Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Rochester, Minnesota

IMMEDIATI RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE REAR PLATFORM REMARKS Address NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND OF THE PRESIDENT AT ROCHESTER; MINNESOTA RECORDS LIBRARY SERVICE" OCTOBER 14, 1948 at 10:25 a. m. C. S. T. GOVERNMENT Thank you very much. I appreciate the warm welcome which the Mayor of this great City has extended to the Presidential Party, and I appreciate the introduction of your candidate for Congress who I know will be the next Congressman from this district. You are going to elect Karl F. Rolvaag. He told me that I was going to get a good reception here, and he didn't mean it half as strong as it is. I thank you from the ottom of my heart. It means that Karl Rolvaag is going to be in the House of Representatives in the next Congress, and that you are going to send Hubert Humphrey to the Senate. If you send men like that to the Senate and House, there won't be any trouble getting along with the President because they believe in the same things I do. Thousands and thousands of Americans, distinguished Americans and plaiñ citizens, have come to this greet City to recover their health. I am on a crusade across the Country, to see that we don't have to send the Federal Government itself to Rochester 00 get it put back together after four years of Republican rule in Washington. I am here to tell you that if we have four more years like that, it will take all the clinics in the country to put it back together again. I wish the whole Nation could have the opportunity to enjoy the kind of medical care that is available here in Rochester, Minnesota. Unfortunately, we haven't reached that point yet, but I have been trying ever since I became President to use the powers of the Federal Government to improve the health of the American people. In fact, I started on a program of that sort while I was in the Senate, and I have been working on it ever since. Last January, I asked Mr. Oscar Ewing, he is the Federal Security Administrator to make a careful study of the present level of the national health. I also asked him to report to me on what we might hope to accomplish in the next ten years for the health of the Nation. Mr. Ewing has just finished his study, and has submitted a long report entitled, THE NATION'S HEALTH -- A TEN YEAR PLAN. That report -- I have a summary of it right here -- is an impressive document. It tells about the progress we have been making, but at the same time it reveals some shocking facts. Every year -- now listen to this -- every year, more than 325 thousand Americans die who could have been saved if they had had the right kind of medical attention and care that we know how to provide. Only 20 per cent -- one-fifth of our population -- is able to afford the medical care they need. Now that means that there are 110 million people in this country who cen't afford proper medical attention. That is a disgrace to the richest country in the world. The United States loses 27 billion dollars a year in national wealth through sickness and disability alone. These facts should nake every one of us resolve to do all that we can to improve our medical facilities. I think these facts point to the need for the National Health Program that I have been urging the Congress to adopt. I would like to remind you of the main points of that program. I want you to listen carefully to this. Every one of you is interested in one way or other in this program. First, we ought to have adequate public health services including an expanded naternal and child health program. Second, we need more medical research and more medical schools. (OVER)