THE PRESIDENT. Gentlemen, I have no particular announcements to make--just having a press conference for your edification. If you want to ask me questions, I will try to answer them if I can.
[1.] Q. Mr. President, in the case of the impending telephone strike, do you have the power to seize the telephone industry?
THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so. I don't know about it for sure. We are having it looked up now.
Q. You are having
THE PRESIDENT. The Labor Department is handling that.
Q. Will you seize it if you have the power, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT. Let's wait to see if conditions warrant that situation, then we will see what we ought to do.
[2.] Q. In view of the possible delay in getting the Greek-Turkish bill through, is there any interim plan ?
THE PRESIDENT. No, there is not.
[3.] Q. Mr. President, is Henry Grady going to be Ambassador to India ?
THE PRESIDENT. ][ can't answer that question. I don't know.
Q. Have you offered the job to him, sir?
THE PRESIDENT. I have not.
[4.] Q. Mr. President, have you any reactions from last week's request for price cuts?
THE PRESIDENT. No. No concrete reaction that I know of.
Q. Mr. President, have you had any indication when your Board of Economic Advisers will have their report on the price situation ?
THE PRESIDENT. They are working on it now. I don't know when they will have it ready.
[5.] Q. Mr. President, do you think that Mr. Kennelly's victory in Chicago is the beginning of a trend?
THE PRESIDENT, I think so. Mr. Reece didn't seem to think so, although he made that statement before the vote was had, that it would be a trend. But it wasn't a trend the way he wanted it!
[6.] Q. Mr. President, are you planning to bring Robert Moses into the Government in any capacity ?
THE PRESIDENT. No.
Q. Or any foreign assignment, sir?
THE PRESIDENT. No.
[7.] Q. Mr. President, the--Secretary Snyder said you were revising current budget estimates. Can you make any estimate of the surplus this year?
THE PRESIDENT. I'm not--I haven't the figures ready yet. Whenever they are ready I will make my prediction.
Q. Have you any approximation?
THE PRESIDENT. NO, not at the present time, until I have all the figures.
[8.] Q. Mr. President, what do Democrats do at Think Councils?
THE PRESIDENT. JUST what anyone else does at Think Councils. They look over the situation from a Democratic viewpoint.
Q. Who invented the name?
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't know.
Q. I think Mr. Sullivan1 told us that these were Thought Councils when he came--
1 Gael Sullivan, Executive Director, Democratic National Committee.
Q. --Thought Clinics.
Q. --Thought Clinics--yes, that was his--
THE PRESIDENT. Thought Clinics--well, that's a good name for them! [Laughter]
[9.] Q. Will your speech Saturday night be a political speech, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT. Well, the speech will speak for itself, Bert,1 when it comes out. I think that's the best way to analyze it. I will let you have a copy just as quick as anybody else. [Laughter]
1 Bert Andrews of the New York Herald Tribune.
[10.] Q. Mr. President, former Governor Earle of Pennsylvania released the text of a letter which he said he received from you, in which he said you were not worried about the danger of the Communist "bugaboo." Is that your opinion today?
THE PRESIDENT. I am not worried about the Communist Party taking over the Government of the United States, but I am against a person, whose loyalty is not to the Government of the United States, holding a Government job. They are entirely different things. I am not worried about this country ever going Communist. We have too much sense for that.
[11.] Q. Mr. President, how is the program for aiding southern Korea going forward ? We understood that there would be something coming up, following the GREEK TURKISH.
THE PRESIDENT. I have no information on the subject at the present time.
[12.] Q. Mr. President, have you selected a man to head the--to supervise extension of American aid to Greece?
THE PRESIDENT. NO I haven't, because I haven't the authority yet to appoint anyone.
Q. Certain aid will go forward, regardless of the $400 million program, sir. Certain Greek funds are included under the 350 million--
THE PRESIDENT. That's true. I haven't selected the man to handle the 350 million. And that, too, hasn't passed the Congress.
Q. Mr. President, do you approve of the amendment which the Senate committee wrote into the Greek-Turkish bill today ?
THE PRESIDENT. I haven't seen it. I will let you know about it when the bill comes up here.
[13.] Q. Mr. President, is Mr. Myron Taylor returning to Rome?
THE PRESIDENT. Not at the present time. If it is necessary for him to go back, he will.
[14.] Q. Mr. President, do you have any comment on the John L. Lewis charges against Krug?
THE PRESIDENT. No comment. Mr. Krug will answer that.
Q. You have no intention of removing Mr. Krug from office ?
THE PRESIDENT. I certainly have not. Mr. Krug is an efficient public official.
[15.] Q. Mr. President, have you given any thought to grocery prices? I have been trying to--I am thinking about the
THE PRESIDENT. I have given it no thought. Only when I go to pay my bill. [Laughter]
Q. For the housewives it would make a good story, that's the reason I asked--
THE PRESIDENT. I haven't given it any special thought. It goes along with the statement I made last week on general prices.
Q. Has Mrs. Truman complained to you about the price of groceries ?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes, she has. She realizes it just as the housewife has.
[16.] Q. Mr. President, are there any further plans for your Canadian trip ?
THE PRESIDENT. None. I will announce the 'plans whenever they are ready.
Q. Do you think that the trip might come up before Congress adjourns?
THE PRESIDENT. I don't know when it will come up, Smitty.1 I will let you know in plenty of time so that you can get ready!
1 Merriman Smith of the United Press Associations.
[17.] Q. Mr. President, can you make any comment on the progress of the foreign ministers conference in Moscow?
THE PRESIDENT. NO, I have no comment.
[18.] Q. Has Mrs. Truman developed any good shopping ideas, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT. She has always had good shopping ideas. [Laughter]
[19.] Q. Mr. President, is there any possibility that Secretary Marshall will be coming home soon from Moscow?
THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment on that.
Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT. Entirely welcome.
Note: President Truman's one hundred and first news conference was held in his office at the White House at 4 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, April 3, 1947.
Harry S Truman, The President's News Conference Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232852
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