Remarks at a Dinner in Honor of General Vaughan Given by the Reserve Officers Association.

I DON'T know whether I am supposed to tell all I know on Vaughan or not--if I haven't, the time is about right; but I am very happy to be here tonight because I have known General Vaughan all his military life, and some time besides.

He was at Fort Sill in 1917 at the training camp known as Camp Donovan, 35th Division, First World War. That dates him-and me, too. He was a sergeant in the field artillery when I was down there, and I was a first lieutenant. He went to a school down there known as the university of "doubt." He came out, I think, number four in his class. At any rate, he got a commission as first lieutenant. From then on he was in the heavies, 35th Field Artillery--155 Howitzers--went through the First World War, with honor to himself and a credit to his organization.

And then in 1940 he was my secretary when I was United States Senator from Missouri. He could have remained as my secretary if he had chosen to do it. Instead of that he was called into active service as a lieutenant colonel in the field artillery, and was sent to Australia. He served down there until he met with an accident--an airplane accident-chest crushed, leg was broken, and he was sent back to the United States.

When I became Vice President of the United States, I made him one of my secretaries, and my military adviser. When I became President, I made him aide to the President of the United States.

I have three aides now, all able and efficient officers in the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. I see my Naval Aide is sitting here at this end of the table. He used to command the battleship Missouri. I had quite a trip on that battleship. General Landry, over there, my Aide for Air, is an efficient and able one; and I have an aide for health over here, Dr. Graham, who is responsible for the fact that I can travel 31,700 miles and make 357 speeches and wear out all the newspapermen on the trip.

What I am leading up to is this, that there have been some very vicious attacks on my military aide, unjustified, and I say it advisedly, vicious. They are not intended to smear him, but he happens to be my military aide and in a campaign I am the head of one of the great political parties, and therefore a fair target for everything, and those who are around me sometimes get the tacks, and they are not pleasant.

But I can say this to you, that I have four secretaries, these three military aides, and a number of executive assistants, and they are able to take it.

I was reading a book this evening on pollsters. It is a most interesting book--it's just out. And the gentleman who wrote that book made a remark which I think is a classic. He said that if he ever found himself in agreement with the Chicago Tribune, or some of these columnists and broadcasters who have been attacking my staff, he would know very well that he was wrong and he would survey his situation once more before he decided.

It was my very great privilege to have General Marshall as Chief of Staff, when I became president of the United States. General Eisenhower was in command of all the Armies in the European theatre, General MacArthur was in command of all the Armies in the Asiatic theatre, and General Eisenhower had an Army Commander who commanded more troops in the field than any other general in the history of the world. One day I got General Marshall to come over to see me, and he came into the outer office to wait for his turn to come in.

Now I may be bragging a little bit if I say I am usually prompt in my appointments-nobody has to wait on me; but he had to wait because he was early. And my appointment secretary asked him if he remembered a certain conversation that I had had with him in his office in 1940, when we passed the Draft Act. I had gone down to see General Marshall then, and asked him if he could make arrangements for me to have an artillery group in the coming unpleasantness, which I thought at that time we had to face.

And he looked at me, pulled his specs down on his nose, like that, and said, "How old are you?" I said, "I am 56." "Well," he said, "you are too darned old, you had better go home and keep on working in the Senate."

My appointment secretary asked him what he would say under present circumstances, if he were asked the same question. And General Marshall stuck to his guns and said, "I would say the same thing, only I would be a little more diplomatic."

Well, what I wanted to see General Marshall about was to assign his famous field commander to me as head of the Veterans Bureau. That was General Bradley. He was made head of the Veterans Bureau by me. Then I made him Chief of Staff. I think he is one of the ablest military men in the United States. I am glad he is here tonight. I am glad to pay him that tribute.

Now, I am just as fond and just as loyal to my military aide as I am to the high brass, and I want you to distinctly understand that anyone who thinks he can cause any of those people to be discharged by me, by some smart aleck statement over the air or in the paper, he has got another think coming.

No commentator or columnist name any members of my Cabinet, or my staff. I name them myself. And when it is time for them to be moved on, I do the moving-nobody else.

I think I have one trait, and that is I never go back on a friend. A great many so-called friends have been a little jittery about me, sometimes, but I have never been. They were not so jittery on the 3d of November as they were on the first.

It is a very great pleasure to me to be able to come over here tonight and be present at these fine tributes that have been paid to my able and efficient military aide.

I want to say to you, and to all the rest of my secretaries, that I want you to bear that in mind, because that is the reason we can operate smoothly and put over a program which the voters decided that we should put over on November the 2d. And we are going to put it over, don't forget that!

Thank you very much.