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608865168
label
Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Taunton, Massachusetts
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doc
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document
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1
Source metadata
id
608865168
contentType
document
title
Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Taunton, Massachusetts
citationUrl
collections
President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)
Speech Files
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naId
608865168
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item
productionDates
day
28
logicalDate
1948-10-28
month
10
year
1948
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description
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nara-archive
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1
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0
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photo
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f5bfcca3dc1b783a
ocrText
TRUMAN
MARRY
NATIONAL
ARCHIVES AND
RECORDS
LIBRARY
SERVICE"
GOVERNMENT
HOLD FOR RELEASE
HOLD FOR RELEASE
HOLD FOR RELEASE
October 28, 1948
CONFIDENTIAL: The following address of the President, to be delivered in
Taunton, Massachusetts, today, Thursday, October 28, 1948, MUST BE HELD
FOR RELEASE until 8:50 A.M.
CHARLES G. ROSS
Secretary to the President
I am very glad to have this opportunity to greet you here in
Taunton this morning.
I have enjoyed my ride this mörning through some of the most
historic country in the United States, and now it is a real pleasure to be
here on the famous Taunton Green.
I understand that the first flag of liberty in the thirteen original
Colonies flew from a giant liberty pole right here on this green in October,
1774 - months before the Revolution broke out.
I think it's time for liberty poles again, all over the country.
Only this time, I'd spell pole another way "P - O - L - L."
It's time for the American people to cast their ballots for liberty
at the polls next Tuesday - liberty from the Republican 80th do-nothing
Congress.
What this country needs is not a new President, but a new Congress.
What we need is a Congress that is willing to work with a forward-
looking President in solving our acute housing shortages, so that every
American family that wants a home can have a decent one at a price it can
afford.
I have been fighting for such a housing program, but the leaders
of the Republican Party in the 80th Congress murdered the Housing Bill.
We also need a Congress that will put a brake on the soaring cost
of living. Republican leaders in the Congress led the fight to kill O.P.A.
two years ago - and ever since then the Republicans have refused to take
any action to help you pay your grocery bills.
I called the 80th Congress back into special session twice and
asked for price controls. The Republicans said: "Nothing doing."
We also need a Congress that will improve our social security
system, not weaken it, as the 80th Congress did.
We need a Congress that will act fairly and without prejudice on
the question of admitting displaced persons to this country from Europe.
We need a Congress that will improve the rights of labor, not
pass shameful and vicious labor laws like the Taft-Hartley Act.
For all these reasons, I urge you to go to the polls on Tuesday.
Make it another "Liberty Poll."
Vote the straight Democratic ticket and help elect a new
Congress that will work with me in your interest.