Carl Hatch

Carl D. Hatch was a Democratic senator from New Mexico whose documented role in Harry S. Truman’s political world connected personal loyalty with work on wartime oversight and postwar international cooperation. A friend who campaigned for Truman, he also served on the Senate committee that became known as the Truman Committee and joined other senators in advocating a new international organization after the war.

Friendship and Campaign Support

During a campaign in Missouri, Hatch came to lend Truman vocal support alongside fellow senators Sherman Minton and Lewis Schwellenbach. Their unusual presence in a primary campaign reflected their regard for Truman, who was running on his New Deal record despite President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s pointed lack of support. Hatch’s contribution, as described in the account, was public backing rather than campaign management; Truman refused to handle campaign money himself.

The Truman Committee

Hatch was one of the senators named among the original members of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, generally known as the Truman Committee. The initial committee had seven members, including Hatch among its Democrats, and was formed to investigate the national defense program. Its modest initial appropriation was later increased as the committee grew, but the evidence identifies Hatch as a member rather than assigning him a particular investigation or individual finding.

Postwar Internationalism

Hatch’s work extended beyond wartime oversight. With fellow committee members Joseph H. Ball and Harold Burton, he joined Truman in giving increasing attention to the problems of the postwar world. Hatch co-sponsored a Senate resolution, alongside Ball, Burton, and Lister Hill, calling for a postwar international organization, a United Nations. Truman did not draft the resolution, but the account describes him as its guiding spirit. Hatch’s place among the sponsors thus linked him to an effort to carry American leadership and international cooperation into the peace that would follow the war.