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    "label": "Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Rochester, Minnesota",
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    "title": "Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Rochester, Minnesota",
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    "ocrText": "IMMEDIATI RELEASE\nIMMEDIATE RELEASE\nREAR PLATFORM REMARKS\nAddress\nNATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nOF THE PRESIDENT AT ROCHESTER; MINNESOTA\nRECORDS\nLIBRARY\nSERVICE\"\nOCTOBER 14, 1948 at\n10:25 a. m. C. S. T.\nGOVERNMENT\nThank you very much. I appreciate the warm welcome which\nthe Mayor of this great City has extended to the Presidential\nParty, and I appreciate the introduction of your candidate for\nCongress who I know will be the next Congressman from this\ndistrict. You are going to elect Karl F. Rolvaag. He told\nme that I was going to get a good reception here, and he didn't\nmean it half as strong as it is. I thank you from the ottom\nof my heart. It means that Karl Rolvaag is going to be in the\nHouse of Representatives in the next Congress, and that you\nare going to send Hubert Humphrey to the Senate. If you send\nmen like that to the Senate and House, there won't be any\ntrouble getting along with the President because they believe\nin the same things I do.\nThousands and thousands of Americans, distinguished\nAmericans and plaiñ citizens, have come to this greet City to\nrecover their health. I am on a crusade across the Country,\nto see that we don't have to send the Federal Government itself\nto Rochester 00 get it put back together after four years of\nRepublican rule in Washington. I am here to tell you that if\nwe have four more years like that, it will take all the clinics\nin the country to put it back together again.\nI wish the whole Nation could have the opportunity to enjoy\nthe kind of medical care that is available here in Rochester,\nMinnesota. Unfortunately, we haven't reached that point yet,\nbut I have been trying ever since I became President to use\nthe powers of the Federal Government to improve the health of\nthe American people. In fact, I started on a program of that\nsort while I was in the Senate, and I have been working on it\never since.\nLast January, I asked Mr. Oscar Ewing, he is the Federal\nSecurity Administrator to make a careful study of the present\nlevel of the national health. I also asked him to report to me\non what we might hope to accomplish in the next ten years for\nthe health of the Nation. Mr. Ewing has just finished his study,\nand has submitted a long report entitled, THE NATION'S HEALTH --\nA TEN YEAR PLAN. That report -- I have a summary of it right\nhere -- is an impressive document. It tells about the progress\nwe have been making, but at the same time it reveals some\nshocking facts.\nEvery year -- now listen to this -- every year, more than\n325 thousand Americans die who could have been saved if they\nhad had the right kind of medical attention and care that we\nknow how to provide.\nOnly 20 per cent -- one-fifth of our population -- is able\nto afford the medical care they need. Now that means that there\nare 110 million people in this country who cen't afford proper\nmedical attention. That is a disgrace to the richest country\nin the world.\nThe United States loses 27 billion dollars a year in\nnational wealth through sickness and disability alone.\nThese facts should nake every one of us resolve to do all\nthat we can to improve our medical facilities. I think these\nfacts point to the need for the National Health Program that I\nhave been urging the Congress to adopt.\nI would like to remind you of the main points of that\nprogram. I want you to listen carefully to this. Every one of\nyou is interested in one way or other in this program.\nFirst, we ought to have adequate public health services\nincluding an expanded naternal and child health program. Second,\nwe need more medical research and more medical schools.\n(OVER)"
}