views on world figures are enlightening, since they are obviously Eisenhower's views." President Harry S. Truman reportedly told author Merle Miller that in 1945, Eisenhower asked permission from General George Marshall to divorce his wife to marry Summersby, but permission was refused. Truman also allegedly said he had the correspondence between Marshall and Eisenhower retrieved from the Army archives and destroyed. But Truman's account of the Summersby controversy has been rejected by most scholars. Historians say Truman had a mistaken recollection, and emphasise that Eisenhower had asked permission to bring his wife to England. Others have speculated that Truman was not truthful about Eisenhower because of animosity between the two men that intensified during the Eisenhower presidency (Truman stated that Eisenhower did not invite him back to the White House during his administration). Historian Robert H. Ferrell stated he found that the tapes of Miller's interviews with Truman contain no mention whatever of Summersby, and concludes that Miller concocted the story. Eisenhower biographer Jean Edward Smith wrote, "Whether he and Kay were intimate remains a matter of conjecture. But there is no question they were in love." Smith accepted Miller's account because Garrett Mattingly, who as a naval officer in Washington censored outgoing cables, told a similar story to his Columbia University faculty colleagues in the early 1950s. Smith cited several other people who believed in or were told of the existence of an affair. Omar Bradley in his autobiography wrote that the two were in love and that "Their close relationship is quite accurately portrayed, so far as my personal knowledge extends, in Kay's second book, Past Forgetting". Awards and honours Bronze Star Medal Women's Army Corps Service Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver and two bronze campaign stars World War II Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with "GERMANY" clasp British Empire Medal (United Kingdom) Defence Medal (United Kingdom) War Medal 1939–1945 (United Kingdom) Six overseas service bars See also Jean Gordon – The alleged mistress of George S. Patton. References Notes Bibliography Barbara Wyden Papers 1944–1945 Further reading Ambrose, Stephen E., Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect 1890–1952 (1983). Miller, Merle, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974) Putnam Publishing Group; . London: Gollancz Ltd. (1974); ; Reprint (2005) by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; David, Lester & Irene David, Ike & Mamie, The Story of the General and his Lady