Harry S. Truman photo

Remarks at a Dinner Given by the Chairmen and Directors of Federal Reserve Banks.

January 16, 1950

Mr. Chairman, gentlemen:

I haven't any business to be discussing things financial with the financial brains that are before me tonight. I am just a farmer from Missouri who had bad luck and got kicked into a big job. I was telling the gentleman on my right here how that came about, and I think he is still somewhat skeptical.

But naturally I am, and always have been, interested in the financial stability of government, whether that government is village, city, county, State, or national. I have spent most of my time studying--since I have been in politics, and that has been a long time-fiscal policies of various segments of the Government of the United States, which in my opinion is the greatest Government that the sun has ever shone upon, for the simple reason that it is a Government of check and balance. It is a Government that no one man or any one group of men can control. It is a Government that is intended to be in the interests of all the people, and it is 150 million that make it up.

I had my first experience in government fiscal matters as the presiding and executive officer of a county of 500,000 people. And the problems of that county of 500,000 people were just exactly parallel with the problems of 150 million. I had exactly the same trouble with the bankers that I have now. And I had no difficulty in convincing them, when I thought I was right and when I proved to be right, that the right thing to do was what they finally did.

I appreciate very much the kind remarks that your Federal Reserve Chairman has made about me. I hope that his compliments and his good thoughts of me will never have to be called back, because my only interest, my only interest, as President of the United States, is the welfare of the United States of America. And the welfare of the United States of America is the welfare of the world.

Whether we like it or not, we are at the top of the heap in world affairs, a position which none of us likes to contemplate, a position which has responsibilities almost too big for any man or any group of men to contemplate. Yet that position is ours. And the fact that we are willing to assume the responsibility that goes with that position is a part of your responsibility, as well as a part of the responsibility of the United States Government, made up of its Congress, its judiciary, and its President.

This is a serious age through which we are going. This is the aftermath of the greatest struggle in the history of the world for free government. Never after a struggle of anything like these proportions have we had as many problems to face as we have today.

They are the problems of every citizen of the United States, from the taxicab driver out here at the door to the president and chairman of the board of the greatest bank in the United States, as well as the problems of the President of the United States who is the elected official at the head of the Government.

For that reason I came over here at Tom McCabe's request to meet you and get acquainted with you, and to let you know that in spite of certain information, which has been pretty well distributed, that I do not wear horns and I haven't a tail--I am just an ordinary citizen of this great Republic of ours who has the greatest responsibility in the world and whose responsibility is your responsibility, and for that reason it is necessary that all of us make every effort possible to make successful the goal which we are attempting to attain.

And that is peace in the world--peace in Europe, peace in Asia, peace in South America, peace in Africa, peace in the Western Hemisphere, and the assumption of the leadership necessary to bring that about.

Now gentlemen, you represent the greatest financial institution in the history of the world, except the Treasury of the United States. And between the two of you, we can attain this goal: world peace, world prosperity, and the welfare of all the people.

That is all I am striving for. That is what I hope to have the country on the road to accomplishing when my service as the head of the greatest Government in the history of the world ends.

Note: The President spoke at 9:20 p.m. at the Carlton Hotel in Washington. His opening words "Mr. Chairman" referred to Thomas B. McCabe, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Harry S Truman, Remarks at a Dinner Given by the Chairmen and Directors of Federal Reserve Banks. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230645

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