Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, South Norwalk, Connecticut

IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE TRUMAN REAR PLATFORM REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT Aggen "NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS LIBRARY AT SOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, OCTOBER 28, SERVICE" 1948, 3:07 P. M., E.S.T. Thank you very much, Brian, for thatmost cordial introduction in your home town. You know, Brian McMahn has done a wonderful job in the Senate of the United States. I wish we had 96 like him. I think we are going to have: a majority like him in this next Congress, after I get through tal king about this good-for-nothing 80th Congress. I don't think you re going to send another one like that back there. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this wonderful turnout in this great city. I think this ought to be called a victory crowd. I have been getting bigger and bigger crowds avery day. That means only one thing -- that the Democrats are going to win this election on November 2nd. It means you are going to send William Gaston to the Congress. It means you are going to have Chet Bowles for your Governor. And I know Chet Bowles. I know Chet Bowles just about as well as I do Brian McMahon. I have been associated with both of them at Washington, and they are able and efficient public servants. I always wish for more like them. Now, I learned something about this town. I learned that Colonel Tom Fitch lived not far from here and that that great old American song, "Yankee Doodle," was written. about Colonel Fitch's Revoluntionary War soldiers. Some of those soldiers came from this town. And when "Yankee Doodle! was written it was supposed to be a song mocking the American soldiers, who were just ordinary farmers and working people from the towns. They didn't look as smart as the British Red Coats. But Colonel Fitch's men were fighters, and they went out and made "Yankee Doodle" a fighting song, a victory song. The story of "Yankee Doodle" reminds me of this campaign. The Republican Party has been mocking the people ever since the Republican 80th Congress was elected, and they have been mocking and belittling your President ever since I took office in 1945. The Republican leaders have been mocking your interests by refusing to pass the kind of legislation this country ne eds to go forward. Colonel Tom Fitch's men and men like them won the Revolutionary War because they were on the right side. The Red Coats wereon the wrong side. TheDemocrats are going to win this fight because they areon the right side - the people's side. These Republican belittlers are going to lose because they are on the wrong side. They areon the side of special interests and special privilege. That's the fundamental foundation of the Republican Party. That's the reason I had to go out throughout theUnited States, from one end to the other, and tell the people the facts. They couldn't get the facts otherwise because 90% of the press is against me and 90% of the radio commendat- ors areagainst me: and I had to come out and tell you what the facts are. And we've got them on the run now. Don't think we haven't. The Democrats believe that you deserve good places in which to live, places which you can sell or rent at prices you can afford to pay. TheRepublicans are against the Federal Government's doing anything to help meet the critical housing shortage in this country. TheDemocrats believe that prices should be kept at a level so that every family in the country can buy all the necessities of life. The Republicans don't seem to carehow high prices go. They don't seem to be worried by the fact that many families have been priced right out of the market for the necessities of life. Why, I was in Brockton, Massachusetts this morning, and the price of shoes has gone so high the factories can't work full time. They don't sell as many shoe S as they did under price control and rationing. That's the best answer. Do you know what the Republican solution for high prices is? This is what the Republican leader in the Senatésays:-- my good friend, Bob Taft --- he says, "If prices are too high, just wait till they come down." Somtor Taft seems to think it would be all right just to do without shoes or clothes or food for the children. TheFemocrats believe there should be fair-labor_management laws which will protect and enlarge the rights of theworking people in the country. The Republicans passed the Taft-Hartley Law to strip labor of the rights which it earned under theDemocratic Administrations since 1933, because the Republicans wanted to "put labor in its place." They didn't want labor to have a. place in the sun. OVER