Letter from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman

DECLASSIFIED 4-2 E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) OF 03) 12.29.75 GECRET Dept. of State letter, By NLT- HL 9 NARS Date 6.4.96 BATIOMAL AND 186 to April 5, 1950 My dear Mr. President: Thank you very much for your most kind letter. Mary continues to improve and both X rays and doctors' reports assure us that the first operation achieved all that had been hoped. She now faces the second one. Alice will go to Saranac on Sunday and the operation is scheduled for a week from today. They will take out portions of three more ribs which will complete the collapse of that part of the lung which has been affected. We are all very hopeful that after this hurdle has been surmounted, her recovery will be rapid and complete. She is very touched at the interest which both you and Mrs. Truman have taken in her troubles and asked me to add her gratitude to Alice's and mine. I was very glad to have the transcript of your press conference and was again grateful for the strong and effective support which you gave in the clear analysis of the issue which is involved. Bridges is, I believe, coming around, although he may feel it necessary to have one last fling in response to your press conference. I am hoping that he will not do this, but he has a date to spend some time with me on Friday afternoon at my house. We are going over the various grievances which he has against me. I do not know yet what they are, but hope that a good talk, eased with some bourbon, may result in eliminating what I am sure are misunderstandings. After talking with you yesterday and receiving your most helpful instructions, I kept my appointment with Vandenberg. The poor fellow has great troubles--he went to the hospital this morning to have painful lumbar punctures in an effort to find the reasons for very acute pains which he has been having in his right leg. And Mrs. Vandenberg is very ill, indeed. The President, The White House. SECRET