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.Connelly asked what could be done.There is no job, he said,that Vaughan could be given, that would be commensurate with his rank as major general, he said.Vaughan isn'tcapable enough." 45In February 1948, an incident gave Ross and Connelly a chance to check Vaughan, however temporarily.At theconclusion of the regular morning staff conference on 6 February, Vaughan gave a typed announcement to Truman,who handed it to his press secretary, Charles Ross.The announcement, designated for the Congressional Directory,would have made Vaughan senior armed services aide, in effect demoting the naval aide, Captain Dennison, and thenewly appointed air aide, Col.Robert Landry.Ross sensed the possible repercussions of placing senior navy and airforce officers under the command of an army officer and he corralled Connelly: the two went in to see Trumanbefore his cabinet meeting.They warned that the new arrangement would "raise particular hell" and urged him toreconsider.Ross at his press conference announced only Landry's appointment, Vaughan's impending promotionheld in abeyance.46When Vaughan learned of the omission he challenged Ross, who excused the delay by explaining that the Directorywould not be published until March or April.Vaughan passed through the lobby as he left Ross's office and wasaccosted by newsmen who asked him to clarify the aide situation.The general held what amounted to his own newsconference, announcing his role as senior armed services aide.When Ross heard of Vaughan's action he was livid.Conferring with Connelly again he muttered, "Oh, that damnVaughan has done it again."47 He felt that Vaughan was un- Page 53dercutting his authority as press secretary.By this time Dennison and Landry had contributed their vehementlynegative opinions of the new arrangement.Connelly told Ross that he would speak to the president.When Trumanwas informed that there was a problem with Vaughan, he erupted, "What in the hell did he do now?" At Connelly'srequest, the president summoned Ross and angrily called Vaughan, ordering him to get over to his office "on thedouble." Truman assured Connelly and Ross that the aide situation would remain unchanged and authorized Ross toinform the press.Vaughan received a dressing down and left quickly, passing through Connelly's office "with his tailbetween his legs." 48Actually, Vaughan had not behaved as badly as had appeared.When the story was aired in the press it seemed as ifVaughan had initiated his own promotion, but that was not the case.Vaughan later asserted that John Steelman, whoheld the title of The Assistant to the President, had originated the plan as part of the armed forces unification plansthen in progress.Truman himself had broached the subject with Secretary of Defense James V.Forrestal fourmonths before the incident and had told Ross that he had been trying to find another place for Vaughan for a longtime.Whatever the origin of the plan, Vaughan brought about its abrupt termination.He seemed to have a politicaldeath wish.He recognized the press as his opponent, yet he could not refrain from talking to reporters.He had anopportunity for greater authority, yet undercut it.His own postmortem on the incident was that "it's as much of amisdemeanor to be premature as it is to be inaccurate."49Publicly, Vaughan took the turn of events in stride, telling reporters that he "was not sore at anybody," and at themorning staff meeting the next day he acted as if nothing had happened.50 Privately, however, he was deeplywounded, not so much for the loss of face or failure of the senior aide position to materialize as for theadmonishment he received from the president.Vaughan's pastor and close friend, Cliff R.Johnson, said Vaughanwas "hurt and confused" over the incident.Johnson was so moved by his friend's depression that he wrote toTruman, asking him to do something to restore Vaughan's feeling of security in their relationship.51Truman was content to let his aide squirm this time.He Page 54considered the flap to be entirely of Vaughan's making and made no public statements exonerating the general ormitigating the impression that Vaughan had tried to promote himself.Replying to Johnson, he reaffirmed thestrength of his relationship with Vaughan but added, "The recent event.was due entirely to Harry's talking out ofturn." 52 And there, to Vaughan's chagrin, the matter rested.For the next several months, the election campaign of 1948 took Vaughan off the front pageif not out of the"Washington Merry-Go-Round." Pearson's charges during this period, however, were either relatively minor orrehashes of previous allegations.But Pearson suspected he was being wiretapped at Vaughan's instigation, though hewas to wait over a year before leveling that charge.53The next sensational storythe kind of story Pearson lovedwas unearthed by another reporter for whom the presidenthad low regard, Walter Winchell.Truman once had written in his sporadically kept diary: "Pearson's no good.He,Fulton Lewis + Walter (Winchellistic) are pathological liars par excellence.It's too bad."54 Now Winchell andPearson in concert were to create an issue that again would embarrass Vaughan and provoke Truman.Winchelllearned in December 1948 that Vaughan had been chosen to receive a medal from the dictatorial government of Col.Juan Perón of Argentina.Pearson waited to see if the president and State Department would approve of the award.When it became clear that Vaughan would accept it, Pearson eagerly joined the fray, telling his radio audience,"Next Friday, when [the award ceremony] takes place, I am going to be at the door of the Argentine Embassy andwill publish the names of those who go to see Harry Vaughan receive his dictatorial decoration."55 Despite somesecond thoughts, Pearson made good on his threat.His display engendered a mixed response.Pearson claimed thatTruman's physician, Brig.Gen.Wallace Graham, "ducked in the door as if he was running from Satan."56 But Gen.Hoyt Vandenberg gave Pearson his card to be sure his name was included.In retrospect, Pearson was not proud ofthe affair: "I made something of an ass of myself.''57The incident did not end there.Truman, his antipathy toward Pearson piqued by the most recent round of the Page 55columnist's shenanigans, rallied to his military aide.Demands for Vaughan's scalp had exasperated the president.On22 February 1949, at a Reserve Officers Association dinner at which Vaughan was honored as "Minute Man of1949," the president exploded."I want you to distinctly understand," he began, "that any s.o.b, who thinks he cancause any one of these people to be discharged by me by some smart aleck statement over the air or in the paper, hasanother think coming." 58 Pearson in his next broadcast and in a later column proposed that the initials s.o.b.mightas well designate a ''Servant of Brotherhood," and he began to dispense other such awards.Truman had been bested,and realized it, but two months later he blamed Pearson for harassing former Secretary of Defense Forrestal to thebrink of suicide.According to one of Pearson's White House sources, Truman erupted, "That son of a bitch Pearsongot the best of me on the SOB thing but I'm going to get the best of him on the Forrestal suicide.I'm going to rub itin until the public never forgets."59 The incident did neither Pearson nor the president any great credit.While Truman could display rage over Vaughan's treatment by the press, he could demonstrate a sense of humor, ashe did a few months later.In July 1949, when Vaughan and his family, together with Mara and a few other friends,returned from a vacation in Central America, they were greeted at Union Station by a small group of reporters whoasked how the trip had been financed
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