Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Denver, Colorado

TRUMAN 'MATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE" HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE September 20, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL: The following address of the President, to be delivered in Denver, Colorado, today, Monday, September 20, 1948, MUST BE HELD FOR RELEASE until 12 o'clock noon, Mountain Standard Time, and no portion, snyopsis, or intimation may be given out, or broadcast or published until that time. The same release applies to all newspapers, radio an- nouncers and news broadcasters. PLEASE USE CARE TO AVOID PREMATURE PUBLICATION OR RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President Every time I come out this way I feel again the tremendous vitali- ty of the West. That feeling comes not only from magnificent scenery and bracing air. It comes from talking to the vigorous and confident people who live out here. This is a straight-from-the-shoulder country, and it has produced a great breed of fighting men. I am going to call upon your fighting.quali- ties. For you and I have a fight on our hands -- a fight for the future of this country and for the welfare of the people of the United States. The other day, a cartoonist for a Republican newspaper drew a cartoon of me that I enjoyed. He showed me dressed up as Paul Revere, riding through a Colonial town yelling to the townspeople: "Look out! The Repub- licans are coming! That was a good cartoon. There's a lot of truth in it. But it's not quite accurate. What I am really telling you is not that the Republicans are coming, but that they are here. They have been in Washington for the last two years, in the form of the notorious Republican Eightieth Congross. Today I want to talk to you about what that Republican Congress has been doing to you, to your families, and to your country. Understand mo, when I speak of what the Republicans have been doing, I'm not talking about the average Ropublican voter. Nobody knows better than I that man for man, individually, most Republicans are fine people. But there's a big distinction between the individual Republican voter and the policies of the Republicans as a party. Something happens to Republican leaders when they get control of the Government or even of a part of the Government -- something that shocks and dismays many of their own loyal supporters. Republicans in Washington have a habit of becoming curiously deaf to the voice of the people. They have a hard time hearing what the ordinary people of the country are saying. But they have no trouble at all hearing what Wall Street is saying. They are able to catch the slightest whisper from big business. (OVER)