First Draft of Speech of President Harry S. Truman for the Opening of the 1945 National War Fund Campaign

File ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, OPENING THE 1945 NATIONAL WAR FUND CAMPAIGN, TO BE BROADCAST FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1945 AT 10:30 P.M. ARCHIVES NATIONAL AND 1st draft My fellow Americans: This is the month when in cities and towns throughout the country the community war fund is making its annual appeal. Perhaps you wonder why I am coming to you in behalf of a war fund drive, all our enemies ham surendered. now that I shall tell you why. First let me explain that your community war fund joins in one combined appeal the agencies of the National War Fund serving our own armed forces and merchant marine and those agencies helping to relieve the suffering and want of war victims among our Allies. The same federated fund also unites in Community Chest cities - with the appeal for local agencies guarding the health and welfare of our own American homes and families. We must support these war fund agencies because of their support of our armed forces. Of course we gave our armed forces in the field the best equipment and supplies that we could provide. We gave our men the best training and leadership we could secure. We gave them everything we could. But there was one thing that we had to depend on the member agencies of the National War Fund to supply. The little fit of homes That was the plain, human friendship, the good-neighbórliness, that they provided our service men and women through every USO club and unit.