Letter from Harry S. Truman to Edgar Hinde

PORTON K. WHEELER, MONT., CHAIRMAN ELLISON D. SMITH, s.c. WALLACE H. WHITE, JR., MAINE ROBERT F. WAGNER, N.Y. JAMES J. DAVIS, PA. ALBEN W. BARKLEY, KY. WARREN R. AUSTIN, VT. M. M. NEELY, w. VA. WILLIAM H. DIETERICH, ILL. AUGUSTINE LONERGAN, CONN. United States Senate FRED H. BROWN, N.H. HOMER T. BONE, WASH. COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE VIC DONAHEY, OHIO SHERMAN MINTON, IND. HARRY S. TRUMAN, MO. CHARLES O. ANDREWS, FLA. EDWIN c. JOHNSON, COLO. HARRY H. SCHWARTZ, WYO. Washington, D. C. LISTER HILL, ALA. March 3, 1939 HENRIK SHIPSTEAD, MINN. M. W. MITCHELL, CLERK Honorable Edgar G. Hinde Postmaster Independence, Missouri Dear Edgar: Appreciated most highly your letter of the Twenty-seventh, and as you know, political friends are all sorts and of all classes. My Hugh Johnson manager in Kansas City is one almost impossible to muzzle, and it is pretty hard to hit a fellow in the mouth when he thinks he is doing you a favor. If I could have gotten him appointed United States Marshal he would probably have spent all his energy sticking pins in the Federal Court in Kansas City, and it would have made it a lot easier for all of us, but I am not going to be able to get it done. Of course, I was highly pleased with the reaction at Joplin, and rather think it was better for me not to be there, under the cir- cumstances. will be home the week of the Eighteenth, if everything holds together, for the purpose of addressing the Missouri Legislature at Jefferson City, which will be the opening gun of the 1940 campaign, as far as I am concerned. I am glad you liked the air speech, and it is a darn good thing you complimented me on it because I was just about to write a letter to Howes and tell him what a no-good postmaster I had at Independence, but changed my mind, as you can see by the enclosed copy. This is another case where a fellow has to lie for his politic- al friends. Say hello to Roger and the rest of the gang. Have they put any more County officials in jail? They will find out, after while, that the Presiding Judge of Jackson County is just a little bit more than a political job. Sincerely yours, Havy Harry S. Trumen HST/cb Enclosure