Henry Morgenthau Jr.

Henry Morgenthau Jr., Treasury Secretary and a veteran of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, appears in the account of Harry S. Truman’s presidency as both a senior official and an early observer of Truman’s command. Their brief but telling encounters show Truman refusing to be treated as a provisional successor under examination, while Morgenthau’s place in the Cabinet became part of the broader transition away from the old New Deal circle.

Treasury Secretary and Vice-Presidential Security

Before Truman became President, Morgenthau received a warning about the striking gap in the Vice President’s security. Truman’s military aide, alarmed that no protection had been arranged for him, went to the Treasury Secretary to point out the incongruity: the President had scores of guards, while the Vice President had none. Morgenthau thus appears in the account not as the source of the concern but as the senior official to whom it was brought.

The First Test of Truman

On April 14, 1945, the day after Truman succeeded Roosevelt, Morgenthau arrived intending to ask him questions and assess the new President. Truman declined to spend Morgenthau’s time on that exercise. Instead, he requested a comprehensive report on the nation’s financial condition and insisted that it be prepared quickly. The exchange reversed the expected direction of scrutiny: Truman made clear that he was not the person on trial, and that Morgenthau was responsible for supplying information to the President.

Morgenthau recorded a mixed first impression. He found Truman courteous and decisive, but remained uncertain about what the new President was thinking beneath the surface, judging that time would be needed to tell. His reservation sits beside the immediate evidence of Truman’s brisk demand: the new President was already setting the terms of their official relationship.

A New Cabinet Taking Shape

Morgenthau remained one of only three New Dealers still in the Cabinet as Truman’s replacements accumulated. When Jimmy Byrnes was announced as Stettinius’s successor as Secretary of State, five Cabinet positions had been replaced; Wallace, Ickes, and Morgenthau were the remaining New Dealers. The account notes that their continued service was not expected to last much longer, but does not establish Morgenthau’s later departure. His presence marks the short interval in which Roosevelt’s administration and Truman’s emerging leadership still occupied the same Cabinet.