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I told the President what had been going on. I didn't tell him the whole story, but a good part of it. I told him that complaints had come to me.

The President said, “Well, you know, I do know something about that. I've heard about that from somebody else.”

I don't know who before me had told him that Hugh was getting worse and worse. McIntyre told me that he hadn't told him much of anything. He had only repeated one incident, but the President seemed aware of what was going on. He said, “I don't know how to break this thing up without hurting Hugh terribly. What about asking him to be the head of some commission to go and look into the progress of economic recovery in England, France, Belgium, the Low Countries? I don't like to send him to Italy. How would that be? Would that seem all right? Does it seem to you logical? Do you think it would please Hugh?”

I agreed that it might be the best thing to do. It might be a way out of it. We both agreed that at all costs Hugh Johnson must not be humiliated, that he had done a very valuable piece of work, and that nothing must be done at this moment that would humiliate him, or ruin him, or break him up too much personally.

I know that the President talked to Baruch, either that night or soon after, on the telephone, and that Baruch