TLIAPOD: The Prairie Fields

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Address by Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America (June 24th, 1947).

My fellow Americans,

Twenty five years ago, the people of Jackson Country honored me by electing me to their Judgeship. Twelve years later, the people of the State of Missouri honored me by electing me to the United States Senate. Three years ago, the people of the United States of America honored me by electing me to the Vice Presidency of the United States.

I am forever grateful, and humbled, by the many times in my adult life in which the American people have put their trust in me to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

I realize that I have not assumed the Presidency under the most happiest of circumstances. Franklin Roosevelt was a great man, and a personal friend, and his demise shook me on a deep, and personal, level. He has dignified this high office not only by his accomplishments, but his dedication to preserve it's integrity, and that of our great nation.

I have done my best to serve these last few years. With the help of our Allies, we have ended the war, and established a peace. The United Nations serves as the great lasting symbol of our dedication to preventing conflict. And only a few days ago, Secretary of State George Marshall has announced plans to financially aid the nations of Europe so that their cities may be rebuilt, their economies may prosper, and their people may enjoy a way of life reminiscent to ours.

At home, unemployment lies at less than four percent. Manufacturing has shifted from wartime production to peacetime construction. Our veterans do not have to fear of a lack of jobs, or of a lack of opportunity in higher education, or a lack of living places.

But indeed, our Union is not perfect. We still disagree over matters of domestic or foreign policy. I have fought with the Congress over the Labor Management Relations Act, over financial and military aid to Greece and Turkey. I have wrestled with trades unions. There are still problems, there are still disputes.

I tried to solve some of those problems, and tried to settle some of those disputes. I have not been successful all the time, and I hope that my failures serve only as lessons to those who succeed me in this Office.

Like I said, I was not elected President. I have done my best to execute the duties of the Presidency, to work with Republicans and Democrats alike to move past our differences, to unite us. I have been humbled these past two years, and I am sure that I have yet more to learn in the remainder of this term.

But I will not seek a full one. I think that it would be best should I focus my attention not on presidential politics, but on policy matters. I encourage eligible Americans to celebrate our democracy and vote next November.

The end is yet to come for my Administration. I am sure that I will be talking to you more over the next year. I bid those who will seek this office good luck, and I bid you all a good night.

God Bless America.
 
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Speech by Claude D. Pepper, Senator from the State of Florida, in Charlottesville (July 4th, 1947).

Friends,

It is a personal honor to speak before you today. I wish to wish you all a happy Independence Day. It has been almost two hundred years, by this point, since our ancestors, hearing the cry for freedom from a tyrannical foreign Crown, left their homes, their taverns and silversmiths and printers and farms. Boys, many of them were, but they acted as men. Many gave their lives, but none in vain.

And since then, on this day, do we mark their sacrifice. For it has been men as them, in generations past and present, who have fulfilled whatever service, whether on the battlefield or at home, for their Union: a glorious shining beacon, a symbol of hope for the world's poor, tired, embattled. If anything the horrors which we have faced this decade has taught us, it is that we, one America, are the home of freedom, the haven of liberty, a virtue upon the world itself.

Friends, such ideals have guided me throughout my life. Because one of the most fundamental principles which compose freedom, is that of never-ending improvement. As a public servant, I have dedicated myself to improving our great nation, in matters of economic, social, or foreign policies. Whenever I came out in favor or opposition to a certain proposition, it was never out of personal interest. It was out of whether or not that proposition served that said purpose.

Friends, I can assure you that the last two Administrations to run this country have served this purpose. President Roosevelt and President Truman have brought into realization many things which once, due to pessimistic bureaucratization and politicized obstructionism, might never have come into effect: security for our workers, housing for our homeless, meals for our starving. Our government has lived up to our fundamental promise, of providing for the people's welfare.

President Truman has bravely put the public interest before any personal aspirations of his, by choosing not to seek election to his current office in 1948. Few men have I had the pleasure of knowing, who have compromised integrity equal to his. He has made difficult decision, with conviction and decisiveness, so that we may not become stagnant. His courage is one which will never be forgotten.

We need more men akin to him. Men who care for our needy, men who have not forgotten what those boys joined General Washington's army for all those years ago. Men who will put aside partisanship for the sake of progress.

Friends, I cannot characterize myself as someone who has lived up to our late President Roosevelt, or our incumbent. But I would appreciate the opportunity to try. Friends, I humbly announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America.

Thank you, and God Bless our Union.
 
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Interview of Henry A. Wallace, former Vice President of the United States of America (July 30th, 1947)

"Thank you for making time for this session, Mr Wallace."

"It's fine. My personal pleasure, I'd say."

"Well, that's good to hear. Shall we get started?"

"Yes, let's."

"Mr Wallace, you split from the Democratic Party last year."

"That's right. I felt that President Truman, to whom I bare no antagonism, has chosen to take our country down a rather unproductive, even harmful, path."

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, he has decided to carry out certain objectives, regarding our relationship with Soviet Russia, which rather than seeking to establish a fruitful peace, have resulted in increased tensions and threat of war."

"Well, the Soviet Union are not our natural ally."

"Fair enough, but if the first few years of this decade have proven, is that if we are to create a safer world for our next generation, then we must work for it. We must put aside our fears, prejudices, and differences and work to ensure that there is a world left for us in ten years or twenty years. We have barely defeated the German Nazis, the Japanese Empire, at a cost unprecedented. This must never happen again."

"But are the Soviets interested in such a purpose?"

"The Soviets have made great concessions to the so-called Western powers, ourselves and England. They gave up control of Greece, of Persia, of much of Yugoslavia, in the hopes of securing a peace with us. And yet Mr Churchill, most welcomed by our government, has installed a sense of fear of an iron curtain, a Soviet monster seething to entrap more nations within it's walls."

"So you believe that we have been more hostile toward the Soviets than they have towards us?"

"Exactly. I believe that it is not too late to reverse this way of thinking, this path, and to form a real peace with our cousins to the east."

"Some consider that treason."

"Those same people would have our rights to freedom of speech or freedom of petition thrown out in order to protect those rights. I am not a traitor."
 
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Press Conference by Richard B. Russell, Senator From George, in Washington DC (July 31st, 1947).

Good afternoon,

In the past month there has been a lot of speculation among political commentators, my colleagues in Congress, and by other Americans as to whether or not I will be seeking the Presidency in 1948.

My colleague from Florida, Senator Pepper, has already announced his candidacy. I am sure that other Democrats will announce theirs in the upcoming months. At this time, I am still unsure.

To resolve this question, I have authorized my staff to create a committee, designed to explore the possibility of a Presidential candidacy. It will be based on their results on which I make my final decision.

I trust that, in any case, the party will make the best decision. I will now take question from the press.
 
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