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Truman Calls Ike “Laziest President Ever”

Sept. 8, 1962 - Former President Harry S. Truman (pictured in 1953) declared tonight that the country was “now paying the penalty for eight years of a do-nothing Administration” headed by former President Eisenhower. “He was the laziest President who ever was in the White House,” Mr. Truman said extemporaneously. “This is not a personal remark. I’m just stating a fact. I like generals, but I like them where they belong.” Mr. Truman was the guest speaker at a Democratic dinner at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Hartford, Conn., that raised more than $90,000 for the Democratic campaign chest. The former President praised Gov. John Dempsey and Abraham A. Ribicoff, who are candidates for Governor and Senator on the Democratic ticket, and called for a Democratic victory in Connecticut “from top to bottom.” In a brief discussion about Cuba, Mr. Truman said: “The reason we’re in trouble in Cuba is that Ike didn’t have the guts to enforce the Monroe Doctrine.” The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy articulated by President James Monroe in 1823. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act against the U.S.

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