Domestic program harry truman sent congress september 1945

One woman wrote Truman specifically with the meat problem in mind, asking him, "How about some meat? Many Americans, including the President's supposed Democratic allies, wondered if Truman could effectively lead the nation. In the congressional mid-term elections of , Republicans highlighted the problems of reconversion with slogans like "Had Enough" and "To Err is Truman," winning control of both the House and Senate.

The future of Truman's presidency looked bleak as the presidential election loomed on the horizon. Ironically, Truman's legislative predicament actually sparked his political comeback. With Congress in the hands of Republicans—rather than members of his own party who were lukewarm at best to his proposals—Truman could let GOP leaders try to master the challenging task of governance.

Truman also could define himself in opposition to Republican initiatives and wage a rhetorical war against the Republican Party. Truman employed this strategy in several ways. In his January State of the Union address, he identified the need for legislation to solve the persistent problems of labor unrest and strikes.

He offered no solution of his own, however, proposing only a temporary commission to study the issue and a declaration that he would sign no bill attacking organized labor. Republicans in Congress took up Truman's challenge and passed the Taft-Hartley bill, which limited the power of labor unions by curbing union participation in politics, by approving state "right to work" laws, and by allowing the President to block strikes through a judicially mandated eighty day "cooling-off" period.

Truman vetoed Taft-Hartley in June , declaring that it "would take fundamental rights away from our working people. Nevertheless, in opposing Taft-Hartley, Truman recaptured the support of organized labor. Inflation continued to be a problem in and as well, although prices did not rise as steeply as they had in Food prices, in particular, continued to soar. Truman suggested a return to price controls, albeit with the knowledge that congressional Republicans would reject such a measure—which they did.

Republicans passed legislation mandating economic controls and rationing, which Truman signed, though he declared these bills "pitifully inadequate. Finally, in , Truman reaffirmed his support for liberal initiatives like housing for the poor and federal assistance for education.

He vetoed Republican tax bills perceived as favoring the rich and rejected a Republican effort to raise tariffs on imported wool, a measure he deemed isolationist. These positions, combined with his veto of Taft-Hartley and his sympathy toward price controls, situated Truman as the chief defender of the New Deal against Republican encroachments.

Truman also took a stand in on civil rights. His unsuccessful proposal to extend FEPC was, in part, an effort to court black voters so important to the Democratic Party. Speaking to a crowd of 10,, Truman declared that "The only limit to an American's achievement should be his ability, his industry, and his character.

Truman proceeded cautiously on this front, however. In early , he sent his civil rights proposals to Congress, but did little to urge their passage. He also announced that he would issue executive orders—in the future—to desegregate the armed forces and to prohibit discrimination in the civil service. By early , therefore, his support for civil rights was more rhetorical than substantive. Nonetheless, as he pursued this strategy with increasing skill throughout the year, Truman stood poised to win Democratic votes.

In his State of the Union address, Truman again called for civil rights legislation, national health insurance, a housing program, and a higher minimum wage. On a cross-country train tour in early —dubbed a "whistle stop" tour by Republican Senator Robert Taft—Truman employed a new extemporaneous speaking style. Audiences warmed to this new public persona: the plain-spoken, hard-fighting Harry Truman from Missouri.

Still, most political observers—and many Democrats—thought Truman would not win re-election in After a rousing Democratic National Convention in which he claimed the nomination of a divided party—southerners had bolted in favor of segregationist "Dixiecrat" Senator Strom Thurmond SC and some progressives had supported Truman's former commerce secretary Henry Wallace - the President turned his attention to the Presidential campaign.

He continued to run against the Republican Congress, even calling it into a special session to enact legislation. Truman also embraced more fully the cause of black civil rights by issuing executive orders desegregating the military and outlawing discrimination in the civil service. For more details, see Campaigns and Elections. Buoyed by his stunning victory, Truman announced an ambitious agenda in early , which he called the "Fair Deal.

Conservatives in the Republican and Democratic parties had little use for Truman's Fair Deal, however. National health insurance and repeal of Taft-Hartley went nowhere in Congress. Southern Democrats filibustered any attempt to push forward civil rights legislation.

And Truman's agricultural program, the "Brannan Plan," designed to aid the family farmer by providing income support, floundered; it was replaced by a program that continued price supports. Congress did approve parts of the Fair Deal, however; Truman won passage of a moderately effective public housing and slum-clearance bill in , an increase in the minimum wage that same year, and a significant expansion of Social Security in Clearly, Truman had miscalculated in reading his electoral victory as a mandate to enact a liberal political, social, and economic agenda.

Just as important, Truman regarded the "Fair Deal" as an opportunity to refashion the Democratic party into an alliance of urban dwellers, small farmers, labor, and African-Americans. Absent from this proposed coalition were white conservative southern Democrats. Moreover, public opinion polls showed that most Americans wanted Truman to protect the New Deal, not enlarge it.

Likewise, Truman underestimated congressional opposition to a larger social welfare state—opposition strengthened by the public's lack of support for the Truman agenda. Whatever enthusiasm remained for the Fair Deal was lost, after the summer of , amidst preoccupations with the Korean War.

As Truman fought for the Fair Deal in , he also battled a fairly severe economic slowdown. Both unemployment and inflation rose during the first six months of that year, heightening fears that the nation's post-war economic boom was over. Truman's economic policy sought to balance the federal budget through a combination of high taxes and limited spending; any budget surplus would be applied to the national debt. As the economy stalled, Truman in mid abandoned his hope for a balanced budget and gave some tax breaks to businesses.

The economy responded by perking up in Truman's actions signaled that his primary concern was the maintenance of healthy economic growth, viewing ever-larger budget deficits as temporary expedients.

It was a policy that succeeding administrations would follow repeatedly. The Korean War, which began in June , also affected the American economy. Truman and his advisers believed that American involvement in the war required economic mobilization at home.

With the World War II experience in their minds—and uncertain whether the Korean War was merely the opening round of a longer and larger conflict - U. In December , Truman won congressional passage of the Defense Production Act and issued an executive order creating the Office of Defense Mobilization. Somewhat surprisingly, mobilization proceeded with few hitches: unemployment stayed low; inflation remained in check, albeit for a sharp, one-time surge in the last half of ; the hording of consumer goods subsided quickly; and military production increased.

Nevertheless, many Americans complained about the government's intervention in the economy, especially its controls on credit. Economic mobilization for the war effort did serve, though, as the setting for one of Truman's most stunning rebukes.

By the end of , the nation's steel industry faced a possible shut-down as labor and management could not agree on a new contract. Government mediation during the first several months of failed to end the stalemate.

Throughout the ordeal, Truman's objectives were to avert a strike, maintain steel production, and stay on good terms with labor, an important Democratic constituency. In April, with no agreement in sight, Truman used his presidential authority to seize the steel industry; for the time being, it would be administered and overseen by the federal government.

The seized steel companies took Truman to court to overturn his action. In June , the Supreme Court declared the seizure unconstitutional by a vote. Private management of the companies resumed, followed by a day strike and a new contract, dealing Truman another political set-back. Opposition to leftist political radicalism and the fear of subversion have long and intertwined histories in American politics and culture. As tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union intensified in , fear of—and opposition to—communism became a central part of American politics and culture.

Politicians and the public seemed especially concerned that American communists or foreign agents might infiltrate the American government. In November , Truman created a temporary loyalty security program for the federal government to uncover security risks, i. Five months later, Truman issued an executive order making the program permanent.

Other government bodies also tried to stymie the alleged subversive threat of communism. These men and women who were rejected for military service are not necessarily incapable of civilian work.

It is plain, however, that they have illnesses and defects that handicap them, reduce their working capacity, or shorten their lives. It is not so important to search the past in order to fix the blame for these conditions. It is more important to resolve now that no American child shall come to adult life with diseases or defects which can be prevented or corrected at an early age. Medicine has made great strides in this generation--especially during the last four years.

We owe much to the skill and devotion of the medical profession. In spite of great scientific progress, however, each year we lose many more persons from preventable and premature deaths than we lost in battle or from war injuries during the entire war. We are proud of past reductions in our death rates. But these reductions have come principally from public health and other community services. We have been less effective in making available to all of our people the benefits of medical progress in the care and treatment of individuals.

In the past, the benefits of modern medical science have not been enjoyed by our citizens with any degree of equality. Nor are they today. Nor will they be in the future--unless government is bold enough to do something about it. People with low or moderate incomes do not get the same medical attention as those with high incomes.

The poor have more sickness, but they get less medical care. People who live in rural areas do not get the same amount or quality of medical attention as those who live in our cities. Our new Economic Bill of Rights should mean health security for all, regardless of residence, station, or race--everywhere in the United States.

We should resolve now that the health of this Nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the Nation. There are five basic problems which we must attack vigorously if we would reach the health objectives of our Economic Bill of Rights. One of the most important requirements for adequate health service is professional personnel--doctors, dentists, public health and hospital administrators, nurses and other experts.

The United States has been fortunate with respect to physicians. In proportion to population it has more than any large country in the world, and they are well trained for their calling. It is not enough, however, that we have them in sufficient numbers. They should be located where their services are needed.

In this respect we are not so fortunate. The distribution of physicians in the United States has been grossly uneven and unsatisfactory. Some communities have had enough or even too many; others have had too few.

Year by year the number in our rural areas has been diminishing. Indeed, in , there were 31 counties in the United States, each with more than a thousand inhabitants, in which there was not a single practicing physician. The situation with respect to dentists was even worse. One important reason for this disparity is that in some communities there are no adequate facilities for the practice of medicine.

Another reason--closely allied with the first--is that the earning capacity of the people in some communities makes it difficult if not impossible for doctors who practice there to make a living. The demobilization of 60, doctors, and of the tens of thousands of other professional personnel in the Armed Forces is now proceeding on a large scale.

Unfortunately, unless we act rapidly, we may expect to see them concentrate in the places with greater financial resources and avoid other places, making the inequalities even greater than before the war. Demobilized doctors cannot be assigned. They must be attracted.

In order to be attracted, they must be able to see ahead of them professional opportunities and economic assurances. Inequalities in the distribution of medical personnel are matched by inequalities in hospitals and other health facilities.

Moreover, there are just too few hospitals, clinics and health centers to take proper care of the people of the United States. About 1, counties, 40 percent of the total in the country, with some 15,, people, have either no local hospital, or none that meets even the minimum standards of national professional associations.

The deficiencies are especially severe in rural and semirural areas and in those cities where changes in population have placed great strains on community facilities. I want to emphasize, however, that the basic problem in this field cannot be solved merely by building facilities.

They have to be staffed; and the communities have to be able to pay for the services. Otherwise the new facilities will be little used. The second basic problem is the need for development of public health services and maternal and child care. The Congress can be justifiably proud of its share in making recent accomplishments possible. Public health and maternal and child health programs already have made important contributions to national health. But large needs remain.

Great areas of our country are still without these services. This is especially true among our rural areas; but it is true also in far too many urban communities. Although local public health departments are now maintained by some 18, counties and other local units, many of these have only skeleton organizations, and approximately 40,, citizens of the United States still live in communities lacking full-time local public health service.

At the recent rate of progress in developing such service, it would take more than a hundred years to cover the whole Nation. If we agree that the national health must be improved, our cities, towns and farming communities must be made healthful places in which to live through provision of safe water systems, sewage disposal plants and sanitary facilities.

Our streams and rivers must be safeguarded against pollution. In addition to building a sanitary environment for ourselves and for our children, we must provide those services which prevent disease and promote health.

Services for expectant mothers and for infants, care of crippled or otherwise physically handicapped children and inoculation for the prevention of communicable diseases are accepted public health functions. So too are many kinds of personal services such as the diagnosis and treatment of widespread infections like tuberculosis and venereal disease. A large part of the population today lacks many or all of these services. Our success in the traditional public health sphere is made plain by the conquest over many communicable diseases.

Typhoid fever, smallpox, and diphtheria--diseases for which there are effective controls-have become comparatively rare. We must make the same gains in reducing our maternal and infant mortality, in controlling tuberculosis, venereal disease, malaria, and other major threats to life and health. We are only beginning to realize our potentialities in achieving physical well-being for all our people. The third basic problem concerns medical research and professional education.

We have long recognized that we cannot be content with what is already known about health or disease. We must learn and understand more about health and how to prevent and cure disease. Research--well directed and continuously supported--can do much to develop ways to reduce those diseases of body and mind which now cause most sickness, disability, and premature death--diseases of the heart, kidneys and arteries, rheumatism, cancer, diseases of childbirth, infancy and childhood, respiratory diseases and tuberculosis.

And research can do much toward teaching us how to keep well and how to prolong healthy human life. Cancer is among the leading causes of death. It is responsible for over , recorded deaths a year, and should receive special attention. Though we already have the National Cancer Institute of the Public Health Service, we need still more coordinated research on the cause, prevention and cure of this disease.

We need more financial support for research and to establish special clinics and hospitals for diagnosis and treatment of the disease especially in its early stages.

We need to train more physicians for the highly specialized services so essential for effective control of cancer. There is also special need for research on mental diseases and abnormalities. We have done pitifully little about mental illnesses. Accurate statistics are lacking, but there is no doubt that there are at least two million persons in the United States who are mentally ill, and that as many as ten million will probably need hospitalization for mental illness for some period in the course of their lifetime.

A great many of these persons would be helped by proper care. Mental cases occupy more than one-half of the hospital beds, at a cost of about million dollars per year--practically all of it coming out of taxpayers' money. Each year there are , new mental cases admitted to institutions.

We need more mental-disease hospitals, more out-patient clinics. We need more services for early diagnosis, and especially we need much more research to learn how to prevent mental breakdown. Government Printing Office, Octavo, staple-bound as issued, original self-wrappers; pp.

First printing of Truman's plan for a postwar America, delivered to Congress on September 6, , inscribed on the front wrapper: "This was the key to my domestic policy! Harry Truman. Only four days after officials signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the U.

Missouri on September 2, , President Truman addressed a joint session of Congress on the important issues of demobilization and transitioning the United States to a peacetime economy. Truman opens his address by apologizing for cutting short Congress' recess: "I know, however, that you have been just as eager as any of us to meet the problems which naturally have crowded down upon us with the surrender of the Japanese. You have cut short a well-merited vacation in order to do so.

I hope that the American people realize as fully as I do, that from the very first days of the emergency, the Congress has most energetically and patriotically devoted its time, energies, and capabilities to the immediate problems of war and to the long-range problems of peace.

The legislative branch of the Government is entitled to its full share of credit and glory for the victory of the Allied armies. I wish to take this opportunity on behalf of the Nation to congratulate you on the great victory which has been won—in which you played so important a part. In his wide-ranging address, Truman sought Congressional action to offset the typical problems endemic to wartime to peacetime transitions, including unemployment, inflation, and general economic policy: "No matter how rapidly reconversion proceeds, however, no amount of effort or planning will be able immediately to provide a job for everyone displaced from war work.