October 1, 1952
[1.] COLUMBIA FALLS, MONTANA (Rear platform, 8:05 a.m.)
I am very happy indeed to be here this morning, and I am more than complimented and pleased that all of you were so willing to get up early and come down and see us off. You didn't get up before I did, though. I have been up since 5 o'clock. I took a walk down the railroad track and tried to get the sheriff to go with me and walk to St. Paul-and he wouldn't do it. This is a wonderful country.
I am out here for the specific purpose of dedicating Hungry Horse Dam, from which you are going to get a great deal of power. I understand that already some great industries are locating here. And I also want to call your attention to something else. I am also here for the benefit of the Democratic Party. As President of the United States and a Democrat, I am the head of the Democratic Party, and I want to impress upon you that that party has really done things for the country over the last 20 years, and I don't think you want to go back on it.
Now you have had a great Congressman from this district, Mike Mansfield. He has really done things for this great State. He is responsible for the fact that you have Hungry Horse Dam. It was bitterly fought by the Republicans in the Congress. They fight everything of that sort because they say we are on a trend for socialism. Now the head of the Democratic Party doesn't believe that we are on the road to socialism.
They nominated a great general for President on the Republican ticket. He was down here at Boulder Dam--Hoover Dam-in New Mexico and Arizona and Nevada, and was highly pleased with that dam down there because it was self-liquidating. Well, after he was nominated for President on the Republican ticket he had been in touch with the power lobby, and he found out that that was not quite so good, and he didn't believe in it and he didn't think it ought to be done.
And I am here to tell you that if you want to forgo the privileges of these great improvements and these great assets which have been put into the Northwest, just go ahead and vote the Republican ticket and see what happens to you--and you will deserve it if you do vote the Republican ticket. I won't sympathize with you, because I am warning you.
Now we have a young man running for Congress in this district to succeed Mike Mansfield, Mr. Metcalf--and I hope you will put him on your list along with your great Governor, John Bonner. He has made a good Governor of Montana, and you ought to send him back to the capital city to be your Governor for another 4 years.
And there is one thing you must do-you must vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman--if you expect these great progressive improvements to keep on coming to this part of the world. There hasn't been a single great national improvement in the form of Grand Coulee, Bonneville, Hungry Horse, and Shasta, and all the rest of them that I can name, that has been approved by the Republican minority in the Congress. The majority of them have voted against those projects every time they had a chance. You wouldn't have them if it weren't for the fact that you have had a Democrat in the White House for the last 20 years; and you have had Democrats in Congress like Mike Mansfield and Jim Murray who believe in these things.
Now just consider that a little bit. Look at your own situation, and when it comes time to vote in November, vote for yourselves. You are the Government of this country--the people of the Government. And if you vote wrong you vote against yourselves, and then you get what you deserve, because you haven't studied these things, you haven't read the fine print.
These fellows will get up and tell you a lot of things about what they will do and what they intend to do, but you ought to read the record of the things they have done, and you will find that it is not in the public interest--or your interest.
So, whatever you do, be sure you vote that Democratic ticket--and vote for yourselves and the welfare of this Nation, and the welfare of the world as a whole.
[2.] HUNGRY HORSE, MONTANA (Rear plat form, 9:45 a.m.)
Thank you very much for this souvenir of the horse. That makes a pair of them.
I appreciate the privilege of being here. It has been a fine morning--had a good look at the project down here, and I am going to tell you something about it when I get "downtown."
Where's Margaret ?
[3.] HUNGRY HORSE, MONTANA (Dedication address at the Dam, 11:05 a.m., see Item 271)
[4.] KALISPELL, MONTANA (High School Auditorium, 11:45 a.m.)
Thank you very much--thank you very much. And, of course, it gives me a lot of pleasure to introduce to you a young lady who doesn't need any introduction. She happens to be my daughter, and she is the greatest asset I have--and I am proud of her.
I have had a wonderful time in this great State of Montana. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a day any more than I did yesterday and today in the trip across this great State.
Your Governor made the statement awhile ago in the other auditorium, that Montana was the greatest State in the Union. Well, Montana is a great State, but I told him I cannot say Montana is the greatest State because I represent 48 States and I can't even say Missouri is the greatest State.
I hope that you young people will pay particular attention to government, and what it means. The people of the United States are the Government of the United States, under the Constitution.
There are limitations in the Constitution on the powers of the President, the powers of the Legislature, and the powers of the Court.
It is your business to find out just exactly what your interest in the Government is, because the fundamental power in the Government of the United States is in the people.
If you young people yourselves wilt study history as you should, you will find that you live under the greatest government in the greatest Republic in the history of the world--you live under the greatest government that has ever been designed by the mind of man.
But that government cannot continue if people who form that government--the people who have the power to run that government--themselves do not understand and maintain it.
You must know that you yourselves are responsible for freedom, for the right sort of government you should have. And when you don't exercise your right to vote, when you don't inform yourselves on the issues in every campaign--it makes no difference what kind of campaign it is, city, county, State, or national--and that election goes wrong and you get bad people in, there is nobody to blame but yourselves.
Now, I am very anxious that you young people should now begin to understand what your responsibilities are, and you should inform yourselves. It is the greatest study in the world--the study of government. It is the greatest business in the world--the business of government.
I am interested in it and have been interested in it ever since I was your age. I started in politics 40 years ago as a precinct worker--a clerk of a polling place. I was the postmaster in a town of 300, I was a road overseer, I was a township committeeman. I have been a county official, State official, and you know the rest of it.
I got inveigled into the place where I am now. And I am not advising you that it always comes out that way, but somebody has to have the job. And it might be you.
So, get yourselves ready. Get yourselves informed. And always protect the freedom of the United States of America by your vote.
[5.] WHITEFISH, MONTANA (Rear plat form, 12:40 p.m.)
I have been having a grand time in Montana today, telling the people some of the things that they ought to hear and know about their country, and about a certain political party that I don't belong to.
We had a wonderful meeting over in Kalispell, and I think that the people found out some things as a result of that meeting that they didn't know before.
I am glad to be here. I have just come back here, as you know, by way of Kalispell, from Hungry Horse Dam, and it is a wonderful thing for Montana and the whole West.
I am out on this trip in my capacity as the head of the Democratic Party. That is one of the five jobs the President has to perform. I want to see a Democratic victory just as badly--this fall--as I did in 1948. And you know that was pretty bad.
I have had a wonderful visit on the train with the candidates for office here in Montana. I had a most pleasant visit with Governor Bonner, and I think that you ought to send him back to the Governor's chair for another 4 years. You need men like him in charge of Montana.
I have become acquainted with Lee Metcalf, and I just found out that he is a Justice of the Supreme Court in Montana. I told him I wish I had some young and vigorous men like him on the Supreme Court of the United States--I would like it a lot better. I know that you will send him to Congress in place of Mike Mansfield's job. You need somebody young and vigorous to keep up the good work that Mike started for this district. He was the most persistent man in the Congress for the welfare of Montana as a whole, and his own district in particular. Since I became President, I have seen more of Mike Mansfield than any other Congressman he was always after something for Montana, and he usually got it. So therefore you ought to send him to the Senate. And as I said awhile ago in Kalispell, if he pesters the next President like he did me, he will get everything Montana wants.
I want you to know about the national ticket, too, which is of vital importance to me. I have had certain policies to pursue for the 7 years I have been President, and I want to see those policies continued and carried out--the liberal policies of the Democratic platform. When a candidate is elected on the Democratic platform, it is his business to carry out that platform. It isn't just a scrap of paper. It should be carried out to the best of his ability. The platform of 1948 has been carried out as far as I can possibly carry it out.
We have a platform of 1952 which is one of the best that was ever written for any Democratic candidate to run on.
And we have the candidates for President and Vice President--Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman--running on that platform, and they are supporting that platform, and telling you what they are going to do about putting that platform into effect.
What I am out here for is to tell you what has been done by the Democratic administrations of the past 20 years and you have profited by those acts that have been carried out.
And the real issue in this election is whether we are going to continue to work for all the people, as the Democratic Party is supposed to, or whether you are going to turn the Government over to the special interests and let them ride you, as they have in the past whenever they have been in power.
We must work for the interests of all the people, and the interests of all the people are wrapped up in the Democratic Party.
I want to tell you something, too. That Republican candidate for President has a sign on the back of his train which says, "Look ahead, neighbor." Now it ought to say, "Look out, neighbor." And that means you.
Do you want more power for the West-more dams like Hungry Horse ? Then you had better "look out, neighbor." The Republicans won't give it to you if they get in charge.
You railroad men, and you other workers, do you like social security and railroad retirement and union recognition and the union shop? Well, "look out, neighbor." The Republicans don't like these things and they never have, and they are going to take them away from you as fast as they can--no doubt about that. They have already. Remember in 1948 they had matters all set up to pound labor into the ground; and they had to run back home--they didn't get a chance to do it. But if they get charge of the Government, you had better watch out.
And you farmers and businessmen here, do you want cheaper freight rates to get your goods to market? Then, "look out, neighbor." The railroad lobby is right on the board of directors of the Republican Party-and their voice and not your voice will be what counts if the Republicans get control of the Government.
Above all, do you people want real leadership to keep this country prosperous and bring real peace? Then you had better "look out, neighbor." The Republican candidate is a man who has spent his whole life in the Army--he doesn't know much about what goes on in the civilian world. He isn't supposed to. He was a West Point graduate. He started in when he was 18, and he has made one of the greatest records in the world as general in command of the Allied forces in the Second World War. He was an excellent general, but his mind is a military mind, and the military mind can't understand civilian people. That's the reason they made the President Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the country, because he knows exactly what the civilian people are thinking about--himself being one. And if he has had a little military experience, he can also tell a general what to do--which I have done in several instances.
Now I like Ike, and I like him fine--as I say--as that commanding general; but I don't like him for what he stands now. I don't think he knows what he is doing. I think Bob Taft and all the Republican reactionaries are whispering in his ear, and pulling his leg, and he is going out and saying things they are telling; and he just doesn't know what they mean.
If you like Ike as much as I do, you will vote with me to send him back to the Army, where he belongs. That's the best thing you can do for him--and get him out of the terrible company that he is now keeping. And it will help our country keep out of the mess we will be in if he is elected.
Think of yourselves when you go to the polls. Think about what helps you, and the whole country. It is your interest that is at stake. It is your pocketbook that will be touched if these big interests get control of the country. The big interests certainly run the Republican Party, and they always have.
You can stop that. Do the country and yourselves a service--and do yourselves the greatest service possible--if you will go to the polls on November the 4th and vote a straight Democratic ticket. Thank you very much.
[6.] EUREKA, MONTANA (Rear platform, 2 p.m.)
I certainly do appreciate that wonderful welcome, and I appreciate the privilege of being introduced by the next junior Senator from Montana.
I am out here performing one of my five jobs as President. You see, the President has five jobs, any one of which would be more than a full-time job for one man; but I have to do all five of them between sun and sun.
I am campaigning in my position as the head of the Democratic Party for a victory in November for that party. You have some wonderful Democrats here in Montana running for office.
Your Governor, the Honorable John Bonner, is a friend of mine. I was acquainted with him in 1948. He has made you a good Governor, and if Montana knows what's good for it, it will put him back in the Governor's chair again--and I am sure that is what they are going to do.
You have had a Congressman in this district who is one of the ablest and most persistent Congressmen in the Congress. He is being succeeded--I hope--by Judge Metcalf. He impresses me, Judge Metcalf does, as an able and distinguished citizen and one I am sure that will represent Montana as it should be represented from this district.
Mike Mansfield, you know, was not only a Congressman from Montana, but Mike was interested in the welfare of the whole country. If you send him to the Senate--and I know that is what you are going to do-Montana will have the best representation in the United States in the United States Senate. Jim Murray and Mike Mansfield will put Montana where it belongs.
And on our national ticket we have one of the finest presidential candidates any party ever had--Adlai Stevenson, the Governor of Illinois. He has been a great Governor. He will make a great President. He is a man you can trust to work for you--that is, he will work for the common people. That is what I am doing.
And I want to tell you something. This is a very important election year that is coming up in November. This country's chance for a good and prosperous future may be decided on election day. And once the choice is made, there is no way to go back on it for 4 long years. I want you to think about that. Think about what the Republicans offer you and what you will get from them. I will give you a little help on that: you will get nothing but trouble--and bad trouble at that--from the Republicans.
The Republican Party has an unbroken record of fighting against everything the plain people of this country want and need. You read what I had to say at Kalispell this morning, and what I am going to say at Spokane tonight, and you will find out a lot about their record.
And I might just say that the last time the Republicans ran this country, they ran it right into the ground. And it was the Democratic Party that pulled it out.
My friends, if these people grab control of the Congress and the White House, I wouldn't be surprised if you had to stop selling Christmas trees. The people won't have money enough to buy Christmas trees, if the Republicans get control of the Government.
Now seriously, these Republicans can't be trusted with the Government of this country. Their record in the Congress shows that as plainly as it is possible to be seen.
And I am sorry to say their candidate is no help. I like Ike--I like him very much, but I like him as general of the Army and he has no business in the White House. He certainly doesn't know very much about civil life or civil government, or even about how to run the Republican Party.
I can't think of a worse situation than an uninformed military man fronting for a party with a record like the Republicans have.
Don't you fall for it. Don't you trust them, and don't vote for them. Think of your own interests. Think of what helps you--and then vote for yourselves.
You are the Government, and if you vote for yourselves you will vote for the party that has always been for the people, the party that has put you in the prosperous condition in which you are now.
Look out for yourselves--and look out for the welfare of the greatest Nation in the history of the world.
And look out for the peace of the world. And if you do that honestly and conscientiously, you will go to the polls in November and vote the straight Democratic ticket, and then we will have 4 more years of safety for the greatest Republic in the history of the world.
[7.] LIBBY, MONTANA (Rear platform, 3:25 p.m.)
I appreciate being here, and I want to tell you this is one of the most cordial welcomes I have had since I started out, and I certainly do appreciate it. I am grateful for it.
I am campaigning, as you know, for Democratic victory this fall, in my capacity as head of the Democratic Party. And I don't need to tell you what a good group of Democrats you have running here in Montana-you have just been meeting them. I think that it would be the finest thing in the world if you people would send John Bonner back to the capital of Montana as your Governor. He has made a good Governor for the past 4 years, and he will make you another good One.
If you send Judge Metcalf to the Congress to succeed Mike Mansfield, you won't make any mistake. Mike, as you know, has been one of the ablest Congressmen that the country has ever had. He has been a good man as Congressman from Montana in getting things done for the great State of Montana. But he has been a statesman as well. I sent him on a United Nations commission and he made Mr. Vishinsky take a back seat when he got too smart. And he will do the same thing with some of our smart Republican Senators, if you send him to the Senate. Then you will have wonderful representation in the Senate, with Jim Murray and Mike Mansfield both--Montana will be as well represented, and I might say better represented than nearly any other State in the Union.
One of your local Democrats traveling on this train gave me an editorial from the Lewistown, Montana, paper. And I thought it was so interesting I would like to read a part of what it says. This paper said: "figures don't lie, figures don't lie, if you use them carefully. And a careful study shows the total take of Montanans, so far as their personal incomes are concerned, has jumped 'right smart' in the past two decades."
In fact, the $1,026 million made by all the Montanans in 1951 represented an increase of 268.8 percent over the 1935 to 1939 average. Now that is according to the Department of Commerce.
That sounds to me like you people in Montana have been doing pretty well under the New Deal and the fair Deal. The Republicans will tell you a different story. They will tell you that the country is in terrible shape. I don't think you can place too much confidence in what they tell you. They are making quite an effort in this campaign to rewrite the history of recent years, but I don't think they are going to be able to fool you, because you can see for yourself--you can judge from your own experience, that this country is not going to the dogs the way they tell you it is.
Now I know that all of you want the same kind of thing for this wonderful country of ours that I do, and I know that you want a country where the people are happy and prosperous and at peace with the world. We can have that kind of country.
I believe that we are at the beginning of the most wonderful new age in the history of the world, if we use our resources wisely and well. In order to take advantage of the great opportunities that lie before us, we must have the right kind of government in Washington.
We must have a government that understands the needs of the people and that works to meet those needs. That is the kind of government you have had for the past 20 years from the Democratic Party. That is the kind of government, if you elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress, you will have for the next 4 years.
So, my friends, for your own sake and for the sake of your country, and for your own personal welfare, the welfare and the peace of the world, I advise you to go to the polls and vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman, and the whole Democratic ticket, then the country will be in safe hands for another 4 years.
I certainly appreciate your coming out here this afternoon.
[8.] TROY, MONTANA (Rear platform, 4:05 p.m. )
I have been having a wonderful time in this great State of Montana. The welcome here has been a warm one, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. You see, I am out here on a missionary jaunt--a special mission. I am trying to work up enough enthusiasm to elect the Democratic ticket by an overwhelming majority.
I have been riding on the train all day today with the candidates for office here in Montana, and they look pretty good to me. If I lived in Montana I would vote the Democratic ticket. I am going to vote that way down in Missouri, too.
Your young man, Judge Metcalf, looks to me like he would make a good Congressman, and I think you ought to send him there to take the position that is now held by Mike Mansfield. Mike has made a wonderful Congressman--there isn't a better one in the Congress; and he will make you a great Senator. And if you send Mike to the Senate, you will have two great Senators. Montana will be well represented in the Senate. And I wish Missouri could be as well represented. And I hope it will be after this next election.
Your Governor has made a good Governor, and he ought to be sent back as Governor for another 4 years.
I am also highly and keenly interested in the candidates for President and Vice President. Adlai Stevenson, as Governor of Illinois, has given that State about the best and most honest and most progressive government it ever had in its history.
I have been traveling across the country telling the people some plain facts, and what it all adds up to is that the Republican Party has a sorry record. They have been against almost every kind of progressive measure that makes this country a better place in which to live.
I told the people up at Kalispell to take a real good look at Hungry Horse Dam, because if the Republicans get in, you might never see another one like it. And if they do get in, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned all the power from Hungry Horse over to the Montana Power Company--and you know what that will mean to you in costs and prices.
As for Libby Dam, you might as well forget about it, if you elect the Republicans. As I told the chief of police back there at Libby--he asked me what about the dam-I said, "Well, it's up to you. If you don't send people to Congress that have got sense enough to vote for that dam, you won't get it." I am saying the same thing to you.
You know, some strange things have been happening in the Republican Party lately. It's getting so it is hard to tell what the letters GOP stand for. Back in 1948, I said GOP stands for "Gluttons Of Privilege." And there is a lot of truth in that, because the Republican Party was the party of special privilege in 1948, and it still is today.
Then the other day, Governor Stevenson said he had heard the GOP stands for "Grouchy Old Pessimists." And there is a lot of truth in that. You know, the Republican Party has taken an official stand against laughter.
Now I have heard another one. They tell me that GOP stands for the "Generals' Own Party"--or put it another way the "Party of the Generals." There's a lot of truth in that.
The Republicans have General Motors and General Electric and General foods and General MacArthur and General Martin and General Wedemeyer. And then they have their own five-star general who is running for President, and I understand he will carry some other generals around with him to give him a hand in the political campaign, That's a lot of generals. I want to say to you, that every general I know is on this list--every general I have mentioned in this list is in the general's column, except general welfare, and general welfare is in with the corporals and the privates in the Democratic Party. That's all right with me. Of course, if all the generals in the country were to vote for General Eisenhower, and all the privates would vote for Adlai Stevenson, you know what the results would be.
I was a captain in World War I, but I said right after the Democratic Convention that I was just a buck private in the rear ranks in this campaign. Of course, I also happen to be President, and therefore I am leader of the Democratic Party. But I am ready to act as a private any time Adlai Stevenson asks me to act as one.
Here in Montana you have a chance to send to the U.S. Senate a man who was a GI himself, and he is a great friend and benefactor of you all; and that is Mike Mansfield.
And our candidate for President is a man who never got beyond the rank of apprentice seaman in the first World War. And he is a good man, and he will do right by you.
And I want you to consider your own interests when it comes time to cast your ballot. Remember that you are the Government. You are the people of the Government. You get the kind of government you are entitled to when you vote. If you vote for the wrong man and get bad government, there is nobody to blame but yourself. I am telling you how to vote so you won't get bad government.
Go to the polls and vote the Democratic ticket, and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
[9.] BONNERS FERRY, IDAHO (Rear platform, 4:10 p.m., p.s.t.)
I am most happy to be back in Idaho again--although I am just barely in.
I guess you know why I am here. I have five distinct jobs where I serve the people of the United States and one of those jobs is to act as the head of the Democratic Party. Any President in office is the head of his party. Therefore, I feel it is my duty as the head of the party to come out and inform you of the issues of this campaign, so you will understand just exactly with what the country is faced.
I have certainly enjoyed seeing Gracie Pfost again. She is a fine person, and she will give you the right kind of representation in Congress. And goodness knows, that's what Idaho needs.
I want you all to go and vote for Adlai Stevenson for President, just as you did for me in 1948. Adlai Stevenson will be one of the greatest Presidents this country ever had, just as he has already been one of the best Governors of one of our biggest States.
This morning I dedicated Hungry Horse Dam, which means so much to the people of western Montana and Idaho.
Now I want to say a few words about Libby Dam. Libby Dam Will solve forever the flood problem on the Kootenai River. You people remember how your city of Bonnets ferry had to dig itself out in 1948--thousands of acres of your very best farmlands were under water.
You know the problem you have each year with floods on the Kootenai. But it is not only solution of the floods that I am interested in. Libby Dam, like Hungry Horse, will produce nearly twice as much power downstream as it will produce at Libby itself. The water stored at Libby Dam would help us get 4 million kilowatts of power downstream during the 4 months of low water every year.
Back East, when the coal mines shut down, it sometimes makes a national emergency. We have to realize also that Mother Nature sort of quits on us 4 months out of every year, cutting your power production, and hurting your industry, exactly the same way a coal strike hurts industry back East.
The solution is building dams like Libby on the Kootenai, and Hells Canyon on the Snake River. A lot of people around here don't like Hells Canyon Dam, but I have been fighting for it ever since I have been in the Congress, and I am going to keep on fighting for it.
I want to tell you something--you are not likely to get these projects if the Republicans take over the Government of the United States after this election. They are not for this sort of thing. The Republicans in Congress have fought tooth and nail against every single project that the Democrats have ever started for this country out here. You will find, if you will study the record and the history of the United States, that the Republicans have always been against anything new, especially if it is for the benefit of the people.
They fought Hungry Horse. They fought Albeni falls and Chief Joseph--just as they are now fighting Hells Canyon. They are nothing but spokesmen for the power lobby--and all the other terrible lobbies in this country.
Don't you think their five-star candidate will make it any different. In this State, at Boise, Idaho, he made a speech which shows that he has swallowed the Old Guard Republican policies about power.
You see, he has spent all his life in the Army. He doesn't understand these questions. He doesn't know the difference between liberal policies and reactionary policies. So he believes anything the Old Guard tells him about power and about labor or any other of our problems.
Now I like Ike, I am very fond of him. I have known him ever since he was a major in the Army. And I made him Chief of Staff of the United States when he came back from France--U.S. Army when he came back from France. I made him Commanding General of the Allied forces of Europe, when those treaties were set up creating Allied power for the free countries of Europe. So I think very highly of Ike, but I like Ike in the Army where he knows what he is doing. I don't think he knows anything about how to run this Government, and that is nothing to his discredit because he spent all his life in the Army. He is a graduate of West Point and has a military mind which does not work just exactly like the civilian mind in running the Government of the United States.
So when November the 4th comes along, you people should go out and vote for your own interests, for the welfare of the great State of Idaho, for the welfare of the Northwest. If you do that, you will vote for yourselves, because you really are the Government. The power of the Government of the United States is in the people, and when you don't exercise that franchise which the Constitution guarantees you, and you get bad government, you have nobody but yourselves to blame for it.
Now in 1948 only about 51 percent--52 percent of the people who are entitled to vote in this country voted. They accidentally got good government, but it wasn't the fault of those who stayed away from the polls. You can't tell what will happen if you don't go and exercise your franchise, and when you do that you ought to go to the polls and vote the Democratic ticket, and then these progressive policies about which I have been talking will be safe, the welfare of this great country will be safe, and your own interests will be safe, and so will the peace of the world.
Therefore, on November the 4th go to the polls and pick you out the Democratic ticket, and put your X at the top of it, and put it in the ballot box, and go home and feel like you have done your patriotic duty for the welfare of this great Nation.
[10.] SANDPOINT, IDAHO (Rear platform, 5 p.m., p.s.t.)
Thank you very much. That's a good job. You know, I have never run across so many good young bands as I have during the last 2 or 3 days. You really do a good job on that--just as good as the Marine Band, and that's saying a lot.
I am grateful for this wonderful reception here today. I have had a wonderful day riding through these mountains in Montana and Idaho. I have seen a lot of mighty fine people, and I have told them a lot of things that are good for their souls, if they will just pay attention to what I am saying.
I am here on one of my five jobs. You see, the President has five jobs. He is the Chief Executive of the United States. He is Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the United States. He is the policymaker for the foreign policy of the United States, and he is the head of the Democratic Party. And that is the role in which I am working today. And he is also the social head of state when the visiting firemen like queens and presidents and people like that come to the country, and he has to entertain them and make them feel happy so that they will go back and tell what a nice country it is. But today I am the politician. I am the head of the Democratic Party. I am out here to tell you what the Democratic Party stands for and see if I can't convince you of what your own best interest is and why it is that way.
Now I have on the train here with me some of the Idaho candidates for office. They impress me as being mighty fine people. Gracie Pfost is a grand person. I met her in 1948 when I was out here, and I have seen her in Washington, and I have enjoyed seeing her again. And I hope you will send her to Congress because she will really represent you down there. And I will say to you that you need it mighty bad.
I don't want you to forget the national ticket, either. Adlai Stevenson for President and John Sparkman for Vice President are two as fine men as have ever been nominated to those offices; and you can count on them to look after the interests of the public and the people--the plain everyday people, those are the ones that need looking after.
You know, they have lobbies down there-the power trust, and they have the real estate lobby, and they have the China lobby, and they have the oil lobbies, and they have lobbies for this, that, and the other thing. And the only lobby that the people have is the man who sits in the White House. He represents 150 million people who can't afford a lobby. And when you have a man in that place who looks after your interests, then you are safe. If you don't, you are in a terrible fix when the Congress and the President both go down the lobby road. I never did do it. That is what caused me so much trouble, and why I had to go out and make such a campaign in 1948. As long as I am in the White House, I am going to be the lobbyist for 150 million people who haven't any lobby. And that is what Adlai Stevenson will do if you will put him in there.
He made a great record as Governor of Illinois. He is the best qualified new leader to come up in this country since franklin Roosevelt 20 years ago.
Now I want to tell you something about why I am fond of this part of the world. I like this part of the country, and I want to see it grow and prosper, and I think you will find my actions as President and as United States Senator from Missouri prove that very statement.
I want to see you people in the Northwest get cheap electric power so that you can build up your industry. I want to see your rivers controlled so the water can be used to raise crops and not cause floods. I have been trying to help you get these things for 7 years--all the time I have been President, and all the time I was in the Senate, too. It's 18 years really, altogether. And so has the Democratic Party. We believe in helping you. We believe in helping all the people to do things through your Government that you can't do on your own. That is what the Government is for, in my opinion.
But you know, there is another philosophy and theory in this country. You know, the Republican Party doesn't figure it that way. The Republican Party is controlled by the big boys--the power lobby, the big lumber lobby, and the big banks and the rest--and all the special interests combined in one outfit. And naturally those are the fellows that the Republican politicians serve. And they always have done that ever since I can remember.
I started in politics 40 years ago. Started in the precinct, and I went from precinct to President. And I have been fighting Republicans ever since that, and I am going to keep on fighting them till I die. Not personally, you understand. There are many good men who are misled by the Republican doctrine, and I have some very wonderful friends who belong to the Republican Party; but they are wrong and I spend a lot of time trying to teach them what they ought to do.
Now, I have been having some fun with the Republicans and I expect to have a lot more before this campaign is over. And their candidate for President has a sign on the back of his train--as I said something about it the other day in North Dakota--and on that sign, where my Presidential seal is down there, it said, "Look ahead, neighbor." I have been pointing out to the people that it ought to say "Look out, neighbor."
Brother, if you elect that Republican President you had better look out.
Do you want more power, more flood control up here? You'd better look out, neighbor, and vote the Democratic ticket. The great dams we have built so far are the last you are ever likely to see if the Republicans come in. Hells Canyon and Libby Dams will be out the window. They have fought Hungry Horse. They fought Bonneville. They fought Grand Coulee. They are fighting Hells Canyon and Libby. They fought over construction of the TVA. It's just constitutional with them. They don't believe in the development of resources by Government in these United States. And I can't understand it, because when these resources are properly developed, it increases the land that can be taxed. It increases the wealth of the country, and that is what I am for, and always have been for. As I say, I am going to keep on being for it.
Do you want good education for your kids? More medical care and social security benefits when you are older? Well, look out, now. Don't look ahead, neighbor, as they tell you--you look out, neighbor.
The Republicans are against these things. Their record in Congress proves it. I am talking from the Congressional Record. I helped to make that Congressional Record from 1935 until I became President of the United States. It is a hard document to read. It is full of fine print, and the reason they print it in fine print, they want to be sure that a lot of people won't read it, because if you were to read it, you will know the Democratic record, which is good; and you will find out the Republican record is something awful, and it always has been.
Now the Republicans have tried every way they possibly can to sabotage REA. The gentleman who was just introduced to you by Mrs. Pfost knows the REA picture out here in this part of the world. He is one of its first attorneys. Back in the Both Congress--that awful Congress that I licked them on in 1948--they did one of the most-the slickest tricks you ever heard of in your life. I sent down a request for a certain number of $100 million for the REA to make loans to its cooperatives, so they could build these lines. Well, they tacked on another $100 million so they could brag that they had given a hundred million dollars more than I asked for.
But you know what they did ? They took $700,000 off the administrative end of the REA and fixed it so the added 100 million and what I had asked for couldn't be used. And then they wanted to make you believe that they were strong for REA. They would like to sabotage it if they could. If you put them back in there, that is about what they will do.
And you railroad men and other workers here--do you like union recognition and the union shop ? Do you like the accident prevention work the Government has been doing? Do you like our minimum wage law? Well, if you do, you had better look out on this "look ahead" business, because if you don't look out, they will take all these things away from you, or sabotage them so you can't use them very much.
The Republicans are out to turn the clock back. You know most of the policy-making Republicans are living in the age of William McKinley--in 1896--and they don't like things that look ahead. That is their intention, to sabotage all these good things. And the record proves it. All they have got to do is read that fine print in that record am telling you about.
I know you are proud of your scenery out here. I have heard about the fishing, too. I hope you will enjoy these things a long, long time. But let me tell you this. If the Republicans get control of this country, scenery and fishing will be about all you will have left. I think you will probably get tired of having nothing to do but look at your scenery and eating your fish.
Don't misunderstand me--I can't promise you that the Republicans won't try to take those things away from you, too--as soon as they can figure out how to make a profit out of the deal.
Don't let them fool you with their five-star candidate. He is a good general and I like him. But as a politician he is no better than the rest of the Republican Old Guard. Now I know how bad they are, because I have studied their record in Congress, and I am telling you you had better study it, too, for your own welfare and benefit. You had better figure out where your interests lie. You had better vote for yourselves.
Now, as I said at the beginning, I like this part of the country. I am told that Paul Bunyan came out here and stopped--from Missouri--and I have been wondering if any of Paul's descendants are around in this part of the country. I would like to meet them if they are; because Paul is one of the tallest tales we have in Missouri. He is as tall a tale as the Republicans tell you when they tell you they want to get the Government and work for you--which they don't want to do. Now, for your own interests, for the welfare of this great country of ours, for the peace of the world, I am telling you that on November 4th you ought to vote for yourselves, because you are the Government, and if you vote for yourselves you will vote the straight Democratic ticket and keep the country safe and sound for another 4 years.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: In the course of his remarks on October 1 the President referred to Representative Mike Mansfield, Democratic candidate for Senator, Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court Lee Metcalf, Democratic candidate for Representative, Governor John W. Bonner, and Senator James E. Murray, all of Montana. He also referred to his daughter Margaret, Andrei Vishinsky, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Gracie Pfost, Democratic candidate for Representative from Idaho.
[1.] COLUMBIA FALLS, MONTANA (Rear platform, 8:05 a.m.)
I am very happy indeed to be here this morning, and I am more than complimented and pleased that all of you were so willing to get up early and come down and see us off. You didn't get up before I did, though. I have been up since 5 o'clock. I took a walk down the railroad track and tried to get the sheriff to go with me and walk to St. Paul-and he wouldn't do it. This is a wonderful country.
I am out here for the specific purpose of dedicating Hungry Horse Dam, from which you are going to get a great deal of power. I understand that already some great industries are locating here. And I also want to call your attention to something else. I am also here for the benefit of the Democratic Party. As President of the United States and a Democrat, I am the head of the Democratic Party, and I want to impress upon you that that party has really done things for the country over the last 20 years, and I don't think you want to go back on it.
Now you have had a great Congressman from this district, Mike Mansfield. He has really done things for this great State. He is responsible for the fact that you have Hungry Horse Dam. It was bitterly fought by the Republicans in the Congress. They fight everything of that sort because they say we are on a trend for socialism. Now the head of the Democratic Party doesn't believe that we are on the road to socialism.
They nominated a great general for President on the Republican ticket. He was down here at Boulder Dam--Hoover Dam-in New Mexico and Arizona and Nevada, and was highly pleased with that dam down there because it was self-liquidating. Well, after he was nominated for President on the Republican ticket he had been in touch with the power lobby, and he found out that that was not quite so good, and he didn't believe in it and he didn't think it ought to be done.
And I am here to tell you that if you want to forgo the privileges of these great improvements and these great assets which have been put into the Northwest, just go ahead and vote the Republican ticket and see what happens to you--and you will deserve it if you do vote the Republican ticket. I won't sympathize with you, because I am warning you.
Now we have a young man running for Congress in this district to succeed Mike Mansfield, Mr. Metcalf--and I hope you will put him on your list along with your great Governor, John Bonner. He has made a good Governor of Montana, and you ought to send him back to the capital city to be your Governor for another 4 years.
And there is one thing you must do-you must vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman--if you expect these great progressive improvements to keep on coming to this part of the world. There hasn't been a single great national improvement in the form of Grand Coulee, Bonneville, Hungry Horse, and Shasta, and all the rest of them that I can name, that has been approved by the Republican minority in the Congress. The majority of them have voted against those projects every time they had a chance. You wouldn't have them if it weren't for the fact that you have had a Democrat in the White House for the last 20 years; and you have had Democrats in Congress like Mike Mansfield and Jim Murray who believe in these things.
Now just consider that a little bit. Look at your own situation, and when it comes time to vote in November, vote for yourselves. You are the Government of this country--the people of the Government. And if you vote wrong you vote against yourselves, and then you get what you deserve, because you haven't studied these things, you haven't read the fine print.
These fellows will get up and tell you a lot of things about what they will do and what they intend to do, but you ought to read the record of the things they have done, and you will find that it is not in the public interest--or your interest.
So, whatever you do, be sure you vote that Democratic ticket--and vote for yourselves and the welfare of this Nation, and the welfare of the world as a whole.
[2.] HUNGRY HORSE, MONTANA (Rear plat form, 9:45 a.m.)
Thank you very much for this souvenir of the horse. That makes a pair of them.
I appreciate the privilege of being here. It has been a fine morning--had a good look at the project down here, and I am going to tell you something about it when I get "downtown."
Where's Margaret ?
[3.] HUNGRY HORSE, MONTANA (Dedication address at the Dam, 11:05 a.m., see Item 271)
[4.] KALISPELL, MONTANA (High School Auditorium, 11:45 a.m.)
Thank you very much--thank you very much. And, of course, it gives me a lot of pleasure to introduce to you a young lady who doesn't need any introduction. She happens to be my daughter, and she is the greatest asset I have--and I am proud of her.
I have had a wonderful time in this great State of Montana. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a day any more than I did yesterday and today in the trip across this great State.
Your Governor made the statement awhile ago in the other auditorium, that Montana was the greatest State in the Union. Well, Montana is a great State, but I told him I cannot say Montana is the greatest State because I represent 48 States and I can't even say Missouri is the greatest State.
I hope that you young people will pay particular attention to government, and what it means. The people of the United States are the Government of the United States, under the Constitution.
There are limitations in the Constitution on the powers of the President, the powers of the Legislature, and the powers of the Court.
It is your business to find out just exactly what your interest in the Government is, because the fundamental power in the Government of the United States is in the people.
If you young people yourselves wilt study history as you should, you will find that you live under the greatest government in the greatest Republic in the history of the world--you live under the greatest government that has ever been designed by the mind of man.
But that government cannot continue if people who form that government--the people who have the power to run that government--themselves do not understand and maintain it.
You must know that you yourselves are responsible for freedom, for the right sort of government you should have. And when you don't exercise your right to vote, when you don't inform yourselves on the issues in every campaign--it makes no difference what kind of campaign it is, city, county, State, or national--and that election goes wrong and you get bad people in, there is nobody to blame but yourselves.
Now, I am very anxious that you young people should now begin to understand what your responsibilities are, and you should inform yourselves. It is the greatest study in the world--the study of government. It is the greatest business in the world--the business of government.
I am interested in it and have been interested in it ever since I was your age. I started in politics 40 years ago as a precinct worker--a clerk of a polling place. I was the postmaster in a town of 300, I was a road overseer, I was a township committeeman. I have been a county official, State official, and you know the rest of it.
I got inveigled into the place where I am now. And I am not advising you that it always comes out that way, but somebody has to have the job. And it might be you.
So, get yourselves ready. Get yourselves informed. And always protect the freedom of the United States of America by your vote.
[5.] WHITEFISH, MONTANA (Rear plat form, 12:40 p.m.)
I have been having a grand time in Montana today, telling the people some of the things that they ought to hear and know about their country, and about a certain political party that I don't belong to.
We had a wonderful meeting over in Kalispell, and I think that the people found out some things as a result of that meeting that they didn't know before.
I am glad to be here. I have just come back here, as you know, by way of Kalispell, from Hungry Horse Dam, and it is a wonderful thing for Montana and the whole West.
I am out on this trip in my capacity as the head of the Democratic Party. That is one of the five jobs the President has to perform. I want to see a Democratic victory just as badly--this fall--as I did in 1948. And you know that was pretty bad.
I have had a wonderful visit on the train with the candidates for office here in Montana. I had a most pleasant visit with Governor Bonner, and I think that you ought to send him back to the Governor's chair for another 4 years. You need men like him in charge of Montana.
I have become acquainted with Lee Metcalf, and I just found out that he is a Justice of the Supreme Court in Montana. I told him I wish I had some young and vigorous men like him on the Supreme Court of the United States--I would like it a lot better. I know that you will send him to Congress in place of Mike Mansfield's job. You need somebody young and vigorous to keep up the good work that Mike started for this district. He was the most persistent man in the Congress for the welfare of Montana as a whole, and his own district in particular. Since I became President, I have seen more of Mike Mansfield than any other Congressman he was always after something for Montana, and he usually got it. So therefore you ought to send him to the Senate. And as I said awhile ago in Kalispell, if he pesters the next President like he did me, he will get everything Montana wants.
I want you to know about the national ticket, too, which is of vital importance to me. I have had certain policies to pursue for the 7 years I have been President, and I want to see those policies continued and carried out--the liberal policies of the Democratic platform. When a candidate is elected on the Democratic platform, it is his business to carry out that platform. It isn't just a scrap of paper. It should be carried out to the best of his ability. The platform of 1948 has been carried out as far as I can possibly carry it out.
We have a platform of 1952 which is one of the best that was ever written for any Democratic candidate to run on.
And we have the candidates for President and Vice President--Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman--running on that platform, and they are supporting that platform, and telling you what they are going to do about putting that platform into effect.
What I am out here for is to tell you what has been done by the Democratic administrations of the past 20 years and you have profited by those acts that have been carried out.
And the real issue in this election is whether we are going to continue to work for all the people, as the Democratic Party is supposed to, or whether you are going to turn the Government over to the special interests and let them ride you, as they have in the past whenever they have been in power.
We must work for the interests of all the people, and the interests of all the people are wrapped up in the Democratic Party.
I want to tell you something, too. That Republican candidate for President has a sign on the back of his train which says, "Look ahead, neighbor." Now it ought to say, "Look out, neighbor." And that means you.
Do you want more power for the West-more dams like Hungry Horse ? Then you had better "look out, neighbor." The Republicans won't give it to you if they get in charge.
You railroad men, and you other workers, do you like social security and railroad retirement and union recognition and the union shop? Well, "look out, neighbor." The Republicans don't like these things and they never have, and they are going to take them away from you as fast as they can--no doubt about that. They have already. Remember in 1948 they had matters all set up to pound labor into the ground; and they had to run back home--they didn't get a chance to do it. But if they get charge of the Government, you had better watch out.
And you farmers and businessmen here, do you want cheaper freight rates to get your goods to market? Then, "look out, neighbor." The railroad lobby is right on the board of directors of the Republican Party-and their voice and not your voice will be what counts if the Republicans get control of the Government.
Above all, do you people want real leadership to keep this country prosperous and bring real peace? Then you had better "look out, neighbor." The Republican candidate is a man who has spent his whole life in the Army--he doesn't know much about what goes on in the civilian world. He isn't supposed to. He was a West Point graduate. He started in when he was 18, and he has made one of the greatest records in the world as general in command of the Allied forces in the Second World War. He was an excellent general, but his mind is a military mind, and the military mind can't understand civilian people. That's the reason they made the President Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the country, because he knows exactly what the civilian people are thinking about--himself being one. And if he has had a little military experience, he can also tell a general what to do--which I have done in several instances.
Now I like Ike, and I like him fine--as I say--as that commanding general; but I don't like him for what he stands now. I don't think he knows what he is doing. I think Bob Taft and all the Republican reactionaries are whispering in his ear, and pulling his leg, and he is going out and saying things they are telling; and he just doesn't know what they mean.
If you like Ike as much as I do, you will vote with me to send him back to the Army, where he belongs. That's the best thing you can do for him--and get him out of the terrible company that he is now keeping. And it will help our country keep out of the mess we will be in if he is elected.
Think of yourselves when you go to the polls. Think about what helps you, and the whole country. It is your interest that is at stake. It is your pocketbook that will be touched if these big interests get control of the country. The big interests certainly run the Republican Party, and they always have.
You can stop that. Do the country and yourselves a service--and do yourselves the greatest service possible--if you will go to the polls on November the 4th and vote a straight Democratic ticket. Thank you very much.
[6.] EUREKA, MONTANA (Rear platform, 2 p.m.)
I certainly do appreciate that wonderful welcome, and I appreciate the privilege of being introduced by the next junior Senator from Montana.
I am out here performing one of my five jobs as President. You see, the President has five jobs, any one of which would be more than a full-time job for one man; but I have to do all five of them between sun and sun.
I am campaigning in my position as the head of the Democratic Party for a victory in November for that party. You have some wonderful Democrats here in Montana running for office.
Your Governor, the Honorable John Bonner, is a friend of mine. I was acquainted with him in 1948. He has made you a good Governor, and if Montana knows what's good for it, it will put him back in the Governor's chair again--and I am sure that is what they are going to do.
You have had a Congressman in this district who is one of the ablest and most persistent Congressmen in the Congress. He is being succeeded--I hope--by Judge Metcalf. He impresses me, Judge Metcalf does, as an able and distinguished citizen and one I am sure that will represent Montana as it should be represented from this district.
Mike Mansfield, you know, was not only a Congressman from Montana, but Mike was interested in the welfare of the whole country. If you send him to the Senate--and I know that is what you are going to do-Montana will have the best representation in the United States in the United States Senate. Jim Murray and Mike Mansfield will put Montana where it belongs.
And on our national ticket we have one of the finest presidential candidates any party ever had--Adlai Stevenson, the Governor of Illinois. He has been a great Governor. He will make a great President. He is a man you can trust to work for you--that is, he will work for the common people. That is what I am doing.
And I want to tell you something. This is a very important election year that is coming up in November. This country's chance for a good and prosperous future may be decided on election day. And once the choice is made, there is no way to go back on it for 4 long years. I want you to think about that. Think about what the Republicans offer you and what you will get from them. I will give you a little help on that: you will get nothing but trouble--and bad trouble at that--from the Republicans.
The Republican Party has an unbroken record of fighting against everything the plain people of this country want and need. You read what I had to say at Kalispell this morning, and what I am going to say at Spokane tonight, and you will find out a lot about their record.
And I might just say that the last time the Republicans ran this country, they ran it right into the ground. And it was the Democratic Party that pulled it out.
My friends, if these people grab control of the Congress and the White House, I wouldn't be surprised if you had to stop selling Christmas trees. The people won't have money enough to buy Christmas trees, if the Republicans get control of the Government.
Now seriously, these Republicans can't be trusted with the Government of this country. Their record in the Congress shows that as plainly as it is possible to be seen.
And I am sorry to say their candidate is no help. I like Ike--I like him very much, but I like him as general of the Army and he has no business in the White House. He certainly doesn't know very much about civil life or civil government, or even about how to run the Republican Party.
I can't think of a worse situation than an uninformed military man fronting for a party with a record like the Republicans have.
Don't you fall for it. Don't you trust them, and don't vote for them. Think of your own interests. Think of what helps you--and then vote for yourselves.
You are the Government, and if you vote for yourselves you will vote for the party that has always been for the people, the party that has put you in the prosperous condition in which you are now.
Look out for yourselves--and look out for the welfare of the greatest Nation in the history of the world.
And look out for the peace of the world. And if you do that honestly and conscientiously, you will go to the polls in November and vote the straight Democratic ticket, and then we will have 4 more years of safety for the greatest Republic in the history of the world.
[7.] LIBBY, MONTANA (Rear platform, 3:25 p.m.)
I appreciate being here, and I want to tell you this is one of the most cordial welcomes I have had since I started out, and I certainly do appreciate it. I am grateful for it.
I am campaigning, as you know, for Democratic victory this fall, in my capacity as head of the Democratic Party. And I don't need to tell you what a good group of Democrats you have running here in Montana-you have just been meeting them. I think that it would be the finest thing in the world if you people would send John Bonner back to the capital of Montana as your Governor. He has made a good Governor for the past 4 years, and he will make you another good One.
If you send Judge Metcalf to the Congress to succeed Mike Mansfield, you won't make any mistake. Mike, as you know, has been one of the ablest Congressmen that the country has ever had. He has been a good man as Congressman from Montana in getting things done for the great State of Montana. But he has been a statesman as well. I sent him on a United Nations commission and he made Mr. Vishinsky take a back seat when he got too smart. And he will do the same thing with some of our smart Republican Senators, if you send him to the Senate. Then you will have wonderful representation in the Senate, with Jim Murray and Mike Mansfield both--Montana will be as well represented, and I might say better represented than nearly any other State in the Union.
One of your local Democrats traveling on this train gave me an editorial from the Lewistown, Montana, paper. And I thought it was so interesting I would like to read a part of what it says. This paper said: "figures don't lie, figures don't lie, if you use them carefully. And a careful study shows the total take of Montanans, so far as their personal incomes are concerned, has jumped 'right smart' in the past two decades."
In fact, the $1,026 million made by all the Montanans in 1951 represented an increase of 268.8 percent over the 1935 to 1939 average. Now that is according to the Department of Commerce.
That sounds to me like you people in Montana have been doing pretty well under the New Deal and the fair Deal. The Republicans will tell you a different story. They will tell you that the country is in terrible shape. I don't think you can place too much confidence in what they tell you. They are making quite an effort in this campaign to rewrite the history of recent years, but I don't think they are going to be able to fool you, because you can see for yourself--you can judge from your own experience, that this country is not going to the dogs the way they tell you it is.
Now I know that all of you want the same kind of thing for this wonderful country of ours that I do, and I know that you want a country where the people are happy and prosperous and at peace with the world. We can have that kind of country.
I believe that we are at the beginning of the most wonderful new age in the history of the world, if we use our resources wisely and well. In order to take advantage of the great opportunities that lie before us, we must have the right kind of government in Washington.
We must have a government that understands the needs of the people and that works to meet those needs. That is the kind of government you have had for the past 20 years from the Democratic Party. That is the kind of government, if you elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress, you will have for the next 4 years.
So, my friends, for your own sake and for the sake of your country, and for your own personal welfare, the welfare and the peace of the world, I advise you to go to the polls and vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman, and the whole Democratic ticket, then the country will be in safe hands for another 4 years.
I certainly appreciate your coming out here this afternoon.
[8.] TROY, MONTANA (Rear platform, 4:05 p.m. )
I have been having a wonderful time in this great State of Montana. The welcome here has been a warm one, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. You see, I am out here on a missionary jaunt--a special mission. I am trying to work up enough enthusiasm to elect the Democratic ticket by an overwhelming majority.
I have been riding on the train all day today with the candidates for office here in Montana, and they look pretty good to me. If I lived in Montana I would vote the Democratic ticket. I am going to vote that way down in Missouri, too.
Your young man, Judge Metcalf, looks to me like he would make a good Congressman, and I think you ought to send him there to take the position that is now held by Mike Mansfield. Mike has made a wonderful Congressman--there isn't a better one in the Congress; and he will make you a great Senator. And if you send Mike to the Senate, you will have two great Senators. Montana will be well represented in the Senate. And I wish Missouri could be as well represented. And I hope it will be after this next election.
Your Governor has made a good Governor, and he ought to be sent back as Governor for another 4 years.
I am also highly and keenly interested in the candidates for President and Vice President. Adlai Stevenson, as Governor of Illinois, has given that State about the best and most honest and most progressive government it ever had in its history.
I have been traveling across the country telling the people some plain facts, and what it all adds up to is that the Republican Party has a sorry record. They have been against almost every kind of progressive measure that makes this country a better place in which to live.
I told the people up at Kalispell to take a real good look at Hungry Horse Dam, because if the Republicans get in, you might never see another one like it. And if they do get in, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned all the power from Hungry Horse over to the Montana Power Company--and you know what that will mean to you in costs and prices.
As for Libby Dam, you might as well forget about it, if you elect the Republicans. As I told the chief of police back there at Libby--he asked me what about the dam-I said, "Well, it's up to you. If you don't send people to Congress that have got sense enough to vote for that dam, you won't get it." I am saying the same thing to you.
You know, some strange things have been happening in the Republican Party lately. It's getting so it is hard to tell what the letters GOP stand for. Back in 1948, I said GOP stands for "Gluttons Of Privilege." And there is a lot of truth in that, because the Republican Party was the party of special privilege in 1948, and it still is today.
Then the other day, Governor Stevenson said he had heard the GOP stands for "Grouchy Old Pessimists." And there is a lot of truth in that. You know, the Republican Party has taken an official stand against laughter.
Now I have heard another one. They tell me that GOP stands for the "Generals' Own Party"--or put it another way the "Party of the Generals." There's a lot of truth in that.
The Republicans have General Motors and General Electric and General foods and General MacArthur and General Martin and General Wedemeyer. And then they have their own five-star general who is running for President, and I understand he will carry some other generals around with him to give him a hand in the political campaign, That's a lot of generals. I want to say to you, that every general I know is on this list--every general I have mentioned in this list is in the general's column, except general welfare, and general welfare is in with the corporals and the privates in the Democratic Party. That's all right with me. Of course, if all the generals in the country were to vote for General Eisenhower, and all the privates would vote for Adlai Stevenson, you know what the results would be.
I was a captain in World War I, but I said right after the Democratic Convention that I was just a buck private in the rear ranks in this campaign. Of course, I also happen to be President, and therefore I am leader of the Democratic Party. But I am ready to act as a private any time Adlai Stevenson asks me to act as one.
Here in Montana you have a chance to send to the U.S. Senate a man who was a GI himself, and he is a great friend and benefactor of you all; and that is Mike Mansfield.
And our candidate for President is a man who never got beyond the rank of apprentice seaman in the first World War. And he is a good man, and he will do right by you.
And I want you to consider your own interests when it comes time to cast your ballot. Remember that you are the Government. You are the people of the Government. You get the kind of government you are entitled to when you vote. If you vote for the wrong man and get bad government, there is nobody to blame but yourself. I am telling you how to vote so you won't get bad government.
Go to the polls and vote the Democratic ticket, and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
[9.] BONNERS FERRY, IDAHO (Rear platform, 4:10 p.m., p.s.t.)
I am most happy to be back in Idaho again--although I am just barely in.
I guess you know why I am here. I have five distinct jobs where I serve the people of the United States and one of those jobs is to act as the head of the Democratic Party. Any President in office is the head of his party. Therefore, I feel it is my duty as the head of the party to come out and inform you of the issues of this campaign, so you will understand just exactly with what the country is faced.
I have certainly enjoyed seeing Gracie Pfost again. She is a fine person, and she will give you the right kind of representation in Congress. And goodness knows, that's what Idaho needs.
I want you all to go and vote for Adlai Stevenson for President, just as you did for me in 1948. Adlai Stevenson will be one of the greatest Presidents this country ever had, just as he has already been one of the best Governors of one of our biggest States.
This morning I dedicated Hungry Horse Dam, which means so much to the people of western Montana and Idaho.
Now I want to say a few words about Libby Dam. Libby Dam Will solve forever the flood problem on the Kootenai River. You people remember how your city of Bonnets ferry had to dig itself out in 1948--thousands of acres of your very best farmlands were under water.
You know the problem you have each year with floods on the Kootenai. But it is not only solution of the floods that I am interested in. Libby Dam, like Hungry Horse, will produce nearly twice as much power downstream as it will produce at Libby itself. The water stored at Libby Dam would help us get 4 million kilowatts of power downstream during the 4 months of low water every year.
Back East, when the coal mines shut down, it sometimes makes a national emergency. We have to realize also that Mother Nature sort of quits on us 4 months out of every year, cutting your power production, and hurting your industry, exactly the same way a coal strike hurts industry back East.
The solution is building dams like Libby on the Kootenai, and Hells Canyon on the Snake River. A lot of people around here don't like Hells Canyon Dam, but I have been fighting for it ever since I have been in the Congress, and I am going to keep on fighting for it.
I want to tell you something--you are not likely to get these projects if the Republicans take over the Government of the United States after this election. They are not for this sort of thing. The Republicans in Congress have fought tooth and nail against every single project that the Democrats have ever started for this country out here. You will find, if you will study the record and the history of the United States, that the Republicans have always been against anything new, especially if it is for the benefit of the people.
They fought Hungry Horse. They fought Albeni falls and Chief Joseph--just as they are now fighting Hells Canyon. They are nothing but spokesmen for the power lobby--and all the other terrible lobbies in this country.
Don't you think their five-star candidate will make it any different. In this State, at Boise, Idaho, he made a speech which shows that he has swallowed the Old Guard Republican policies about power.
You see, he has spent all his life in the Army. He doesn't understand these questions. He doesn't know the difference between liberal policies and reactionary policies. So he believes anything the Old Guard tells him about power and about labor or any other of our problems.
Now I like Ike, I am very fond of him. I have known him ever since he was a major in the Army. And I made him Chief of Staff of the United States when he came back from France--U.S. Army when he came back from France. I made him Commanding General of the Allied forces of Europe, when those treaties were set up creating Allied power for the free countries of Europe. So I think very highly of Ike, but I like Ike in the Army where he knows what he is doing. I don't think he knows anything about how to run this Government, and that is nothing to his discredit because he spent all his life in the Army. He is a graduate of West Point and has a military mind which does not work just exactly like the civilian mind in running the Government of the United States.
So when November the 4th comes along, you people should go out and vote for your own interests, for the welfare of the great State of Idaho, for the welfare of the Northwest. If you do that, you will vote for yourselves, because you really are the Government. The power of the Government of the United States is in the people, and when you don't exercise that franchise which the Constitution guarantees you, and you get bad government, you have nobody but yourselves to blame for it.
Now in 1948 only about 51 percent--52 percent of the people who are entitled to vote in this country voted. They accidentally got good government, but it wasn't the fault of those who stayed away from the polls. You can't tell what will happen if you don't go and exercise your franchise, and when you do that you ought to go to the polls and vote the Democratic ticket, and then these progressive policies about which I have been talking will be safe, the welfare of this great country will be safe, and your own interests will be safe, and so will the peace of the world.
Therefore, on November the 4th go to the polls and pick you out the Democratic ticket, and put your X at the top of it, and put it in the ballot box, and go home and feel like you have done your patriotic duty for the welfare of this great Nation.
[10.] SANDPOINT, IDAHO (Rear platform, 5 p.m., p.s.t.)
Thank you very much. That's a good job. You know, I have never run across so many good young bands as I have during the last 2 or 3 days. You really do a good job on that--just as good as the Marine Band, and that's saying a lot.
I am grateful for this wonderful reception here today. I have had a wonderful day riding through these mountains in Montana and Idaho. I have seen a lot of mighty fine people, and I have told them a lot of things that are good for their souls, if they will just pay attention to what I am saying.
I am here on one of my five jobs. You see, the President has five jobs. He is the Chief Executive of the United States. He is Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the United States. He is the policymaker for the foreign policy of the United States, and he is the head of the Democratic Party. And that is the role in which I am working today. And he is also the social head of state when the visiting firemen like queens and presidents and people like that come to the country, and he has to entertain them and make them feel happy so that they will go back and tell what a nice country it is. But today I am the politician. I am the head of the Democratic Party. I am out here to tell you what the Democratic Party stands for and see if I can't convince you of what your own best interest is and why it is that way.
Now I have on the train here with me some of the Idaho candidates for office. They impress me as being mighty fine people. Gracie Pfost is a grand person. I met her in 1948 when I was out here, and I have seen her in Washington, and I have enjoyed seeing her again. And I hope you will send her to Congress because she will really represent you down there. And I will say to you that you need it mighty bad.
I don't want you to forget the national ticket, either. Adlai Stevenson for President and John Sparkman for Vice President are two as fine men as have ever been nominated to those offices; and you can count on them to look after the interests of the public and the people--the plain everyday people, those are the ones that need looking after.
You know, they have lobbies down there-the power trust, and they have the real estate lobby, and they have the China lobby, and they have the oil lobbies, and they have lobbies for this, that, and the other thing. And the only lobby that the people have is the man who sits in the White House. He represents 150 million people who can't afford a lobby. And when you have a man in that place who looks after your interests, then you are safe. If you don't, you are in a terrible fix when the Congress and the President both go down the lobby road. I never did do it. That is what caused me so much trouble, and why I had to go out and make such a campaign in 1948. As long as I am in the White House, I am going to be the lobbyist for 150 million people who haven't any lobby. And that is what Adlai Stevenson will do if you will put him in there.
He made a great record as Governor of Illinois. He is the best qualified new leader to come up in this country since franklin Roosevelt 20 years ago.
Now I want to tell you something about why I am fond of this part of the world. I like this part of the country, and I want to see it grow and prosper, and I think you will find my actions as President and as United States Senator from Missouri prove that very statement.
I want to see you people in the Northwest get cheap electric power so that you can build up your industry. I want to see your rivers controlled so the water can be used to raise crops and not cause floods. I have been trying to help you get these things for 7 years--all the time I have been President, and all the time I was in the Senate, too. It's 18 years really, altogether. And so has the Democratic Party. We believe in helping you. We believe in helping all the people to do things through your Government that you can't do on your own. That is what the Government is for, in my opinion.
But you know, there is another philosophy and theory in this country. You know, the Republican Party doesn't figure it that way. The Republican Party is controlled by the big boys--the power lobby, the big lumber lobby, and the big banks and the rest--and all the special interests combined in one outfit. And naturally those are the fellows that the Republican politicians serve. And they always have done that ever since I can remember.
I started in politics 40 years ago. Started in the precinct, and I went from precinct to President. And I have been fighting Republicans ever since that, and I am going to keep on fighting them till I die. Not personally, you understand. There are many good men who are misled by the Republican doctrine, and I have some very wonderful friends who belong to the Republican Party; but they are wrong and I spend a lot of time trying to teach them what they ought to do.
Now, I have been having some fun with the Republicans and I expect to have a lot more before this campaign is over. And their candidate for President has a sign on the back of his train--as I said something about it the other day in North Dakota--and on that sign, where my Presidential seal is down there, it said, "Look ahead, neighbor." I have been pointing out to the people that it ought to say "Look out, neighbor."
Brother, if you elect that Republican President you had better look out.
Do you want more power, more flood control up here? You'd better look out, neighbor, and vote the Democratic ticket. The great dams we have built so far are the last you are ever likely to see if the Republicans come in. Hells Canyon and Libby Dams will be out the window. They have fought Hungry Horse. They fought Bonneville. They fought Grand Coulee. They are fighting Hells Canyon and Libby. They fought over construction of the TVA. It's just constitutional with them. They don't believe in the development of resources by Government in these United States. And I can't understand it, because when these resources are properly developed, it increases the land that can be taxed. It increases the wealth of the country, and that is what I am for, and always have been for. As I say, I am going to keep on being for it.
Do you want good education for your kids? More medical care and social security benefits when you are older? Well, look out, now. Don't look ahead, neighbor, as they tell you--you look out, neighbor.
The Republicans are against these things. Their record in Congress proves it. I am talking from the Congressional Record. I helped to make that Congressional Record from 1935 until I became President of the United States. It is a hard document to read. It is full of fine print, and the reason they print it in fine print, they want to be sure that a lot of people won't read it, because if you were to read it, you will know the Democratic record, which is good; and you will find out the Republican record is something awful, and it always has been.
Now the Republicans have tried every way they possibly can to sabotage REA. The gentleman who was just introduced to you by Mrs. Pfost knows the REA picture out here in this part of the world. He is one of its first attorneys. Back in the Both Congress--that awful Congress that I licked them on in 1948--they did one of the most-the slickest tricks you ever heard of in your life. I sent down a request for a certain number of $100 million for the REA to make loans to its cooperatives, so they could build these lines. Well, they tacked on another $100 million so they could brag that they had given a hundred million dollars more than I asked for.
But you know what they did ? They took $700,000 off the administrative end of the REA and fixed it so the added 100 million and what I had asked for couldn't be used. And then they wanted to make you believe that they were strong for REA. They would like to sabotage it if they could. If you put them back in there, that is about what they will do.
And you railroad men and other workers here--do you like union recognition and the union shop ? Do you like the accident prevention work the Government has been doing? Do you like our minimum wage law? Well, if you do, you had better look out on this "look ahead" business, because if you don't look out, they will take all these things away from you, or sabotage them so you can't use them very much.
The Republicans are out to turn the clock back. You know most of the policy-making Republicans are living in the age of William McKinley--in 1896--and they don't like things that look ahead. That is their intention, to sabotage all these good things. And the record proves it. All they have got to do is read that fine print in that record am telling you about.
I know you are proud of your scenery out here. I have heard about the fishing, too. I hope you will enjoy these things a long, long time. But let me tell you this. If the Republicans get control of this country, scenery and fishing will be about all you will have left. I think you will probably get tired of having nothing to do but look at your scenery and eating your fish.
Don't misunderstand me--I can't promise you that the Republicans won't try to take those things away from you, too--as soon as they can figure out how to make a profit out of the deal.
Don't let them fool you with their five-star candidate. He is a good general and I like him. But as a politician he is no better than the rest of the Republican Old Guard. Now I know how bad they are, because I have studied their record in Congress, and I am telling you you had better study it, too, for your own welfare and benefit. You had better figure out where your interests lie. You had better vote for yourselves.
Now, as I said at the beginning, I like this part of the country. I am told that Paul Bunyan came out here and stopped--from Missouri--and I have been wondering if any of Paul's descendants are around in this part of the country. I would like to meet them if they are; because Paul is one of the tallest tales we have in Missouri. He is as tall a tale as the Republicans tell you when they tell you they want to get the Government and work for you--which they don't want to do. Now, for your own interests, for the welfare of this great country of ours, for the peace of the world, I am telling you that on November 4th you ought to vote for yourselves, because you are the Government, and if you vote for yourselves you will vote the straight Democratic ticket and keep the country safe and sound for another 4 years.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: In the course of his remarks on October 1 the President referred to Representative Mike Mansfield, Democratic candidate for Senator, Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court Lee Metcalf, Democratic candidate for Representative, Governor John W. Bonner, and Senator James E. Murray, all of Montana. He also referred to his daughter Margaret, Andrei Vishinsky, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Gracie Pfost, Democratic candidate for Representative from Idaho.