I did actually read you post. I don’t believe the Democrat party would have suffered if Truman had cleaned house of the obvious parties. I think particularly of the Verona files.
I agree. See my post above-it would not have cost them any real support, but both Truman and Eisenhower had a “circle the wagons” mentality. They didn’t want ANY criticism of government for fear it would be used by the political opposition to make hay.
Eisenhower had it doubly bad (even if he wasn’t as overt about it as Truman was) because he had that mentality ingrained in him in his lengthy military career, an attitude that was endemic then and to this day in the military.