Letter from Senator Albert Hawkes to President Harry S. Truman with a Reply from Matthew Connelly
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OCR Page 1 of 473/25/46
357-7
March 22, 1946
My dear Senator Hawkes:
x
I regret greatly to inform you that the President has
been obliged to reconsider his undertaking to write letters to
the father and to the widow of Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr., who
is to be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous
gallantry in action over Luzon on December G 25 and 26, 1944.
This does not in any way minimize the President's ap-
preciation of Major McGuire's extraordinary achievement. The
fact of the matter is that tens of thousands of American homes
have suffered war bereavements. The grief of these families is
poignant and is fully appreciated by the President.
May I, however, explain to you that the President,
like his predecessor, has been obliged to follow a course of
not extending personal condolences except in instances where
personal friends have been bereft.
As you can readily understand, the President in all
of his acts must deal with all citizens on a basis of exact
equality. As he has not in a single instance written letters
of the character which you request in behalf of Mrs. McGuire and
Mr. McGuire it would be difficult for him to make an exception.
Such action on his part would wound the sensibilities of the
large number of families to whom it would not be possible for
him to write personal letters.
Very sincerely yours,
MATTHEW J. CONNELLY
Secretary to the President
Honorable Albert W. Hawkes, X
United States Senate,
Washington, D. C.
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