A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Harry Hawkins Vaughan
New York Times, 22 May 1981 (obtained from their web site):
FORT BELVOIR, Va., May 21— Maj. Gen. Harry H. Vaughan, whose actions as confidant and aide-de-camp to President Truman a generation ago led to a series of national uproars, died here yesterday at DeWitt Army Hospital. He was 87 years old.
General Vaughan's reputation ranged from that of White House court jester to national menace, depending on the severity of the storm engulfing him at a particular moment.
General Vaughan traded barbs with the likes of Drew Pearson, the columnist, and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, who accused the Presidential aide of being an influence-peddling ''5 percenter,'' a term applied to those who offered to get Government contracts for businesses for a fee, usually 5 percent. The general, called to testify about his activities by a Senate committee, was reprimanded for accepting seven home freezers as gifts for himself and highranking friends.
When Mr. Truman was urged by Mr. Pearson to dismiss General Vaughan after it was disclosed that the general had accepted a medal from the neofascist Argentine Government, the President retorted, ''No S.O.B. is going to tell me who to have on my staff or in my Cabinet.'' The remark touched off a national outburst of tongueclucking.
Awards for Gallantry
Yet General Vaughan, who retired from the Army in January 1953, was hardly a summer soldier. He was awarded two Silver Stars for gallantry and the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in World War I, in which he served alongside Mr. Truman.
The two men from Missouri met at Fort Sill, Okla., in 1917 when both were young lieutenants in the field artillery. Lieutenant Vaughan managed to extricate Lieutenant Truman from a dressing-down given by their brigade commander, and they became friends for life.
They served in the Army Reserves between the wars and at the outbreak of World War II, with Mr. Truman serving in the United States Senate, Mr. Vaughan returned to active duty as a lieutenant colonel. He was injured in a plane crash in Australia in 1943, and while being treated at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington was transferred to the staff of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee investigating arms procurement that was headed by Senator Truman.
General Vaughan made many trips to battlefields as an investigator for the committee, whose uncovering of deception by the munitions industry led to national prominence for Senator Truman, and the Senator's eventual selection by President Roosevelt as his running mate in 1944.
Aide to the Vice President
After the election the new Vice President named then-Brigadier General Vaughan as his military aide, a rare appointment for a reserve officer. In Mr. Truman's eight years as Vice President and then President, he and General Vaughan were the charter members of a group that met frequently to play poker, swap stories and drink bourbon with branch water.
Mr. Truman and his aide often had lunch together and followed the meal with a swim in the White House pool. Once admonished for having too much influence over the President, General Vaughan retorted: ''The President and I discuss numerous things, but my influence over him is doubtful. I don't suppose anyone gives him more advice than I do, or has less of it used.''
General Vaughan was born in Glasgow, Mo., on Nov. 26, 1893, and grew up in St. Louis. He received a bachelor's degree from Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in 1916.
General Vaughan, whose wife died in 1975, is survived by a son, a daughter and three grandchildren. Funeral services will be Saturday in Alexandria, Va.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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