The 1948 Truman Whistle-Stop

Mr. Underwood, next Congressman from this district:

I appreciate that introduction very much. I am certainly happy to be here in Lexington, in the heart of the blue grass country. You know, every Kentuckian that used to come to Missouri--and they are pretty near the same way yet--would always say they had come from the blue grass of Kentucky near Lexington, and that old Doc Dudley had been the physician of their grandparents, and that set them up just right in Missouri.

I am sorry I can't stay very long this time, but you know that I am in the midst of a political race, and I have to keep running.

You people know a great deal about horse races in Lexington, and you know that it doesn't matter which horse is ahead or behind at any given moment, it's the horse that comes out ahead at the finish that Counts.

I am trying to do in politics what Citation has done in the horse races.

I propose at the finish line on November the 2d to come out ahead, because I think the people understand what the issues are in this campaign.

The stakes are high. In fact, the prosperity of this country is at stake. For the last 16 years our country has enjoyed increasing prosperity. The farms are prosperous, business is doing well, and the workers are reaping the benefits of full employment.

You know, last year this Nation had the greatest income in the history of the world. The national income was more than $217 billion, and there was a fair distribution of that income. The businessman got his fair share, the laboringman got his fair share, and the farmers got their fair share.

That was not a Republican policy, that was a policy inaugurated by the Democratic Party in 1933, when the farmer was at the bottom of the pile, and the workingman was out of work--14 or 15 million idle people in the country in 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt took over the Government.

Since that time, the farmer is at the top of the heap. We have 61 million employed, the greatest number of employed in the history of the world. And if we had inflation control, which I have asked for from the Congress time and time again, everybody would have been extremely happy.

Now, I wonder if you people here want to go back to 8-cent tobacco, and 3-cent hogs, and 15-cent corn, and 25-cent wheat. Well, that is what you were getting in 1932, when your farms were being taken away from you. You almost didn't have a market for your tobacco because you didn't have a place to raise it part of the time because the mortgagers were taking away your farms. There were 123,000 farmers taken off their farms in 1932. The smallest number of foreclosures in the history of the country was last year, less than 800.

That's all there is in this campaign--it's the special interests against the people. The people, I am sure, understand that situation, and if they understand it, they are going to send Virgil Chapman to the Senate from Kentucky this year, and they are going to send Tom Underwood to the House from this district this year.

I would like to see a complete Democratic delegation from Kentucky this year. You are going to have a man from Kentucky for Vice President this year, one of the greatest legislators that ever was in the Congress. He ranks with Henry Clay and those other great men of Kentucky.

Kentucky will take the place of Texas in the Congress, if Kentucky will just send a Democratic delegation to the Congress. You know, there was a time when Texas controlled all the principal committees in Congress under their chairmanships. Kentucky this time will have a Vice President. Kentucky, if it has a delegation in the Congress, will have some of the greatest chairmanships there are in the Congress.

Don't fail to do that now. Get up early on election day and go out and cast your vote for the straight Democratic ticket, and you can't make a mistake; and if you do that, I won't be troubled with the housing shortage and I can stay in the White House another 4 years.

Judge:

I appreciate very much that introduction, and I'm going to make you a promise that some day, if everything holds together and I'm President for the next 4 years--which I think I will be--we'll come back to Winchester, and I'm going to let you make that 30-minute speech that you had in your system that morning.

You know, I can't tell you how I appreciate the cordiality of the welcome I have received in the great State of Kentucky. Every city and town where we stopped the people have turned out just like this--not quite so many in some places, but just as cordial and just as happy as they possibly can be. And that makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time when I go up and down the country telling the people what the issues are in this campaign.

I've made it perfectly plain that the issues in this campaign are just the people against the special interests. The Democrats represent the people and the Republicans represent the special interests. And I have tried to prove that to every voter in the Nation that I have been able to come in contact with. And I think I have seen some 2,500,000 of them on this trip--and that's a record, ladies and gentlemen. That's a record.

This, you know, is the center of a great farming community. You're dependent on tobacco and agricultural crops in this part of the country, and if you study the issues carefully you'll find that just as soon as the Republicans got control of Congress they immediately began to try to cut the floor from under the agricultural policy which the Democrats inaugurated in 1933.

I wonder, now, if you would care to go back to 8-cent tobacco and 3-cent hogs and 15-cent corn and 25-cent wheat. That's what you had in 1932--and that's what these Republicans are trying to give you again.

The very first thing they did when they got there was to try to cut the ground from under the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

You can't afford to have that done. It's in your personal interest to go out and vote for yourselves on election day, and when you do that you'll vote a straight Democratic ticket-and you'll send Tom Underwood to the Congress, and you'll send Virgil Chapman to the Senate. And if you do that I'm very sure that you'll elect the present occupant of the White House, and he won't have to move out and be troubled with the housing shortage.

Don't fail to get to the polls early now, and vote a straight Democratic ticket.

I appreciate very much that most cordial welcome here in Mr. Sterling. You know, that welcome seems to be innate to Kentuckians. Kentuckians have been so cordial to me, in every city I have been through, that I feel like I am a Kentuckian, and I appreciate it most highly, because I am by descent.

It is always a privilege for me to stop and visit with you, and if I had time, I would rather circulate through the crowd and talk to you, and listen to what you have to say, for that is what I like to do.

Kentucky, however, looks very prosperous this year; in fact, the whole country is doing pretty well. Under a Democratic administration, don't forget that!

Senator Barkley and I are going to keep Kentucky and the rest of the country on the high-road of prosperity. And you can help Senator Barkley and me do that if you will send Joe Bates to Congress, and send Virgil Chapman to the Senate. I know you are really with me on that request.

The key question in this campaign is whether we are going to keep running smoothly under a Democratic administration or whether we are going to let the country slide backward. I have known a lot of good Republicans in my life, but the Republican leadership of the 80th Congress have never listened to them, they have been doing what the lobbies said, not what the people said. This Congress has been completely surrounded with lobbies. More lobbies worked for this Both Congress than ever before in the history of the country. And they accomplished their purpose. This Congress did not work for the welfare of the whole people, they worked for the benefit of the lobbyists and the special interests. That is the reason I am very anxious for you to make a change there.

I told you last night in Louisville that there ought to be a change, you ought to change that Congress and put in a Democratic Congress that will work for the people. I am very sure that is what you are going to do before you get through.

Now if you remember, back in 1932, the Democratic administration is the difference between 15-cent corn and $1.47 corn, the difference between 8 1/2-cent tobacco and 50-cent tobacco. I don't believe you want to turn the clock back to the old days of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, and again go broke and have all your farms foreclosed, as was done in 1932. Last year there were fewer foreclosures than ever before in the history of the country.

You people who get your living from the soil, in my opinion had better go to the polls on election day and vote in your own special interest, and that is the interest of all the people. And if you do that, you will vote the Democratic ticket straight, and then I won't be troubled with the housing shortage in 1949, and I will still stay in the White House.

I appreciate most highly that introduction. There must be something sweet about me, because there's a honeybee flying around this microphone. I'll say this to you, that Kentucky has been mighty sweet to me since I came into the State yesterday afternoon. I think I have seen more Kentuckians on this one trip than any other man in the history of the country; and they have been giving me a most cordial welcome, and I highly appreciate it.

This is beautiful country we have been coming through. It is country that reminds me of home. We have a part of Missouri that looks exactly like Kentucky. Missouri, you know, was settled by Kentuckians--all four of my grandparents were Kentuckians; and I met a football player at Lexington awhile ago, named Lee Truman, who is a great grandson of my grandfather's brother. Now, you figure out what that relationship is. But you are not interested in relationships, you didn't come out here to listen to me talk about that.

I want to discuss with you just a little bit the issues that are before this country. The one issue is the people against special privilege. And that issue was brought about by the election of the 80th Congress, the Congress which I call the Republican "donothing" 80th Congress, which since it has been controlled by Republican leadership the Democrats have had nothing to say about legislation in the last 2 years, except to head off some very bad legislation that this Republican Congress wanted to put through, and which required two-thirds vote to override, and I vetoed. The Democrats usually sustain me on my vetoes, and I put through more vetoes than any President except Grover Cleveland.

I want you to keep in mind that this is a crusade for the people against special privilege, and if you want to make that crusade work here in Kentucky, you will send Virgil Chapman to the Senate, and Joe Bates back to the House of Representatives, and then I will have some people to support me in the next administration--for I expect to be the next President--who will not allow the undermining of the program which the Democrats set up in 1933 for the farmer.

As you know, if it weren't for the price support program, which was inaugurated by the Democrats in the Agricultural Adjustment Act, you would be back probably getting 8 cents a pound for your tobacco, 3 cents a pound for hogs, and 15 cents a bushel for corn, and a quarter a bushel for wheat. That policy was inaugurated by the Democrats, with an objective in view: to put the farmers on a parity with industry, and that parity has been working.

We have a price support program that has caused the farmer to create a production situation that is the greatest in the history of the world. We have produced in the last 7 years food to feed ourselves and our army while it was in the field, and food to keep the world from starving to death. If it hadn't been for this country's wonderful production, encouraged by Democratic policies, millions of people would have starved to death.

Now then, the Republicans, as soon as they got the chance, tried to undermine that program. The Democratic record on the farm price supports is crystal clear. We enacted it, and we intend to support it.

But what do you think the Republicans intend to do about price supports? Right now, just because elections are coming up in a month, they are making a lot of campaign promises. Republicans don't talk that way except at election time.

Let me read to you what a Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania said right on the floor of the House of Representatives last June about price supports. He is a member of the House Agricultural Committee. This is what he said, and I am quoting him. "The whole parity program is wrong. The farmers are disgusted with this ridiculous program."

He is trying to tell the farmers that they don't want the prices they are getting now as compared with the prices they got in 1932. I wonder if that is so?

The Republican attitude on 'price supports is just an example of how they feel toward the farmer, the workingman, the small businessman, and the white-collar man.

You people can't afford to have a party in control in Washington that threatens your well-being.

It is up to you, whether you will turn your Government over to these men in November. If you want a Government that looks out for you, and looks out for peace and prosperity, you are going to vote the Democratic ticket on election day; and I think that is what you are going to do.

This is a crucial election, and that is the reason I am so happy to see so many young people out at every one of these stops, because they are interested in their Government, they are interested in the welfare of this country, and they are the coming generation.

I have said it time and again, that I think we are facing the greatest age in history, and I have said many a time that I wish I were 14 years old instead of 64 years old, and I could see the next generation and how it looks, because we are on the threshold of one of the finest ages that the world has ever seen, and this country is working toward that end.

It has been the policy of this Government to work for peace and prosperity--peace in the world and prosperity in the United States, and that is the policy that I intend to continue.

That is the reason I am making this trip across the country, because I want you people to understand exactly what the issues are: the people against special privilege.

Now, whatever you do, go to the polls early on election day, and don't waste any time. Just take that ticket and vote the Democratic ticket straight down the line, and you will be helping your country, and helping yourselves. You will be not only voting for me, and Virgil Chapman, and Joe Bates, but you will be voting for yourselves and your best interests; and I believe that is exactly what you are going to do.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman:

You know, I like that prophecy very much, because I'm as sure as I can be, after this trip around the country, that the people aren't being fooled at all by Republican propaganda. We're going to have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President for the next 4 years.

I can't tell you how very much I appreciate the wonderful welcome I have received in Kentucky. It's been just like this everywhere I have been for the last 2 days. And I can't understand why you do it, unless you're interested in the things I have to tell you.

I've been trying to tell the people what the issues are. I have been trying to give them a cross-section of why it's necessary for the President of the United States to make a campaign like this.

Well, I'll tell you why it is. I want you to know the facts and the truth about the issues that are before the country at this time. And if you know the facts and the truth you can't help but vote the Democratic ticket straight.

There is just one issue, and that is the people against special privilege.

You know, the first thing they did, when the Republicans got control of the 80th Congress, was to begin to take away the rights of labor. You see, when the Democrats took over the Government in 1933 they passed a Magna Carta for labor, known as the Wagner Act, and that act gave labor the right to bargain collectively with their employers and gave them a fair chance for a fair distribution of the profits and the wages in industry.

Well, the first thing this Both "do-nothing" Congress did was to try to tear up that Wagner Act by the Taft-Hartley law. I like to say "Taft-Hartley" because Mr. Taft said, in the last election year in Kentucky, that how that election went would show what would happen in the country. Well, you elected a Democratic Governor by the biggest majority that Kentucky ever gave any Governor, and I know that's a barometer to what you're going to do this fall.

Voice: What has the Taft-Hartley Act done?

Well, the Taft-Hartley Act has done a disservice to labor. I did everything I possibly could to keep it from becoming a law, and if you'll read my veto message on it you'll find exactly what it will do in the future.

And not only were they not satisfied with doing what they could to labor, but they began to undermine the farmer. They did everything they possibly could to take the farm price support program away from the farmer. In 1933 the Democrats inaugurated a farm program which has made the farmer prosperous. The Republicans want to do away with the parity price program. They are unfair to farmers, they are unfair to the laborer, and they are unfair to little business, because they want big business to get all the profits and let a little of it trickle down to the common, everyday man.

I want you to study the issues in this campaign. I want you to use your own head and judgment and vote for your own interests-vote for yourselves. And if you do that you'll send Virgil Chapman as the Democratic Senator from Kentucky, and you'll send Joe Bates back to the Congress--and then I'll have somebody I can work with in the next administration and I won't be troubled with the housing shortage--I'll still be in the White House.

Mr. Chairman:

Thank you very much. I particularly liked the cracker in that introduction--"the next President of the United States."

I'm certainly delighted to be in Ashland, and I am also very sorry because I'm leaving Kentucky. This will be my last stop in the great State of Kentucky--and I had a reception almost as large as this when I came into the State. And at Owensboro and at Louisville, at Lexington, at Winchester, at nearly every place we stopped, it looked to me as if everybody in Kentucky was there-and I think they are all here this time.

You know, I'm going across the country, trying to explain to the people that there is a great stake in this campaign. The basic issue is whether our Government is to be an instrument for the welfare of the people or a tool in the hands of special privilege. Don't let anybody tell you that the Democratic and the Republican Parties are just alike, and that it does not matter which party is in power. You need only to look at the record for the last 30 years and you can see the difference.

Under Republican rule in the twenties the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. Under the Democratic administration of the past 16 years all the people--business and farmers and workers alike--have marched forward toward a richer life.

You know, last year we had the greatest national income in the history of the world. It amounted to $217 billion. The farmer got his fair share of that income. Labor got its fair share of that income. And business got its fair share of that income. And that's what happens under the Democratic administration.

Let's look at the Republican record on labor for just a moment.

I wish I had time to discuss all the issues in this campaign, but it would take me all afternoon, so I'm only going to cite one or two instances.

The twenties, under Republican rule, were days of sweatshops, when there was no floor under wages. In 1934 the Democratic administration put through the Wagner Act. the Magna Carta of labor. Labor began to get its rightful share of the national income. And that's what the Democrats believe in. It believes that every single person should have a rightful share of the national income. The Republicans want the big fellows at the top to get the income and let a little trickle down to the everyday fellow.

Now, what did the Republicans do as soon as they got control of this "do-nothing" 80th Republican Congress? They passed the Taft-Hartley Act to weaken the strength of organized labor. The whole purpose of the Taft-Hartley Act is to undermine unions. And if labor is unable to secure decent wages so as to maintain its purchasing power our whole economy will suffer--not just labor alone. That's why I vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act.

You see, when the income is fairly distributed-when the farmers get high prices and can have great production and are assured that they are going to get fair prices for that great production, when labor gets fair wages, when the merchants can sell their merchandise at a fair profit, when the white-collar man has a fair salary--that means that everybody is getting a fair share of the good things of life. And that's what the Democratic Party stands for.

The Republicans aren't satisfied with all the damage they have done in this 80th "do-nothing" Congress. They want to finish tearing up the Wagner Act. They want to finish putting the farmer back where he'll get 3 cents for his hogs, 8 1/2 cents for his tobacco, 15 cents for corn, and a quarter a bushel for wheat.

Now, I'm going to prove to you that the Republicans are not through with either labor or the farmer.

One of the authors of the act, Congressman Hartley, proposed only a few days ago to bring the unions under the laws against monopolies. That's a typical Republican Party act. They want to put the laboringman, in his fight for good wages, in the same class with the billion-dollar corporation. They want to do that so they can cut down on the workingman's share of the national income.

It will be up to you on election day to determine whether you want that kind of Government or not for the next 4 years. You can travel down the road to another depression and disaster with the Republican Party or you can keep this country on the road to progress and prosperity.

Ours is the richest country on earth. We can make sure that all our people receive a fair share of what our mines and mills and farms produce, or we can let a privileged few take the lion's share and let the rest of us have the crumbs. That's the choice that's before you on November 2d.

You know, only a third of you voted in 1946--two-thirds of you stayed at home-and we got that 80th "do-nothing" Congress as a result of two-thirds of you not exercising the greatest privilege on earth, the privilege of taking a part in your Government-and when you vote you are a part of the Government. When you don't vote you don't have any right to kick about the kind of government you get.

Now, get out early in the morning on election day. All of you get out early on election day and vote the Democratic ticket straight, and if you do that you'll send Joe Bates back to the House and you'll send Virgil Chapman to the Senate, and then we'll have people from Kentucky with whom I can work.

And on top of that, you'll have the greatest Vice President that the country has ever had in Alben Barkley.

And another thing: You'll prevent me from suffering from the housing shortage. I won't have to move out of the White House.

You know, I had a grand time in Kentucky, and as I said before, I certainly hate to leave the State.

But you know, all the way across this great State more than half the audiences have been made up of young people, people who seem to be interested in the future. And they are interested in the future; and this campaign is a vital one. All you young people, when you get control of the Government-as you will in the next generation-will look back on this campaign as one of the key campaigns in the history of the whole country. It's a campaign to keep the special interests from getting control of the Government and to let you young people have something to inherit when we get through with this generation.

Thanks a lot, and it's certainly been awfully nice to have been here.