I AM GLAD to meet all of you this morning, and I am glad to know what you are trying to do. I think you are on the right track. The thing that pleases me most is that I don't see so many bald pates and gray heads as I had expected to see. I want to see the young ones take over this thing and operate it. It's time for us old "fuds" to begin to go, and let the next generation come into its own. That is true of Government, also.
This organization to which you belong is one of the pillars of the Government of the United States, and I am proud to have been a member of it ever since it was organized back in 1918. I have been actively engaged in a great many of the things that you gentlemen are doing now. I have other duties now--don't have the time to devote to this organization that I used to have. But I still remember with pleasure my association with the members of the Legion, and I am glad you found the opportunity to come in, and I am glad to see all of you, and I hope you are successful in the undertakings which you are working on now.
You must remember that the Government is yours. In the next 40 years the 18 million servicemen and women will be responsible for the service of this Government, and you must always bear that in mind, that the strength of your Government depends on the proper approach of its citizens. It is your Government. I am here because you put me here, because you voted for me and reelected me. That is true of the Congress, the House and Senate, and that is true also locally. When you have bad ones, nobody is to blame for them but the taxpayers and the voters themselves, if they don't look after their own interests. You must bear that in mind, because the Government is just as much yours as it is mine.
I am in the executive position, attempting to run the executive branch of the Government. And in order to do that successfully, I must have the backing of people such as you, and organizations such as the one that you belong to. And I think I have that.
I am glad you came. I appreciate your interest in what is taking place in the Government.
Note: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in the White House to members of the American Legion Rehabilitation Commission. The group was meeting in Washington to formulate proposals to be placed before the general body of the organization at its annual convention to be held in August.
During the meeting the Commission called for "immediate and complete" restoration of the veterans hospital construction program. It opposed the proposal that all Federal hospital services be merged-a proposal made by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, headed by former President Herbert Hoover.
Harry S Truman, Remarks to Representatives of the American Legion. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/229976
