Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "483031013",
    "label": "Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Salt Lake City, Utah",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/483031013"
}

{
    "id": "483031013",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/483031013",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Salt Lake City, Utah",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/483031013",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Speech Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/201505/734726/734726-09-001.tif",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/201505/734726/734726-09-001.tif",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/201505/734726/734726-09-001.tif",
    "imageCount": 4,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/483031013",
    "naId": 483031013,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 21,
            "logicalDate": "1948-09-21",
            "month": 9,
            "year": 1948
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/201505/734726/734726-09-001.tif",
    "mediaId": "cdc6ceb6742c4faa",
    "ocrText": "HOLD FOR RELEASE\nHOLD FOR RELEASE\nHOLD FOR RELEASE\nTRUNNY\n\"NATIONAL\nSeptember 21, 1948\nCONFIDENTIAL: The following address of the President to be delivered in\nSalt Lake City, Utah, today, Tuesday, September 21, 1948, MUST BE HELD FOR\nRELEASE until 8 o'clock p.m., Mountain Standard Time, and no portion,\nsynopsis, or intimation my be given out, or broadcast or published until\nthat time.\nThe same release applies to all newspapers, radio announcers\nand news broadcasters.\nPLEASE USE CARE TO AVOID PREMATURE PUBLICATION OR RADIO\nANNOUNCEMENT.\nCHARLES G. ROSS\nSecretary to the President\nMy train trip coming out here across the country has been a\ntremendous experience.\nI have always had a special admiration for this region of America.\nIt has a quality all its own. In a few generations, the people here built\na sivilization out of the desert.\nThere is no story in our history more typical of the free American\nspirit than that of the Mormon settlers who founded this city. They had\nfaith, and they had energy. They took the resources that Nature offered them,\nand used them wisely. Their courage and fighting spirit made them secure\nagainst enemies.\nThey have left you a great heritage. You now have the responsibil-\nIty for the wise use of the resources of this region. You now have the duty\nto protect your rights and your welfare against the enemies who threaten them.\nAnd those enemies do exist. Whether you know it or not, you are in\na battle against powerful forces that threaten your resources, and your\nfamilies, and your hopes of the future. Tonight I am going to name those\nforces, so that we can all know whom we are fighting.\nFirst, let us see how this battle began.\nYou here in the West know a great deal about conserving natural\nresources 80 that they will be useful to our children as well as to ourselves.\nYou have learned by experience, and learned well.\nWhat is the magic word in the prosperity of the farmers and live-\nstock men of this region? The word is water. The first thing the Mormon\nsettlers did when they came here, after giving thanks to God, was to dig\nirrigation ditches. They knew what they were doing. So long as you have\nwater enough for farming and grazing, the basis of your welfare is assured.\nI think it is no exaggeration to say that as the water goes, so\ngoes this part of the country.\nIrrigation has given to the West a prosperous agriculture; it has\nbrought thriving industries and enabled you to make use of your natural\nresources. With the aid of the Government, you have built the great dams\nthat provide you with water and hydro-electric power.\nWater for irrigation and electric power for homes and farms and\nindustries have gone hand in hand.\nIt is fair to say that those who have helped you obtain the water\nand power you needed are your friends. And, by the same token, those who\nhave hampered you in obtaining irrigation and electric power are your enemies.\nThis is not a new battle. Selfish men have always tried to skim the\ncream from our natural resources to satisfy their own greed. And they have\nalways sought to control the Government in order to accomplish this. Their\ninstrument in this effort has always been the Republican Party.\nThe Republican Administrations of our time have done their best to\nmake the West an economic colony of Wall Street. In the Nineteen Twenties,\nunder Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, quick and greedy exploitation was the\norder of the day. Many parts of the West were withering -- withering from\nthe failure to develop its power and irrigation, withering from Republican\nsabotage.\nSelfish men had control, and the great resources of the West were\nwasted with sinful disregard of the people.\nNever before in history had so much been wasted by so few."
}