Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Worcester, Massachusetts

IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT AT NORCESTER, MASS. TRUMAN "NATIONAL OCTOBER 27, 1948 ARCHIVES AND RECORDS 2.28 P.M., E.S.T. SERVERN INCET Mr. Mayor and ladies and gentlemen: It is a real pleasure to be here in the heart of the great Commonwealth of kassachusetts. I wish I could stay longer. I had a fine reception, I remember, when I was here four years ago, and I have always had a warm spot in my heart for this great city. You know, your fourth Massachusetts Congressional District was one of three districts in the United States which unseated moss-back, stand-pat Republican Congressmen in 194 6, and you did a great thing by replacing them with able, enlightened liboral Democrats. I sincerely wish a lot more cities had done what you did in 1946. Your Congressman, Harold Donohue, has been a member of that group of Democrats in the 80th Congress which has fought for forward-looking measures in the people's interests. And I am assured that you are going to elect Paul Dever for Governor in this State and make a clean sweep of it. The country needs more men like these two gentlemen. I have the greatest privilege and pleasure today to have with me my new Secretary of Labor and former Governor of the great State of Massachusetts -- Maurice Tobin. You are also lucky to have an other distinguished Democrat here, your able Mayor, Charles Sulliven. He is going to be the next Lieutenant Governor of your great State. Mr. Sullivan tells me that for the first time in history you have a Democratic majo- rity in both houses of the City Council. That shows that you are thinking right and you are acting right. I think that indicates that you people, like the vast majority of all the people in this great United States of ours, have lost faith in the Republican Party -- and I am glad you have. You have lost faith in the Republican Party because that Party has failed to represent your interests -- the interests of all the people. I don't need to go into your reasons for re- jecting the Republicen Party. You know all about the record of the do-nothing 80th Congress. I would like to talk to you about something more important than that. I would like to talk to you about peace. I would like to tell you about the only way we can make our will for peace prevail in this troubled world. That way is to keep the United States strong and prosperous. The great- est single factor working for peace today is our American stand- ard of-living. It is our high standard of living, achieved during the past sixteen years, that enables us to help the free nations of the world to resist Communist uggression. The Communists are all against me, and I am very happy that they are. It shows that I am right! The policies of the Republican Party as demonstrated by the record of the 80th Congress and endorsed by the Republican candi- date for President, would result in a drastic reduction in the American ndard of living. That would be a catastrophe and a blow at our efforts to achieve world peace. The policies of the Democratic administration in the last sixteen years have resulted in the greatest prosperity this country has ever seen. No other country in the world has ever had such prosperity as we have had in the three years since the close of World War 11. You know, I think that we are living in the greatest age in history. We are living in an age like no other age in the history of the world; and because we are living in the greatest age in history, eventually we are going to get a permanent peace that will enable that to continue for our children and our grand-children. (OVER)