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.
There never seems to be anybody in the room to say, “Why don’t we consider telling the truth. Our opponents would be shocked and befuddled”. The political profession does a good job of weeding out those whose moral compass does no point downward. When Harry Truman said, “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there’s hardly any difference. I guess I am not surprised by revelations that he played the piano loud enough to drown out the groans.