttgart, but I’d put in for Japan at
the time.
Now, they got me back in Stederdorf, Germany. I was up on the
Elbe River, right across from the Russians, then down to Stuttgart and then
on up to Potsdam, and then to, let’s see, Babelsberg and then Potsdam.
Then I met him there, actually. That’s the first time I really met him.
SMOOT: Why were you reluctant about meeting him when he was a U.S. Senator?
GRAHAM: I just felt like I was like Little Iodine, you know, Little Stinky? Here’s my
fine son Little Stinky, you know. [chuckling] I just felt that he couldn’t care
less whether I’m Joe Blow or what. But my father knew him as a senator
and he’d known him for some time, that’s all. But I wasn’t really reluctant,
it’s just that I felt a little backward, you know how it is.
SMOOT: So when you arrived at Mr. Truman’s home, what did he want? Why did he
summon you?
GRAHAM: Well, I didn’t arrive at his home. It was by command of. You know, I was
in the army and it’s, “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir.” [chuckling] I was to report to
Potsdam, so they had a plane for me and I put things together and went up
there. I didn’t have the slightest idea what it was about. I thought maybe
they was a conclave of Missouri doctors. I didn’t know. So then I went on
into Babelsberg or Potsdam, and the Secret Service met me there. Of
course, they didn’t know what it was all about either.
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There were some other doctors from Missouri there, real fine
gentlemen, and some of them, I had known them before. One was chief of
medicine at Saint Louis University and one was chief of medicine at Barnes
Hospital and Washington University, both very knowledgeable and
splendid doctors. I think there were a couple more there, also, and that was
about it.
Then they told me to come up then to the White House, where he
was staying there. I did so and presented myself to General [Harry H.]
Vaughn, told him who I was, and was acting by command of order number
so and so, so and so, and he said, “I know,” and saluted, about-faced, and he
said, “Sit down.” So that was it. So then I waited about fifteen minutes and
he said, “The President of the United States is coming down.” So he came
down the stairs and I saluted him and presented myself. He said, “Why,
you’re Colonel Graham. You’re Dr. Graham.” “Yes! Yes, sir, Mr.
President.” Well, that was after I had the interview with General Vaughn.
The interview, General Vaughn looked up just all of a sudden and he said,
“How would you like to be the personal physician and the medical advisor
to the President of the United States?” I said, “Well, I don’t think I’d like
it.” So I saluted, he said, “Well, that will be perfectly damn fine.”
[chuckling] And I saluted, about-faced, and walked out, and the Secret
Service, one of them out there said, “Doctor, you didn’t stick one foot in
your mouth, you stuck both feet in your mouth.” So I didn’t pay any
attention to it, and I went on back to my digs and went up to Berlin because
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I had always wanted to . . . Well, I had lived in Berlin prior to the war, and I
had some of my schooling in Deutschland, in Germany, and I just wanted to
see it again. It was pretty well smashed-up. So I went on back, and then
they called me the next day, they found me . . .
Up in the city of Berlin . . . I was explaining the Ober den
Lindenstraβe, the big, victorious gate, you know, the heroes all march under
and all that business. I was explaining that to some of the fellows in my
outfit, what they did to the horsemen [?] up there, brought them back from
Paris when Napoleon took them down and all that malarkey. Then the
military police came up and said to me, “You’re wanted back at the White
House immediately.” “All right, fine.” So I got in the car and came on back.
And General Vaughn was there, and I saluted again, and he said, “Why the
hell wouldn’t you like it?” [chuckling] Well, I said, “It isn’t a matter that I
wouldn’t like it, really. That was a poor thing to have said. The only thing
is, I felt personally that he should have . . . It isn’t my judgment, but I felt
that he should have an older man, a man more adept and more in the
training of geriatrics and one who not only was older than I am but of
professorial status.” I won’t say exactly what he said then, but he said, “My
God, you’ve been to every university in the world! You went to the
University of Budapest and Edinburgh and . . .,” and he went on and on and
on. I said, “Well, that doesn’t mean that you know everything because
you’ve had scholarships to these places, and it doesn’t mean that you’ll be
the most adept doctor for a very important man like the President of the
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United States.” And he said, “Well, we’ll decide that.” [chuckling] So that
was about it.
SMOOT: So, in other words, are you saying that you changed your mind?
GRAHAM: Well, it wasn’t a matter of changing my mind. It was a matter that I didn’t
know . . . I mean, I personally felt that he didn’t know who he was getting,
and that’s the first thing I said to him. I said, “Well, Mr. President, I hope
you know who you’ve asked for for your personal physician.” And he said,
“Well, I’ve gone over all of them. You’re the one I want. You’re fine with
me.” [chuckling] And so that was it.
SMOOT: How would you describe Mr. Truman?
GRAHAM: Oh, my. Gentle, kind, generally soft-spoken, thought before he said things,
of course, and always very considerate, considerate of everybody, very
considerate, and just a real fine gentleman, that’s all.
SMOOT: Would you say that he left a lasting impression upon you?
GRAHAM: Oh, sure, I should say. I’ve met, he has sent me to take care of many, many
heads of state. Well, like His Majesty King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, and
King Faisal, and many . . . They were all fine or they wouldn’t have been
there in the first place, but he was the most sincere and knowledgeable man,
really. You could tell he was genuine. There was no affectation about him.
He didn’t have this superfluous affectation that many have or high-vaunted
reaction. He was just, he was just himself, President Harry Truman. He had
a very distinctive air about him. Maybe this was in my own aura, or in my
own thoughts, but he carried himself well. He carried himself like a
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president. I know he was considerate of everybody and circumstances.
SMOOT: What circumstances?
GRAHAM: Hmm?
SMOOT: What circumstances?
GRAHAM: Well, circumstances change according to the minute. I mean, if he’s to be
thinking of one subject, then he has one attitude, another attitude toward
something else, and that’s to meet the exigencies, should I say, and the
vicissitudes of life and human nature? [chuckling]
SMOOT: During Mr. Truman’s later years, as his physician, would you say that your
impression of him changed?
GRAHAM: Just deeper, deeper ingrained, from the standpoint of absolute respect
knowing him, basically, and what a completely moral man he was all the
way. All the way through his youth and all the way, I studied his
background and I studied him, knowing his mother and his sister, and he
was an absolutely very . . . well, interesting. He was a completely moral
man from all respects, a true gentleman.
SMOOT: While Mr. Truman was president, did you make any house calls to the
White House?
GRAHAM: I lived there for a while until I got tired of it, then had me a house, they had
me a house out on the post at Walter Reed. See, I was chief of section in
surgery at Walter Reed Army Hospital. I don’t know if you know
Washington or not, but that’s on Sixteenth Street and it’s straight down the
line with Silver Springs, Maryland. I lived there at the post of Walter Reed,
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and I would either come down to the White House early in the morning,
some mornings when it was necessary. Otherwise, I was on duty at Walter
Reed Army Hospital throughout my whole stay in Washington, doing
surgery at Walter Reed Army Hospital, also giving lectures, and giving
clinics and lectures at Gallinger Hospital in Washington, D. C.
Then I’d be in the hospital all day long treating . . . well, it was the
GIs, the soldiers, and then I’d get in my car and go down Sixteenth Street to
the White House. I was there by five o’clock, and if I had to see anybody
that he had requested me to see, why, I would see them accordingly. And
I’d take care of the mail that had to do with medicine that came to the
president, or anything that he thought that I might answer adequately. My
office was there, and he’d come down every evening, and that’s it.
SMOOT: So are you saying that Mr. Truman was not the only person in the White
House that you saw?
GRAHAM: Oh, primarily, absolutely. But he said, “You see anybody you wish to see.”
No, he had Jimmy Byrnes over there at times to see . . . I think it was Lord
Halifax once, and, oh, some who would have little maladies, and he would
send them down to see me or me up to see them in the house.
SMOOT: Did you examine Harry and Bess or Margaret all within the same visit?
GRAHAM: No, no, no, I didn’t make myself a boor and I wasn’t ostentatious from that
standpoint. [chuckling] No.
SMOOT: Well, approximately how often did Mr. Truman receive a checkup?
GRAHAM: Well, he was always being checked-up every night that I saw him, as far as
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that’s concerned, but, you know, you don’t do a rectal on him, you don’t do
a prostatic on him, you don’t do, you don’t do every . . . That would be very
boresome and tiresome, and wouldn’t be worthy anyway. Sometimes it
would be this; I’d see the eye grounds [?]. The main thing is I would learn
his attitude, whether he was tired, whether he was worn, whether he was
worried, his psychological reaction to various problems, what he thought of
certain problems or decisions, and how his physiological response was to
these, well, to the various problems that arose. Is that a satisfactory answer
for you? [laughter]
SMOOT: Yes, that’s just fine. You’re doing great. [chuckling]
GRAHAM: All right.
SMOOT: This may be a personal question, but when you first became the Trumans’
physician, or Mr. Truman’s physician, what was your fee?
GRAHAM: Fee? Why, $1,000 a minute, naturally. [chuckling] No, I had no fee. I was
in the service. By command of. You paid for me. Thank you, and I
appreciate it, all those little tidbits and all. [chuckling] I hope you don’t
mind my digressing, foolishness, but, anyway, no, I’m in the service of the
United States Army.
SMOOT: I just didn’t want to take anything for granted.
GRAHAM: I later transferred to the Air Force because I had to fly so much. No, I was
paid by the government. That is, paid by the government, I was in the
service of the United States Air Force.
SMOOT: Dr. Graham, were you ever a guest in the Truman home?
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GRAHAM: Sure.
SMOOT: On any special occasions, or were you just invited?
GRAHAM: Nothing special, just . . . Then, at the White House, I was always invited to
diplomatic things, but I didn’t go unless he really felt it was necessary. Why
would it be necessary? Oh, to show a little brass around or . . .
[chuckling] I mean, you know . . . Well, he would always say, “You’re
perfectly welcome, as far as that’s concerned.” But I said, “Well, I don’t
care to attend these diplomatic functions, and I’m sure my wife doesn’t
either, and unless you feel that it is for your welfare, for your well-being, or
for any reason whatsoever, I will choose my own.” He said, “Let’s leave it
at that. That’s great. Sure.” In certain things, he’d want me to be there to
meet certain people or something like that. But I didn’t, I won’t say I
completely shunned them, but I didn’t care about these diplomatic . . . and
my wife certainly didn’t either.
SMOOT: So, on the times that you visited the home, did you have dinner? Did you
have any meals at all?
GRAHAM: Sure. [chuckling] We never made an issue of it. Let’s see, well, now, I had
a luncheon when he had Adlai Stevenson there at the White House. Well,
that was just it. We never thought anything of it. He just said, “Will you
come for luncheon today or dinner this evening?” or something like that.
“What are you doing this evening?” “Oh, not much.” So he’d say, “Well,
I’m all alone,” he said. “I’m a darned bachelor.” I’d say, “Well, why don’t
you come out to my house then?” “Well, they’ve got everything all fuzzy13
duded around here, so . . .” So that’s it, so I’d go down to the White House
and eat with him.
SMOOT: So what about here in Independence, at 219 North Delaware?
GRAHAM: Yes. I never made an issue of it, and I don’t think he did either, if I
happened . . . See, I’d come out here to see him or Mrs. Truman. I tried to
miss the dinner evening, unless he asked me to come out for a certain time.
Oh, I’ve eaten in the kitchen; I’ve eaten in the dining room. [laughter] I
mean, nothing . . . we never made an issue of things. It’s just . . . oh, I think
you understand.
SMOOT: Yes, I understand.
GRAHAM: See, I am not an important visitor. [chuckling] It’s just like if you come
over to my house at dinnertime, “Sit down, let’s have a bite to eat.” You
know, it’s the same thing.
SMOOT: So would you say that over the years you developed a personal relationship
with the Trumans?
GRAHAM: [chuckling] Well, certainly, from the day I met them, sure. They accepted
me. They . . . we got along beautifully. I was able to get many a laugh out
of Mrs. Truman, which was something. [chuckling] She did have a fine
sense of humor. She always appeared to be a little cold and austere, but she
actually wasn’t. She was very sentimental.
SMOOT: Since you are talking about Bess Truman right now, would you care to
describe her for us?
GRAHAM: I’ve got a few pages on it. [chuckling] Well, she was deeply sentimental,
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but appeared to be a bit austere and gave the impression as being very
direct, not one who would ponder over questions and answers. Nothing like
that. She was very straightforward, said exactly what she thought, and you
knew how she stood, just like the president, just straight off. I hardly know
how to answer that.
SMOOT: So was this sort of like your first impression of her, like during the period
that you were in the White House, or is this sort of like a later perspective
of Mrs. Truman?
GRAHAM: I think a doctor looks at people a little differently, really, or I do. My father
was a doctor also, and you look at individuals for their depth, for their real
worth, for their psychological reactions and their true reactions,
affectations, things of that type, you know. And they were just homey
people, I mean normally, they were just very homey people.
SMOOT: Did you have very much contact with Margaret Truman?
GRAHAM: Yes.
SMOOT: Can you tell me a little bit about Margaret?
GRAHAM: Well, she’s a lovely person, actually. She just . . . well, naturally she fit
right in with the family, as far as that’s concerned, naturally . . . I don’t have
any adverse comments one way or the other. I like Margaret, and she has
the depth of character that both her father and mother had, and like them,
she’s certainly straightforward. You don’t have to stand around and wonder
exactly what she’s thinking, but she was just a grand person. I like
Margaret. I liked all of them very, very much. Of course, a doctor I think
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sees beyond certain things like—I mean, from all aspects, yeah.
SMOOT: Okay. Dr. Graham, there were two air conditioning units installed here at
219 North Delaware, one in 1954 and the other in 1970.
GRAHAM: [chuckling] Great.
SMOOT: And I’d like to know if any of those, either of the air conditioning units
were installed upon your advice.
GRAHAM: Nope, not at all. [chuckling] But I’d say it wasn’t body temperature and
pleasantries [?]. No, no, no, not at all.
SMOOT: Were either Harry or Bess on any sort of diets that you had prescribed for
either of them?
GRAHAM: I never addressed them as Harry or Bess under any circumstances. I always
kept strict protocol at all times. Now, your question was were they . . .?
SMOOT: Did you ever prescribe any sorts of diets for them while they were under
your care?
GRAHAM: Oh, yes, sure, sure. But they ate the right things, really. I would suggest
certain things. He ate well, he ate what he should eat, the salads, the greens.
He liked buttermilk and various things, toast in the morning, and he liked to
have an egg. [chuckling]
SMOOT: So would you say that they were cooperative in following the doctor’s
orders?
GRAHAM: But they didn’t need to follow the doctor’s orders because they had . . .
They did, yes, absolutely, or they’d take my suggestions, but they were just
a regular American family and they ate accordingly. Nothing extraordinary.
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I mean, if you expect pate de fois gras every evening and such as that, no.
Caviar, should I say we chose the black caviar instead of the red? No, not at
all. [chuckling] No, they ate the same as I eat at home, as you eat at home,
anyone, just . . . that’s it.
[End #3088; Begin #3089]
SMOOT: Dr. Graham, when Mrs. Truman’s health took a sudden turn for the worse,
were any provisions made for her in the home?
GRAHAM: Yes.
SMOOT: Could you elaborate?
GRAHAM: Well, I don’t know exactly what you’re getting at. I mean, I felt that she’d
be better taken care of by the facilities we had at the hospital rather than
here, and she could have more professional observation and care here. Of
course, we had a nurse on duty there for quite some time. And when I felt
that a problem was just a bit on edge or a little more than we could handle
in the home by having the greater facilities there, then I put her in the
hospital accordingly. But I didn’t want to cause any disruption whatsoever
with her mentally or physically or the hospital either.
SMOOT: Was there ever a hospital bed in this house, to your knowledge?
GRAHAM: No, never. Wait just a minute now. Wait just a minute. [pause] Yes, I think
there was. Yes, there was. Because . . . Yes, she was in that side bedroom
and there was a reason . . . Well, she could sit up or lie down, had her own
push-button thing. Yes, there was a hospital bed here.
SMOOT: Was it brought here upon your advice?
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GRAHAM: Yes, yes, yes, it was, because, to could get in and out of the bed . . . I don’t
know why right now.
SMOOT: Okay, you said “in the side bedroom.” Which floor of the house?
GRAHAM: This floor. She was in that side bedroom there most of the time. Isn’t it
awful? I’m trying to think. I’m sure there was a hospital bed here, but right
now I don’t remember me ordering it, but I do know there was. I’m a little
foggy.
SMOOT: So did you ever treat Mrs. Truman here in the home?
GRAHAM: Sure, the whole family!
SMOOT: Okay, and in what bedroom was she in the first time you treated her?
GRAHAM: It was the end, the one right next to the toilet in here.
HARRISON: [unintelligible].
GRAHAM: Oh, that’s all right. Yes, the one right next to the wall there.
HARRISON: The bed on the east side of the room there?
GRAHAM: Yes, right next to the bathroom. You know, I haven’t been out here since
the end.
SMOOT: When you treated Mr. Truman in the home, which room of the house was
he in?
GRAHAM: Well, he wasn’t in bed when I first treated him. He would just sit back in
that little cubicle like, and he’d sit there and read for hours. She would
oftentimes sit in the rocking chair just to the left of the bed. Do you know
where I’m referring to? You know the little cubicle there, and he’d sit back
in that . . . See, the window is around, the little bay window is around there.
18
She’d oftentimes come in, or I’d invite her in, or she’d come in her own self
and sit alongside. I’d say, “You might as well come on in and hear all of
our secrets.” [chuckling] So she’d laugh and come on in and sit down. I’d
examine her at times, too. Sure.
SMOOT: When Mr. Truman’s first series of illnesses started, did you treat him here
in the home?
GRAHAM: Well, I don’t know what to say here. Are you referring to Mrs. Truman?
SMOOT: Mr. Truman.
GRAHAM: Oh, the president.
SMOOT: Yes.
GRAHAM: Oh, well, he’d come into my office occasionally, when he felt like it, just
like any other patient I had downtown. [chuckling] And I would come out
here and see him here. I don’t think he was ever actually in bed here until
he fell once. But he’d see me back in the . . . No, he was never in bed. I had
him in bed at the White House for a few times. But he’d sit back there in
the little alcove and we’d go over our problems then.
SMOOT: Did you know Madge Wallace?
GRAHAM: Sure. Yes, indeed.
SMOOT: Could you sort of give me a description of what she was like?
GRAHAM: Well, she wasn’t around here. She was next door [referring to May
Wallace]. Just a very fine, straightforward lady; I mean, just like anybody
else under the same circumstances. I don’t know what you’re really
referring to or wanting to get at. She was never here when I was taking care
19
of them, however, but she lived right next door, and a very fine lady and
very cooperative, got along with everybody.
SMOOT: I mean, I’m referring to Madge Wallace, Mrs. Truman’s mother.
GRAHAM: Oh, her mother.
SMOOT: Yes.
GRAHAM: Oh, well, that’s something else. What do you want to know?
SMOOT: Whatever you can tell us. We don’t know very much about her.
GRAHAM: Well, she was a little . . . This is my own make-up. I would say she was just
a little bit of the Southern aristocracy, and ruled the world accordingly—I
mean, her little world. I liked her; she was fine. There was no question as to
how she felt about anybody, and she was very straightforward. There are
some very interesting little things that occurred, but she and I got along
beautifully. I told her if she didn’t I’d get a bigger needle for her. [laughter]
No, we got along well, really.
SMOOT: Did she have a sense of humor like Bess, like her daughter?
GRAHAM: It was contained, should I say? [chuckling] Yes, we used to joke together; I
mean, in trying to find her depth of this, that, and the other thing, you
know? But she was a little more sedate, a little more composed. Well, I
won’t say that either. I don’t mean exactly that, but she was . . . [sigh] she
held her own counsel.
SMOOT: Did you ever give her any medical treatment while in Washington, D. C.?
GRAHAM: Sure. Yes, many times.
SMOOT: Did you ever treat her here at the Truman home?
20
GRAHAM: Yes, sure.
SMOOT: What room did you treat her in, or did you?
GRAHAM: Well, it was usually . . . She wasn’t in bed here that I can recall. It was just
more like, you know, “How do you feel?” and give her something for this,
that, and the other thing, momentary spot therapy. I treated her, though, in
Washington, in bed and out of bed.
SMOOT: What was your impression of Mrs. Truman’s nursing staff during her later
years?
GRAHAM: My impression of the staff?
SMOOT: The nursing staff.
GRAHAM: Well, they were very attentive. One of them wasn’t exactly a nurse, but she
was a little too indulgent and took advantage of certain situations, but they
were all very fine. The nurses themselves, the RN’s, were very
professional, always very proper, and they were fine nurses. In fact, they
were specially chosen. They were excellent nurses—that’s both here and in
the hospital.
SMOOT: Since they were specially chosen, did you choose them?
GRAHAM: Yes! I went over their backgrounds. You know, they weren’t yippety-yap
to . . . Well, nurses generally, as far as I’m concerned, are in a special
category of their own, but they’re like anybody else. There are certain ones
that you can rely on. They will keep confidences. They keep their
professional bearing at all times. Naturally I’m a little prejudiced to them
because my daughter is a nurse, my wife is a nurse, and they don’t bear ill
21
tidings to anybody, should I say? I mean, they don’t talk about their
patients. There are confidences and that’s it.
SMOOT: Did any of your professional visits to the Truman home require that you
spend the night?
GRAHAM: I have.
SMOOT: Dr. Graham, I have noticed that there are several Oriental items here in the
Truman home. Are you familiar with any of these items?
GRAHAM: I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to them at any time. No, looking
around here, I don’t know. [chuckling] I think the mayor of Chinatown
gave him that. He gave one to me, too, and it kind of broke my heart
because of the fact that we had a great big, big-bottomed gal, and I said,
“Now, Annabelle, be sure and be careful of the TV,” because that sits upon
the TV set. “What’s that?” and she turned around and hit her rear end on
that and smashed it in 40,000 pieces. [laughter] Well, it shouldn’t have been
there in the first place, I guess. “What’s that?” “Oh, that’s all right. We’ll
put that together.” [laughter] Well, it was like putting powder together, so
that was it, but it was a very expensive piece given to me by the same man
who gave him his.
HARRISON: That’s the boat?
GRAHAM: Yes.
HARRISON: It’s on the corner of the cabinet, on the corner shelf. [see appendix, item 1]
GRAHAM: Yes. The mayor of San Francisco Chinatown gave him that. Charlie . . . I
kept calling him Charlie Chan, but I don’t know, I think it was [Albert]
22
Chow really was his name. [chuckling]
SMOOT: I was going to ask you which Chinatown.
GRAHAM: In San Francisco.
SMOOT: It could have been Chinatown, New York, and we used to have one in
Pittsburgh, but we don’t anymore.
GRAHAM: Oh, yes.
SMOOT: Steve, do you have anything you’d like to ask Dr. Graham?
HARRISON: Just the reason Pam was asking you about the Oriental objects is that there
just does seem to be quite a few of them here in the house, and I’m just kind
of curious if they were gifts or if they’re things that they liked that they
bought.
GRAHAM: No, they were all gifts, yes. I mean, all that I know of, and I recognize most
of them. They’re all gifts, yes. They didn’t actually buy any of them
themselves.
HARRISON: Do you recall any other one, any other specific ones that they might have
gotten from particular people, like the mayor of Chinatown?
GRAHAM: Oh, yes. Dr. Li [Zongren, also spelled Li Tsung-jen], who was the vice
president of China, gave them . . . Oh, I don’t know what it was right now.
And so did Mrs. . . . Who was Mrs. Sun’s husband? Chiang Kai-shek.
Mrs. Song [Meiling, also spelled Soong Mei-Ling] got along a little better
with the Roosevelts, I think. She was quite an aristocrat. But everybody . . .
I don’t know, there were no adverse problems that arose.
SMOOT: Do you remember, did Mr. or Mrs. Truman ever tell you any stories?
23
GRAHAM: Many, many, many stories. What about? [chuckling]
SMOOT: Whatever you care to share with us would be fine.
HARRISON: Particularly things, anything about the house or their life here in the house.
GRAHAM: We would talk about various things here, like the architecture and things of
that type. See, this used to be the Gates house. That was her mother’s
family. Oh, we’d talk about those things. We were just like family to
family. I didn’t mark anything down. I didn’t keep anything. I didn’t care
to.
HARRISON: Why don’t we walk around a little bit around the first floor.
SMOOT: See if we can refresh your memory.
GRAHAM: Well, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll know any more when I walk around.
The piano room is in there. I haven’t been here since they . . . since they
left. How about the grandson up there? I’ll be darned. Well, there’s a
bedroom here, bathroom. That’s about the same as it was. There’s a couple
more pictures there that weren’t there at the time. Oh, over here you’ve got
this thing here, huh?
HARRISON: Do you recall any of the circumstances about Mrs. Truman moving down to
this bedroom from the upstairs bedroom?
GRAHAM: No, other than she thought it would be handier for me rather than to walk
upstairs, and I thought it would eliminate the process of her probably
falling. [chuckling] That’s about it. I don’t know, we were very common. I
mean, just . . . well, I’d be more proper if I went over to your house, I guess.
SMOOT: I’m sure.
24
GRAHAM: But it was just more or less like family. I mean, we’d known each other so
long and so intimately. But I was always, though, with very correct
protocol, you know. Like many people think we were so close that it was
Harry this and Bess this. Never, under no circumstances. Never. It was
always Mr. President or Mr. Senator. My army training probably, thirtyfive
years in the army, has done something to that, too, and my father also.
No, we gave them every respect that their office commanded, actually. Mrs.
Truman, also. No, many think that I was so close to them, and they’d say
many personal things about me or about things that they thought, well, it
was Harry and Bess. Never. I mean, I wouldn’t even consider that in any
circumstances.
HARRISON: Since we’re here in the foyer, did you usually come in the front door or the
back door?
GRAHAM: Back. This is a nuisance here. They’ve got a gate out there. I wouldn’t
come in that way. [chuckling] No, I’d drive in the back and that’s it. That
isn’t the same piano, is it?
SMOOT: I don’t know, Dr. Graham, I wasn’t here. [laughter]
GRAHAM: Oh, all right! [laughter]
HARRISON: It’s supposed to be.
GRAHAM: Yes, I guess it is, all right. I thought it was a little larger.
HARRISON: Did anybody ever play music on that while you were here?
GRAHAM: Oh, yes. I fiddled with it a couple times myself. [chuckling] Oh, the
president would kind of dingle around a little bit. He was never any
25
Paderewski [chuckling], but that’s about it. Gosh, you’ve got a lot more
pictures up here than he had then, I’ll guarantee you.
HARRISON: What room would you usually visit with them in?
GRAHAM: Back here.
HARRISON: In the study?
GRAHAM: Does this thing go along . . .
HARRISON: It won’t reach, so I’m going to have to move the recorder.
GRAHAM: It won’t reach. All right, okay.
HARRISON: So if you guys can just stay here a few minutes.
SMOOT: Okay.
GRAHAM: There’s the king and queen, isn’t it? Is that of Holland or is that England?
HARRISON: I think it was Holland.
GRAHAM: Yes, I think it is, yes. They were wonderful people. That’s her. Nice people,
anyway.
HARRISON: Why don’t you just wait . . .
GRAHAM: Okay. [tape is turned off]
SMOOT: It sure is.
GRAHAM: Oh, really nice, yes. Really, you know, I think I see people a little
differently than a lot of them do. But they were a real fine family. And if I
didn’t like what a certain one would say, I would say so. Margaret would
get kind of sharp with her mother at times. “Stop that!” I’d say. [laughter]
“You little devil!” You know? “The devil’s in you again.” [laughter]
HARRISON: You mentioned that you’d eaten meals in here. Do you remember, did
26
people have particular seats that they would sit in in here?
GRAHAM: No, the president always sat up there and Mrs. here.
HARRISON: Mrs. Truman sat here at what would be the north end of the table and Mr.
Truman at the south end of the table.
GRAHAM: Yes.
SMOOT: And where did you sit?
GRAHAM: Oh, I’d sit there. I was here a couple of times. [chuckling] Just anyplace
they put me was about it. I’d be out in the kitchen, too. [chuckling] Yes,
that’s about it.
HARRISON: Would they have certain meals of the day in here and certain ones in there?
Was it pretty routine or did that vary, if you know?
GRAHAM: Fairly so. He’d eat in the kitchen when he was here, occasionally, but he’d
eat here mostly.
HARRISON: You’re doing fine here with that.
GRAHAM: Okay, all right. [in the study] This is where he’d usually sit, but not in that .
. . Let’s see, more over toward the middle. Or let me see now, yes, it was
more towards the middle, and this would be over a little bit. He always had
a pile of books, always had a pile of books. You know, he’d always say,
“Any books you want, Doctor?” “Nope. Nope.” I had plenty to read that I
didn’t read myself. [chuckling]
SMOOT: You said he always had a pile of books. Where were the books?
GRAHAM: Here, here, and here. Yes, he’d sit back there and read his paper.
SMOOT: On the table?
27
GRAHAM: Yes, and then read . . . But he had books lined in there, rather than those
things there. I don’t know where they came from. Oh, yet, his whole place
was lined with books. He’d offer any of them for me to read. Mrs. T. would
. . . You know, I don’t remember two chairs being here like this all the
time. Still, I would sit down occasionally, but maybe they were. She’d sit
over there. That would go in the middle. But, oh, yes, very definitely . . .
Well, let’s see . . .
HARRISON: Would you get any phone calls or anything while you were here visiting?
GRAHAM: Sure, yes. My office would call me and tell me . . . By the way, I think I
have to call now. Well, I’ve already made the call maybe. 3702. Yes, I
already made that call. Yes, I’d get calls here. I generally didn’t want them
here, because instead of usually coming to the office I’d say hold any that
you can, or write the numbers down, whatever it was, you know, or through
my home, but that’s about it. If it was an emergency or anything that they
should know, that it was imperative or demanding at the time, why, that
would be it.
You know, it’s funny, I observe more things now—I mean, better
than I did when I was out here—because I just didn’t pay attention to
things. I had my mind on their belly or whatever it was, you know.
[laughter] And that’s what we’d get to, and that was it.
HARRISON: Did you make regular visits here as their physician, or was it kind of oncall?
GRAHAM: No, it wasn’t on-call. If it was on-call he’d tell me, but I just would come
28
out. I’d call him and tell him, “I’m coming out there. Are you going to have
anything doing?” “No, fine. Come on out, Doctor.” You know, I’d let him
know ahead of time in case they were going out, or I didn’t want to break
into a big party someplace, you know. But that was about it. He always told
me I was perfectly welcome anytime, naturally, when I thought I should
come or that he needed me.
SMOOT: Were you ever summoned by any of the nurses to come here to the home to
see Mrs. Truman?
GRAHAM: No, I don’t think so. I may have been, but I don’t recall it. I just knew when
I should be here anyway; and when it was necessary, that was it. They were
never demanding, never, you know, get out here, dash out here, do this. But
I policed myself.
HARRISON: They probably appreciated that, too.
GRAHAM: Oh, yes, sure they did. You know, they didn’t feel like they were imposing
on me, which they couldn’t do at all. But no, I was out here. I don’t
remember they ever had this many here. You must be going to have a feast!
[laughter]
HARRISON: That’s what Margaret . . . Margaret wanted us to have six place settings
out, so we set it up.
GRAHAM: Yes, okay. Well, Margaret was never here when I was here. [chuckling]
She was, but it wasn’t very often. Yes, that’s all right.
SMOOT: Dr. Wallace, I did want to know how old you were when you first moved
into the White House, or when you first moved to the White House and
29
became Mr. Truman’s physician.
GRAHAM: Well, I don’t know. Let me see, that was in September, either the fifth or
the fifteenth, I’m not sure now, and I came directly over from Germany
here. It was September . . . I don’t know when it was.
SMOOT: If you could just remember the year, that’ll be okay. I don’t expect you to
remember the exact date.
GRAHAM: In September 1945. Yes, the war was over and I had put in for Japan, and
then I got the call to Potsdam. I was up on the Russian border in Stederdorf.
No, I don’t know where I was now. Then that was about it. From Stederdorf
to Stuttgart, Stuttgart to Potsdam, back to Stuttgart, and then on over here.
I was out in the [English] Channel on D-Day, and I went in D Plus
2, Easy Red, Omaha Beach. I got hit on D Plus 12, I think that was it, and I
got hit again. I got hit on D Plus 5, got hit on D Plus 12, and then I got hit
up on Nijmegen, Holland, when I was attached to the 101st Airborne up
there. But that’s about it. A German officer didn’t like me either once. I ran
the wrong pillbox and I connected with his handgun. It went off and shot
me in the hand here. That’s about it.
HARRISON: Let’s see how I’m doing on tape here, because we’re pretty much at the end
of this one. Let’s see, a couple things that Pam already kind of asked about.
One thing was Madge Wallace, Mrs. Truman’s mother. Do you know what
bedroom she used here in the home? Do you recall?
GRAHAM: [pause] Isn’t that odd? I really don’t.
HARRISON: Well, it was more than thirty years ago. [chuckling]
30
GRAHAM: I treated her most in the White House, though.
HARRISON: Also, there are stories, and part of the reason that Pam asked about the air
conditioners and picked those out in particular is that there were a lot of
stories that President Truman didn’t like air conditioners and so on, and that
the only reason that they were put in was because the doctor ordered them
or so on after one of his illnesses.
GRAHAM: No.
HARRISON: Did he ever express any feelings to you about air conditioners one way or
the other?
GRAHAM: No, not that I can recall. No, not that I can recall. It always seemed to be
pleasant in here. No, I figured if he wanted them he’d get them. [chuckling]
But that’s about it.
HARRISON: Do you ever remember them having any fires in the fireplaces?
GRAHAM: Yes, they did have a fire a few times. Yes, they did. In the winter, yes.
SMOOT: In which rooms in the house were the fireplaces lit?
GRAHAM: This one here.
SMOOT: In the living room.
GRAHAM: Yes. Not all the time, but I do remember having seen a fire there. The
president would poke around in it a little bit. [chuckling]
He was such a good man. He really was. He was just a real sincere .
. . To me, he looked like a president, he acted and he walked like a
president. I mean, like he really [chuckling] . . . and I’ve treated a lot of
them.
31
SMOOT: A lot of presidents?
GRAHAM: Yes, presidents. His Majesty King Ibn Saud was a very picturesque . . .
[End #3089; Begin #3090]
SMOOT: Okay, so you were saying that you had treated other presidents?
GRAHAM: Yes, I treated the president of Honduras, the president of Brazil (that was
President [Eurico] Dutra), the president of Peru. I don’t know, either some
word from the president or something like that, or their embassy, and they
wanted a doctor to be sent down there for consultation, whichever it was,
and so I’d go down. I don’t think it was advertised at that point. [chuckling]
On consultations or to treat them. Let’s see, who else did I treat? Brazil,
Spain, Germany . . . I don’t recall any others right now.
SMOOT: Well, Dr. Graham, it’s obvious that you thought an awful lot of Mr. and
Mrs. Truman.
GRAHAM: Oh, yes.
SMOOT: Did their deaths in any way, did they affect you in any way, or did you just
sort of treat it like any other patient’s death? Was theirs different?
GRAHAM: Oh, yes. Well, I was very proper, you know, “Yes, Mr. President,” and “No,
Mr. President.” Sure, but that comes naturally with me, actually, having
been in the army as long as I had been, why, we disciplined ourselves. I
never took advantage of anything, under no circumstances.
People were always asking me to do this or talk to the president
about that. Well, that wasn’t my policy. It wasn’t my duty to ever initiate
anything of that type, any personal matters of anybody else, although I was
32
certainly approached enough. I’ve been offered money and everything else
to talk about certain things. Well, that was more or less an insult, frankly.
But, you know, you handle it though without any problem.
SMOOT: I don’t think you understood me. [chuckling] I was asking about their
deaths, D-E-A-T-H-S.
GRAHAM: Their deaths?
SMOOT: Yes.
GRAHAM: What about their deaths?
SMOOT: I was asking if they had affected you in any way. I mean, how did you feel?
GRAHAM: You’re always sad to lose them, yes. Yes, but it’s inevitable, it’s life. My
father went and my mother went and my grandparents went. I’m not going
to stay forever, and I’m ready for it anytime. As long as you’re a believer in
Christianity, et cetera, and there are certain precepts which I’m very happy
to believe in, why, you’re ready for it whenever it comes. You don’t want
to rush it any. [chuckling]
SMOOT: Enjoy it.
GRAHAM: Yes, that’s right. [laughter] No, I thought I was going to be dead several
times. Well, this time when I was hit in the hand. That son of a gun, well, if
I don’t knock that out I’m a dead pigeon. [chuckling] So I clobbered him.
That was it. But there’s things [that] come up in all your life where you
could have been eliminated, and all of us have got that, but if you’re in war,
why, you’re a little more exposed.
I was shot several times . . . the arm. A beautiful girl hit me once. A
33
little French gal, she was a sniper, and she was . . . That was along about D
Plus 12, something like that. I got up out of my . . . Well, I saw it “psst!”
pop up out of the . . . I was lying in this little trench and Captain Hogan,
“Hey, some so and so is shooting at us.” I said, “No, they’re shooting
squirrels out there.” [chuckling] So then I saw it was small arms when I
heard it. Psst! It’s either psst! or a crack, you know, like a snap, and you can
tell immediately. I jumped up like a nut and started running for the tent. But
what I was going to do was tell them that there was a sniper out there and
we’d better get the MP’s out there and knock them out. Well, they knocked
them out. It was a girl, a little French girl, and she’d been in love with a
German officer. She was a pretty good shot. But, oh well . . .
HARRISON: What was your father’s name?
GRAHAM: James Walter, James W. Graham. He was a doctor, M.D., a whale of a good
one, too, compassionate. He came from a little town in Kansas. He was a
horse and buggy doctor. I’ve gone out in the buggy with him many times.
He’d talk to me about cases—not names, but cases. And so much was
consumption in those days, but that was a wastebasket of tuberculosis,
pneumonia, and God knows what else. [chuckling]
Poor Johnny Frump . . . and Dad would pray, pray, pray. I learned
the names of all of his patients through his prayers every morning and every
night. Oh, God, he really lived with them. Yes, everybody was in his heart.
He was a good doctor. With limited resources, too. I mean, we didn’t have
the medicines we have today by any means then.
34
SMOOT: Did your father ever tell you any stories about Mr. Truman and himself?
GRAHAM: He never knew them. I mean, just, “How do you do, Mr. President?” Dad
was a reserve officer, and so was the president, and they had meetings
there. He was a senator at that time. No, no, no, he never knew anything
about him one way or the other. If he did, he wouldn’t have told me.
[chuckling] I mean, he may have been talking about people. He talked
about people, he talked about cases, but never names, never. And the same
thing in my family, to my son, I don’t ever talk about people’s names.
SMOOT: Well, Dr. Graham, I think this will conclude our interview. We’re certainly
glad that despite the bad weather that you were able to be here with us
today.
GRAHAM: Well, you told me to be here, and to me it was a command performance.
[laughter] Sure!
SMOOT: We really appreciate the information that you have shared with us, which
will, like I said earlier, help us with the future interpretation of Harry S
Truman National Historic Site.
GRAHAM: Well, I’m glad to have made your acquaintance, too. Everybody you meet,
you know . . . Well, Mark Twain had it. He never met anybody he didn’t
like. That’s what he said, really.
SMOOT: Steve is going to take your picture, too.
END OF INTERVIEW