White House Press Release, Address by President Harry S. Truman

317 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE October 8, 1945 CAUTION: The following address of the President, to be delivered at the dedication of the Kentucky Dam at Gilbertsville, Kentucky, MUST BE HELD IN CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis Or intimation may be published or (iven out until delivery HAS BEGUN. Release is expected about 11:00 A.M., C.S.T., Wednesday, October 10, 1945. The same rel ease applies to radio announcers and news commen- tators. NOTE: Extreme care must be exercised to avoid premature bublication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President . - NARA Ladies and Gentlemen - Nine years ago the first dam of the Tennessee Valley Authority - the Norris Dam; on the Clinch River - was dedicated by my illustrious predecessor - Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the very start of his Presidency, he had the great vision and foresight to recommend and encourage the comprehensive development of this entire great Valley. It is.now .a matter of great pride to me to dedicate the sixteenth great structure built by the TVA - the Kentucky Dam. The system of dams across the Tennessee now puts under the control of man a whole vast river - and harnesses it to do his work. This has not yet happened on any other river. The completion of this dam marks a new high point in modern pioneering in America. Nine years a.go TVA was a highly controversial subject. Today it is no longer an experiment, but a demonstration. By all except a small minority it is now regarded as a great American accomplishment, of which all of us are proud. Here in this great valley American enterprise and courage and skill have come through again with a genuine achievement. The TVA does not belong to the people of the Tennessee Valley alone. It belongs to all the United States. And indeed, it has inspired regional resource development all over the world. Distinguished observers from more than fifty countries have come tothis historic American Valley. They came here to study what has been done. They went away to try to adapt to their own regions the lessons that have been learned here from actual experience. As a Senator I was always a strong supporter of the TVA And I can say to you that I have never had occasion to regret my support of the TVA and of the idea it represents. Its record has fully justified the hopes and the confidence of its old friends. But it is more than dams and locks and chemical plants and power lines. It is an important experiment in democracy. In it, administrative methods have been devised which bring the people and their federal government closer together - not in Washington, but right where the people live. Here in this Valley there has been firmly established the basic principle of development of resources on an autonomous regional basis. Why has TVA succeeded so well? Why does it have the esteem of the people of this Valley, and attract the attention of other re- gions of America, and of the entire world? To me the answer is clear -- TVA is just plain common sense. It is common sense hitched up to modern science and good management. And that's about all there is to it. Instead of going at the river piecemeal with a dam here and a dam there, the river was treated as a whole. The dams were all designed so that they would fit together as a unit and in that way get the most service out of the river for mankind. (OVER)