national security. This can best be accomplished through universal
training. I have appointed an Advisory Commission on Universal Training
to study the various plans for a training program, and I expect that the
recommendations of the Commission will be of benefit to the Congress and
to me in reaching decisions on this problem.
The cost of the military establishment is substantial. There is one
certain way by which we can cut costs and at the same time enhance our
national security. That is by the establishment of a single Department
of National Defense. I shall communicate with the Congress in the near
future with reference to the establishment of a single Department of
National Defense.
National security does not consist only of an army, a navy, and an air
force. It rests on a much broader basis. It depends on a sound economy
of prices and wages, on prosperous agriculture, on satisfied and
productive workers, on a competitive private enterprise free from
monopolistic repression, on continued industrial harmony and production,
on civil liberties and human freedoms-on all the forces which create in
our men and women a strong moral fiber and spiritual stamina.
But we have a higher duty and a greater responsibility than the
attainment of our own national security. Our goal is collective security
for all mankind.
If we can work in a spirit of understanding and mutual respect, we can
fulfill this solemn obligation which rests upon us.
The spirit of the American people can set the course of world history.
If we maintain and strengthen our cherished ideals, and if we share our
great bounty with war-stricken people over the world, then the faith of
our citizens in freedom and democracy will be spread over the whole
earth and free men everywhere will share our devotion to those ideals.
Let us have the will and the patience to this job together.
May the Lord strengthen us in our faith.
May He give us wisdom to lead the peoples of the world in His ways of
peace.
***
State of the Union Address
Harry S. Truman
January 7, 1948
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, and Members of the 80th Congress:
We are here today to consider the state of the Union.
On this occasion, above all others, the Congress and the President
should concentrate their attention, not upon party but upon the country;
not upon things which divide us but upon those which bind us
together--the enduring principles of our American system, and our common
aspirations for the future welfare and security of the people of the
United States.
The United States has become great because [p.2] we, as a people, have
been able to work together for great objectives even while differing
about details.
The elements of our strength are many. They include our democratic
government, our economic system, our great natural resources. But these
are only partial explanations.
The basic source of our strength is spiritual. For we are a people with
a faith. We believe in the dignity of man. We believe that he was
created in the image of the Father of us all.
We do not believe that men exist merely to strengthen the state or to be
cogs in the economic machine. We do believe that governments are created
to serve the people and that economic systems exist to minister to their
wants. We have a profound devotion to the welfare and rights of the
individual as a human being.
The faith of our people has particular meaning at this time in history
because of the unsettled and changing state of the world.
The victims of war in many lands are striving to rebuild their lives,
and are seeking assurance that the tragedy of war will not occur again.
Throughout the world new ideas are challenging the old. Men of all
nations are reexamining the beliefs by which they live. Great scientific
and industrial changes have released new forces which will affect the
future course of civilization.
The state of our Union reflects the changing nature of the modern world.
On all sides there is heartening evidence of great energy--of capacity
for economic development-and even more important, capacity for spiritual
growth. But accompanying this great activity there are equally great
questions, great anxieties, and great aspirations. They represent the
concern of an enlightened people that conditions should be so arranged
as to make life more worthwhile.
We must devote ourselves to finding answers to these anxieties and
aspirations. We seek answers which will embody the moral and spiritual
elements of tolerance, unselfishness, and brotherhood upon which true
freedom and opportunity must rest.
As we examine the state of our Union today, we can benefit from viewing
it on a basis of the accomplishments of the last decade and of our goals
for the next. How far have we come during the last 10 years and how far
can we go in the next 10?
It was 10 years ago that the determination of dictators to wage war upon
mankind became apparent. The years that followed brought untold death
and destruction.
We shared in the human suffering of the war, but we were fortunate
enough to escape most of war’s destruction. We were able through these
10 years to expand the productive strength of our farms and factories.
More important, however, is the fact that these years brought us new
courage, new confidence in the ideals of our free democracy. Our deep
belief in freedom and justice was reinforced in the crucible of war.
On the foundations of our greatly strengthened economy and our renewed
confidence in democratic values, we can continue to move forward.
There are some who look with fear and distrust upon planning for the
future. Yet our great national achievements have been attained by those
with vision. Our Union was formed, our frontiers were pushed back, and
our great industries were built by men who looked ahead.
I propose that we look ahead today toward those goals for the future
which have the greatest bearing upon the foundations of our democracy
and the happiness of our people.
I do so, confident in the thought that with clear objectives and with
firm determination, we can, in the next 10 years, build upon the [p.3]
accomplishments of the past decade to achieve a glorious future. Year by
year, beginning now, we must make a substantial part of this progress.
Our first goal is to secure fully the essential human rights of our
citizens.
The United States has always had a deep concern for human rights.
Religious freedom, free speech, and freedom of thought are cherished
realities in our land. Any denial of human rights is a denial of the
basic beliefs of democracy and of our regard for the worth of each
individual.
Today, however, some of our citizens are still denied equal opportunity
for education, for jobs and economic advancement, and for the expression
of their views at the polls. Most serious of all, some are denied equal
protection under laws. Whether discrimination is based on race, or
creed, or color, or land of origin, it is utterly contrary to American
ideals of democracy.
The recent report of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights points
the way to corrective action by the Federal Government and by State and
local governments. Because of the need for effective Federal action, I
shall send a special message to the Congress on this important subject.
We should also consider our obligation to assure the fullest possible
measure of civil rights to the people of our territories and
possessions. I believe that the time has come for Alaska and Hawaii to
be admitted to the Union as States.
Our second goal is to protect and develop our human resources.
The safeguarding of the rights of our citizens must be accompanied by an
equal regard for their opportunities for development and their
protection from economic insecurity. In this Nation the ideals of
freedom and equality can be given specific meaning in terms of health,
education, social security, and housing.
Over the past 12 years we have erected a sound framework of social
security legislation. Many millions of our citizens are now protected
against the loss of income which can come with unemployment, old age, or
the death of wage earners. Yet our system has gaps and inconsistencies;
it is only half finished.
We should now extend unemployment compensation, old age benefits, and
survivors’ benefits to millions who are not now protected. We should
also raise the level of benefits.
The greatest gap in our social security structure is the lack of
adequate provision for the Nation’s health. We are rightly proud of the
high standards of medical care we know how to provide in the United
States. The fact is, however, that most of our people cannot afford to
pay for the care they need.
I have often and strongly urged that this condition demands a national
health program. The heart of the program must be a national system of
payment for medical care based on well-tried insurance principles. This
great Nation cannot afford to allow its citizens to suffer needlessly
from the lack of proper medical care.
Our ultimate aim must be a comprehensive insurance system to protect all
our people equally against insecurity and ill health.
Another fundamental aim of our democracy is to provide an adequate
education for every person.
Our educational systems face a financial crisis. It is deplorable that
in a Nation as rich as ours there are millions of children who do not
have adequate schoolhouses or enough teachers for a good elementary or
secondary education. If there are educational inadequacies in any State,
the whole Nation suffers. The Federal Government has a responsibility
for providing financial aid to meet this crisis.
In addition, we must make possible greater equality of opportunity to
all our citizens for education. Only by so doing can we insure that our
citizens will be capable of understanding and sharing the
responsibilities of democracy.
The Government’s programs for health, education, and security are of
such great importance to our democracy that we should now establish an
executive department for their administration.
Health and education have their beginning in the home. No matter what
our hospitals or schools are like, the youth of our Nation are
handicapped when millions of them live in city slums and country shacks.
Within the next decade, we must see that every American family has a
decent home. As an immediate step we need the long-range housing program
which I have recommended on many occasions to this Congress. This should
include financial aids designed to yield more housing at lower prices.
It should provide public housing for low-income families, and vigorous
development of new techniques to lower the cost of building.
Until we can overcome the present drastic housing shortage, we must
extend and strengthen rent control.
We have had, and shall continue to have, a special interest in the
welfare of our veterans. Over 14 million men and women who served in the
armed forces in World War II have now returned to civilian life. Over 2
million veterans are being helped through school. Millions have been
aided while finding jobs, and have been helped in buying homes, in
obtaining medical care, and in adjusting themselves to physical
handicaps.
All but a very few veterans have successfully made the transition from
military life to their home communities. The success of our veterans’
program is proved by this fact. This Nation is proud of the eagerness
shown by our veterans to become self-reliant and self-supporting
citizens.
Our third goal is to conserve and use our natural resources so that they
can contribute most effectively to the welfare of our people.
The resources given by nature to this country are rich and extensive.
The material foundations of our growth and economic development are the
bounty of our fields, the wealth of our mines and forests, and the
energy of our waters. As a Nation, we are coming to appreciate more each
day the dose relationship between the conservation of these resources
and the preservation of our national strength.
We are doing far less than we know how to do to make use of our
resources without destroying them. Both the public and private use of
these resources must have the primary objective of maintaining and
increasing these basic supports for an expanding future.
We must continue to take specific steps toward this goal. We must
vigorously defend our natural wealth against those who would misuse it
for selfish gain.
We need accurate and comprehensive knowledge of our mineral resources
and must intensify our efforts to develop new supplies and to acquire
stockpiles of scarce materials.
We need to protect and restore our land-public and private--through
combating erosion and rebuilding the fertility of the soil.
We must expand our reclamation program to bring millions of acres of
arid land into production, and to improve water supplies for additional
millions of acres. This will provide new opportunities for veterans and
others, particularly in the West, and aid in providing a rising living
standard for a growing population.
We must protect and restore our forests by sustained-yield forestry and
by planting [p.5] new trees in areas now slashed and barren.
We must continue to erect multiple-purpose dams on our great rivers--not
only to reclaim land, but also to prevent floods, to extend our inland
waterways and to provide hydroelectric power. This public power must not
be monopolized for private gain. Only through well-established policies
of transmitting power directly to its market and thus encouraging
widespread use at low rates can the Federal Government assure the people
of their full share of its benefits. Additional power--public and
private--is needed to raise the ceilings now imposed by power shortages
on industrial and agricultural development.
We should achieve the wise use of resources through the integrated
development of our great river basins. We can learn much from our
Tennessee Valley experience. We should no longer delay in applying the
lessons of that vast undertaking to our other great river basins.
Our fourth goal is to lift the standard of living for all our people by
strengthening our economic system and sharing more broadly among our
people the goods we produce.
The amazing economic progress of the past 10 years points the way for
the next 10.
Today 14 million more people have jobs than in 1938.
Our yearly output of goods and services has increased by two-thirds.
The average income of our people, measured in dollars of equal
purchasing power, has increased--after taxes--by more than 50 percent.
In no other 10 years have farmers, businessmen, and wage earners made
such great gains.
We may not be able to expand as rapidly in the next decade as in the
last, because we are now starting from full employment and very high
production. But we can increase our annual output by at least one-third
above the present level. We can lift our standard of living to nearly
double what it was 10 years ago.
If we distribute these gains properly, we can go far toward stamping out
poverty in our generation.
To do this, agriculture, business, and labor must move forward together.
Permanent farm prosperity and agricultural abundance will be achieved
only as our whole economy grows and prospers. The farmer can sell more
food at good prices when the incomes of wage earners are high and when
there is full employment. Adequate diets for every American family, and
the needs of our industries at full production, will absorb a farm
output well above our present levels.
Although the average farmer is now better off than ever before, farm
families as a whole have only begun to catch up with the standards of
living enjoyed in the cities. In 1946, the average income of farm people
was $779, contrasted with an average income of $1,288 for nonfarm
people. Within the next decade, we should eliminate elements of
inequality in these living standards.
To this end our farm program should enable the farmer to market his
varied crops at fair price levels and to improve his standard of living.
We need to continue price supports for major farm commodities on a basis
which will afford reasonable protection against fluctuations in the
levels of production and demand. The present price support program must
be reexamined and modernized.
Crop insurance should be strengthened and its benefits extended in order
to protect the farmer against the special hazards to which he is
subject.
We also need to improve the means for getting farm products into markets
and into the hands of consumers. Cooperatives which [p.6] directly or
indirectly serve this purpose must be encouraged--not discouraged. The
school lunch program should be continued and adequately financed.
We need to go forward with the rural electrification program to bring
the benefits of electricity to all our farm population.
We can, and must, aid and encourage farmers to conserve their soil
resources and restore the fertility of the land that has suffered from
neglect or unwise use.
All these are practical measures upon which we should act immediately to
enable agriculture to make its full contribution to our prosperity.
We must also strengthen our economic system within the next decade by
enlarging our industrial capacity within the framework of our free
enterprise system.
We are today far short of the industrial capacity we need for a growing
future. At least $50 billion should be invested by industry to improve
and expand our productive facilities over the next few years. But this
is only the beginning. The industrial application of atomic energy and
other scientific advances will constantly open up further opportunities
for expansion. Farm prosperity and high employment will call for an
immensely increased output of goods and services.
Growth and vitality in our economy depend on vigorous private
enterprise. Free competition is the key to industrial development, full
production and employment, fair prices, and an ever improving standard
of living. Competition is seriously limited today in many industries by
the concentration of economic power and other elements of monopoly. The
appropriation of sufficient funds to permit proper enforcement of the
present antitrust laws is essential. Beyond that we should go on to
strengthen our legislation to protect competition.
Another basic element of a strong economic system is the well-being of
the wage earners.
We have learned that the well-being of workers depends on high
production and consequent high employment. We have learned equally well
that the welfare of industry and agriculture depends on high incomes for
our workers.
The Government has wisely chosen to set a floor under wages. But our
40-cent minimum wage is inadequate and obsolete. I recommend the lifting
of the minimum wage to 75 cents an hour.
In general, however, we must continue to rely on our sound system of
collective bargaining to set wage scales. Workers’ incomes should
increase at a rate consistent with the maintenance of sound price,
profit, and wage relationships and with increase of productivity.
The Government’s part in labor-management relations is now largely
controlled by the terms of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947. I
made my attitude clear on this act in my veto message to the Congress
last June. Nothing has occurred since to change my opinion of this law.
As long as it remains the law of the land, however, I shall carry out my
constitutional duty and administer it.
As we look ahead we can understand the crucial importance of restraint
and wisdom in arriving at new labor-management contracts. Work stoppages
would result in a loss of production--a loss which could bring higher
prices for our citizens and could also deny the necessities of life to
the hard-pressed peoples of other lands. It is my sincere hope that the
representatives of labor and of industry will bear in mind that the
Nation as a whole has a vital stake in the success of their bargaining
efforts.
If we surmount our current economic difficulties, we can move ahead to a
great increase [p.7] in our national income which will enable all our
people to enjoy richer and fuller lives.
All of us must advance together. One-fifth of our families now have
average annual incomes of less than $850. We must see that our gains in
national income are made more largely available to those with low
incomes, whose need is greatest. This will benefit us all through
providing a stable foundation of buying power to maintain prosperity.
Business, labor, agriculture, and Government, working together, must
develop the policies which will make possible the realization of the
full benefits of our economic system.
Our fifth goal is to achieve world peace based on principles of freedom
and justice and the equality of all nations.
Twice within our generation, world wars have taught us that we cannot
isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
We have learned that the loss of freedom in any area of the world means
a loss of freedom to ourselves--that the loss of independence by any
nation adds directly to the insecurity of the United States and all free
nations.
We have learned that a healthy world economy is essential to world
peace--that economic distress is a disease whose evil effects spread far
beyond the boundaries of the afflicted nation.
For these reasons the United States is vigorously following policies
designed to achieve a peaceful and prosperous world.
We are giving, and will continue to give, our full support to the United
Nations. While that organization has encountered unforeseen and
unwelcome difficulties, I am confident of its ultimate success. We are
also devoting our efforts toward world economic recovery and the revival
of world trade. These actions are closely related and mutually
supporting.
We believe that the United States can be an effective force for world
peace only if it is strong. We look forward to the day when nations will
decrease their armaments. Yet so long as there remains serious
opposition to the ideals of a peaceful world, we must maintain strong
armed forces.
The passage of the National Security Act by the Congress at its last
session was a notable step in providing for the security of this
country. A further step which I consider of even greater importance is
the early provision for universal training. There are many elements in a
balanced national security program, all interrelated and necessary, but
universal training should be the foundation for them all. A favorable
decision by the Congress at an early date is of world importance. I am
convinced that such action is vital to the security of this Nation and
to the maintenance of its leadership.
The United States is engaged today in many international activities
directed toward the creation of lasting peaceful relationships among
nations.
We have been giving substantial aid to Greece and Turkey to assist those
nations in preserving their integrity against foreign pressures. Had it
not been for our aid, their situation today might well be radically
different. The continued integrity of those countries will have a
powerful effect upon other nations in the Middle East and in Europe
struggling to maintain their independence while they repair the damages
of war.
The United States has special responsibilities with respect to the
countries in which we have occupation forces: Germany, Austria, Japan,
and Korea. Our efforts to reach agreements on peace settlements for
these countries have so far been blocked. But we [p.8] shall continue to
exert our utmost efforts to obtain satisfactory settlements for each of
these nations.
Many thousands of displaced persons, still living in camps overseas,
should be allowed entry into the United States. I again urge the
Congress to pass suitable legislation at once so that this Nation may do
its share in caring for the homeless and suffering refugees of all
faiths. I believe that the admission of these persons will add to the
strength and energy of this Nation.
We are moving toward our goal of world peace in many ways. But the most
important efforts which we are now making are those which support world
economic reconstruction. We are seeking to restore the world trading
system which was shattered by the war and to remedy the economic
paralysis which grips many countries.
To restore world trade we have recently taken the lead in bringing about
the greatest reduction of world tariffs that the world has ever seen.
The extension of the provisions of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act,
which made this achievement possible, is of extreme importance. We must
also go on to support the International Trade Organization, through
which we hope to obtain worldwide agreement on a code of fair conduct in
international trade.
Our present major effort toward economic reconstruction is to support
the program for recovery developed by the countries of Europe. In my
recent message to the Congress, I outlined the reasons why it is wise
and necessary for the United States to extend this support.
I want to reaffirm my belief in the soundness and the promise of this
proposal. When the European economy is strengthened, the product of its
industry will be of benefit to many other areas of economic distress.
The ability of free men to overcome hunger and despair will be a moral
stimulus to the entire world.
We intend to work also with other nations in achieving world economic
recovery. We shall continue our cooperation with the nations of the
Western Hemisphere. A special program of assistance to China, to provide
urgent relief needs and to speed reconstruction, will be submitted to
the Congress.
Unfortunately, not all governments share the hope of the people of the
United States that economic reconstruction in many areas of the world
can be achieved through cooperative effort among nations. In spite of
these differences we will go forward with our efforts to overcome
economic paralysis.
No nation by itself can carry these programs to success; they depend
upon the cooperative and honest efforts of all participating countries.
Yet the leadership is inevitably ours.
I consider it of the highest importance that the Congress should
authorize support for the European recovery program for the period from
April 1, 1948, to June 30, 1952, with an initial amount for the first 15
months of $6.8 billion. I urge the Congress to act promptly on this
vital measure of our foreign policy--on this decisive contribution to
world peace.
We are following a sound, constructive, and practical course in carrying
out our determination to achieve peace.
We are fighting poverty, hunger, and suffering.
This leads to peace--not war.
We are building toward a world where all nations, large and small alike,
may live free from the fear of aggression. This leads to peace--not war.
Above all else, we are striving to achieve a concord among the peoples
of the world based upon the dignity of the individual and the
brotherhood of man.
This leads to peace--not war.
We can go forward with confidence that we are following sound policies,
both at home and with other nations, which will lead us toward our great
goals for economic, social and moral achievement.
As we enter the new year, we must surmount one major problem which
affects all our goals. That is the problem of inflation.
Already inflation in this country is undermining the living standards of
millions of families. Food costs too much. Housing has reached fantastic
price levels. Schools and hospitals are in financial distress. Inflation
threatens to bring on disagreement and strife between labor and
management.
Worst of all, inflation holds the threat of another depression, just as
we had a depression after the unstable boom following the First World
War.
When I announced last October that the Congress was being called into
session, I described the price increases which had taken place since
June 1946. Wholesale prices had increased 40 percent; retail prices had
increased 23 percent.
Since October prices have continued to rise. Wholesale prices have gone
up at an annual rate of 18 percent. Retail prices have gone up at an
annual rate of 10 percent.
The events which have occurred since I presented my 10-point
anti-inflation program to the Congress in November have made it even
clearer that all 10 points are essential.
High prices must not be our means of rationing.
We must deal effectively and at once with the high cost of living.
We must stop the spiral of inflation.
I trust that within the shortest possible time the Congress will make
available to the Government the weapons that are so desperately needed
in the fight against inflation.
One of the most powerful anti-inflationary factors in our economy today
is the excess of Government revenues over expenditures.
Government expenditures have been and must continue to be held at the
lowest safe levels. Since V-J day Federal expenditures have been sharply
reduced. They have been cut from more than $63 billion in the fiscal
year 1946 to less than $38 billion in the present fiscal year. The
number of civilian employees has been cut nearly in half--from 3 3/4
million down to 2 million.
On the other hand, Government revenues must not be reduced. Until
inflation has been stopped there should be no cut in taxes that is not
offset by additions at another point in our tax structure.
Certain adjustments should be made within our existing tax structure
that will not affect total receipts, yet will adjust the tax burden so
that those least able to pay will have their burden lessened by the
transfer of a portion of it to those best able to pay.
Many of our families today are suffering hardship because of the high
cost of living. At the same time profits of corporations have reached an
all-time record in 1947. Corporate profits total $17 billion after
taxes. This compared with $12.5 billion in 1946, the previous high year.
Because of this extraordinarily high level of profits, corporations can
well afford to carry a larger share of the taxload at this time.
During this period in which the high cost of living is bearing down on
so many of our families, tax adjustments should be made to ease their
burden. The low-income group particularly is being pressed very hard. To
this group a tax adjustment would result in a saving that could be used
to buy the necessities of life.
I recommend therefore that, effective January 1, 1948, a cost of living
tax credit be extended to our people consisting of a credit of $40 to
each individual taxpayer and an additional credit of $40 for each
dependent. [p.10] Thus the income tax of a man with a wife and two
children would be reduced $160. The credit would be extended to all
taxpayers, but it would be particularly helpful to those in the
low-income group.
It is estimated that such a tax credit would reduce Federal revenue by
$3.2 billion. This reduction should be made up by increasing the tax on
corporate profits in an amount that will produce this sum--with
appropriate adjustments for small corporations.
This is the proper method of tax relief at this time. It gives relief to
those who need it most without cutting the total tax revenue of the
Government.
When the present danger of inflation has passed we should consider tax
reduction based upon a revision of our entire tax structure.
When we have conquered inflation, we shall be in a position to move
forward toward our chosen goals.
As we do so, let us keep ever before us our high purposes. We are
determined that every citizen of this Nation shall have an equal right
and an equal opportunity to grow in wisdom and in stature and to take
his place in the control of his Nation’s destiny.
We are determined that the productive resources of this Nation shall be
used wisely and fully for the benefit of all.
We are determined that the democratic faith of our people and the
strength of our resources shall contribute their full share to the
attainment of enduring peace in the world.
It is our faith in human dignity that underlies these purposes. It is
this faith that keeps us a strong and vital people.
This is a time to remind ourselves of these fundamentals. For today the
whole world looks to us for leadership.
This is the hour to rededicate ourselves to the faith in mankind that
makes us strong.
This is the hour to rededicate ourselves to the faith in God that gives
us confidence as we face the challenge of the years ahead.
***
State of the Union Address
Harry S. Truman
January 5, 1949
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress:
I am happy to report to this 81st Congress that the state of the Union
is good. Our Nation is better able than ever before to meet the needs of
the American people, and to give them their fair chance in the pursuit
of happiness. This great Republic is foremost among the nations of the
world in the search for peace.
During the last 16 years, our people have been creating a society which
offers new opportunities for every man to enjoy his share of the good
things of life.
In this society, we are conservative about the values and principles
which we cherish; but we are forward-looking in protecting those values
and principles and in extending their benefits. We have rejected the
discredited theory that the fortunes of the Nation should be in the
hands of a privileged few. We have abandoned the “trickledown” concept
of national prosperity. Instead, we believe that our economic system
should rest on a democratic foundation and that wealth should be created
for the benefit of all.
The recent election shows that the people of the United States are in
favor of this kind of society and want to go on improving it.
The American people have decided that poverty is just as wasteful and
just as unnecessary as preventable disease. We have pledged our common
resources to help one another in the hazards and struggles of individual
life. We believe that no unfair prejudice or artificial distinction
should bar any citizen of the United States of America from an
education, or from good health, or from a job that he is capable of
performing.
The attainment of this kind of society demands the best efforts of every
citizen in every walk of life, and it imposes increasing
responsibilities on the Government.
The Government must work with industry, labor, and the farmers in
keeping our economy running at full speed. The Government must see that
every American has a chance to obtain his fair share of our increasing
abundance. These responsibilities go hand in hand.
We cannot maintain prosperity unless we have a fair distribution of
opportunity and a widespread consumption of the products of our
factories and farms.
Our Government has undertaken to meet these responsibilities.
We have made tremendous public investments in highways, hydroelectric
power projects, soil conservation, and reclamation. We have established
a system of social security. We have enacted laws protecting the rights
and the welfare of our working people and the income of our farmers.
These Federal policies have paid for themselves many times over. They
have strengthened the material foundations of our democratic ideals.
Without them, our present prosperity would be impossible.
Reinforced by these policies, our private enterprise system has reached
new heights of production. Since the boom year of 1929, while our
population has increased by only 20 percent, our agricultural production
has increased by 45 percent, and our industrial production has increased
by 75 percent. We are turning out far more goods and more wealth per
worker than we have ever done before.
This progress has confounded the gloomy prophets--at home and abroad who
predicted the downfall of American capitalism. The people of the United
States, going their own way, confident in their own powers, have
achieved the greatest prosperity the world has even seen.
But, great as our progress has been, we still have a long way to go.
As we look around the country, many of our shortcomings stand out in
bold relief.
We are suffering from excessively high prices.
Our production is still not large enough to satisfy our demands.
Our minimum wages are far too low.
Small business is losing ground to growing monopoly.
Our farmers still face an uncertain future. And too many of them lack
the benefits of our modern civilization.
Some of our natural resources are still being wasted.
We are acutely short of electric power, although the means for
developing such power are abundant.
Five million families are still living in slums and firetraps. Three
million families share their homes with others.
Our health is far behind the progress of medical science. Proper medical
care is so expensive that it is out of the reach of the great majority
of our citizens.
Our schools, in many localities, are utterly inadequate.
Our democratic ideals are often thwarted by prejudice and intolerance.
Each of these shortcomings is also an opportunity-an opportunity for the
Congress and the President to work for the good of the people.
Our first great opportunity is to protect our economy against the evils
of “boom and bust.”
This objective cannot be attained by government alone. Indeed, the
greater part of the task must be performed by individual efforts under
our system of free enterprise. We can keep our present prosperity, and
increase it, only if free enterprise and free government work together
to that end.
We cannot afford to float along ceaselessly on a postwar boom until it
collapses. It is not enough merely to prepare to weather a recession if
it comes. Instead, government and business must work together constantly
to achieve more and more jobs and more and more production--which mean
more and more prosperity for all the people.
The business cycle is man-made; and men of good will, working together,
can smooth it out.
So far as business is concerned, it should plan for steady, vigorous
expansion--seeking always to increase its output, lower its prices, and
avoid the vices of monopoly and restriction. So long as business does
this, it will be contributing to continued prosperity, and it will have
the help and encouragement of the Government.
The Employment Act of 1946 pledges the Government to use all its
resources to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing
power. This means that the Government is firmly committed to protect
business and the people against the dangers of recession and against the
evils of inflation. This means that the Government must adapt its plans
and policies to meet changing circumstances.
At the present time, our prosperity is threatened by inflationary
pressures at a number of critical points in our economy. And the
Government must be in a position to take effective action at these
danger spots. To that end, I recommend that the Congress enact
legislation for the following purposes:
First, to continue the power to control consumer credit and enlarge the
power to control bank credit.
Second, to grant authority to regulate speculation on the commodity
exchanges.
Third, to continue export control authority and to provide adequate
machinery for its enforcement.
Fourth, to continue the priorities and allocation authority in the field
of transportation.
Fifth, to authorize priorities and allocations for key materials in
short supply.
Sixth, to extend and strengthen rent control.
Seventh, to provide standby authority to impose price ceilings for
scarce commodities which basically affect essential industrial
production or the cost of living, and to limit unjustified wage
adjustments which would force a break in an established price ceiling.
Eighth, to authorize an immediate study of the adequacy of production
facilities for materials in critically short supply, such as steel; and,
if found necessary, to authorize Government loans for the expansion of
production facilities to relieve such shortages, and to authorize the
construction of such facilities directly, if action by private industry
fails to meet our needs.
The Economic Report, which I shall submit to the Congress shortly, will
discuss in detail the economic background for these recommendations.
One of the most important factors in maintaining prosperity is the
Government’s fiscal policy. At this time, it is essential not only that
the Federal budget be balanced, but also that there be a substantial
surplus to reduce inflationary pressures, and to permit a sizable
reduction in the national debt, which now stands at $252 billion. I
recommend, therefore, that the Congress enact new tax legislation to
bring in an additional $4 billion of Government revenue. This should
come principally from additional corporate taxes. A portion should come
from revised estate and gift taxes. Consideration should be given to
raising personal income rates in the middle and upper brackets.
If we want to keep our economy running in high gear, we must be sure
that every group has the incentive to make its full contribution to the
national welfare. At present, the working men and women of the Nation
are unfairly discriminated against by a statute that abridges their
rights, curtails their constructive efforts, and hampers our system of
free collective bargaining. That statute is the Labor-Management
Relations Act of 1947, sometimes called the Taft-Hartley Act.
That act should be repealed!
The Wagner Act should be reenacted. However, certain improvements, which
I recommended to the Congress 2 years ago, are needed. Jurisdictional
strikes and unjustified secondary boycotts should be prohibited. The use
of economic force to decide issues arising out of the interpretation of
existing contracts should be prevented. Without endangering our
democratic freedoms, means should be provided for setting up machinery
for preventing strikes in vital industries which affect the public
interest.
The Department of Labor should be rebuilt and strengthened and those
units properly belonging within that department should be placed in it.
The health of our economy and its maintenance at high levels further
require that the minimum wage fixed by law should be raised to at least
75 cents an hour.
If our free enterprise economy is to be strong and healthy, we must
reinvigorate the forces of competition. We must assure small business
the freedom and opportunity to grow and prosper. To this purpose, we
should strengthen our antitrust laws by closing those loopholes that
permit monopolistic mergers and consolidations.
Our national farm program should be improved-not only in the interest of
the farmers, but for the lasting prosperity of the whole Nation. Our
goals should be abundant farm production and parity income for
agriculture. Standards of living on the farm should be just as good as
anywhere else in the country.
Farm price supports are an essential part of our program to achieve
these ends. Price supports should be used to prevent farm price declines
which are out of line with general price levels, to facilitate
adjustments in production to consumer demands, and to promote good land
use. Our price support legislation must be adapted to these objectives.
The authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide adequate
storage space for crops should be restored.
Our program for farm prosperity should also seek to expand the domestic
market for agricultural products, particularly among low-income groups,
and to increase and stabilize foreign markets.
We should give special attention to extending modern conveniences and
services to our farms. Rural electrification should be pushed forward.
And in considering legislation relating to housing, education, health,
and social security, special attention should be given to rural
problems.
Our growing population and the expansion of our economy depend upon the
wise management of our land, water, forest, and mineral wealth. In our
present dynamic economy, the task of conservation is not to lockup our
resources but to develop and improve them. Failure, today, to make the
investments which are necessary to support our progress in the future
would be false economy.
We must push forward the development of our rivers for power,
irrigation, navigation, and flood control. We should apply the lessons
of our Tennessee Valley experience to our other great river basins.
I again recommend action be taken by the Congress to approve the St.
Lawrence Seaway and Power project. This is about the fifth time I have
recommended it.
We must adopt a program for the planned use of the petroleum reserves
under the sea, which are--and must remain--vested in the Federal
Government. We must extend our programs of soil conservation. We must
place our forests on a sustained yield basis, and encourage the
development of new sources of vital minerals.
In all this we must make sure that the benefits of these public
undertakings are directly available to the people. Public power should
be carried to consuming areas by public transmission lines where
necessary to provide electricity at the lowest possible rates.
Irrigation waters should serve family farms and not land speculators.
The Government has still other opportunities--to help raise the standard
of living of our citizens. These opportunities lie in the fields of
social security, health, education, housing, and civil rights.
The present coverage of the social security laws is altogether
inadequate; the benefit payments are too low. One-third of our workers
are not covered. Those who receive old-age and survivors insurance
benefits receive an average payment of only $25 a month. Many others who
cannot work because they are physically disabled are left to the mercy
of charity. We should expand our social security program, both as to the
size of the benefits and the extent of coverage, against the economic
hazards due to unemployment, old age, sickness, and disability.
We must spare no effort to raise the general level of health in this
country. In a nation as rich as ours, it is a shocking fact that tens of
millions lack adequate medical care. We are short of doctors, hospitals,
nurses. We must remedy these shortages. Moreover, we need--and we must
have without further delay--a system of prepaid medical insurance which
will enable every American to afford good medical care.
It is equally shocking that millions of our children are not receiving a
good education. Millions of them are in overcrowded, obsolete buildings.
We are short of teachers, because teachers’ salaries are too low to
attract new teachers, or to hold the ones we have. All these school
problems will become much more acute as a result of the tremendous
increase in the enrollment in our elementary schools in the next few
years. I cannot repeat too strongly my desire for prompt Federal
financial aid to the States to help them operate and maintain their
school systems.
The governmental agency which now administers the programs of health,
education, and social security should be given full departmental status.
The housing shortage continues to be acute. As an immediate step, the
Congress should enact the provisions for low-rent public housing, slum
clearance, farm housing, and housing research which I have repeatedly
recommended. The number of low-rent public housing units provided for in
the legislation should be increased to 1 million units in the next 7
years. Even this number of units will not begin to meet our need for new
housing.
Most of the houses we need will have to be built by private enterprise,
without public subsidy. By producing too few rental units and too large
a proportion of high-priced houses, the building industry is rapidly
pricing itself out of the market. Building costs must be lowered.
The Government is now engaged in a campaign to induce all segments of
the building industry to concentrate on the production of lower priced
housing. Additional legislation to encourage such housing will be
submitted.
The authority which I have requested, to allocate materials in short
supply and to impose price ceilings on such materials, could be used, if
found necessary, to channel more materials into homes large enough for
family life at prices which wage earners can afford.
The driving force behind our progress is our faith in our democratic
institutions. That faith is embodied in the promise of equal rights and
equal opportunities which the founders of our Republic proclaimed to
their countrymen and to the whole world.
The fulfillment of this promise is among the highest purposes of
government. The civil rights proposals I made to the 80th Congress, I
now repeat to the 81st Congress. They should be enacted in order that
the Federal Government may assume the leadership and discharge the
obligations dearly placed upon it by the Constitution.
I stand squarely behind those proposals.
Our domestic programs are the foundation of our foreign policy. The
world today looks to us for leadership because we have so largely
realized, within our borders, those benefits of democratic government
for which most of the peoples of the world are yearning.
We are following a foreign policy which is the outward expression of the
democratic faith we profess. We are doing what we can to encourage free
states and free peoples throughout the world, to aid the suffering and
afflicted in foreign lands, and to strengthen democratic nations against
aggression.
The heart of our foreign policy is peace. We are supporting a world
organization to keep peace and a world economic policy to create
prosperity for mankind. Our guiding star is the principle of
international cooperation. To this concept we have made a national
commitment as profound as anything in history.
To it we have pledged our resources and our honor.
Until a system of world security is established upon which we can safely
rely, we cannot escape the burden of creating and maintaining armed
forces sufficient to deter aggression. We have made great progress in
the last year in the effective organization of our Armed Forces, but
further improvements in our national security legislation are necessary.
Universal training is essential to the security of the United States.
During the course of this session I shall have occasion to ask the
Congress to consider several measures in the field of foreign policy. At
this time, I recommend that we restore the Reciprocal Trade Agreements
Act to full effectiveness, and extend it for 3 years. We should also
open our doors to displaced persons without unfair discrimination.
It should be clear by now to all citizens that we are not seeking to
freeze the status quo. We have no intention of preserving the injustices
of the past. We welcome the constructive efforts being made by many
nations to achieve a better life for their citizens. In the European
recovery program, in our good-neighbor policy and in the United Nations,
we have begun to batter down those national walls which block the
economic growth and the social advancement of the peoples of the world.
We believe that if we hold resolutely to this course, the principle of
international cooperation will eventually command the approval even of
those nations which are now seeking to weaken or subvert it.
We stand at the opening of an era which can mean either great
achievement or terrible catastrophe for ourselves and for all mankind.
The strength of our Nation must continue to be used in the interest of
all our people rather than a privileged few. It must continue to be used
unselfishly in the struggle for world peace and the betterment of
mankind the world over.
This is the task before us.
It is not an easy one. It has many complications, and there will be
strong opposition from selfish interests.
I hope for cooperation from farmers, from labor, and from business.
Every segment of our population and every individual has a right to
expect from our Government a fair deal.
In 1945, when I came down before the Congress for the first time on
April 16, I quoted to you King Solomon’s prayer that he wanted wisdom
and the ability to govern his people as they should be governed. I
explained to you at that time that the task before me was one of the
greatest in the history of the world, and that it was necessary to have
the complete cooperation of the Congress and the people of the United
States.
Well now, we are taking a new start with the same situation. It is
absolutely essential that your President have the complete cooperation
of the Congress to carry out the great work that must be done to keep
the peace in this world, and to keep this country prosperous.
The people of this great country have a right to expect that the
Congress and the President will work in closest cooperation with one
objective--the welfare of the people of this Nation as a whole.
In the months ahead I know that I shall be able to cooperate with this
Congress.
Now, I am confident that the Divine Power which has guided us to this
time of fateful responsibility and glorious opportunity will not desert
us now.
With that help from Almighty God which we have humbly acknowledged at
every turning point in our national life, we shall be able to perform
the great tasks which He now sets before us.
***
State of the Union Address
Harry S. Truman
January 4, 1950
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress:
A year ago I reported to this Congress that the state of the Union was
good. I am happy to be able to report to you today that the state of the
Union continues to be good. Our Republic continues to increase in the
enjoyment of freedom within its borders, and to offer strength and
encouragement to all those who love freedom throughout the world.
During the past year we have made notable progress in strengthening the
foundations of peace and freedom, abroad and at home.
We have taken important steps in securing the North Atlantic community
against aggression. We have continued our successful support of European
recovery. We have returned to our established policy of expanding
international trade through reciprocal agreement. We have strengthened
our support of the United Nations.
While great problems still confront us, the greatest danger has
receded--the possibility which faced us 3 years ago that most of Europe
and the Mediterranean area might collapse under totalitarian pressure.
Today, the free peoples of the world have new vigor and new hope for the
cause of peace.
In our domestic affairs, we have made notable advances toward broader
opportunity and a better life for all our citizens.
We have met and reversed the first significant downturn in economic
activity since the war. In accomplishing this, Government programs for
maintaining employment and purchasing power have been of tremendous
benefit. As the result of these programs, and the wisdom and good
judgment of our businessmen and workers, major readjustments have been
made without widespread suffering.
During the past year, we have also made a good start in providing
housing for low-income groups; we have raised minimum wages; we have
gone forward with the development of our natural resources; we have
given a greater assurance of stability to the farmer; and we have
improved the organization and efficiency of our Government.
Today, by the grace of God, we stand a free and prosperous nation with
greater possibilities for the future than any people ever had before in
the history of the world.
We are now, in this year of 1950, nearing the midpoint of the 20th
century.
The first half of this century will be known as the most turbulent and
eventful period in recorded history. The swift pace of events promises
to make the next 50 years decisive in the history of man on this planet.
The scientific and industrial revolution which began two centuries ago
has, in the last 50 years, caught up the peoples of the globe in a
common destiny. Two world-shattering wars have proved that no corner of
the earth can be isolated from the affairs of mankind.
The human race has reached a turning point. Man has opened the secrets
of nature and mastered new powers. If he uses them wisely, he can reach
new heights of civilization. If he uses them foolishly, they may destroy
him.
Man must create the moral and legal framework for the world which will
insure that his new powers are used for good and not for evil. In
shaping the outcome, the people of the United States will play a leading
role.
Among all the great changes that have occurred in the last 50 years,
none is more important than the change in the position of the United
States in world affairs. Fifty years ago we were a country devoted
largely to our own internal affairs. Our industry was growing, and we
had new interests in the Far East and in the Caribbean, but we were
primarily concerned with the development of vast areas of our own
continental territory.
Today, our population has doubled. Our national production has risen
from about $50 billion, in terms of today’s prices, to the staggering
figure of $255 billion a year. We have a more productive economic system
and a greater industrial potential than any other nation on the globe.
Our standard of living is an inspiration for all other peoples. Even the
slightest changes in our economic and social life have their effect on
other countries all around the world.
Our tremendous strength has brought with it tremendous responsibilities.
We have moved from the outer edge to the center of world affairs. Other
nations look to us for a wise exercise of our economic and military
strength, and for vigorous support of the ideals of representative
government and a free society. We will not fail them.
Our objective in the world is peace. Our country has joined with others
in the task of achieving peace. We know now that this is not an easy
task, or a short one. But we are determined to see it through. Both of
our great political parties are committed to working together--and I am
sure they will continue to work together--to achieve this end. We are
prepared to devote our energy and our resources to this task, because we
know that our own security and the future of mankind are at stake.
Right here, I want to say that no one appreciates more than I the
bipartisan cooperation in foreign affairs which has been enjoyed by this
administration.
Our success in working with other nations to achieve peace depends
largely on what we do at home. We must preserve our national strength.
Strength is not simply a matter of arms and force. It is a matter of
economic growth, and social health, and vigorous institutions, public
and private. We can achieve peace only if we maintain our productive
energy, our democratic institutions, and our firm belief in individual
freedom.
Our surest guide in the days that lie ahead will be the spirit in which
this great Republic was rounded. We must make our decisions in the
conviction that all men are created equal, that they are equally
entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the
duty of government is to serve these ends.
This country of ours has experienced many blessings, but none greater
than its dedication to these principles. At every point in our history,
these ideals have served to correct our failures and shortcomings, to
spur us on to greater efforts, and to keep clearly before us the primary
purpose of our existence as a nation. They have enshrined for us, a
principle of government, the moral imperative to do justice, and the
divine command to men to love one another.
These principles give meaning to all that we do.
In foreign policy, they mean that we can never be tolerant of oppression
or tyranny. They mean that we must throw our weight on the side of
greater freedom and a better life for all peoples. These principles
confirm us in carrying out the specific programs for peace which we have
already begun.
We shall continue to give our wholehearted support to the United
Nations. We believe that this organization can ultimately provide the
framework of international law and morality without which mankind cannot
survive. It has already set up new standards for the conduct of nations
in the Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on Genocide. It is
moving ahead to give meaning to the concept of world brotherhood through
a wide variety of cultural, economic, and technical activities.
The events of the past year again showed the value of the United Nations
in bringing about the peaceful adjustment of tense international
controversies. In Indonesia and in Palestine the efforts of the United
Nations have put a stop to bloodshed and paved the way to peaceful
settlements.
We are working toward the time when the United Nations will control
weapons of mass destruction and will have the forces to preserve
international law and order. While the world remains unsettled, however,
and as long as our own security and the security of the free world
require, we will maintain a strong and well-balanced defense
organization. The Selective Service System is an essential part of our
defense plans, and it must be continued.
Under the principles of the United Nations Charter we must continue to
share in the common defense of free nations against aggression. At the
last session this Congress laid the basis for this joint effort. We now
must put into effect the common defense plans that are being worked out.
We shall continue our efforts for world economic recovery, because world
prosperity is the only sure foundation of a permanent peace.
As an immediate means to this end we must continue our support of the
European recovery program. This program has achieved great success in
the first 2 years of its operation, but it has not yet been completed.
If we were to stop this program now, or cripple it, just because it is
succeeding, we should be doing exactly what the enemies of democracy
want us to do. We should be just as foolish as a man who, for reasons of
false economy, failed to put a roof on his house after building the
foundation and the walls.
World prosperity also requires that we do all we can to expand world
trade. As a major step in this direction we should promptly join the
International Trade Organization. The purpose of this organization,
which the United States has been foremost in creating, is to establish a
code of fair practice, and an international authority for adjusting
differences in international commercial relations. It is an effort to
prevent the kind of anarchy and irresponsibility in world trade which
did so much to bring about the world depression of the 1930’s. An
expanding world economy requires the improvement of living standards and
the development of resources in areas where human poverty and misery now
prevail. Without such improvement the recovery of Europe and the future
of our own economy will not be secure. I urge that the Congress adopt
the legislation now before it to provide for increasing the flow of
technical assistance and capital investment in underdeveloped regions.
It is more essential now than ever, if the ideals of freedom and
representative government are to prevail in these areas, and
particularly in the Far East, that their peoples experience, in their
own lives, the benefits of scientific and economic advances. This
program will require the movement of large amounts of capital from the
industrial nations, and particularly from the United States, to
productive uses in the underdeveloped areas of the world. Recent world
events make prompt action imperative.
This program is in the interest of all peoples-and has nothing in common
with either the old imperialism of the last century or the new
imperialism of the Communists.
Our aim for a peaceful, democratic world of free peoples will be
achieved in the long run, not by force of arms, but by an appeal to the
minds and hearts of men. If the peace policy of the democratic nations
is to be successful, they must demonstrate that the benefits of their
way of life can be increased and extended to all nations and all races.
In the world today we are confronted with the danger that the rising
demand of people everywhere for freedom and a better life may be
corrupted and betrayed by the false promises of communism. In its
ruthless struggle for power, communism seizes upon our imperfections,
and takes advantage of the delays and setbacks which the democratic
nations experience in their effort to secure a better life for their
citizens. This challenge to us is more than a military challenge. It is
a challenge to the honesty of our profession of the democratic faith; it
is a challenge to the efficiency and stability of our economic system;
it is a challenge to the willingness to work with other peoples for
world peace and for world prosperity.
For my part I welcome that challenge. I believe that our country, at
this crucial point in world history, will meet that challenge
successfully. I believe that, in cooperation with the other free nations
of the world, we shall extend the full benefits of the democratic way of
life to millions who do not now enjoy them, and preserve mankind from
dictatorship and tyranny.
I believe that we shall succeed in our struggle for this peace, because
I have seen the success we have had in our own country in following the
principles of freedom. Over the last 50 years, the ideals of liberty and
equal opportunity to which this Nation is dedicated have been
increasingly realized in the lives of our people.
The ideal of equal opportunity no longer means simply the opportunity
which a man has to advance beyond his fellows. Some of our citizens do
achieve greater success than others as a reward for individual merit and
effort, and this is as it should be. At the same time our country must
be more than a land of opportunity for a select few. It must be a land
of opportunity for all of us. In such a land we can grow and prosper
together.
The simple truth that we can all go forward together is often questioned
by selfish or shortsighted persons. It is strange that this is so, for
this proposition is so clearly demonstrated by our national history.
During the last 50 years, for example, our Nation has grown enormously
in material well-being. This growth has come about, not by concentrating
the benefits of our progress in the hands of a few, but by increasing
the wealth of the great body of our Nation and our citizens.
In the last 50 years the income of the average family has increased so
greatly that its buying power has doubled. The average hours of work
have declined from 60 to 40 a week, the whole hourly production of the
average worker has tripled. Average wages, allowing for price changes,
have increased from about 45 cents an hour to $1.40 an hour.
We have accomplished what to earlier ages of mankind would have been a
miracle--we work shorter hours, we produce more, and we live better.
Increasing freedom from poverty and drudgery has given a fuller meaning
to American life. Our people are better educated; we have more
opportunities for travel and recreation and enjoyment of the arts. We
enjoy more personal liberty in the United States today than ever before.
If we can continue in the spirit of cooperative adventure which has
marked the recent years of our progress, we can expect further
scientific advances, further increases in our standard of living, and a
still wider enjoyment of democratic freedom.
No one, of course, can foretell the future exactly. However, if we
assume that we shall grow as fast in the future as we have grown in the
past, we can get a good idea of how much our country should grow in the
next 50 years.
At present our total national production is $255 billion a year. Our
working population and our output per worker are increasing. If our
productive power continues to increase at the same rate as it has
increased over the past 50 years, our total national production 50 years
from now will be nearly four times as much as it is today. Allowing for
the expected growth in population, this would mean that the real income
of the average family in the year 2000 A.D. would be about three times
what it is today.
These are estimates of what we can do in the future, but we can reach
these heights only if we follow the right policies. We have learned by
bitter experience that progress is not automatic--that wrong policies
lead to depression and disaster. We cannot achieve these gains unless we
have a stable economy and avoid the catastrophes of boom and bust that
have set us back in the past.
These gains cannot be achieved unless our businessmen maintain their
spirit of initiative and enterprise and operate in a competitive
economy. They cannot be achieved unless our workingmen and women and
their unions help to increase productivity and obtain for labor a fair
share of the benefits of our economic system. They cannot be achieved
unless we have a stable and prosperous agriculture. They cannot be
achieved unless we conserve and develop our natural resources in the
public interest. Our system will not work unless our people are healthy,
well-educated, and confident of the future. It will not work unless all
citizens can participate fully in our national life.
In achieving these gains the Government has a special responsibility to
help create and maintain the conditions which will permit the growth we
know is possible. Foremost among these conditions is the need for a fair
distribution of our increasing prosperity among all the great groups of
our population who help to bring it about-labor, business, agriculture.
Businessmen must continue to have the incentives necessary for
investment and for the development of new lines of enterprise. In the
future growth of this country, lie possibilities for hundreds of
thousands of new and independent businesses. As our national production
increases, as it doubles and redoubles in the next 50 years, the number
of independent and competing enterprises should also increase. If the
number does not increase, our constantly growing economy will fall under
the control of a few dominant economic groups whose powers will be so
great that they will be a challenge to democratic institutions.
To avoid this danger, we must curb monopoly and provide aids to
independent business so that it may have the credit and capital to
compete in a system of free enterprise. I recommend that the Congress
complete action at this session on the pending bill to close the
loopholes in the Clayton Act which now permit monopolistic mergers. I
also hope before this session is over to transmit to the Congress a
series of proposals to strengthen the antimonopoly laws, to assist small
business, and to encourage the growth of new enterprises.
In the case of labor, free collective bargaining must be protected and
encouraged. Collective bargaining is not only a fundamental economic
freedom for labor. It is also a strengthening and stabilizing influence
for our whole economy.
The Federal statute now governing labor relations is punitive in purpose
and one-sided in operation. This statute is, and always has been,
inconsistent with the practice of true and effective collective
bargaining. It should be repealed and replaced by a law that is fair to
all and in harmony with our democratic ideals.
A full understanding of the problems of modern labor relations is of
such importance that I recommend the establishment of a labor extension
service to encourage educational activities in this field.
Another essential for our continued growth is a stable and prosperous
agriculture. For many years we have been building a program to give the
farmer a reasonable measure of protection against the special hazards to
which he is exposed. That program was improved at the last session of
the Congress. However, our farm legislation is still not adequate.
Although the Congress has properly declared as a matter of national
policy that safeguards must be maintained against slumps in farm prices,
there are serious shortcomings in the methods now available for carrying
out this policy. Mandatory price supports should be provided for the
commodities not now covered which are major sources of farm income.
Moreover, we should provide a method of supporting farm income at fair
levels which will, at the same time, avoid piling up unmanageable
surpluses and allow consumers to obtain the full benefit of our abundant
agricultural production. A system of production payments gives the
greatest promise of accomplishing this purpose. I recommend that the use
of such a system be authorized.
One of the most important factors in our continued growth is the
construction of more good, up-to-date housing. In a country such as ours
there is no reason why decent homes should not be within the reach of
all. With the help of various Government programs we have made great
progress in the last few years in increasing the number of homes.
Despite this increase, there is still an acute shortage of housing for
the lower and middle-income groups, especially in large metropolitan
areas. We have laid the groundwork for relieving the plight of
lower-income families in the Housing Act of 1949. To aid the
middle-income families, I recommend that the Congress enact new
legislation authorizing a vigorous program to help cooperatives and
other nonprofit groups build housing which these families can afford.
Rent control has done a great deal to prevent the housing shortage from
having had worse effects during this postwar period of adjustment. Rent
control is still necessary to prevent widespread hardship and sharp
curtailment of the buying power of millions of consumers in metropolitan
areas. I recommend, therefore, that rent control be continued for
another year.
If we are to achieve a better life for all, the natural resources of the
country must be regarded as a public trust. We must use our precious
assets of soil, water, and forest, and grassland in such a way that they
become constantly more productive and more valuable. Government
investment in the conservation and development of our resources is
necessary to the future economic expansion of the country.
We need to enlarge the production and transmission of public power. That
is true not only in those regions which have already received great
benefits from Federal power projects, but also in regions such as New
England where the benefits of large-scale public power development have
not yet been experienced.
In our hydroelectric and irrigation undertakings, as well as in our
other resource programs, we must continue policies to assure that their
benefits will be spread among the many and not restricted to the favored
few.
Important resource legislation which should be passed at this session
includes the authorization of the St. Lawrence seaway and power project
and the establishment of the Columbia Valley Administration--the
establishment of the Columbia Valley Administration, I don’t want you to
miss that.
Through wise Government policies and Government expenditures for the
conservation and development of our natural resources, we can be sure of
transmitting to our children and our children’s children a country far
richer and more productive than the one we know today.
The value of our natural resources is constantly being increased by the
progress of science. Research is finding new ways of using such natural
assets as minerals, sea water, and plant life. In the peaceful
development of atomic energy, particularly, we stand on the threshold of
new wonders. The first experimental machines for producing useful power
from atomic energy are now under construction. We have made only the
first beginnings in this field, but in the perspective of history they
may loom larger than the first airplane, or even the first tools that
started man on the road to civilization.
To take full advantage of the increasing possibilities of nature we must
equip ourselves with increasing knowledge. Government has a
responsibility to see that our country maintains its position in the
advance of science. As a step toward this end, the Congress should
complete action on the measure to create a National Science Foundation.
Another duty of the Government is to promote the economic security, the
health, and the education of its citizens. By so doing, we strengthen
both our economy and the structure of our society. In a nation as rich
as ours, all citizens should be able to live in decency and health.
Our Social Security System should be developed into the main reliance of
our people for basic protection against the economic hazards of old-age,
unemployment, and illness. I earnestly hope that the Congress will
complete action at this session on legislation to increase the benefits
and extend the coverage of old-age and survivors’ insurance. The
widespread movement to provide pensions in private industry dramatizes
the need for improvements in the public insurance system.
I also urge that the Congress strengthen our unemployment compensation
law to meet present-day needs more adequately. The economic downturn of
the past year was the first real test that our system of unemployment
insurance has had to meet. That test has proved the wisdom of the
system, but it has also made strikingly apparent the need for improving
its operation and increasing its coverage and its benefits.
In the field of health there are immense opportunities to extend to more
of our people the benefits of the amazing advances in medical science.
We have made a good beginning in expanding our hospitals, but we must
also go on to remedy the shortages of doctors, nurses, and public health
services, and to establish a system of medical insurance which will
enable all Americans to afford good medical care.
We must take immediate steps to strengthen our educational system. In
many parts of our country, young people are being handicapped for life
because of a poor education. The rapidly increasing number of children
of school age, coupled with the shortage of qualified teachers, makes
this problem more critical each year. I believe that the Congress should
no longer delay in providing Federal assistance to the States so that
they can maintain adequate schools.
As we go forward in achieving greater economic security and greater
opportunity for all our people, we should make every effort to extend
the benefits of our democratic institutions to every citizen. The
religious ideals which we profess, and the heritage of freedom which we
have received from the past, clearly place that duty upon us. I again
urge the Congress to enact the civil rights proposals I made in February
1948. These proposals are for the enactment of Federal statutes which
will protect all our people in the exercise of their democratic rights
and their search for economic opportunity, grant statehood to Alaska and
Hawaii, provide a greater measure of self-government for our island
possessions, and accord home rule to the District of Columbia. Some of
those proposals have been before the Congress for a long time. Those who
oppose them, as well as those who favor them, should recognize that it
is the duty of the elected representatives of the people to let these
proposals come to a vote.
Our democratic ideals, as well as our best interests, require that we do
our fair share in providing homes for the unfortunate victims of war and
tyranny. In so doing, we shall add strength to our democracy through the
abilities and skills which these men and women will bring here. I urge
the prompt enactment by the Congress of the legislation now before it to
extend and broaden the existing displaced persons law and remove its
discriminatory features.
The measures I am recommending to the Congress concerning both our
foreign and our domestic policies represent a carefully considered
program to meet our national needs. It is a program which necessarily
requires large expenditures of funds. More than 70 percent of the
Government’s expenditures are required to meet the costs of past wars
and to work for world peace. This is the dominant factor in our fiscal
policy. At the same time, the Government must make substantial
expenditures which are necessary to the growth and expansion of the
domestic economy.
At present, largely because of the ill-considered tax reduction of the
Both Congress, the Government is not receiving enough revenue to meet
its necessary expenditures.
To meet this situation, I am proposing that Federal expenditures be held
to the lowest levels consistent with our international requirements and
the essential needs of economic growth, and the well-being of our
people. I think I had better read that over; you interrupted me in the
middle.
To meet this situation, I am proposing that Federal expenditures be held
to the lowest levels consistent with our international requirements and
the essential needs of economic growth, and the well-being of our
people. Don’t forget that last phrase. At the same time, we must guard
against the folly of attempting budget slashes which would impair our
prospects for peace or cripple the programs essential to our national
strength.
The budget recommendations I shall shortly transmit to the Congress show
that we can expect a substantial improvement in our fiscal position over
the next few years, as the cost of some of our extraordinary postwar
programs declines, and as the Government revenue rises as a result of
growth in employment and national income. To further improve our fiscal
outlook, we should make some changes in our tax system which will reduce
present inequities, stimulate business activity, and yield a moderate
amount of additional revenue. I expect to transmit specific
recommendations to the Congress on this subject at a very early date.
The fiscal policy I am recommending is the quickest and safest way of
achieving a balanced budget.
As we move forward into the second half of the 20th century, we must
always bear in mind the central purpose of our national life. We do not
seek material prosperity for ourselves because we love luxury; we do not
aid other nations because we wish to increase our power. We have not
devised programs for the security and well-being of our people because
we are afraid or unwilling to take risks. This is not the meaning of our
past history or our present course.
We work for a better life for all, so that all men may put to good use
the great gifts with which they have been endowed by their Creator. We
seek to establish those material conditions of life in which, without
exception, men may live in dignity, perform useful work, serve their
communities, and worship God as they see fit.
These may seem simple goals, but they are not little ones. They are
worth a great deal more than all the empires and conquests of history.
They are not to be achieved by military aggression or political
fanaticism. They are to be achieved by humbler means-by hard work, by a
spirit of self-restraint in our dealings with one another, and by a deep
devotion to the principles of justice and equality.
It should make us truly thankful, as we look back to the beginnings of
this country, that we have come so far along the road to a better life
for all. It should make us humble to think, as we look ahead, how much
farther we have to go to accomplish, at home and abroad, the objectives
that were set out for us at the founding of this great Nation.
As we approach the halfway mark of the 20th century, we should ask for
continued strength and guidance from that Almighty Power who has placed
before us such great opportunities for the good of mankind in the years
to come.
***
State of the Union Address
Harry S. Truman
January 8, 1951
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress:
This 82d Congress faces as grave a task as any Congress in the history
of our Republic. The actions you take will be watched by the whole
world. These actions will measure the ability of a free people, acting
through their chosen representatives and their free institutions, to
meet a deadly challenge to their way of life.
We can meet this challenge foolishly or wisely. We can meet it timidly
or bravely, shamefully or honorably.
I know that the 82d Congress will meet this challenge in a way worthy of
our great heritage. I know that your debates will be earnest,
responsible, constructive, and to the point. I know that from these
debates there will come the great decisions needed to carry us forward.
At this critical time, I am glad to say that our country is in a healthy
condition. Our democratic institutions are sound and strong. We have
more men and women at work than ever before. We are able to produce more
than ever before--in fact, far more than any country ever produced in
the history of the world.
I am confident that we can succeed in the great task that lies before
us.
We will succeed, but we must all do our part. We must all act together
as citizens of this great Republic.
As we meet here today, American soldiers are fighting a bitter campaign
in Korea. We pay tribute to their courage, devotion, and gallantry.
Our men are fighting, alongside their United Nations allies, because
they know, as we do, that the aggression in Korea is part of the attempt
of the Russian Communist dictatorship to take over the world, step by
step.
Our men are fighting a long way from home, but they are fighting for our
lives and our liberties. They are fighting to protect our right to meet
here today--our right to govern ourselves as a free nation.
The threat of world conquest by Soviet Russia endangers our liberty and
endangers the kind of world in which the free spirit of man can survive.
This threat is aimed at all peoples who strive to win or defend their
own freedom and national independence.
Indeed, the state of our Nation is in great part the state of our
friends and allies throughout the world. The gun that points at them
points at us, also. The threat is a total threat and the danger is a
common danger.
All free nations are exposed and all are in peril. Their only security
lies in banding together. No one nation can find protection in a selfish
search for a safe haven from the storm.
The free nations do not have any aggressive purpose. We want only peace
in the world--peace for all countries. No threat to the security of any
nation is concealed in our plans and programs.
We had hoped that the Soviet Union, with its security assured by the
Charter of the United Nations, would be willing to live and let live.
But I am sorry to say that has not been the case.
The imperialism of the czars has been replaced by the even more
ambitious, more crafty, and more menacing imperialism of the rulers of
the Soviet Union.
This new imperialism has powerful military forces. It is keeping
millions of men under arms. It has a large air force and a strong
submarine force. It has complete control of the men and equipment of its
satellites. It has kept its subject peoples and its economy in a state
of perpetual mobilization.
The present rulers of the Soviet Union have shown that they are willing
to use this power to destroy the free nations and win domination over
the whole world.
The Soviet imperialists have two ways of going about their destructive
work. They use the method of subversion and internal revolution, and
they use the method of external aggression. In preparation for either of
these methods of attack, they stir up class strife and disorder. They
encourage sabotage. They put out poisonous propaganda. They deliberately
try to prevent economic improvement.
If their efforts are successful, they foment a revolution, as they did
in Czechoslovakia and China, and as they tried, unsuccessfully, to do in
Greece. If their methods of subversion are blocked, and if they think
they can get away with outright warfare, they resort to external
aggression. This is what they did when they loosed the armies of their
puppet states against the Republic of Korea, in an evil war by proxy.
We of the free world must be ready to meet both of these methods of
Soviet action. We must not neglect one or the other.
The free world has power and resources to meet these two forms of
aggression--resources that are far greater than those of the Soviet
dictatorship. We have skilled and vigorous peoples, great industrial
strength, and abundant sources of raw materials. And above all, we
cherish liberty. Our common ideals are a great part of our strength.
These ideals are the driving force of human progress.
The free nations believe in the dignity and the worth of man.
We believe in independence for all nations.
We believe that free and independent nations can band together into a
world order based on law. We have laid the cornerstone of such a
peaceful world in the United Nations.
We believe that such a world order can and should spread the benefits of
modern science and industry, better health and education, more food and
rising standards of living--throughout the world.
These ideals give our cause a power and vitality that Russian communism
can never command.
The free nations, however, are bound together by more than ideals. They
are a real community bound together also by the ties of self-interest
and self-preservation. If they should fall apart, the results would be
fatal to human freedom.
Our own national security is deeply involved with that of the other free
nations. While they need our support, we equally need theirs. Our
national safety would be gravely prejudiced if the Soviet Union were to
succeed in harnessing to its war machine the resources and the manpower
of the free nations on the borders of its empire.
If Western Europe were to fall to Soviet Russia, it would double the
Soviet supply of coal and triple the Soviet supply of steel. If the free
countries of Asia and Africa should fall to Soviet Russia, we would lose
the sources of many of our most vital raw materials, including uranium,
which is the basis of our atomic power. And Soviet command of the
manpower of the free nations of Europe and Asia would confront us with
military forces which we could never hope to equal.
In such a situation, the Soviet Union could impose its demands on the
world, without resort to conflict, simply through the preponderance of
its economic and military power. The Soviet Union does not have to
attack the United States to secure domination of the world. It can
achieve its ends by isolating us and swallowing up all our allies.
Therefore, even if we were craven enough I do not believe we could
be--but, I say, even if we were craven enough to abandon our ideals, it
would be disastrous for us to withdraw from the community of free
nations.
We are the most powerful single member of this community, and we have a
special responsibility. We must take the leadership in meeting the
challenge to freedom and in helping to protect the rights of independent
nations.
This country has a practical, realistic program of action for meeting
this challenge.
First, we shall have to extend economic assistance, where it can be
effective. The best way to stop subversion by the Kremlin is to strike
at the roots of social injustice and economic disorder. People who have
jobs, homes, and hopes for the future will defend themselves against the
underground agents of the Kremlin. Our programs of economic aid have
done much to turn back Communism,
In Europe the Marshall plan has had an electrifying result. As European
recovery progressed, the strikes led by the Kremlin’s agents in Italy
and France failed. All over Western Europe the Communist Party took
worse and worse beatings at the polls.
The countries which have received Marshall plan aid have been able,
through hard work, to expand their productive strength-in many cases, to
levels higher than ever before in their history. Without this strength
they would be completely incapable of defending themselves today. They
are now ready to use this strength in helping to build a strong combined
defense against aggression.
We shall need to continue some economic aid to European countries. This
aid should now be specifically related to the building of their
defenses.
In other parts of the world our economic assistance will need to be more
broadly directed toward economic development. In the Near East, in
Africa, in Asia, we must do what we can to help people who are striving
to advance from misery, poverty, and hunger. We must also continue to
help the economic growth of our good neighbors in this hemisphere. These
actions will bring greater strength for the free world. They will give
many people a real stake in the future and reason to defend their
freedom. They will mean increased production of goods they need and
materials we need.
Second, we shall need to continue our military assistance to countries
which want to defend themselves.
The heart of our common defense effort is the North Atlantic community.
The defense of Europe is the basis for the defense of the whole free
world--ourselves included. Next to the United States, Europe is the
largest workshop in the world. It is also a homeland of the great
religious beliefs shared by many of our citizens beliefs which are now
threatened by the tide of atheistic communism.
Strategically, economically, and morally, the defense of Europe is a
part of our own defense. That is why we have joined with the countries
of Europe in the North Atlantic Treaty, pledging ourselves to work with
them.
There has been much discussion recently over whether the European
countries are willing to defend themselves. Their actions are answering
this question.
Our North Atlantic Treaty partners have strict systems of universal
military training. Several have recently increased the term of service.
All have taken measures to improve the quality of training. Forces are
being trained and expanded as rapidly as the necessary arms and
equipment can be supplied from their factories and ours. Our North
Atlantic Treaty partners, together, are building armies bigger than our
own.
None of the North Atlantic Treaty countries, including our own country,
has done enough yet. But real progress is being made. Together, we have
worked out defense plans. The military leaders of our own country took
part in working out these plans, and are agreed that they are sound and
within our capabilities.
To put these plans into action, we sent to Europe last week one of our
greatest military commanders, General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
General Eisenhower went to Europe to assume command of the united forces
of the North Atlantic Treaty countries, including our own forces in
Germany.
The people of Europe have confidence in General Eisenhower. They know
his ability to put together a fighting force of allies. His mission is
vital to our security. We should all stand behind him, and give him
every bit of help we can.
Part of our job will be to reinforce the military strength of our
European partners by sending them weapons and equipment as our military
production expands.
Our program of military assistance extends to the nations in the Near
East and the Far East which are trying to defend their freedom. Soviet
communism is trying to make these nations into colonies, and to use
their people as cannon fodder in new wars of conquest. We want their
people to be free men and to enjoy peace.
Our country has always stood for freedom for the peoples of Asia. Long,
long ago it stood for the freedom of the peoples of Asia. Our history
shows this. We have demonstrated it in the Philippines. We have
demonstrated it in our relations with Indonesia, India, and with China.
We hope to join in restoring the people of Japan to membership in the
community of free nations.
It is in the Far East that we have taken up arms, under the United
Nations, to preserve the principle of independence for free nations. We
are fighting to keep the forces of Communist aggression from making a
slave state out of Korea.
Korea has tremendous significance for the world. It means that free
nations, acting through the United Nations, are fighting together
against aggression.
We will understand the importance of this best if we look back into
history. If the democracies had stood up against the invasion of
Manchuria in 1931, or the attack on Ethiopia in 1935, or the seizure of
Austria in 1938, if they had stood together against aggression on those
occasions as the United Nations has done in Korea, the whole history of
our time would have been different.
The principles for which we are fighting in Korea are right and just.
They are the foundations of collective security and of the future of
free nations. Korea is not only a country undergoing the torment of
aggression; it is also a symbol. It stands for right and justice in the
world against oppression and slavery. The free world must always stand
for these principles--and we will stand with the free world.
As the third part of our program, we will continue to work for peaceful
settlements in international disputes. We will support the United
Nations and remain loyal to the great principles of international
cooperation laid down in its charter.
We are willing, as we have always been, to negotiate honorable
settlements with the Soviet Union. But we will not engage in
appeasement.
The Soviet rulers have made it clear that we must have strength as well
as right on our side. If we build our strength--and we are building
it--the Soviet rulers may face the facts and lay aside their plans to
take over the world.
That is what we hope will happen, and that is what we are trying to
bring about. That is the only realistic road to peace.
These are the main elements of the course our Nation must follow as a
member of the community of free nations. These are the things we must do
to preserve our security and help create a peaceful world. But they will
be successful only if we increase the strength of our own country.
Here at home we have some very big jobs to do. We are building much
stronger military forces--and we are building them fast. We are
preparing for full wartime mobilization, if that should be necessary.
And we are continuing to build a strong and growing economy, able to
maintain whatever effort may be required for as long as necessary.
We are building our own Army, Navy, and Air Force to an active strength
of nearly 3 1/2 million men and women. We are stepping up the training
of the reserve forces, and establishing more training facilities, so
that we can rapidly increase our active forces far more on short notice.
We are going to produce all the weapons and equipment that such an armed
force will need. Furthermore, we will make weapons for our allies, and
weapons for our own reserve supplies. On top of this, we will build the
capacity to turn out on short notice arms and supplies that may be
needed for a full-scale war.
Fortunately, we have a good start on this because of our enormous plant
capacity and because of the equipment on hand from the last war. For
example, many combat ships are being returned to active duty from the
“mothball fleet” and many others can be put into service on very short
notice. We have large reserves of arms and ammunition and thousands of
workers skilled in arms production.
In many cases, however, our stocks of weapons are low. In other cases,
those on hand are not the most modern. We have made remarkable technical
advances. We have developed new types of jet planes and powerful new
tanks. We are concentrating on producing the newest types of weapons and
producing them as fast as we can.
This production drive is more selective than the one we had during World
War II, but it is just as urgent and intense. It is a big program and it
is a costly one.
Let me give you two concrete examples. Our present program calls for
expanding the aircraft industry so that it will have the capacity to
produce 50,000 modern military planes a year. We are preparing the
capacity to produce 35,000 tanks a year. We are not now ordering that
many planes or that many tanks, and we hope that we never have to, but
we mean to be able to turn them out if we need them.
The planes we are producing now are much bigger, much better, and much
more expensive than the planes we had during the last war.
We used to think that the B-17 was a huge plane, and the blockbuster it
carried a huge load. But the B-36 can carry five of these blockbusters
in its belly, and it can carry them five times as far. Of course, the
B-36 is much more complicated to build than the B-17, and far more
expensive. One B-17 costs $275,000, while now one B-36 costs $3 1/2
million.
I ask you to remember that what we are doing is to provide the best and
most modern military equipment in the world for our fighting forces.
This kind of defense production program has two parts.
The first part is to get our defense production going as fast as
possible. We have to convert plants and channel materials to defense
production. This means heavy cuts in civilian uses of copper, aluminum,
rubber, and other essential materials. It means shortages in various
consumer goods.
The second part is to increase our capacity to produce and to keep our
economy strong for the long pull. We do not know how long Communist
aggression will threaten the world.
Only by increasing our output can we carry the burden of preparedness
for an indefinite period in the future. This means that we will have to
build more power plants and more steel mills, grow more cotton, mine
more copper, and expand our capacity in many other ways.
The Congress will need to consider legislation, at this session,
affecting all the aspects of our mobilization job. The main subjects on
which legislation will be needed are:
First, appropriations for our military buildup.
Second, extension and revision of the Selective Service Act.
Third, military and economic aid to help build up the strength of the
free world.
Fourth, revision and extension of the authority to expand production and
to stabilize prices, wages, and rents.
Fifth, improvement of our agricultural laws to help obtain the kinds of
farm products we need for the defense effort.
Sixth, improvement of our labor laws to help provide stable
labor-management relations and to make sure that we have steady
production in this emergency.
Seventh, housing and training of defense workers and the full use of all
our manpower resources.
Eighth, means for increasing the supply of doctors, nurses, and other
trained medical personnel critically needed for the defense effort.
Ninth, aid to the States to meet the most urgent needs of our elementary
and secondary schools. Some of our plans will have to be deferred for
the time being. But we should do all we can to make sure our children
are being trained as good and useful citizens in the critical times
ahead.
Tenth, a major increase in taxes to meet the cost of the defense effort.
The Economic Report and the Budget Message will discuss these subjects
further. In addition, I shall send to the Congress special messages
containing detailed recommendations on legislation needed at this
Session.
In the months ahead the Government must give priority to activities that
are urgent--like military procurement and atomic energy and power
development. It must practice rigid economy in its nondefense
activities. Many of the things we would normally do must be curtailed or
postponed.
But in a long-term defense effort like this one, we cannot neglect the
measures needed to maintain a strong economy and a healthy democratic
society.
The Congress, therefore, should give continued attention to the measures
which our country will need for the long pull. And it should act upon
such legislation as promptly as circumstances permit.
To take just one example--we need to continue and complete the work of
rounding out our system of social insurance. We still need to improve
our protection against unemployment and old age. We still need to
provide insurance against the loss of earnings through sickness, and
against the high costs of modern medical care.
And above all, we must remember that the fundamentals of our strength
rest upon the freedoms of our people. We must continue our efforts to
achieve the full realization of our democratic ideals. We must uphold
the freedom of speech and the freedom of conscience in our land. We must
assure equal rights and equal opportunities to all our citizens.
As we go forward this year in the defense of freedom, let us keep dearly
before us the nature of our present effort.
We are building up our strength, in concert with other free nations, to
meet the danger of aggression that has been turned loose on the world.
The strength of the free nations is the world’s best hope of peace.
I ask the Congress for unity in these crucial days.
Make no mistake about my meaning. I do not ask, or expect, unanimity. I
do not ask for an end to debate. Only by debate can we arrive at
decisions which are wise, and which reflect the desires of the American
people. We do not have a dictatorship in this country, and we never will
have one in this country.
When I request unity, what I am really asking for is a sense of
responsibility on the part of every Member of this Congress. Let us
debate the issues, but let every man among us weigh his words and his
deeds. There is a sharp difference between harmful criticism and
constructive criticism. If we are truly responsible as individuals, I am
sure that we will be unified as a government.
Let us keep our eyes on the issues and work for the things we all
believe in.
Let each of us put our country ahead of our party, and ahead of our own
personal interests.
I had the honor to be a Member of the Senate during World War II, and I
know from experience that unity of purpose and of effort is possible in
the Congress without any lessening of the vitality of our two-party
system.
Let us all stand together as Americans. Let us stand together with all
men everywhere who believe in human liberty.
Peace is precious to us. It is the way of life we strive for with all
the strength and wisdom we possess. But more precious than peace are
freedom and justice. We will fight, if fight we must, to keep our
freedom and to prevent justice from being destroyed.
These are the things that give meaning to our lives, and which we
acknowledge to be greater than ourselves.
This is our cause--peace, freedom, justice. We will pursue this cause
with determination and humility, asking divine guidance that in all we
do we may follow the will of God.
***
State of the Union Address
Harry S. Truman
January 9, 1952
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress:
I have the honor to report to the Congress on the state of the Union.
At the outset, I should like to speak of the necessity for putting first
things first as we work together this year for the good of our country.
The United States and the whole free world are passing through a period
of grave danger. Every action you take here in Congress, and every
action that I take as President, must be measured against the test of
whether it helps to meet that danger.
This will be a presidential election year-the year in which politics
plays a large part in our lives--a larger part than usual. That is
perfectly proper. But we have a greater responsibility to conduct our
political fights in a manner that does not harm the national interest.
We can find plenty of things to differ about without destroying our free
institutions and without abandoning our bipartisan foreign policy for
peace.
When everything is said and done, all of us--Republicans and Democrats
alike--all of us are Americans; and we are all going to sink or swim
together.
We are moving through a perilous time. Faced with a terrible threat of
aggression, our Nation has embarked upon a great effort to help
establish the kind of world in which peace shall be secure. Peace is our
goal-not peace at any price, but a peace based on freedom and justice.
We are now in the midst of our effort to reach that goal. On the whole,
we have been doing very well.
Last year, 1951, was a year in which we threw back aggression, added
greatly to our military strength, and improved the chances for peace and
freedom in many parts of the world.
This year, 1952, is a critical year in the defense effort of the whole
free world. If we falter we can lose all the gains we have made. If we
drive ahead, with courage and vigor and determination, we can by the end
of 1952 be in a position of much greater security. The way will be
dangerous for the years ahead, but if we put forth our best efforts this
year--and next year--we can be “over the hump” in our effort to build
strong defenses.
When we look at the record of the past year, 1951, we find important
things on both the credit and the debit side of the ledger. We have made
great advances. At the same time we have run into new problems which
must be overcome.
Now let us look at the credit side first.
Peace depends upon the free nations sticking together, and making a
combined effort to check aggression and prevent war. In this respect,
1951 was a year of great achievement.
In Korea the forces of the United Nations turned hack the Chinese
Communist invasion-and did it without widening the area of conflict. The
action of the United Nations in Korea has been a powerful deterrent to a
third world war. However, the situation in Korea remains very hazardous.
The outcome of the armistice negotiation still remains uncertain.
In Indochina and Malaya, our aid has helped our allies to hold back the
Communist advance, although there are signs of further trouble in that
area.
In 1951 we strengthened the chances of peace in the Pacific region by
the treaties with Japan and the defense arrangements with Australia, New
Zealand, and the Philippines.
In Europe combined defense has become a reality. The free nations have
created a real fighting force. This force is not yet as strong as it
needs to be; but it is already a real obstacle to any attempt by hostile
forces to sweep across Europe to the Atlantic.
In 1951 we also moved to strengthen the security of Europe by the
agreement to bring Greece and Turkey into the North Atlantic Treaty.
The United Nations, the world’s greatest hope for peace, has come
through a year of trial stronger and more useful than ever. The free
nations have stood together in blocking Communist attempts to tear up
the charter.
At the present session of the United Nations in Paris, we, together with
the British and the French, offered a plan to reduce and control all
armaments under a foolproof inspection system. This is a concrete,
practical proposal for disarmament.
But what happened? Vishinsky laughed at it. Listen to what he said: “I
could hardly sleep at all last night .... I could not sleep because I
kept laughing.” The world will be a long time forgetting the spectacle
of that fellow laughing at disarmament.
Disarmament is not a joke. Vishinsky’s laughter met with shock and anger
from the people all over the world. And, as a result, Mr. Stalin’s
representative received orders to stop laughing and start talking.
If the Soviet leaders were to accept this proposal, it would lighten the
burden of armaments, and permit the resources of the earth to be devoted
to the good of mankind. But until the Soviet Union accepts a sound
disarmament proposal, and joins in peaceful settlements, we have no
choice except to build up our defenses.
During this past year we added more than a million men and women to our
Armed Forces. The total is now nearly 3 1/2 million. We have made rapid
progress in the field of atomic weapons. We have turned out billion
worth of military supplies and equipment, three times as much as the
year before.