In the matter of Israel's recognition, Secretary George Marshall and other high-ranking officials at State and the CIA were adamantly opposed. In a series of contentious meetings as related by Clark Clifford, the State Department argued continually with Truman not to do it. It came to a point where a furious Marshall told the president that if he recognized Israel, Marshall could never vote for him again.
Such arguments are certainly not bad for our democratic form of government. A wise president welcomes and solicits advice and comments from his Cabinet. This is all part of good decision-making. The difficulty came in after Truman formally recognized Israel on May 14, 1948, for that did not end the resistance to his decision.
To his credit, once the decision was made, George Marshall let the president know that he would never agree with it but that he would not oppose it. Not so with the boys in the CIA. As Michael Doran of the Hudson Institute puts it: