Donald Dawson

Donald Shelton Dawson (August 3, 1908 – December 25, 2005) was a 20th-century American lawyer, politician, and military officer, best remembered as the presidential aide who marshaled Harry S. Truman's crucial whistle-stop tour in the 1948 election campaign and so was perhaps the first modern American political advance man, able to gauge political climate and provide appropriate advice.

[1] Donald Shelton Dawson was born on August 3, 1908, in El Dorado Springs, Missouri.

Of how he organized Truman's famous whistle-stop tour, Dawson recounted in 1992: My job was to be a jump ahead, getting kids out of school early, finding free buses, whatever it took...

[1] In 1951, Dawson found himself caught up in congressional inquiries into the RFC and its board with regard to jobs and loans; he testified before a committee chaired by U.S.

In 1968, he continued in that role as the firm changed principals and became Dawson, Riddell, Holroyd, Taylor & Davis.

He married Ilona Massey (June 16, 1910 – August 20, 1974) a Hungarian film, stage and radio performer; who predeceased him.

[1] Dawson died age 97 on Sunday, December 25, 2005, Christmas Day, at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery near his wife.