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    "title": "Reading Copy of Speech by President Harry S. Truman at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/321497016",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
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        "Presidential campaign, 1948"
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    "ocrText": "SAFET ARCHIVES 'NATIONAL SERVICE RECORDS THUMAN AND LEGIT\n8.8.\nOriginal\nPittsburgh, Pennsylvania\nOct. 23,1948\n10-23-48\nPITTSBURGH\nHARRY DE ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS SERVICE THERE AND THEM\nI think a presidential campaign is one\nof the most important elements in our democratic process.\nIt's a chance to get things out in the open and discuss them\nand make decisions.\nI am an old campaigner, and I enjoy it.\nI would enjoy it even more, if my opponent had\nthe courage to discuss the issues. The American people,\nhave the right to know where I stand and where my opponent stands\non the issues that affect every person in this country.\n- 2 -\nBURT ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TURNS AND VEHICLE\nThe people know where I stand.\nES SERVICE\" SOVERNMENT\nBut the Republican candidate refuses to tell where he stands.\nMy opponent is conducting a very peculiar campaign.\nHe has set himself up as a kind of doctor with\na magic cure for all the ills of mankind.\nLet's imagine that we, the American people,\nare going to see this doctor. It's just our usual routine\ncheck-up which we have every four years.\nWe go into the doctor's office,\n\"Doctor,\" we say, \"we're feeling fine.\"\n\"Is that so?\" says the doctor.\n\"have you been bothered much by issues lately?\"\n- 3 -\nHAMPY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL REGORDS TRUMAN AND 1\n\"Not bothered, exactly,\" we say.\nE\nSERVICE\nBOYESTMENT\n\"Of course we've had quite a few. We've had the issues of high prices,\nand housing, education and social security, and a few others.\"\n\"That's bad,\" says the doctor.\n\"You shouldn't have so many issues.\"\n\"Is that right?\" we say.\n\"We thought that issues were a sign of political health.\"\n\"Not at all,\" says the doctor.\n\"You shouldn't think about issues. What you need is my brand\nof soothing syrup, - I call it 'unity' \".\nThen the doctor edges up a little closer.\n\"Say, you don't look so good,\" he says.\n- 4 -\nWe say to him, \"Well, that seems strange to me, Doc.\nI never felt stronger, never had more money and\nnever had a brighter future. What is wrong with me ?\"\n& ARCHIVES \"NAYIONAL REGDING TRUMAR NEW VISIT\nWell, the doctor looks blank and says,\nOF SERVICE\n\"I never discuss issues with a patient.\nBut what you need is a major operation.\"\n\"Will it be serious, Doc ?\" we say.\n\"No not very serious,\" he says.\nIt will just mean taking out the complete works and putting in\na Republican Administration.\"\"\nThat's the kind of campaign you're getting from\nthe Republicans. They won't talk about the issues,\nbut they insist that a major operation is necessary.\n- 5 -\nBARRY THE ARCHIVES OF \"NATIONAL RECORDS SERVICE\" TREMAN AND THE\nTake this vague talk of the Republican candidate\nabout the \"failures\" of the present Administration.\nThat puzzled me for a bit.\nI thought of the fact that our national income\nis now running at the rate of over Two Hundred and Twenty Billion\nDollars a year - over Five times as much as it was in\nNineteen Thirty-two.\nIs that what he calls a failure?\nOr, perhaps he was worried about the profits of\ncorporations. In Nineteen Thirty-two, corporations lost\nThree Billion Dollars. Now corporate profits are running\nat the rate of Nineteen Billion Dollars a year.\nIs that what he calls a failure?\n- 6 -\nOr, perhaps he was thinking about our mighty\nundertakings to assist the free nations of the world to protect\nthemselves against the inroads of Communism.\nThese efforts are proving successful,\nSANTY ARCHIVEZ \"NATIONAL REDDRDS ТДВИДЯ AND THE\nU.S.\nSERVICE\nIs that what he calls a failure?\nIn his speech here in Pittsburgh just a few days ago,\nthe Republican candidate pretended to be upset about the way\nmy Administration has treated labor -\nabout the terrible condition that labor was in\nin Nineteen Forty-six. That's the excuse he gives\nfor the passage of the Taft-Hartley law.\nAll right, let's examine that.\n- 7 -\nBARRY ARCHIVES \"HATIONAL RECORDS TAUMAS AND THE\n8.3.\nSERVICE\nIn Nineteen Forty-six more people had jobs than\never before.\nUnions were healthier and had more members than\never before.\nAnd the working men and women of the United States\nproduced more goods in Nineteen Forty-six than in any previous\npeacetime year.\nThe world wasn't perfect in Nineteen Forty-six.\nBut before any Republican begins complaining about that,\nhe had better take a look at Nineteen Thirty-two -\nthe last Republican year.\n- 8 -\n-\nThe Republican candidate talks about the\nBARRY THE ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL REGORDS SERVICE BOTWOOD TROMAS AND LINES\nwork-days lost from strikes in Nineteen Forty-six.\nOur industrial production in Nineteen Forty-six was three times\nas much as it was in Nineteen Thirty-two.\nAnd the days lost from strikes in Nineteen Forty-six\nwere less than one and one half per cent of the total days\nworked that year.\nRepublicans don't like to talk about Nineteen Thirty-two -\nand I don't blame them. But it is a good year for you\nto remember when you start out to vote on election day.\nWhen the Republican candidate finished telling you\nhere in Pittsburgh, how labor had suffered under my Administration,\nhe told you who had come to the rescue,\n- 9 -\nWho do you guess it was?\nBARRY U.S. so ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS SERVICE TROMAN AND\nIt was the Republicans.\nAnd how do you suppose they did it ?\nLaw\nThey did it with the Taft-Hartley Act.\nYes, sir. The Republican candidate marched up\nproudly and embraced the Taft-Hartley law - lock, stock, and barrel.\nNo working man can have any doubt about that any more.\nAnd in praising the Taft-Hartley law, he displayed\nhis characteristic tendency of claiming credit where no credit\nis due, He tried to tell you that it is the Taft-Hartley Act\nthat is driving the Communists out of labor unions,\n- 10 -\nARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS ТИПИКИ AXO LIBERTY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\nBEYERTING\nIf you want to know how much truth there is\nin this claim, ask Bill Green - ask Phil Murray.\nThey'll tell you who is cleaning up the Communists\nin the labor unions.\nIt's being done in the good American way -\nby the unions themselves.\nNow in this speech he made here in Pittsburgh,\nthe Republican candidate admitted, with characteristic modesty,\nthat he was going to lead the country - and, indeed,\nthe whole world - out of all our troubles.\nAnd he made a lot of promises.\nHe opened his mouth and closed his eyes, and\nswallowed the terrible record of the Republican 80th Congress.\n- 11 -\nBARRY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\n1.8.\nSERVICE™\nEGVERNIVENT\nFour years ago this same Presidential candidate\nwent around the country saying that he was in favor of what\nthe Democrats had done, but he could do it better.\nHe said he was in favor of the National Labor Relations Act,\nthe Wage and Hour Act, the Social Security Act, and\n\"all the other Federal statutes designed to promote and protect\nthe welfare of American working men and women\" -\nbut he could do it better.\nFor some reason or other the American people\ndid not believe him in Nineteen Forty-four.\nThis year the same candidate is back with us,\nand he is saying much the same thing;\nthat he likes our Democratic laws, but that he can run them better\nthan we can,\n- 12 -\nIt sounds like the same old phonograph record;\nAROKIVES AN F.S. SERVICE & RECORDAND THE my\nRATERNATION\nbut this year the record has a crack and the needle\ngets stuck in it.\nThe crack was provided by the Republican 80th Congress.\nIn Nineteen Forty-eight, every time the candidate says,\n\"I can do it better\" - the crack says, \"we're against it.\"\nSo the sounds coming out of the Republican Party\nthis year are not very harmonious. And they are even less\nbelievable than they were in Nineteen Forty-four.\nThe candidate said: I quote,\n\"The present minimum wage set by law is far too low\nand it will be raised.\"\nThat's fine.\n- 13 -\nBAHA 8.3. ARGHIVES \"NATIONAL SERVICE\" REDDROS AND COUNT\nWe're right with the candidate on that.\nIn fact, we are way ahead of him.\nTime and time again in the last two years I urged\nthe Republican 80th Congress to raise the minimum wage\nfrom the present forty cents an hour to at least seventy-five cents\nan hour.\nBut the Republican Congress - the crack in the phonograph\nrecord - said, \"Nothing doing - we're against it.\"\nAnd the minimum wage stayed where it was.\nLet's look at another song on the record\nthe candidate played for you here in Pittsburgh.\n- 14 -\nThe candidate said: quote,\n\"We will overhaul the Social Security System for the unemployed\nand the aged, and go forward to extend its coverage and increase\nits benefits.\"\nSEATT ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TROMAR AND VISATE\nS.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNITY\nThat sounds good, although it's a little vague,\nBut that's the candidate speaking.\nWhere do the Republicans actually stand on social security?\nAs your President, I made every effort to get the\nRepublican 80th Congress to extend social security coverage\nand increase social security benefits. What did the Congress do?\nThey took social security benefits AWAY from nearly\na million people.\nWhat do you believe - campaign promises,\nor the plain facts of Republican action?\n- 15 -\nAgain the crack in the record gives them away:\nIt says, \"we're against it.\"\nTABLET $5 ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL SERVICE RECORDS AND\nGOVERNMENT\nIn my recommendations to the special do-nothing\nsession of Congress in July, I pointed out the desperate need\nto increase old-age insurance benefits by at least fifty per cent.\nAt the present time the average insurance benefit payment\nfor an old couple is less than Forty Dollars a month.\nThe Republican Congress did nothing about it -\nand neither did the Republican candidate!\nHe was silent as the tomb while the Congress\nwas in session. Now while he's campaigning, he suddenly\ntakes quite an interest in increasing social security benefits,\nNow, I ask you:\n\" Can you believe that kind of campaign promise?\n- 16\nTake another promise in that Pittsburgh speech.\nThe Republican candidate said: I quote,\n\"We will make the Labor Department equal in actual Cabinet\nstatus to Commerce and Agriculture. It will make an\nimportant contribution to the national welfare.\"\nUARRY AL ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS SERVICE\" TRUNAD GOVERFULNT AND LIVENSE\nThat promise is ridiculous in the face of what\nthe Republicans in the 80th Congress did.\nThe Republican 80th Congress stripped the\nMediation and Conciliation Service from the Labor Department.\nThe Republican 80th Congress stripped the United States\nEmployment Service from the Labor Department.\nThe Republican 80th Congress cut the appropriations\nfor the Bureau of Labor Statistics almost in half - apparently\nto prevent the Bureau from showing what's happening\nto the cost of living.\n- 17 -\nBARRY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\na GOVERNY\nSERVICE\"\nThat's the plain factual record of what the\nRepublicans have done to the Labor Department in the last\ntwo years.\nRemember, the Republican candidate has said\nhe is proud of the record of the 80th Congress.\nThat is the crack in the phonograph record\nthat gives them away.\nHere's another one of his promises.\nHere in Pittsburgh, the Republican candidate said: I quote,\n\"We will bring a new and vigorous leadership\nto the Federal Conciliation and Mediation Service so that\nmajor disputes are settled before they become strikes.\"\n- 18 -\nNow that's a very peculiar promise.\nThe present director of the Mediation Service is a well-known\nindustrial leader named Cyrus Ching.\nMr. Ching has been widely praised for his work in mediation.\nI think the Republican candidate is a bit confused here.\nTHE & ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL REQURUA TRUMAN AND THERE\n8.8.\nSERVICE\nLet's take another campaign promise.\nHere in Pittsburgh the Republican candidate said:\n\"We will encourage unions to grow in responsibility and\nstrengthen the processes of collective bargaining\".\nI know it's hard to believe but that's exactly what\nhe said'.\nAnd he said it in the very same speech in which\nhe went all out for the Taft-Hartley law,\n- 19 -\nTABAT ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nIn this case, the candidate has fallen in the crack\nwith the Republican Congress.\nHe makes a promise,\nbut the record says they're both against it.\nHere's another promise by the Republican candidate:\nquote,\n\"We will vigorously and consistently enforce\nand strengthen our anti-trust laws against business monopolies.\"\nNow that's really fantastic. The Republican Party\nis notoriously favorable towards big business monopolies.\nThe record of the Republican 80th Congress furnishes\nplenty of proof. They passed over my veto a bill to exempt\nthe railroads from the anti-trust laws. And, at the same time,\nthey refused to pass, as I recommended, the O'Mahoney-Kefauver\nbill to plug loopholes in the anti-trust laws.\n- 20 -\nIn the face of that record, the candidate now claims\nthat the Republicans will strengthen the anti-trust laws.\nHow can the Republican candidate say such things\nmy\nGARAT ARCHIVES A \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\nwith a straight face?\nTHE\nSERVICE\"\nBut here's another. Here in Pittsburgh he said:\n\"We will break the log jam in housing so that\ndecent houses may be provided at reasonable cost for our people.\"\nFor two solid years I tried in every way I knew\nto get the Republican 80th Congress to break the log jam in housing\nby passing the Taft-Ellender-Wagner bill.\nBut the Republicans would not act.\nIn the face of pleading and urging from Governors\nand Mayors, from veterans and plain people all over the country,\nthe Republicans in Congress refused to pass the housing bill.\n- 21 -\nBut now - now in the middle of the campaign -\nthe Republican candidate has the gall to promise that the\nFARGHIVES AND E & SERVICE RECORDS THE LICENSE\nRepublicans will take action on housing.\nI wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it in print.\nLet me quote just one more campaign promise\nfrom that incredible Pittsburgh speech.\n\"We will make sure,\" said the Republican candidate,\n\"We will make sure that soaring prices do not steal food and\nclothing and other necessities from American families.\"\nThat one stops me,\nEverybody in this country knows that the Republican\n80th Congress refused, time and time again, to pass the laws\nwe need to stop high prices.\n- 22 -\nTHEY\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nKIDSANI\nIn November, Nineteen Forty-seven,\n8.8. SERVICE\"\nIn January Nineteen Forty-eight,\nIn July Nineteen Forty-eight,\nI asked that Republican Congress to act against inflation.\nThey did nothing'.\nAnd neither did the Republican candidate:\nAll through the time when the Congress was in session,\nstalling and blocking anti-inflation legislation,\nthe Republican candidate was silent as the grave.\nBut now - now that he's trying to persuade people\nto vote for him - the Republican candidate says the Republicans\nwill do something about high prices'\nIt looks to me as though it's a little late in the game\nfor that promise.\n- 23 -\nThe candidate says, \"Me, too.\"\nBut the Republican record still says \"We're against it.\"\n&\nTRENAN\nAHILL\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nREDORDS\nSWEAT\nThese two phrases \"Me, too.\" and\nAT ROYER SERVICE\"\n\"We're against it.\" sum up the whole Republican campaign.\nmy friends But it isn't funny. It's tragic tragic for\nthat's not funny. the escydan utigea\nThis soft talk and double talk -\nthis combination of crafty silence and resounding misrepresentation\nis an insult to the intelligence of the American voter.\nIt proceeds upon the assumption that you can fool all the people -\nor enough of them - all the time.\nIn this campaign you don't have to rely on promises.\nThis time you have the record.\n- 24 -\nYou don't have to play just the Republican side\nof the record.\nBREAT ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS TREMAN AND UNITED\nTurn it over.\nOur side - the Democratic side - doesn't say -\n\"We're against it.\"\nIt says, \"We can do it.\"\nOur side of the record is the Victory March -\na victory on November second for all the people and\nfor the peoples' party the Damoraatic Party"
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