Press Release, Message of President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress
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OCR Page 1 of 10HOLD FOR RELEASE
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374
November 19, 1945
CONFID IAI.: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion,
synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the
READING of the President's Message has begun in either the Senate
or House of Repre'sentatives. Extreme care must therefore be
exercised to avoid premature publication.
EBEN A. AYERS
Assistant to CHARLES G. ROSS
Secretary to the President
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
In my message to the Congress of September 6, 1945, there were
enumerated in a proposed Economic Bill of Rights certain rights which
ought to be assured to every American citizen.
TUUMANY
NARA
One of them was: "The right to adequate medical care and the
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opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Another was the "right
to adequate protection from the economic fears of * * sickness
*
*
*
!!
Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of
opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have
protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The
time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and
that protection.
The people of the United States received a shock when the
medical examinations conducted by the Selective Service System revealed
the wide-spread physical and mental incapacity among the young people of
our nation. We had had prior warnings from eminent medical authorities
and from investigating committees. The statistics of the last war had
shown the same condition. But the Selective Service System has brought
it forcibly to our attention recently -- in terms which all of us can
understand.
As of April 1, 1945, nearly 5,000,000 male registrants between
the ages of 18 and 37 had been examined and classified as unfit for
military service. The number of those rejected for military service
was about 30 percent of all examined. The percentage of rejection
was lower in the younger age groups, and higher in the higher age groups,
reaching as high as 49 percent for registrants between the ages of 34 and
37.
In addition, after actual induction, about a million and a half
men had to be discharged from the Army and Navy for physical or mental
disability, exclusive of wounds; and an equal number had to be treated
in the Armed Forces for diseases or defects which existed before induc-
tion.
Among the young women who applied for admission to the Tomen's
Army Corps there was similar disability. Over one-third of those examined
were rejected for physical or mental reasons.
These men and women who were rejected for military service are
not necessarily incapable of civilian work. It is plain, however, that
they have illnesses and defects that handicap them, reduce their working
capacity, or shorten their lives.
It is not so important to search the past in order to fix the
blame for these conditions. It is more important to resolve now that no
American child shall come to adult life with diseases or defects which
can be prevented or corrected at an early age.
OVEN
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