Speech by Senator Harry S. Truman in Portland, Maine

SPEECH BY SENATOR HARRY S. TRUMAN DELIVERED AT THE LAUNCHING OF SHIPS AT THE TODD-BATH IRON AND SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION, TRUMAN PORTLAND, MAINE, SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 1942, AT 12:30 P.M. NARA FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, we have assembled here to witness the launching of five 10,000 ton cargo vessels, which are being built by the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation under a contract with our British allies, and these five vessels are to be delivered to them. There are few things today which are as important as the production of ships. Enemy submarines have taken an exceedingly heavy toll of Allied shipping. Measures have been taken to cope with the submarine menace, and we all hope that they will be successful, but no matter how successful they are we have great need for every additional ton of ship- ping that can possibly be constructed. The capacity of the United States to produce airplanes, tanks, guns and other articles of war is exceedingly great, but all those things are of little importance unless we can trans- port them to the various areas in which war operations are taking place and to do that we must have ships. Consequently, the United States Maritime Commission has been authorized by the Congress of the United States to carry out the largest shipbuilding program that the world has ever seen. Under that program the United States will build this year more than 8 million tons of shipping. That stupendous total will be increased next year by more than 15 million tons. The magnitude of this task is apparent when we consider that in 1928, the best peace-time year between the two great wars, the total tonnage of shipping built by all the nations of the world put together was approximately three and a half million tons.