Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Louisville, Kentucky

HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE September 30, 1948 TRUMB "NATIONAL ARCHIVES CONFIDENTIAL: The following address of the President to be delivered RECORDS SERVICE" in Louisville, Kentucky, this evening MUST BE HELD FOR RELEASE UNTIL 9 o'clock p.m., Central Standard Time, September 30, and no portion, synopsis, or intimation may be given out or broadcast or published until that time. The same release applies to all newspapers, radio an- nouncers and news broadcasters. PLEASE USE CARE TO AVOID PREMATURE PUBLICATION OR RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President - I am happy to be here in the State of Kentucky, the State of my good friend and running-mate, America's most beloved Senator, Alben Barkley Here in Kentucky, Alben Barkley needs no indorsement from me. But I wonder if even you Kentuckians know how much he means to the Democratic Party and to the Nation and to the world. Alben Barkley represents thirty-five years of continuous, respon- sible experience in national affairs. He knows as few men do the business of our Government, the af- fairs of the Nation, and the problems of the world. He has graduated from a great school of statesmanship with highest honors. And he earned his degree the hard way. He labored in the grim years of the Hoover depression, and be led in the great New Deal battle against human misery -- under Franklin D. Roosevelt. The respect which all Americans, regardless of party, hold for Alben Barkley was earned by a lifetime of distinguished public service. Alben Barkley and I are engaged in a tough, hard fight. And we are going to win that fight because we are on the right side. In this fight we are bringing out the facts of a shameful record - the Republican record. And the Republicans don't like it one bit. They say it isn't polite. They want us to confine the campaign to undisputed general- ities, to the people will lose their big chance to find out the real issues. This campaign of plain facts and plain speaking is annoying the Republicans - but it is pleasing the people. And I intend to keep waging this fight until the people of this Nation know all the issues of this campaign. This is not a parlor game we are playing. This election is very serious business. The future of the American people is at stake. I know that there are some forgetful people who say there is no real difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. They are as wrong as can be. When you elected Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, you found out how great the difference is between Democrats and Republicans. The very course of your lives was changed. The dark Republican days of discouragement and fear gave way to new hope and revived energy, as the Democratic Administration went to work for the people. We have been working for the people -- for all the people - for the past sixteen years. The question that faces you now is whe ther you are going to con- tinue the kind of government that has done so much for all the people, or whether you are going to turn around and start back down the Republican road. The issue in this election, as I have said time and again, is the people against special privilege. Is the Government of the United States going to be run in the interest of the people as a whole, or in the in- terest of a small group of privileged big businessmen? OVER