Memorandum from Senator Millard Tydings to President Harry S. Truman

MILLARD E. TYDINGS, MD., CHAIRMAN RICHARD B. RUSSELLING STYLES BRIDGES, N. H. HARRY FLOOD BYRD, VA. CHAN GURNEY, S. DAK. VIRGIL CHAPMAN, KY. LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, MASS. LYNDON B. JOHNSON, TEX. WAYNE MORSE, OREG. ESTES KEFAUVER, TENN. WILLIAM F. KNOWLAND, CALIF. LESTER c. HUNT, WYO. HARRY P. CAIN, WASH. J. NELSON TRIBBY, CLERK United States Senate 419-K COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES April 12,1950 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT: The Truman administration, by and large, in my judgment, is in the following position: (1) An overwhelming number of people support the President and his administration on our overall foreign program; that is, x386 the Marshall Plan, the North Atlantic Security Pact, the Arms Implementation Plan, etc. They support it because they believe a. It is sound b. It is getting results; and more than anything else, c. Because it gives them a feeling of safety in a war-threatened world. (2) The Truman domestic plan does not command the same support. I am not arguing its merits. People are concerned about deficit financing, even though it can be justified. They are concerned about the agriculture program, which builds up surpluses, such as potatoes, which are photographed in great piles. When these photographs appear in the press, they create the impression that money is being wasted. They are concerned with some features of the Brannan Plan, partly no doubt because it is new. They are concerned about some phases of the FEPC program. The people are pretty well united on six of the seven x286-A points in the President's Health Program, but are widely divided on Point 7, the so-called "Socialized Medicine" program. Thus, in sum, the people are not united behind the domestic program to the extent they are united behind the foreign program of the Truman administration. Thus, as far as the domestic program of the Truman administration is con- cerned, deficit financing, etc., is widely propagandized by the opposition to make the people believe that their ultimate domestic security is to some degree imperiled. (3) Now, the present Communist inquiry has to a large extent robbed the Truman administration of some of the united support which our people had given to the foreign program. People who united to fight Communism abroad likewise unite to fight it at home. They feel that many of the advantages which come from spending their money to fight Communism abroad are lost unless equal effort is made to fight Communism at home. *2750 X263