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{
    "localId": "4708744",
    "label": "Letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt",
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    "id": "4708744",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708744",
    "identifierLocal": "hst02-02-1946_01",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Personal Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "United Nations",
        "Patterson, Robert Porter, 1891-1952",
        "Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969",
        "Soldiers",
        "Reconstruction (1939-1951)"
    ],
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    "seq": 3,
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    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "uno\nUN\nTRUMAN\nSAMPLE ARCHIVES A INATIONAL LIBRARY\nFebruary 2, 1946\nSOVERNENT\nDear Mrs. Roosevelt:\nI appreciated very much your good letter of January\ntwelfth, which just now reached me.\nI think you are doing a wonderful job with the United\nNations. I really believe it has gotten off to a good\nstart and, I am sure, its future is now assured.\nRegarding your suggestion to General Eisenhower, since\nyour letter was written he has enunciated a definite\npolicy on the return and discharge of the remaining\narmed forces. Secretary Patterson has just returned\nfrom a tour around the World and expects to go on the\nradio with an explanation of the program. I think that\nwill clear the matter up completely. of course, it is\na most difficult matter to discharge five and one-half\nmillion men in five months and not have some injustices.\nAll together the army and navy have discharged seven and\none-half million soldiers and sailors since May first -\na record unequaled in the history of the world. It has\nbeen done in a fairly orderly manner and with every effort\npossible for justice to the soldier and sailor. There\nwas no way in the world to make a fair discharge system\nexcept on the point system. In World War 1 the army was\ndemobilized by Divisions. Two year men and three month\nmen were discharged at the same time - that program could\nnot be followed in this demobilization.\nAnother very great difficulty has been the demobilizing\nof experienced officers and non-commissioned officers,\nleaving us with an army of four million, at least half\nof it untrained, with practically new officers and non-\ncommissioned officers.\nWe are now preparing to send home all the men in the\nPhilippines, all those in the Near East, all those in\nIndia, and all those in Great Britain by the first of July\nthis year, provided we can dispose of surplus property in\nthose areas. The occupation forces of Germany and Japan\nwill each require about a quarter of a million men, and we\nwill require at least a quarter of a million at home to\nmaintain and service those abroad.\nI hope by June 30, 1947 to have the whole program completed.\n- 2 -\nTARRY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAM AND LIBRARY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nOne of the difficulties with which I have been faced\nhas been the fact that the wars both ended suddenly,\nfar in advance of the anticipated date, and while\nsome preliminary work had been done on demobilization\nand occupation, we were still unprepared to meet the\nsituation.\nConsidering everything, I think both the army and navy\nhave done a remarkable job. One of the most difficult\nthings always in demobilization of an army is to find\ncompetent and efficient leaders. As you know, from your\nlong experience, that is true also in Civil Government.\nWe are bound to make a lot of mistakes - it is customary\nalso for the privates to throw bricks at their officers\nbut you can't run an army without placing authority over\nit in somebody. I think our top leaders have been ex-\ncellent - most of our Division Commanders have been good\nmen but, in the service of supply, we have had difficulty\nbecause that end of the army has to be run more like a\nbusiness than a military organization.\nI am hoping though, by the thirtieth of June this year,\nwe will have eliminated most of the trouble and injustices\nthat were bound to take place on the point system dis-\ncharge.\nI am always happy to hear from you and appreciate your\ninterest in what is taking place.\nSincerely yours,\nHARRY S. TRUMAN\nMrs. Eleanor Roosevelt\nGeneral Assembly of the United Nations\nLondon, England\nVia Pouch"
}