Quotes by David Bruce

I think Averell Harriman is in the true sense of the word an extraordinary man. He has an infallible memory, a ceaseless curiosity, a vitality which even today at the age of eighty is superior to that of many men, probably most men half his age; and he has always occupied a front row seat at the great events, international political events, of our time.

I think, like many others, I realized that only the massive introduction of American support in one form or another, could possibly bring about a rehabilitation of the economies of those countries within a reasonable time.

I thought that in general we in the United States were too optimistic in believing that the Soviets might alter what had been for a long time, as a matter of fact for centuries, fundamental Russian policies in respect to the rest of the world.

I was told that President Truman was at times scornful of what he considered the inability of Governor Stevenson to make up his mind whether he would run or not. That's gossip as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not favorably impressed by the atmosphere of a political convention. I think it's not the biggest show on earth. I don't think it should be like a Barnum and Bailey or Ringling Brothers Circus.

I've heard a great many flattering things about Roosevelt, but never that he was notable for his skill in administration.

My knowledge of the state of President Roosevelt's health was derived entirely from conversations, from newspaper articles and from photographs.

Now, there's been a persistent legend and a lot of slogans, and the formation of societies for the fostering of Franco-American friendship, which have had some effect, but there is a strong admiration in this country for the culture of France, and generally speaking I think the French find the Americans have been stout supporters of them in many of their periods of distress.

Personally I believe that the courses we followed for some years after World War II were enlightened, surprisingly imaginative and extremely effective.

The real duties of an ambassador are to enter into or follow negotiations between his own government and that of the country to which he is accredited.

The use of the word great is so frequently applied to numbers of Presidents that I myself, having once written a series of, I think, extremely poor essays, I regret to say, on the first sixteen Presidents of the United States, I wouldn't try in my own mind to try to fix the place in history of any President until he had been dead for at least fifty years.

There was general consternation, if one can put it that way, especially amongst those people who knew little of Vice President Truman, about the new President Truman. From what I had heard of President Truman, I wasn't unduly disturbed because I thought that President Roosevelt's health had already failed so seriously, that it was simply a matter of time before there would be such a succession.

There's always a great deal of business to be transacted in one's office. There are always visitors it seems to me, an unending stream of them, who come with letters of recommendation, or come actually on substantive business.

Well, as a general remark, I would say that I was discouraged by the physical and economic conditions in continental Europe after the war.