Wild About Harry: Truman in Buffalo
By Christine Gibbons
Unassuming and congenial, Vice President Harry Truman was “like a good friend” when he joined Walter and Isabel Yates for lunch while in Buffalo to address the Grover Cleveland Dinner, just days before he would become president of the United States. His visit would last only 38 hours, but he reportedly enjoyed himself, engaging everyone he met.
Arriving at Buffalo’s Central Terminal, Truman disembarked from the overnight train from Washington, DC, “smiling and hatless” on the morning of Saturday, April 7, 1945. He was met by the newly formed Civic Greeters Group, who gathered around the vice president as they sang “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Among the welcoming dignitaries were several influential Democrats, including Mayor Joseph Kelly, State Democratic Party chairman Paul Fitzpatrick, U.S. Senator James Mead and Walter Yates, the Grover Cleveland Dinner chairman.
When Truman left Washington the night before, he had served as vice president for a mere 78 days, having previously represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate for almost 10 years. Although he had achieved notable success as the head of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program (also called the Truman Committee), he had otherwise kept a low profile. Going into the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago the previous summer, he told friends he didn’t want the nomination for vice president. “I’m satisfied being a senator and I think I’m doing a good job. I think I have done the country a great favor (through work on the Truman Committee) and I just want to stay there and be let alone.”
The president, however, viewed Truman as a safe alternative to the left-leaning incumbent, Henry Wallace, and when Roosevelt asked him to run, he reluctantly accepted. The vice presidential candidate then gamely stumped the country, covering more than 7,000 miles on board a train, touting the president as the only one who could lead the country through the closing days of World War II. On November 7, 1944, the Roosevelt-Truman ticket was victorious over Republican governors Thomas Dewey and John Bricker, of New York and Ohio, respectively.
When FDR ran for reelection in 1944, he chose Truman as his running mate over the incumbent Henry Wallace.
Credit: National Museum of American History.
Truman met officially with the president on only two occasions during his time as vice president. When Roosevelt left for the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Truman remained in Washington, presiding over the Senate and enjoying a round of social engagements. Time magazine reported, “The amiable Missourian with the touch of country in his voice and manner had Mrs. Truman and Capitol society breathless.” Legendary Washington hostess Pearl Mesta gave a party in his honor that was said to be one of the most glittering in Washington’s long history of glittery parties.
Perle Mesta hosted a party for then-Vice President Truman shortly before he became president. Seen here about 1950 are (left to right) U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Perle Mesta, First Lady Bess Truman, Treasurer of the United States Georgia Neese Clark, Democratic National Committee Vice-Chair India Edwards and political activist Gladys Avery Tillett.
Credit: The U.S. National Archives.
It was another social engagement of sorts that would bring the vice president to Buffalo that April weekend. As a favor to state Democratic Party chair Paul Fitzpatrick, Truman had agreed to speak at the Grover Cleveland Dinner, a party fundraiser being held at the Hotel Statler. Tickets for the Buffalo event were $25 per person and Walter Yates worked with the mayor to see that a large crowd of 688 filled the ballroom to hear the vice president.
The Yates family was well-known in Western New York for their far-reaching business, farming and philanthropic interests. Walter’s father, Harry Yates, had founded the Yates-Lehigh Coal Company, of which Walter became president in 1927. A loyal Democrat, he had an extensive civic and professional portfolio. He was also a friend of Larry Bell, founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation. Yates had played a key role in securing investors and had served on Bell’s first board of directors, helping lead the company through its accelerated wartime expansion. As Walter later recalled, Bell knew how to build airplanes, but he knew which side of Main Street had the banks with money to lend.
Truman’s Buffalo agenda was full on the Saturday of his arrival, beginning with breakfast at the Statler with the mayor and government officials. Next came lunch with Democratic Party leaders, but across Niagara Square, Catholic Youth Council members had taken over the city government for the day and a number of them were escorted to the Truman suite, where the vice president graciously engaged them in conversation about their experiences that day.
A member of the Kansas City Court of the Royal Order of Jesters, Truman was then honored by the Buffalo chapter at a Buffalo Athletic Club reception, where members took the opportunity to collect autographs on their membership cards. His afternoon radio broadcast over the Mutual Network focused on the importance of spectator sports during wartime. Afterward, he attended a cocktail party at the Buffalo Club before returning to the Statler.
The Cleveland dinner included Guinea hen under glass and Bombe Statler, after which Truman’s speech, “The Job Ahead,” was broadcast nationally over the NBC Blue Network. In it, he praised Western New York’s contributions to the war effort: “You people of Buffalo, situated at the western gate of the Empire State, have already performed a gigantic war task for America and our fighting Allies. Farms and factories of New York are producing the all-essential supplies needed for victory. Your brave sons are fighting to bring this victory nearer. Your firm determination that democracy shall survive is one of the bulwarks of our mighty nation.”
The Yates’ home at 56 Chapin Parkway played host to Vice President Truman during his brief visit to Buffalo in April 1945.
Credit: Western New York Heritage photograph, 2021.
The vice president was set to depart Buffalo the following evening, but his official schedule was open on Sunday, to allow for “just what the vice president’s desires may be.” After breakfast with Illustrious Potentate Henry Z. Lang and officers of the Ismailia Temple, during which Truman was made an honorary member, he attended services at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Jewett Parkway.
Then it was a short ride to the Yates’ home at 56 Chapin Parkway, where Truman enjoyed a luncheon with some of their friends, including Mrs. T. Emerson Murphy, Isabelle Johnson and her husband George. The vice president must have made a favorable impression, as Mrs. Murphy found him “charming” with an extremely pleasant personality. It was reported that Truman, an avid musician, entertained the gathering with a post-luncheon concert at the Yates’ Kurtzmann baby grand piano before departing for a sightseeing tour of Niagara Falls and a visit to the Bell Aircraft facility.
Walter Yates was part of the entourage that accompanied Truman to the Niagara State Reservation, where the vice president chatted with other tourists, and the Bell plant on Niagara Falls Boulevard. In particular, Truman was eager to see a demonstration of the Bell 30 Helicopter. He predicted a bright future for rotary-winged aircraft, noting they were one of the best aviation bets for the future and that helicopters promised to help solve post-war employment problems by creating jobs. Larry Bell also arranged an exhibition of the company’s jet-propelled P-59 Airacomet and the P-63 King Cobra fighters.
Walter Yates (right) was good friends with Larry Bell (left), founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation. The two men are shown here with Truman (center) during his Western New York visit.
Credit: Courtesy of Steven Jones.
According to his daughter Margaret, Harry Truman was a “demon letter writer,” and his thank you note to Walter and Isabel Yates, written after he returned to Washington, noted that his visit to their house was “perfect and everybody with me enjoyed it immensely.” A mere four days later, on April 12, 1945, he received word that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at his retreat in Warm Springs, GA. After Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Stone administered the oath of office that evening, the new president learned for the first time from Secretary of War Henry Stimson that a bomb with staggering potential for destruction was under development. Just days after his Western New York visit, Harry Truman’s life had suddenly taken a very challenging turn.
Walter Yates wrote a letter to Truman the day after he was sworn in and the new president replied, saying, “The last thing we thought of when I was in Buffalo was that I would be sitting at this desk trying to carry the biggest load in the world but, with the help of friends, I will be able to do it.”
Two letters from April 1945 from Truman to Yates reflect on his transition from vice president to president.
Credit: Courtesy of Steven Jones.
Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 7, bringing the conflict in Europe to a close the following day, but the war in the Pacific dragged on, promising to be a long and bloody conflict. On July 16, as Truman travelled to the Potsdam Conference outside Berlin to meet with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, the first atomic bomb was successfully tested at Alamogordo, NM. Together the three leaders would issue the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, demanding unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces; failure to comply would result in “the inevitable and complete destruction of Japanese armed forces and the devastation of the Japanese homeland.” Japan’s Prime Minister, Kantaro Suzuki, insisted his government would ignore the ultimatum and thus forced Truman’s hand.At the president’s direction, on August 6 a lone B-29 Superfortress dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, instantly killing 80,000 people; tens of thousands more died from radiation in the weeks following the blast. Three days later, an even more powerful bomb devastated Nagasaki. On August 15, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced Japan would surrender, effectively ending the Second World War. Once again, Yates wrote to Truman from Buffalo, presumably to offer his support. The president responded, “I am especially grateful to you for writing to me as you did.”
A final letter to Yates about a week after the nuclear bombing of Japan in August 1945, presumably thanking Walter for his previous correspondence in support of the event. The handwritten note following the signature expresses Truman’s fond remembrance of his visit to Buffalo.
Credit: Courtesy of Steven Jones.
None who met the personable vice president during his weekend trip to Western New York could have imagined that, within a few days, he would ascend to the Nation’s highest office, meeting with world leaders and making some of the 20th century’s most important decisions. His Buffalo weekend was likely one of the last times he enjoyed himself prior to accepting the crushing weight of the presidency. As Truman wrote to Walter Yates in a final letter, dated August 17, his visit to 56 Chapin Parkway would “always be remembered as one of the highlights of my life.”
