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    "title": "Reading Copy, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Buffalo, New York",
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    "seq": 26,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "$\nBARRY & ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\n$.5. . $ SERVICE\" GOVERNMENT\nBuffalo, New york\nact. 8, 1948\n10-8-48\nBUFFALO\nBARRY B.S. . ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS SERVICE\" TRUMAN BOVERNMENT AND Y\nIn less than a month, you will have the responsibility\nof choosing a government for the four years, Nineteen Forty-nine\nto Nineteen Fifty-three.\nThese are very likely to be crucial years\nin American history, and in world history. They are years\nwhich are likely to hold the answer to two great questions\nin the hearts of most of us today.\nThose questions I can briefly sum up as:\n1)\nWar or peace ?\n2)\nHard times or prosperity?\n- 2 -\nRARRY ARCHIVES NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\nU.S.\nSERVICE\nGOVERN WENT\nNow, as to the first question, war or peace.\nI know that every right-thinking American wants peace.\nI believe that our prayers will be answered and\nthat we will have peace. No one wants peace in\nthe nold more than Ids. I hase said time\nand again that I'dratter have place in the\nstorld,than course, to he President\nOf present world conditions are of grave concern\nto all of us. Because of these conditions, I have found it\nnecessary to cancel visits I had planned to make to a number\nof cities tomorrow. I must return to Washington to meet with\nSecretary of State Marshall, who is flying back from Paris\nto confer with me. I shall discuss with Secretary Marshall\nmeans for working out constructive and peaceful solutions\nof our problems abroad, within the framework of our basic\nAmerican principles.\n- 3 -\nMERRY ARCHIVES NATIONAL RECORDS TROMAN AND\n8.5. SERVICE\" GOVERNMENT\nI am sorry to disappoint so many of my friends\nwhom I had expected to see tomorrow. But I know that they\nwill forgive me.\nTonight I am going to talk to you about the second\ngreat question I mentioned - hard times or prosperity.\nThe election in November clearly presents\nthat question to the people of the United States.\nOf course, there is no open argument on this question.\nNobody wants hard times. Everybody wants prosperity.\nThe Republicans are quite sincere in saying that they want\nprosperity just as much as the Democrats.\nOf course they do. Who doesn't ?\n- 4 -\nBut the leaders who now control the Republican\nBARRY 8.5. ARCHIVES NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS GOVERNMENT TRUMAN AND\nParty want prosperity for special privilege groups first,\nand for other people second. They want high profits\nfor their campaign contributors, and high prices for the\nspecial interest lobbies.\nIn the mad scramble to get that selfish kind of prosperity,\nthey forget about the rest of the country.\nThey forget about the needs of the farmer, and labor, and\nsmall business.\nThey forget about housewives struggling with their budgets,\nand families using up their savings to meet the high cost of living.\nThey forget about the prosperity of the consumers\nand wage earners of the country.\n- 5 -\nThen, of course, their own prosperity goes smash -\nand we are all in a depression together.\nHARRY ARCHIVES S. \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND LIBRAHY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nReal prosperity is based on justice.\nGOVERNMENT\nReal prosperity depends on fair treatment for all groups\nin our society. That's a rule as old as the Bible.\nThat's what the Bible means when it says: \"We are\nevery one members, one of another.\"\nAnd that is the very thing the economists have found out\nabout our economy, after fifty years of studying booms and\ndepressions.\nWe judge people and parties by what they do,\nnot by what they say. We judge the Democratic Party\nby its record of achievement over the last sixteen years.\n- 6 -\nBARRY ARCHIVES 5. \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND LIMITY THE\nWe judge the Republican Party by its record\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nBOVERNWENT\nof the last two years rin the Congress where it has had\nabsolute control\nthe and complete legislative responsibility. hawhol our goit\nIf we look at that record, we can see that\nthe Republican leadership has changed very little in its policies,\nsince the days of Hoover. And we can see that the Republican\nParty is following the same fatal course - privileges\nfor the few and neglect of the many that led us into the\ndisaster of Nineteen Twenty-nine.\nI know that this kind of talk is painful to the\nRepublican leaders. I can't help that.\nThe Republicans say I ought not to talk about the past.\nThey would like us to forget the period from Nineteen Twenty-nine\nto Nineteen Thirty-two.\n- 7 -\nBARRY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND LIBRARY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nThey would like to forget it themselves.\nGOVERNMENT\nLet me assure you that when I talk about the\nRepublican past, I do so with regret. I wish with all my heart\nthat the Republican Party no longer had anything in common\nwith the party that produced the depression of the Nineteen\nThirties.\nBut it is important for the people of this country\nto recognize that time has not changed the fundamental outlook\nof the Republican Party since it was last in power.\nThe leopard has not changed his spots'\nhe has merely hired some public relations experts.\nAnd they have taught him to wear sheeps clothing,\nand to purr sweet nothings about unity in a soothing voice.\n- 8 -\nHARRY ARCHIVES S. \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUHAN AND LIBRARY\nB.S. SERVICE GOVERNMENT\nBut it's the same old leopard.\nThe Republican strategy in this campaign is\nincreasingly clear. The Republicans have carefully appraised\ntheir assets and liabilities and have reached the conclusion\nthat they have one main liability and one main asset.\nThe liability is the issues of this campaign.\nThey have concluded that their record is so bad\non the important issues of the day, that they can't even\ndiscuss them.\nThe problems that affect the welfare of every person\nin this country are completely ignored by the Republican orators.\nNow the main asset of the Republicans is the tremendous\nfinancial support they are receiving.\n- 9 -\nBARRY U.S. ARCHIVES 'NATIONAL RECORDS SERVICE\" GOVERNMENT TRUMAN AND LIBERTY\nMuch of it is being utilized to conduct a widespread\npropaganda campaign designed to fool you into believing that\nthe result of this coming election is a foregone conclusion.\nI believe that the American people will not be fooled\nby this insidious propaganda.\nI believe that the American people - and not the\npropagandists for special interests - will decide in whose hands\ntheir government will be placed.\nNow let us look at some of the issues of this campaign.\nI do not claim that all Democrats are perfect\nor that all Democratic Congressmen are wise.\nBut in general, most Democrats vote for the people,\nand most Republicans vote for the special interest lobbies.\n- 10 -\nTROMAN\nAMHVU\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nKINDARY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nTake, as an example, my proposals for the control\nof high prices. In Nineteen Forty-seven, in the Senate,\nninety percent of the Democrats voted for these proposals,\nand ten percent against them; but only five percent of the Republicans\nvoted for them, and ninety-five percent voted against them.\nIn Nineteen Forty-eight, eighty-one per cent of the\nDemocrats voted for these proposals to hold prices down, and\nninety-eight per cent of the Republicans voted against them.\nI want you to realize that when I speak of the actions\nof the Republican 80th Congress, I am speaking of actions\nwhich represent the prevailing views of those who control\nthe Republican Party. That Congress was merely a symbol and\ninstrument of Republican policy.\n- 11 -\nHARRY B.S. ARCHIVES 5. \"NATIONAL RECORDS TROMAN AND\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nLately there has been some talk by Republicans\nthat while the 80th Congress might have been pretty bad,\nthat has nothing to do with the Republican leaders.\nThey are attempting to build up the illusion that a Republican\nCongress and the Republican candidate for President do not stand\nfor the same policies.\nWell, the Republican candidate has now dispelled\nthat illusion. He has endorsed the 80th Congress.\nHe has said, and I quote:\n\"The 80th Congress delivered as no other Congress\never did for the future of the country.\"\n- 12 -\nHARRY 8.5. the ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS GOVERN HENT TRUMAN AND LEBRARY\nMake no mistake:\nWhen we talk of the failures\nof the 80th Congress we are talking of the policies of the\nRepublican candidates, as well as most of the Republican\nCongressmen and Senators.\nThey are tarred with the same brush -\nthe brush that big business uses to brush off the needs and\nclaims of the people.\nNow the point I want to drive home to you and\nto all the people of the United States is this:\nYour prosperity is endangered by the Republican policies.\nI want you to look at the facts, think about them,\nand be guided by them.\n- 13 -\nHARNY ARCHIVES RECORDS NATIONAL TRUMAN AND of\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nAnd I am not asking you to vote for the Democratic\nParty just because during the past sixteen years,\nDemocratic policies turned hard times into good times.\nWhat I want you to do is to look at the present Democratic policies,\nas they affect you and your family in the years ahead.\nLet's take a specific example.\nLet's take the struggle to get sufficient housing\nin this country.\nThis year, in the United States of America,\nfive million families are living in slums and fire traps.\nAnother four million families are living in houses that\nwill soon become slums unless something is done to prevent it.\nThree million families, including many families of war veterans,\nare living doubled up with other families.\n- 14 -\nBARRY U.S. ARCHIVES S. \"NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS TRUNAN AND THEY\nAnd things are getting worse.\nGOVERNMENT\nThere are twice as many couples getting married each year\nas there are homes being built.\nThis housing situation is intolerable and inexcusable.\nA great, rich country like ours can afford decent homes\nfor its citizens.\nWe must do three things:\nWe must build more homes, we must build homes that people -\nparticularly young people - can afford, and we must clear out\nand rebuild the slums.\nHouses are being built - by private enterprise,\nas they should be. But they aren't being built in sufficient\nnumbers, or at low enough prices. And without Government help,\nthey can't be. Without Government help, cities are not\nfinancially able to wipe out their slums.\n- 15 -\nBARRY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nSo the Government has a big and important role to play\nin housing, not in conflict or competition with private\nenterprise, but supplementing it.\nIn my post-war message to the Congress,\nI urged early action by the Congress to enact a real housing\nprogram to meet these needs. That was in September\nNineteen Forty-five - three years ago.\nA splendid bill for this purpose was introduced.\nIt was sponsored by two Democratic Senators and one Republican.\nOne of the Democrats was your own great fighting liberal -\nBob Wagner.\nThe other was Senator Ellender of Louisiana,\nand the Republican was Senator Taft.\n- 16 -\nHARRY ARCHIVES 5. \"NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS TREMAN AND LIBRARY\nGOVERNMENT\nI was hopeful that we could start helping our people\nwith their housing problems. But I did not reckon with the\ninfluence of the real estate lobby.\nThe real estate people have one of the most powerful,\nbest organized, and most brazen lobbies in Congress.\nAnd the Republican Party has proved to be its faithful servant.\nThe Wagner-Ellender-Taft bill passed the Senate\nin Nineteen Forty-six, but was blocked by the Republican members\nof a House Committee.\nIn Nineteen Forty-seven, we had the Republican\n80th Congress - and the housing bill was introduced again.\nThe Republican leadership in the Senate stalled for time.\nDo you know what they did?\n- 17 -\nBARRY E.S. ARCHIVES SERVICE \"NATIONAL RECORDS TREBAN AND THROUT\nGOVERNMENT\nThey set up a joint Committee to find out\nif there was a housing shortage.\nI sent a message to the Congress asking them please\nto hurry up and do something. Housing conditions were getting\nworse and worse.\nThereupon, the Senate passed the bill for the\nsecond time and it went to the House. There were enough\nfavorable votes in the House to pass it, if it ever came to a vote.\nSo the Republican leadership decided to keep it from coming\nto a vote. They pulled every trick in the parliamentary book,\nand some that had never been heard of before;\nand they were successful.\nIt was a shameful performance.\nThe Democrats tried again and again, in both\nthe Senate and the House, to get the bill through.\n- 18 -\n5.\nTRUMAR\nAngyn\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nKIRRARY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\nGOVERN MENT\nBut they were blocked at every turn by the Republicans.\nThe sad truth is that the Republican leadership in the Congress\nmurdered the Housing Bill.\nThe Congress adjourned shortly after that,\nand all the Republicans went to their convention in Philadelphia.\nThere they drafted a platform plank on housing.\nAnd what do you think that plank said?\nDon't be surprised. It announced the stern determination\nof the Republican Party to provide Federal aid for local slum\nclearance and low-rent housing programs - the very provisions\nthey had been fighting against so hard for three years.\nWell, that gave me a glimmer of hope - not much,\nbut a little.\n- 19 -\nI thought they really woulnd't dare go back on their own platform\nat least, not until the ink on it was dry - and that they\nHARRY $.5 ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS TRUEZE AND\nGOVERNMENT\nmight now pass the legislation they had promised to the people.\nYou remember what happened.\nI called the Congress back into special session.\nI pointed out that unless it acted on housing,\nthe next Congress would have to begin all over again,\nand there would be another year's delay.\nI asked the Congress again to pass the Taft-Ellender-Wagner bill.\nWere the Republicans grateful for the chance\nto prove they meant what they said?\nNot a bit'.\nThey accused me of playing politics.\nNow, we come to the end of this sorry story of\nRepublican trickery.\n- 20 -\nSenator Taft himself - one of the sponsors of the bill -\nturned against it, and asked the Senate to kill it -\n&\nTRUMAN\nHARRY\n\"NATIONAL\nto kill his own bill.\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nLIBRARY\n6.5.\nSERVICE\"\nBOVERN WENT\nAlso very interesting is the fact that one of your\nSenators from New York - who is close to the Republican\ncandidate for Peesident - had the chance to take a position\non the housing bill.\nSenator Ives voted against the bill.\nSo the Senate killed the Taft-Ellender-Wagner bill,\nand the Congress passed a bill which does nothing about\nlow-cost public housing, nothing about slum clearance,\nnothing about rural housing - nothing, in short,\nthat they said they would do for the people.\n- 21 -\nARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TROMAN AND\n8.5.\nSERVICE\nGOVERNMENT\nOne of the aims of my Administration has been\nto give all our people a chance to have decent housing.\nOur major effort has been to enlarge the effective field\nof private enterprise and to give public support only to housing\nfor those low-income families that private enterprise\ncannot serve.\nThe Republican Congress flatly refused to aid those\nlow-income families.\nWhat was the result of this great Republican\nrun-around?\nThe real estate lobby won.\nAnd the people of the United States lost - lost homes they could\nhave had - lost years of health and happiness in decent\nsurroundings that might have been theirs.\n- 22 -\nI have gone into this story at length because\nit shows the way in which the Republican Party has thwarted\nthe will of the people.\nHARRY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND LEURABY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\nGOVERNMENT\nRepublican policies are depriving millions\nof American families of the housing they need.\nRepublican policies are keeping up the prices of much of the food\nyou eat, and the clothing you buy.\nAnd worst of all, these Republican policies,\nby permitting inflation to continue without proper curbs,\nare threatening the very foundations of our prosperity.\nThey are not only injuring American living standards\nby high prices - they are also pushing the country into\nthe terrible risk of another crash and another depression.\n- 23 -\nThat is why I must say to you that a Republican victory\nin November would be a victory for a policy that makes\nfor hard times.\nSTATE : ARCHIMES 5. GOVERNMENT NATIONAL SERVICE\" RECORDS TRUMAN AND\nThe Democratic Party is not perfect,\nbut its leadership, its policies, and the great majority\nof Democratic members of Congress stand squarely behind\na policy aimed to preserve the prosperity of the people.\nThat is a major issue of this campaign.\nThat is why I feel justified tonight in asking you\nto cast your votes, on Election Day, for a Democratic Administration\nthat has faith in the people, and that plays fair with the people.\n- 24 -\nU.S. RECORDSAND S. TRUMAN LIBRARY\nSERVICE\nGOVERNMENT\nAnd we shall need a Democratic Congress this time.\nWe need a Democratic Congress to protect your pocketbooks,\nyour homes, your futures, and the happiness of your children.\nA Democratic Administration is what we all need.\nAnd it's very easy to get.\nAll we have to do is to go to the polls on\nNovember second and vote for it."
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