Threatened To Punch His Nose

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 36, 22 December 1950, Page 5

Threatened To Punch His Nose

President Truman’s written threat to punch the nose of a Washington music critic for criticising the singing abilities of his daughter will come as a surprise to those who regard Presidents as above such trivialities. It also makes one wonder if there is anything in the “log house” fiction. But the fact is that of 32 Presidents of the United States only three were born under circumstances which might have made such action excusable. Mr Roosevelt was so determined that no actions of his could be misinterpreted that he refused to be attended by more than the very minimum of guards. He once said: “When you are a little man and socially not sure of yourself you go through the White House with a bugler to anounce your coming and a colonel in uniform to make sure that people appreciate that you are ( President. When you are a well-bred gentleman you don’t need any of these things to exalt you; you take it for granted that the office will speak for itself, and that nothing that you can do will increase its dignity. You instinctively know that the simpler and more modest and the humbler you are, the better it will be for you, and the bigger the job will appear.”