Harry S. Truman photo

Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky

September 30, 1948

[1.] MOUNT VERNON, ILLINOIS (7:40 a.m.)

I am certainly happy to have this wonderful reception on my first appearance in Illinois. I am also most happy to see all your good Democratic candidates out here this morning--your next Senator, your next Congressman, and your local officials.

I understand you have a Congressional Medal of Honor man on the ticket, a wonderful young man. I pinned that medal on him, and I told him I would much rather have that medal than be President of the United States--and that's just exactly what I mean.

The country is very prosperous today. The country is in financially as good condition as it has ever been in the history of the whole term of the life of this Republic. The wealth of the country has been fairly evenly distributed. The basic proposition in this campaign is that we must continue that program, both locally and internationally.

There are two theories of government on which you have to make a decision on election day. One is the theory that the people are the government, and the other is that special privilege should run the government. The Republicans have the special privilege theory, and the Democrats have always been for the people.

You know, you are the Government. You are the Government. And when you exercise your right of franchise you remain the Government, but when you do like you did in 1946--shirk your duty--you get just what you got this time in that 80th Congress.

Now, the Democrats have, ever since 1933 when they took over the Government, tried to make a fair approach to these things. They passed the Wagner Act, which gave labor its fair place in the good things of life. Then it passed farm security acts--the AAA and all those things that has made the farmer prosperous.

In 1932 there were 123,000 farmers who were kicked off their farms because they couldn't pay interest--their mortgages were due. Last year there was less than 800. The farmers had an income of $4 ½ billion in 1932. Well, they had an income of over 18 billion last year.

Right here in Mount Vernon, in Jefferson County, you can see the great difference between the Republican and the Democratic records. Under the Republicans people all through this county were losing their farms and their homes. Now Mount Vernon has plenty of credit available, backed by the Farm Credit Administration, created in 1933 by the Democrats. You have a National Farm Loan Association in Mount Vernon and the Production Credit Association in Lawrenceville. Last year this Production Credit Association had 816 members and loaned $1,516,000. It doesn't look like you're in need of anything.

This is the headquarters city for the Tri-County Electric Cooperative. This cooperative received loans from the Federal Rural Electrification Administration totaling $2,155,000, to build 1,583 miles of line to serve 5,524 rural customers. And you know, the Republicans would like to stop that rural electrification thing. They tried their best to raise the rates on rural electrification something over 50 percent. If you hadn't had a Democratic President and enough Democrats with fighting spirit in the Sen ate of the United States they would have succeeded in doing that very thing.

The Republican leaders under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover didn't worry about giving Federal credit and electric lights to the farmers. Well, you got them because you had a Democratic administration that was interested in the welfare of the whole people,

Now, you can't afford to stay at home this time, as you did in 1946, and let nature take its course, because if you do, this gang of special privilege fellows will get complete control of the Government. Well, you had a sample of what will happen. They tried to take the liberties away from labor. They did their level best to ruin the farm program.

I have been going up and down this country, trying to explain to the people just exactly what the fundamental issues are in this campaign. And I think I have made some impression because people come out. They're interested. Look here at this early morning crowd here in this great farm community at Mount Vernon. Look at it! That's been the case all over the United States.

I began over in Rock Island, Ill., as your new Senator can tell you. We had a tremendous crowd there at Rock Island. And they kept growing and growing and growing. We've had crowds as large as 100,000. We had the biggest turnout in Tulsa, Okla., yesterday that they have ever had in that town--and Tulsa, Okla., is ruled by a bunch of economic royalists who made a lot of money out of oil. But they came out to hear what I say.

I hope that on election day every single one of you will get up early and go and exercise that franchise, which is the best thing that you have in this country, because that makes you the Government.

Thank you very much.

[2.] WEST FRANKFORT, ILLINOIS (8:55 a.m.)

Mr. Mayor:

I heard of this memorial as we were going through, and I felt that it was proper for me to stop and place a wreath on this monument to the men who served to save the Constitution of the United States and put freedom into the world.

This is a great community, and you have made a very great contribution not only the war effort but to the industrial setup in this country.

I was told, as I passed, that you have the biggest coal mine in the world--that it turns out 1,000 tons an hour. That's really some mine!

I have known something about the disasters you have had in this part of the country, and I have tried my best to do something about it.

I hope that we can, from now on, work for the welfare and safety of the people as a whole and not for just a favored few.

I place this wreath in the name of the people of the United States to those who died for the welfare of the United States.

[3.] HERRIN, ILLINOIS (9:28 a.m.)

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, most sincerely for this cordial welcome. I certainly appreciate the privilege of being with you this morning. I've been in several Illinois towns this morning, and it looked in every city and every town as if everybody from the surrounding community wanted to be there and see the President; and I'm glad of that because the President has a message for you.

The President is trying to impress on you that this campaign is in the nature of a crusade. This is the people against the special interests.

Now, you're interested in mining and agriculture here in this community. There are people who work for wages here, there are people who work the soil to produce things to eat and things to wear. Those two balance the economy of the United States, along with the merchants and the white-collar people--and every single segment of that population ought to have its fair share of the national income.

I've been fighting for that ever since I went to the Senate in 1935. I've been fighting on a Democratic platform just for that.

When the Democrats took over in 1933--in March, when President Roosevelt was sworn in as the Democratic President of the United States--he and that administration immediately went to work to balance that income. He had a farm program; he had a labor program; he had a program that protected the white-collar man and the merchant. Now, I'm trying to prolong that program into the future. I'm trying to save that program, because a lot of you stayed at home in 1946 and you elected that "donothing" 80th Congress. And you were to blame for it because you didn't go vote. One-third of the voters of the United States elected that Congress. Two-thirds of you stayed at home because you were not interested in government. You are the Government, and when you stay at home and do not vote you are shirking your duty and you got just what you deserve when you got something like that 80th Congress.

Now, you mustn't do that this time. It's too serious.

I stood to protect the interests of the people, and there were a lot of good Democrats in that Congress who stood shoulder to shoulder with me to save these great forward-looking measures which had been put on the books by the Democrats. The first thing the Republicans did, just as soon as they could get settled in that Congress, was to pass the Taft-Hartley Act, which was intended to take some of the rights away from labor which had been given to it by the Wagner Act.

The next thing they did was to pull the road from under the farmer, and if some of us hadn't stood there and fought and gone over this country and told the people what was happening, they would have absolutely ruined the farm program and turned the farmer back over to the speculators.

That's not good for the country. That's not good for the world. Had it not been for the farm program and our labor program we never in the world could have won this war. We united the country to win this war.

Now, I'm trying to unite the country to win the peace--and I want you to go along and help me.

Thank you very much. I think you understand the issues in this campaign. It's just special interests against the people, and the Democrats stand for the people and the Republicans stand for special interests; and that's just the shortest, quickest definition I can give you of what this campaign is.

[4.] CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS (Address at the University of Southern Illinois, 10:15 a.m., see Item 219)

[5.] MARION, ILLINOIS (Veterans Hospital, 11 a.m.)

Mr. Manager, and ladies and gentlemen, and patients of this great hospital:

I was told that, by detouring a short distance, I could have a chance to come here and let you look at me, and I could get a chance to look at you.

I have always been interested in proper care for the men who served their country in two great world wars, and I am happy to see the pleasant surroundings of this beautiful hospital here.

I was just telling Paul Douglas that when my time is up, I expect to spend the balance of my life in one of these veterans hospitals, because I am entitled to go to any one I want, the care is always so good.

I hope every one of you is well treated. I hope every one of you has plenty to eat. I can see that you have beautiful nurses, and that's all a man wants when he is in a veterans hospital.

I am very happy that I got an opportunity to stop by here, and to assure you that your Government never forgets you--it makes no difference who is President of the United States.

[6.] MARION, ILLINOIS (11:12 a.m.)

Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen of Marion and surrounding country:

It certainly looks like half of southern Illinois is here--the way it looks to me. I appreciate very highly this privilege of getting a chance to stop and just say "Howdy" to you.

I wish I had the time to go into the issues with which we are faced in this campaign, and to discuss them with you at some length. But that is not possible at this time. These issues will be thoroughly discussed by other members of the Democratic Party who are running on the ticket with me for election.

There is one thing I want you to be sure to do, and that is to send a Democratic Congressman from this district to Congress, and to elect Paul Douglas to the Senate of the United States. If you want to do a real job, you want to elect Adlai Stevenson to be Governor of Illinois.

I want Kent Keller to come to Congress, as well--but I don't know whether he is in this district or the next district.

Thank you very much. I am sorry, but we are on a tight schedule and will have to leave, but I do appreciate the chance to get to see all of you, and to let you see me and what I look like.

[7.] ELDORADO, ILLINOIS ( 12:10 p.m.)

Thank you very much. I never had a more cordial welcome on the whole trip. I appreciate it very much. I had the pleasure of riding with your Mayor, and with your Mr. Powell, who has entertained me most highly on this trip, and he told me all about Illinois and this part of the State--a great Democratic stronghold, this is. I am certainly glad to be here in this great Democratic stronghold, and I wish I had all afternoon to discuss with you the issues that are before us in this campaign; but the issues are clearly drawn.

It is merely the people against the special interests. The Democratic Party has always represented the people in these fights with the special interests, and the Republican Party has been the special interest party. And this 80th Congress--I call it the "donothing" 80th Congress--has conclusively proven that they are still for that viewpoint of the public servant.

Now, the way you can cure that is to elect a Democratic Congress, and if you do that, of course you will return me to the White House, and I won't have any trouble with the housing shortage.

I want to see Illinois come back into the fold and go Democratic, as it should. I want to see you elect John Upchurch here to the Congress of the United States, and Paul Douglas to the United States Senate; and then you ought to elect Adlai Stevenson to be the Governor of Illinois. You know, Mr. Stevenson comes of a line of public servants. His father was Vice President of the United States with Grover Cleveland, and he has rendered tremendous public service during this emergency through which we have just passed. He is a good administrator, and I am sure you can't do better than to make him Governor of Illinois.

If you will send Paul Douglas and John Upchurch to the Congress, and if Illinois will go down the line and give us a Democratic delegation in the Congress of the United States, we won't have any more 80th "donothing" Congresses.

Here are just a few examples to prove it to you that this Congress is a special interest Congress. The first thing they did when they got there was to vote themselves a rich man's tax bill, which I vetoed. Then they took it back and modified it, and I vetoed it again. Then they passed it over my veto. It is a rich man's tax bill, if you analyze it.

Then the next thing they did was to take some freedom away from labor, and to pass the Taft-Hartley Act which tried to emasculate the Wagner Act. Now labor got its magna charta from President Roosevelt under the Wagner Act back in 1935, the act that gives to labor the right to free collective bargaining, and guarantees that right. Well, this Taft-Hartley law endeavored to take that right away from labor.

And if the laboringmen stay at home, as they did in 1946, I have just received information as to what the Republicans intend to do further to labor.

Then they took on the farmer, and they are going right down the line to undo everything that has been done to keep his income on an even keel, to evenly distribute the income so that everybody will have his fair share. Then, on the price support program, they almost wrecked it by a joker which they put into the recharter of the CCC, which does not allow the Government to furnish storage space for the grain on which they make loans.

Corn, right now, in this vicinity is selling 45 percent below the support price just for that reason, and the speculators will get the benefit of the Republican change in that Commodity Credit law. And it isn't fair. It isn't right.

I have been going up and down this country pointing out specific examples of what happened. We wanted to build a steamplant--a standby plant for TVA, which would be of some benefit to you people right here and cost $4 million. They knocked that out. I asked them to put it in again at the special session, but they never did it. They did not intend to do anything for the welfare and benefit of the people. The power trust lobby stood out here at the rathole and wouldn't let them do it. There are bigger lobbies in Congress this time--in that 80th Congress--than ever before in history.

We have been making a crusade up and down this country, trying to convince the people that their interests are with the Democratic Party, and if you believe that, you will send me back to the White House, and you will elect a Democratic Congress to take the place of this "do-nothing," good-for-nothing 80th Congress.

Thank you.

[8.] CARMI, ILLINOIS (1:05 p.m.)

I certainly appreciate this grand welcome in Carmi. I never saw so many people in one place for a long, long time. I am very happy to be here in your city. We have had a very pleasant trip across the State here this morning, and we find things in this great State just as we found them in every other State, and that is that the people are interested in knowing the situation. They are coming out to hear what I have to say about the issues in this campaign, and I hope that they will weigh those issues carefully, and then I hope that they will go and do what is best for the country; and I believe they will.

You know, there is just one fundamental issue in this campaign, and that is that it is the people against the special interests. The people are represented by the Democratic Party, and the special interests are represented by the Republican Party. And if I had the time, I could stand here all afternoon and tell you example after example to prove what I am saying is true.

This is a farming community, and one of the first things that that Republican 80th Congress did when it came into session was to begin to cut the ground from under the farmers; and they took a crack at labor, and they took a crack at the farmer, and they almost sabotaged our public power and reclamation program. They are interested in the people at the top, they don't care whether the little man has a house to live in, they don't care whether the farmer gets a fair price for his crops, they don't care if labor has a bill of rights.

But those things are fundamental Democratic principles. We inaugurated a farm program in 1933, when we elected Franklin D. Roosevelt to be President of the United States; and that farm program has worked in the interests of the farmers.

The farmer's income in 1932, the year before the Democrats took office, was about
$4 1/2 billion. Last year it was more than $18 billion. The total income in this country was $217 billion for 1947, and it is fairly evenly distributed. That is the greatest income of any country in the history of the world, and everybody has been getting their fair share.

If we could have gotten this Republican Congress to go along with us on lowering prices to prevent inflation, we would have made that income sufficient for the welfare of everybody in the country.

Now, when it came to butchering the farm program, when rechartering the CCC, they put a joker in it so that the CCC could not furnish storage for grain on which they were to make the parity loans, so that now corn is selling below parity. Wheat has been selling below parity, and they want that to happen because they want to turn the farmer back to the speculators.

Now, if the farmers stand idly by this time and don't do their duty on election day, they will deserve to go back to the speculators, that's all I have got to say about it.

You know, this situation came about because of the indifference of the people, because everything was going great with them. In 1946, when election time came around, two-thirds of the people stayed at home, and the other third elected the 80th Congress. I have said all over the United States that I think this is the second worst Congress that ever met in Washington; and it had more lobbies than any other Congress I ever heard anything about. Those lobbies accomplished their purpose. There was the real estate lobby, the power lobby, and they had the lobby that was working for the grain exchange up here in Chicago, the speculators lobby, I call it. I know that there were a dozen others that were there for special interests, they were not interested in the welfare of the whole people; and I am asking you, in order to remedy this situation, to elect a Democratic Congress, and if you do so, you are bound to send me back to the White House. And if you do that, the interests of the people will be safeguarded and the Government will be run for the whole people and not for just a few of them.

Now you have a wonderful man here running for the Senate in this great State of Illinois--Paul Douglas. I hope you will send him to the Senate. He is a forward-looking citizen. He doesn't want to turn the clock back.

You have got the same situation here with Congressman John Upchurch--send him to the House. Send Paul Douglas to the Senate, and go the whole way while you are doing it, and elect Adlai Stevenson to be Governor of this State of Illinois, and you will be on the safe side of progress, instead of in the hands of people who want to turn the clock back.

I sincerely wish that I could spend the time going into the issues of this campaign in detail, and outline it to you, I think I could convince you that I am telling you what is right.

I am making a crusade across this country, trying to convince the people that their own interests are at stake when they vote the Democratic ticket in the fall, that it will be a vote for themselves, you won't necessarily have voted for any individual or voted for me for President.

Get up early on election day and go down to the polls and get that ticket and make no mistake--just vote the Democratic ticket straight, and then you will be on the safe side.

[9.] MOUNT VERNON, INDIANA (Rear platform, 2 p.m.)

I am very, very sorry that we got held up in Illinois and lost a couple of hours, but I couldn't help that. But I'm most happy to see all these smiling faces here in this great city, which I understand is the hometown of the Chairman here.

I want to see you send Mr. Denton to the Congress because we must be sure that we have men in the coming Congress that are not looking backward, but looking forward.

I understand that you're an agricultural community here. Therefore, your vital interest is at stake in this campaign, for the simple reason that the first thing the Republicans tried to do when they got to Washington-there were three first things they tried to do: they tried to sabotage labor, they tried to sabotage the farmer, and they tried to do away with all our public reclamation and power projects. You're interested in that because I tried to get a steamplant down here by TVA, for a standby plant to make that a complete integrated entity down there, and they kept that out of both appropriation bills. In fact, they knocked it out of one and kept it out of the other.

Now, the best thing for you to do, in your own interest, is to go to the polls early on election day and vote for yourselves, and when you vote for yourselves you vote the Democratic ticket straight because the Democrats are for the people. The Republicans are for special privilege.

I'm extremely sorry that we're so late so I couldn't stand here and talk to you quite a while, but we must try to make up this schedule for I have an air broadcast in Louisville, Ky., which covers the whole country, and that won't wait. In these broadcast days even the President can't do as he pleases.

[10.] EVANSVILLE, INDIANA (Courthouse, 3 p.m.)

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Chairman:

I certainly am most happy to be in Evansville today. Judging from the crowd before me I would say that Evansville is pretty prosperous these days. The truth is that Evansville and the whole country are prosperous right now, and are more prosperous right now than ever before in their history. I think the people of Evansville and the rest of the country want to keep that prosperity by keeping a Democratic Government in Washington.

That's the main issue of this political campaign: whether we are going to stay prosperous with the Democratic Party or fall back on the boom and bust policies of the Republican.

There are many fine Republicans in this country, many Republicans who vote the Democratic ticket because they know the leaders of their own party haven't learned anything since the days of Warren G. Harding.

Look at the record of the 80th Congress. For 2 years I have been trying to get the Congress to do something for the people. But the Republican leaders were too busy protecting the interests of big business and the bankers. They didn't have time to do anything for the people, but they did plenty to the people.

Look at the record on labor. Under the Democratic administrations of the last 16 years the working people of this country had made the greatest gains in the history of the world. But they haven't made these gains at the expense of the rest of them. We have all gone forward together--farmers and businessmen, wage earners and factory owners. Most of us are better off now than we ever have been before in our lives.

Democratic policy has been based on a great principle: that the wage earners of this country have a right to a fair share of the wealth they help to produce. Republican policy is based on the idea that working people have to be kept in bounds. That's why they passed the Taft-Hartley Act--to put handcuffs on labor.

Labor's right to organize in unions freely chosen by workingmen, and the right to bargain collectively were recognized by Wagner Act, passed by a Democratic Congress. That is the Bill of Rights for labor.

The first thing that Republican "donothing" 80th Congress tried to do was to tear up that Bill of Rights.

Labor's standard of living was protected during the war and the reconversion period by a Democratic system of stabilizing prices and wages. With the election of the Republican 80th Congress in 1946, the working people of this country have found out what the Republican leaders had in mind for them. Led by Senator Taft and Representative Hartley--two men who would like to take the United States back to the 1890's--the Republicans pushed through the Taft-Hartley law, which converted the National Labor Relations Board into an agency to hamstring union labor.

You people of Evansville will decide on election day what kind of Government you're going to have. If you want to, you can turn the Government over completely to a crowd of Tarts and Tabers, who single out one segment of the population for punishment, to satisfy the big businessmen and the bankers. Or you can give your country a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress with a positive program to help all America keep prosperity and build peace in the world.

You can help a lot if you elect a Democratic Congressman from this district. This young man who introduced me, Winfield Denton, should go to Congress from this district. If you want decent government in Washington elect the Democratic ticket. And if you elect a Democratic Congressman you are bound to elect a Democratic President-and I'll stay in the White House.

If you want a decent government in Washington you can get it by voting the Democratic ticket the 2d of November.

All I ask is that every one of you here-and all your friends and neighbors--look at the record, and vote not necessarily for me-vote for yourselves. Vote for the welfare of the country. Vote for the future of this great Nation by voting the Democratic ticket straight on the 2d of November.

Thank you very much.

[11.] HENDERSON, KENTUCKY (Rear platform, 3:55 p.m.)

Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen of Henderson, Kentucky:

You know, I had a reputation for being prompt. I lost that reputation today, and I am sorry for it.

The people of Illinois got us over to one side of the track, and we lost 2 hours in that great State, but we saw about half a million people while we were doing it; but I want to apologize to you for keeping you waiting, because I like to be on time and I like for people to be on time, too, when they deal with me. But it can't be helped, and I do appreciate it that you have been kind enough to wait here in order to listen to me for a few moments.

I have been going up and down this country telling the people what I think are the issues in this campaign, and we have learned the difference between a Republican administration and a Democratic administration. We learned that by hard experience. We found out that the Republicans are for special privilege, and that the Democrats look out for the people.

Under the Republicans, the farmers in Kentucky couldn't sell their goods except at bankrupt prices. In my part of the country, in Missouri, we sold hogs for $3 a hundred. We sold corn for 25 cents a bushel, and sometimes burned it up instead of using it for feed. We sold wheat for a quarter a bushel.

Under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and under my administration which I have been running for you for the last 3 1/2 years, you have been getting a fair share of the country's prosperity. That is because the Democratic farm program is based on the great truth that the farmers have a right to be sure of an income for their products at good prices.

Here in Henderson you have organized cooperatives to make certain that you get a decent return from the farms in this area. One of them that has done a lot of good is the Henderson Union Rural Electric Cooperative.

The policy of the Republican and Democratic parties on cooperatives shows the difference between the two. Republican leaders in the 80th Congress conducted a one-sided investigation--the Republican Congress has never conducted any kind but a one-sided investigation--into the cooperatives, and tried to smear it as socialistic.

The Democratic Party has encouraged the formation of cooperatives. That is just one example. I haven't time to go into others, because we are behind schedule, but if you will listen to my speech in Louisville tonight, I will tell you about a great many more.

You people of Kentucky, and the people of the other States will have a choice on election day. You can decide whether you want to keep the kind of Government that has brought prosperity to all of the people, or you can turn your Government over to a bunch of big business Republicans who are interested only in their own profits.

Now, if you don't want that kind of special privilege Government, elect Virgil Chapman to the Senate, and send Mr. Whitaker back to the Congress from this district. I am trying to get a Democratic Congress elected all over this United States, and if I get that Democratic Congress elected, I won't have to move out of the White House, and I won't be troubled with the housing shortage.

All I am asking you to do is just take one look at the record, and then go to the polls on November 2d, and I know that if you use your best judgment, you will vote the Democratic ticket straight, as you do most of the time here in Kentucky.

[12.] OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY (Rear platform, 4:50 p.m.)

I can't tell you how very much I appreciate this privilege. I am very happy to be here in Owensboro. I like that introduction of the Chairman when he said "next President of the United States."

I want to apologize to you for being late. I have a reputation for being prompt. I'm usually on the dot everywhere I go, and when I have an appointment in the White House the fellow never has to wait for me. But I got in with a bunch of hard-working Illinois Democrats this morning, and they ran me around, all over southern Illinois, and lost 2 hours--and I couldn't help it.

It is a pleasure to visit Kentucky, the most spirited State in the Union--except my home State of Missouri.

This year I am glad to see that Kentucky is so prosperous. In fact, the whole country seems better off than it ever has been before--and I want to keep it that way. And you know, the best way to keep it that way is to be sure, be sure, that you dislocate the Members of that 80th Republican "do-. nothing" Congress. Send Virgil Chapman to the Senate and John Whitaker to the House. That will help matters to a great extent, because if you elect a Democratic Congress you'll be bound to elect me as the next president.

Judging from the Republican record-when they wrecked our prosperity back in '29--none of us would be prosperous very long if we let these Republicans return to power. There are plenty good, forward-looking Republicans in this country, but the present leaders of their party do not represent them. These leaders are tied, hand and foot, to the big businessmen and the Eastern bankers, and they are under the control of those terrible lobbies in Washington. There are more lobbies in Washington than there ever have been before in the history of the country. They went there to work on this 80th "do-nothing" Congress, and they worked very successfully.

If you listen to my speech tonight in Louisville I'll prove to you just exactly what has happened since the Republicans gained control in 1946, when most of the people in the country didn't go out and vote. You know, only one-third of the people voted in 1946, and two-thirds stayed at home. And look what they got. They got just what they deserved. They got that 80th Congress.

You people of Kentucky and the people of other States will make your choice on election day for the kind of Government you want. You can choose the Democratic kind--the kind Senator Barkley and I represent, and the kind of Government that means a fair share of the prosperity for the farmers and the working people and all our citizens--or you can turn your Government over to a crowd of big business Republicans who will let you sink back into the poverty and trouble you had in 1932.

All I ask is that every one of my Kentucky friends look at the record and vote in November. Go out on election day first thing in the morning--right early, so there won't be too many people in your way--and vote the straight Democratic ticket, and you'll leave the country in safe hands.

[13.] HAWESVILLE, KENTUCKY (Rear platform, 5:35 p.m.)

Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen of Hawesville:

I am glad to be here. You know, Frank Chelf has been spending quite a lot of time trying to get a flood control project for you people here, and I was glad to sign a bill not so long ago, which I hope will protect you from these floods when that project is built, and I am sure it will.

The people of Kentucky are interested in this campaign, not from any selfish motives for Kentucky alone, but for the whole country. The welfare of this country is at stake in this campaign. The line is clearly drawn, it is special interest against the people. Unless you vote to keep the special interests out of Washington, you are going to get just what you got out of that bad 80th Congress, which worked for special interests the whole time it was in session.

I had to veto more bills in this one Congress than any other President except Grover Cleveland had to veto. I vetoed more bills since I have been 3 years in office, trying to protect the people's interest, than any other President except Grover Cleveland; and his principal interest was vetoing special pension bills, the bills that I vetoed were bills against the public interest.

I want you to bear that in mind, now; and if you do bear that in mind, you will send Virgil Chapman to the Senate, and you will keep my young friend Chelf in the House of Representatives. I hope that you will send a whole Democratic delegation, and I hope Kentucky will roll up such a vast majority for the people in this election on November 2d, that special privilege won't stick its head up again for another generation.

Just before we pull out, I want to tell you that I am not late on purpose, but we got held up in the great State of Illinois this morning, and they drove me around a lot of counties I didn't know we were going to, and we lost a couple of hours. I certainly do appreciate your waiting to see the President and his family, and all these good Kentuckians who are running for office.

[14.] IRVINGTON, KENTUCKY (Rear platform, 6:40 p.m.)

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I especially like that second remark you made.

I was talking to the Governor of Kentucky a while ago, and he looked out the window and he said, "A lot of people must have postponed their milking tonight." I'm glad you did because I wanted to see you, despite the fact that the train was late. That wasn't my fault. I got delayed in the great State of Illinois. They sidetracked me and drove me all over southern Illinois and I was due 2 hours before while we were doing it, but it was a pleasant trip; and in every town we saw almost as many people as we have here. At every stop there's always a prophecy that there won't be anybody there, and when we get there it looks as if everybody in the county got there.

I stopped here in Henderson when we came across the river from Evansville, and I asked the newspaperman there how many people were there. "Oh," he said, "fifty thousand." I said, how did he know it. He said, well, there were fifty thousand people in that county and they were all there!

I wish I could spend enough time with you to discuss the issues that are before the country at this time because you are all vitally interested in them. But I can't do it because the train is late and I have got a special meeting at Louisville tonight that is over a national radio hookup--and you know, people have to be prompt with the radio or they will charge you for the time and you won't get the use of it, and I know you won't have me do that. would you?

But there are certain fundamentals that I can mention incidentally--the attitude of the Republicans toward the farm program, which was inaugurated by the Democrats in 1933. If you remember, the farmer was about as low as he could possibly get, financially, in 1932. He was being foreclosed. He could get nothing for his produce. If I remember correctly, corn was as low as 15 cents a bushel, and wheat went to a quarter. Hogs were selling for $3 a hundred, and you couldn't sell a fat steer at all, unless you brought in the skin, and you had to almost give him away.

This situation has been almost reversed since 1933. The farmers have been more prosperous than ever before in the history of the country. The national income has been fairly distributed between the farmers, laborers, and white-collar workers, and that is what the Government is for--to see that everybody gets a fair deal in the country. That's what we started to give the country, and that's what we did give the country over the last 16 years.

Then along comes the terrible 80th Congress, and they're trying to undo it. They did their level best to undo those things. They cut the ground from under the farmer and the price support program. They tried their best to abolish labor's Bill of Rights by passing that Taft-Hartley Act, and they're working on reclamation and irrigation projects and public power. They would like to abolish TVA. They've cut out the power transmission lines from these great dams which the Government has built and which belong to the public and which are intended to furnish cheap power to the public. They are a special interest Congress, and they are representative of the Republican Party.

Now, I want you to keep that situation in mind, and I want you to be sure and send a Democrat, Senator Virgil Chapman, to the Senate this fall, and I want you to send Frank Chelf back to the House--and then we'll have a start on a Congress that will be in the interest of the people--and goodness knows we don't want another duplicate of the 80th Congress. And if the Republicans get control that's just exactly what we'll have because the leadership will be exactly the same.

Now, bear these things in mind. And just do one thing for me: get up early on election day. Go down to the polls, and don't stutter or stop. Just vote the Democratic ticket straight, and then I can stay in the White House and won't be troubled with the housing shortage, and we'll have a good Democratic Congress.

Note: In the course of his remarks on September 30 the President referred to Paul H. Douglas, Democratic candidate for Senator, Clyde L. Choate, Democratic candidate for the State legislature and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Luther Burpo, Mayor of West Frankfort, John Murray, Mayor of Herrin, Adlai Stevenson, Democratic candidate for Governor, Kent Keller, Democratic candidate for Representative from the 26th District, Mayor John D. Upchurch of Eldorado, Democratic candidate for Representative from the 24th District, and Paul Powell, Democratic State Committeeman, all of Illinois; William H. Dress, Mayor of Evansville, and Winfield K. Denton, Democratic candidate for Representative from the Eighth District, both of Indiana; Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio; Representative John Taber of New York; and Representative Virgil Chapman, Democratic candidate for Senator, Representative Frank L. Chelf, Representative John A. Whitaker, and Governor Earle C. Clements, all of Kentucky.

Harry S Truman, Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233218

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