October 6, 1952
[1.] SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (Rear platform, 7:50 a.m.)
Thank you very much for this cordial welcome this early in the morning. I appreciate it most highly. I remember how cordial you were when I came here in 1948, and I shall never forget it. I think I told you then about how my grandfather came out here with an ox train load of merchandise, and how Brigham Young helped him out. And since that time the records have been examined and the church files show that it actually happened just as I told it.
He had the first train of his own loaded with merchandise for the Army, and when he got here the colonel in charge of the post had another freighter that he wanted to hold and he wouldn't accept my grandfather's load of goods. And it almost broke him, and if it hadn't been for Brigham Young it would have broke him--but they worked it out and everybody was happy except the colonel in charge of the post.
I have been making this trip to campaign for the Democratic Party. I am happy to do that, because I think you suspect by this time that I am a good Democrat. I believe with all my heart that it is in the best interests of the country for the Democrats to win this election. I think we are going to win it. We are going to win on the basis of our record, our platform, and our candidates.
On each of these things, when you compare the Democratic situation with the Republican situation, the Democrats look so much better that there is no difficulty whatever to make a choice.
First, take the record. The Democratic Party has been giving the country good government for the past 20 years. At home the country is in better shape than it ever has been. Abroad, we are making good progress in building up our defenses against the terrible threat of Communist aggression.
At home and abroad, the Republican Party has been against almost every forward-looking proposal that we have made in these years. Now they are trying to rewrite history, but I am not going to let them get away with it. I have been reading the record on them, and I am going to keep it up, and tell the people exactly what the facts are.
You see, nearly every place I go, somebody in the crowd around the street will let out a yell "Give 'em hell, Harry." Well now, I don't strive for a reputation of that kind. I tell the truth on them, and that's a lot better for the country than giving them hell, because they can't stand the truth.
I hope every one of you will have an opportunity to read the Democratic platform, and the Republican platform, too. They will show you what the difference is between the two parties. I think we have the best platform any political party ever adopted, and think the Republican platform is about the worst one I ever read.
Along with everything else they even endorsed that "do-nothing" 80th Congress. You remember it? Back in 1948 at Philadelphia, about 2:30 in the morning, I told the Democratic Convention that I was going to call a special session of Congress and see whether the Republicans in the 80th Congress would put their platform into effect. Oh, they had a platform that was intended to appeal to everybody in the country, so I called them together and they met for about 3 or 4 weeks and didn't do a thing. I knew that was exactly what they would do--because they never do expect to carry out a platform even when it's good, but this one is so bad they can't carry it out.
If they were to win this election, you could count on them giving you the same sort of treatment you had from that 80th Congress-which won the election in 1948 for me.
I told you when I was here in 1948 what the Republicans had been trying to do to your reclamation and power programs. They have been trying to do the same ever since-and you can't trust them.
The Democrats have it all over the Republicans in the case of candidates--just like we do everything else. And I don't know of any place where that is clearer than it is here in Utah.
You have a fine Democratic candidate here for United States Senator--Waiter K. Granger. Walter K. Granger has made a wonderful record in Congress, and if you will send him to the Senate, you will have somebody there who will look out for your interests. Now I have known Mr. Granger for I don't know how long--15 or 18 years-and he has always been on the side of the people. You need a man like that in the Senate worse than ever now--I'll say you need him from this State.
For Congress you have Mrs. Reva Beck Bosone. Judge Bosone has also made a grand record in Congress. This is especially true on reclamation matters. If you send her back to Congress, and send Walt Granger to the Senate, you will have a very effective team to work for you on the reclamation projects that mean so much to this great western country.
I also hope very much that you will promote your mayor, Earl Glade, to be Governor of this great State of Utah. I hope you will also send that good Democrat that was just introduced to you, Mr. McKay, to Congress. He impresses me as being a wonderful man. The best thing, you know, for your own safety, is to just vote the Democratic ticket and send them all in.
I urge you most strongly to vote for our candidate for President and Vice President-Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman.
I think it would be a tragedy for the present Republican candidate to be elected President of the United States. He has been a great general, but he has already shown in this campaign that he cannot be depended on to master the great political issues with which we are faced. He has surrendered to the most reactionary elements of the Republican Party. He is not the kind of man we ought to have for President.
Now I like him. I made him Chief of Staff of the United States Army. I sent him to Europe to command the NATO military setup, and I have every confidence in him as a military man. But as President and politician, he wouldn't know what to do.
Now, on the other hand, I am more than ever impressed each day with what Adlai Stevenson offers to the Nation. He is talking sense to the American people. He is wise. He is courageous. He is honest. He is a man you can trust. And he won't be taken in by any special interest lobby.
If you elect him and a Democratic Congress, the country will be safe for another 4 years.
Again I want to thank you very much for this most cordial welcome.
[2.] PROVO, UTAH (Address at Brigham Young University, 10:05 a.m., see Item 281)
[3.] HELPER, UTAH (Rear platform,
I appreciate that greeting very, very much. I am glad to be back here in Helper once more. I was here in 1948 and gave you some down to earth facts about that "good for-nothing, do-nothing" Republican 80th Congress, if you remember. Then you did your duty at the polls, and I want to congratulate you on the way you voted. I understand Carbon County had the best record of any county in Utah in the vote you gave the Democratic Party in 1948. And I hope you will repeat that again. I am sure you will do it over in 1952, and send Adlai Stevenson to the White House.
I have always been interested in the way your good town got its name. They tell me that Helper was named for the helper engines that pull the train up these wonderful mountains you have around here. You know, I think the Republican Party needs some helper engines. It would take a whole roundhouse full of these helpers to get them elected this fall, with their terrible record holding them back.
As for their candidate for President, I don't think helper engines can get him out of the trouble he is in now. With the crew he has got around him, I don't think he will ever be elected. I just don't think the people are going to elect a President who has surrendered to Taft and McCarthy and Jenner and Kern.
I am glad to come to your State and tell you that I am proud of the Democratic candidate for United States Senator. Utah has a wonderful man in Walter Granger. He has been one of the best Members of the House of Representatives for the past 12 years, and I know he is going to make a great United States Senator.
Your candidate for the House of Representatives, Mr. Ernest McKay, knows the importance of using our national resources for the benefit of all the people, instead of just the special interests. I met Mr. Glade this morning, the present mayor of Salt Lake City--he was there to welcome me, and I understand he is going to be the next Governor of Utah.
Now when you vote for President and Vice President, remember that this country has never had two better candidates than Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. They have shown by their record that they stand for the interests of the common everyday man.
I want to tell you this, too. They are telling the truth in this campaign. They aren't like some Republican politicians who are running around distorting the facts and trying to rewrite history.
You can count on Stevenson and Sparkman to continue the prosperity you now have. You people here in Price Canyon area know the importance of steady employment. Twenty years ago, when the American people voted the Republicans out of office, there were 12 to 14 million people out of work in this country. But today our country is working full blast, with over 62 million people in good jobs.
I told the students up at the Brigham Young University in Provo this morning that in 1932 when they were graduating, they didn't know where to go for jobs. There were 14 million people out of jobs, and the graduates of that university would be lucky if they got a job at a dollar a day. And then I read them an extract from a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle about the graduation of last June from colleges, in which it was said the students now have so many jobs to pick from, they don't know which one to take. Now I think you had better keep up that situation.
And the reason you can do that is because the Democratic Party has courage. This thing did not come about by accident. The Democratic Party has had the courage, the wisdom, and the faith to make our economy work in a way that all Americans, not just a special few, could enjoy prosperity and full employment.
Our policy is for the people. You will find that the Republican policy is always a property interest. The Democratic Party's policy is the welfare and benefit of all the people, not just a few.
Compare the terrible Republican record and the terrible Republican platform this year with the Democratic record and with the Democratic platform this year, and you can't possibly go wrong because you will vote the Democratic ticket.
Study them carefully. You will only come to one conclusion. Vote the Democratic ticket. Vote your own interests--that is what you are doing. You see, the power of the Government in this country is in the people, and the people exercise that power by voting.
You go to the polls and vote for your own interests--vote for the welfare of this great Nation, and vote for peace in the world, by voting the Democratic ticket, and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
Thank you a lot.
[4.] GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO (Rear platform, 5:05 p.m.)
Thank you. I appreciate it very much--very much indeed this introduction, and I am particularly happy over that synthetic "truth brigade" that is supposed to be following me.
You know, I was shadowed in 1948 by somebody, and now I am being shadowed again. You know what's the trouble? We're telling the truth on them, and that really hurts.
I am here in one of my many jobs--campaigning as a leader of the Democratic Party. It is good to come to a Democratic place like this. You gave me a good big majority in 1948. You have been Democratic since 1932. You have a good Democrat representing you in Congress--Wayne Aspinall. Keep him there. He is an excellent man.
Awhile ago when I heard your national committeeman introduce John Metzger, I didn't know who he was talking about. I know him as Bill, and I think he is all right, and he will make you a good Governor. I have known him a long, long time. Bill is a go-getter, and he will be an asset to Colorado and to you.
Now I want to call your attention particularly to our candidates for President and Vice President. I don't think that we have ever had abler men to head the Democratic ticket than we have in Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. They are both men of experience in government. They are both liberal-minded gentlemen, and they will carry on this great Government of ours in the manner in which it ought to be carried on. And you must elect them in November.
I am glad to see the great progress this area is making. I have been reading a copy of your good newspaper just as I came along here. You know, it is a grand paper. I have been in politics for 30 years, and in elective public office for 30 years, and down in Missouri there are 7 metropolitan papers, and I never had one for me in my whole life. If they did get for me, I would know I was wrong.
I wish we had newspapers like that in Missouri. We need them. In most places I visit, the newspapers are against the Democrats. Now, why that is I don't know. And against the plain people, generally.
But your paper is a good one, and I am happy to say that about your newspaper. Your paper told of the progress you are making--when most papers keep telling the people how bad things are. If you listen to most of them, you would think the country is just on the verge of ruin.
Well now, here is the quotation from your good paper: "There are more animals in the county this year, as compared with last; there are more acres of bearing orchard and more acres of meadow hay; people own more household furniture; stocks of merchandise are greater; there is more farm equipment, except combines; there has been a great deal of building and improvements; and mining is on the increase."
Well now, that's an awful situation for the Republicans to have to swallow in a campaign year.
In addition to this, I understand you have a fine new veterans hospital here that will be of great value to this whole area. I congratulate you on that record. You are especially fortunate here, but we are having the same sort of situation all over the United States.
This prosperity of ours is driving the Republican politicians almost crazy. That's the reason for those four little men following me. They can't stand to see the country so well off under a Democratic administration.
I was reading a speech by the Republican candidate for President the other day. He was doing his best to prove that this prosperity did not exist--that it was all done with mirrors, according to him. And at the end he said: "Do you want to stand still, mired in the mud of this New Deal prosperity, or do you want to march down the shining corridor of progress to the Republican idea of prosperity?"
Well, what do you think? I know what I think, and I know I am pouring it on them so you won't have to.
Do you want to march off under the orders of the Republican general, down that "shining corridor"--whatever that is--or would you just as soon stay behind, stuck in the mud of this terrible New Deal prosperity ?
The last time the Republicans marched off with us we were a long time getting back where we belonged.
Today is the first day of your community chest drive, and I hope you will take a little of that prosperity and give it to help others who need it. That's the American program.
One of the things that the Republicans are saying is that this prosperity is due to the defense program, and to the fighting in Korea. That is not true. Don't you believe it. If we didn't have the defense program, we would be even more prosperous. We would have a lot of things that we are holding back on now, because of defense.
That is true of the atomic energy programs, too. We are developing peaceful uses for the atom--like the submarine I started last summer in Connecticut, that has an atomic engine in it.
If it weren't for defense, we could go ahead much faster with the peaceful uses of the atom, and of the uranium that you are mining around here in this State.
They tell me that the independent uranium producers who are doing so much to get this ore out, are running into difficulties with existing Government procedures. I am going to look into that matter when I get back to Washington and see if it can't be straightened out, and in a way that will give the little fellow a square break. I am always for the little man. You will find that that is a Democratic policy. If you look over the Republican policy, you will find that they are for property. The Democratic policy is for people. I think the people come first, then the property will take care of itself.
We are working for peace. That is what our defense program is for. And with God's help we will get it. Then we will be even more prosperous. At least, we will have more prosperity if you don't elect the Republicans so they can bring on another depression.
Your Government under the Democratic Party has worked with you to create the prosperity we now have--and we will keep on doing just that.
One of the things we hope to do in the future is this Upper Colorado River storage project. This will do a tremendous lot for the whole area. The Secretary of the Interior is working on the planning of this project now, so that the dams can be built in such a way as not to damage the Dinosaur National Monument.
I think that Dinosaur National Monument ought to be preserved. In fact, it ought to be enlarged. After this election, we will enlarge it to accommodate the dinosaur wing of the whole Republican Party. We will fill it up with the old Republican fossils. Then maybe we could change the name of it to the Republican National Dinosaur Monument. They are still living so far in the past that they never in the world will catch up with the progress of this great Nation of ours. You can't count on the Republicans to continue the progress we are making. They are always obstructing measures for the good of the people.
And I want you to do something for me. I want you to get out the record and read it, find out just how many projects they tried to sabotage, find out their record on everything that has been for the welfare and benefit of this country; and you will find that the majority of the Republicans in Congress were against them every single time. If you read the record, you won't have any trouble whatever about making up your mind.
Now, that record is hard to read. It is in fine print, and it is the dullest document that was ever published in the history of the world. But it has the facts and the figures in it, and if you are interested in the welfare of your country, you will read that record, and then you will vote for yourselves on election day. Because it is you that is affected. You are the Government. The people of this country have the power that makes the Government. And when you exercise that franchise, you put the people in there who are to run your Government. And when you don't vote, and when you don't do your duty, you get just the kind of government you deserve.
Now, don't forget, on November the 4th, go to the polls and vote for Adlai Stevenson, and this whole Democratic ticket here in Colorado and the country will be safe another 4 years.
[5.] RIFLE, COLORADO (Rear platform, 7:00 p.m.)
I appreciate very much that welcome, You know, when I was here in 1948, we just went through. I wouldn't let them do it this time, because I wanted particularly to tell that band how much I appreciated them getting up at 4 o'clock and coming to serenade the President down here a few miles to the next stop. The group showed a real and unselfish interest in the Government. If the voters of Colorado and those of the country exercised the patriotism and initiative of young people like these, we wouldn't have to urge constantly that they exercise their right to vote. Everybody ought to take it on himself to vote. That is his patriotic duty.
There has been a rumor going around that I am out doing some campaigning for the Democratic ticket. Well, I am. That is my privilege as head of the Democratic Party. I am trying to tell you what the facts are and I want you to use your own judgment. That seems to worry a lot of the Republicans for some reason. I just want to tell them this is only the beginning. A lot more of them will be worried before I finish reading the terrible Republican record to the American people from one end of this country to the other.
I am out here because I believe that world peace, domestic prosperity, and the principles of justice and decency will be served better by the election of a Democratic ticket. That is just what you are going to do on the 4th of November.
Here in this district, you have been ably represented by Congressman Wayne Aspinall. He has done a good job for western Colorado, and I know you will elect him again for another term. I have known Bill Metzger for many, many years. He will make you a good Governor, one that you will be proud of, and I hope you will elect him, too--and I know you will.
This year the Democratic Party has at the head of the ticket two of the best candidates this country has ever produced--Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman.
Stevenson and Sparkman understand the problems of the little fellow, and they understand the problems of the West. They know that locked in the hills of western Colorado you have some of the most valuable natural resources to be found any place in the Nation. They know that these resources must be developed for all the people, and not just for the special interests. An example of the way to do this is the Bureau of Mines project for developing gasoline and oil products from coal and oil shale. There are about a thousand square miles in this area north and west of Rifle where beds of oil shale, hundreds of feet thick, will yield an average of 15 gallons or more of oil per ton of shale.
This project promises to open up a vast new era of industrial expansion. This is a wonderful example of the way the Government can undertake experimental work and develop resources from which all the people will benefit.
But the Republicans are wildly running around the country trying to fool the people into believing that projects like these are "socialism." They say the power dams, reclamation projects, and the whole development of this mountain area should not be carried forward by your own Government for your own benefit.
And now the Republican candidate has caved in to the power lobby. He is going around, too, claiming that the Government projects represent a "philosophy of the left"-whatever that is--and that they are regimenting people and destroying liberty.
Well, I have been looking into this subject as I have traveled around the country for the past 8 days, and I have met thousands of wonderful people, and I haven't seen anybody in slavery. Nobody has complained to me about having his liberty destroyed.
So, don't be fooled by this gloomy poppycock the Republicans are spreading.
Vote for the party that believes in you, and believes in the future development and the prosperity of this great country.
You yourselves are the Government of this country. The people are the Government, and the way they exercise the powers of government is at the polls on election day.
It is your duty to go to the polls and vote for yourselves. Vote for your own interest. Vote for the welfare of this great Nation. Vote for peace in the world.
Vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman, and the whole Democratic ticket, and you will have 4 more years of good government all across the country.
Thank you very much.
[6.] GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO (Rear platform, 7:50 p.m.)
Thank you--thank you very much. I appreciate that, and I am greatly enjoying this trip through Colorado. You know, when I was here before in 1948, it was 7:30 in the morning, and I didn't think anybody would be up at that time of day, but the people turned out. They wanted to hear the facts and they wanted to listen--and I see you are doing it better at this time of day, and I appreciate it more than I can tell you.
I have enjoyed the visit with your Congressman, Wayne Aspinall, about your progress out here, and your problems. Be sure and send him back to Congress because he has Colorado's interests at heart, and he does his job as well as any Congressman in the Congress. And I would like very much to see you vote for John William Metzger. I have known him a long time, and he is a good man and he will make you a good Governor.
My principal interest in being out here, however, is to get you to understand some of the issues of this campaign, and understand also that the Democrats have nominated a man to head the ticket, and a man for Vice President--two men who are unbearable so far as ability and honor and everything else is concerned--they'll never have better candidates for the Office of President than Adlai Stevenson, and John Sparkman. You will make no mistake voting for them.
I am not running for office this time--I didn't know whether you knew that or not-but I am going to leave the Government of the United States in good hands. Adlai Stevenson is one of the best qualified men ever to run for President. He has been a great Governor of a great State, and he has a lot of experience in foreign affairs.
John Sparkman is one of the best men that the Senate has ever had there--and I spent 10 years in the Senate myself, so you know I am paying him a high compliment.
One of the things that is most important to your progress and prosperity out here is the Federal program of reclamation and power projects. I have been telling the people in the West that the Republican Party is against these projects, and I have been exposing the record, showing how the Republicans in Congress have voted to hinder and obstruct and slash appropriations for these great dams and irrigation systems and powerlines.
A Republican spokesman piped up the other day, and said this was unfair--that a Republican started the reclamation program. That's right, it was a Republican-Theodore Roosevelt, back in 1902, who started it. He was a Republican who had a great sympathy for the West. And you know what happened to him? He was thrown out of the Republican Party by the Wall Street bankers. He had to go out and set up a party of his own--the Bull Moose party. And the special interest groups have run the Republican Party ever since.
The Republican Party always kicks out its liberals, or whips them into line. I could tell you a lot about this, and I will before this campaign is over.
The reason the Republican Party can't really be in favor of reclamation and public power, is that they let the private power lobby write their policies for them.
The private power lobby has been spending millions of dollars to persuade the people that everything from TVA to Boulder Dam is "creeping socialism." So naturally, the Republicans have to call it the same thing.
But it is not. It is a good American program of developing the resources of the people for the benefit of the people. And the Democratic Party has been doing things through Congress, and getting it done, in spite of the Republican opposition.
One of the best things for this whole part of Colorado would be the proposed Colorado River storage project. It would bring more electric power and new and bigger industries to this area. It would mean thousands of acres of new irrigated land, and more water for farms. The plans for this project are just about complete. They are being drawn up in the Department of the Interior, under the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Oscar Chapman. I don't have to tell you people here in Colorado about your fellow citizen, Oscar Chapman. He is one of the greatest friends the people of the West ever had.
After Oscar Chapman has approved these plans for the Upper Colorado River storage project, they come to the White House. They have to be approved by the President, and then they go to Congress.
Now, I won't be President when that project gets to the White House, and I can't make any promises for the man who will be there; but I can tell you this, if Governor Stevenson is the President, it will be considered on its merits and decided in the best interests of the people. And his decision won't be dictated by the private power lobby. And that's a lot more than I can say for the Republican candidate.
I am afraid he might say that this project is applying the "philosophy of the left" to the Government--and it might help the housewife get the dishes washed--so he will be against it. And that is what he has been saying about some of the Government dams and power projects that are under construction and have been built in these areas.
If you want that Upper Colorado storage project, you had better vote Democratic.
Some of you were a little careless up here in 1948, and didn't vote the Democratic ticket. But you had better be more careful this time.
The situation is of vital importance to the welfare of the country, and I tell all the people, when I talk to them, that their interests are at stake. You yourselves are the ones who have the interest in this election. When you vote on November the 4th you vote for yourselves, because you are the Government. You either vote for progress, you either vote for the improvement of the resources of this country and for the benefit of the people, or you vote against yourselves, you vote for a backward-looking crowd who do not believe in the things that have made this great West great.
Consider these things, and on election day use your own good judgment. For your own best interests, vote the Democratic ticket straight, and then the country will be safe another 4 years for the welfare and benefit of the Nation as a whole, and for the people that make up the Nation.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: In the course of his remarks on October 6 the President referred to Representative Walter K. Granger, Democratic candidate for Senator, Representative Reva Beck Bosone, former Judge of the Salt Lake City Municipal Court, Mayor Earl J. Glade of Salt Lake City, Democratic candidate for Governor, and Ernest R. McKay, Democratic candidate for Representative, all of Utah, and Senators Robert A. Taft of Ohio, Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, William E. Jenner of Indiana, and James P. Kem of Missouri. The President also referred to Representative Wayne N. Aspinall, Democratic candidate for Representative, John W. Metzger, Democratic candidate for Governor, and Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary of the Interior, all of Colorado.
[1.] SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (Rear platform, 7:50 a.m.)
Thank you very much for this cordial welcome this early in the morning. I appreciate it most highly. I remember how cordial you were when I came here in 1948, and I shall never forget it. I think I told you then about how my grandfather came out here with an ox train load of merchandise, and how Brigham Young helped him out. And since that time the records have been examined and the church files show that it actually happened just as I told it.
He had the first train of his own loaded with merchandise for the Army, and when he got here the colonel in charge of the post had another freighter that he wanted to hold and he wouldn't accept my grandfather's load of goods. And it almost broke him, and if it hadn't been for Brigham Young it would have broke him--but they worked it out and everybody was happy except the colonel in charge of the post.
I have been making this trip to campaign for the Democratic Party. I am happy to do that, because I think you suspect by this time that I am a good Democrat. I believe with all my heart that it is in the best interests of the country for the Democrats to win this election. I think we are going to win it. We are going to win on the basis of our record, our platform, and our candidates.
On each of these things, when you compare the Democratic situation with the Republican situation, the Democrats look so much better that there is no difficulty whatever to make a choice.
First, take the record. The Democratic Party has been giving the country good government for the past 20 years. At home the country is in better shape than it ever has been. Abroad, we are making good progress in building up our defenses against the terrible threat of Communist aggression.
At home and abroad, the Republican Party has been against almost every forward-looking proposal that we have made in these years. Now they are trying to rewrite history, but I am not going to let them get away with it. I have been reading the record on them, and I am going to keep it up, and tell the people exactly what the facts are.
You see, nearly every place I go, somebody in the crowd around the street will let out a yell "Give 'em hell, Harry." Well now, I don't strive for a reputation of that kind. I tell the truth on them, and that's a lot better for the country than giving them hell, because they can't stand the truth.
I hope every one of you will have an opportunity to read the Democratic platform, and the Republican platform, too. They will show you what the difference is between the two parties. I think we have the best platform any political party ever adopted, and think the Republican platform is about the worst one I ever read.
Along with everything else they even endorsed that "do-nothing" 80th Congress. You remember it? Back in 1948 at Philadelphia, about 2:30 in the morning, I told the Democratic Convention that I was going to call a special session of Congress and see whether the Republicans in the 80th Congress would put their platform into effect. Oh, they had a platform that was intended to appeal to everybody in the country, so I called them together and they met for about 3 or 4 weeks and didn't do a thing. I knew that was exactly what they would do--because they never do expect to carry out a platform even when it's good, but this one is so bad they can't carry it out.
If they were to win this election, you could count on them giving you the same sort of treatment you had from that 80th Congress-which won the election in 1948 for me.
I told you when I was here in 1948 what the Republicans had been trying to do to your reclamation and power programs. They have been trying to do the same ever since-and you can't trust them.
The Democrats have it all over the Republicans in the case of candidates--just like we do everything else. And I don't know of any place where that is clearer than it is here in Utah.
You have a fine Democratic candidate here for United States Senator--Waiter K. Granger. Walter K. Granger has made a wonderful record in Congress, and if you will send him to the Senate, you will have somebody there who will look out for your interests. Now I have known Mr. Granger for I don't know how long--15 or 18 years-and he has always been on the side of the people. You need a man like that in the Senate worse than ever now--I'll say you need him from this State.
For Congress you have Mrs. Reva Beck Bosone. Judge Bosone has also made a grand record in Congress. This is especially true on reclamation matters. If you send her back to Congress, and send Walt Granger to the Senate, you will have a very effective team to work for you on the reclamation projects that mean so much to this great western country.
I also hope very much that you will promote your mayor, Earl Glade, to be Governor of this great State of Utah. I hope you will also send that good Democrat that was just introduced to you, Mr. McKay, to Congress. He impresses me as being a wonderful man. The best thing, you know, for your own safety, is to just vote the Democratic ticket and send them all in.
I urge you most strongly to vote for our candidate for President and Vice President-Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman.
I think it would be a tragedy for the present Republican candidate to be elected President of the United States. He has been a great general, but he has already shown in this campaign that he cannot be depended on to master the great political issues with which we are faced. He has surrendered to the most reactionary elements of the Republican Party. He is not the kind of man we ought to have for President.
Now I like him. I made him Chief of Staff of the United States Army. I sent him to Europe to command the NATO military setup, and I have every confidence in him as a military man. But as President and politician, he wouldn't know what to do.
Now, on the other hand, I am more than ever impressed each day with what Adlai Stevenson offers to the Nation. He is talking sense to the American people. He is wise. He is courageous. He is honest. He is a man you can trust. And he won't be taken in by any special interest lobby.
If you elect him and a Democratic Congress, the country will be safe for another 4 years.
Again I want to thank you very much for this most cordial welcome.
[2.] PROVO, UTAH (Address at Brigham Young University, 10:05 a.m., see Item 281)
[3.] HELPER, UTAH (Rear platform,
I appreciate that greeting very, very much. I am glad to be back here in Helper once more. I was here in 1948 and gave you some down to earth facts about that "good for-nothing, do-nothing" Republican 80th Congress, if you remember. Then you did your duty at the polls, and I want to congratulate you on the way you voted. I understand Carbon County had the best record of any county in Utah in the vote you gave the Democratic Party in 1948. And I hope you will repeat that again. I am sure you will do it over in 1952, and send Adlai Stevenson to the White House.
I have always been interested in the way your good town got its name. They tell me that Helper was named for the helper engines that pull the train up these wonderful mountains you have around here. You know, I think the Republican Party needs some helper engines. It would take a whole roundhouse full of these helpers to get them elected this fall, with their terrible record holding them back.
As for their candidate for President, I don't think helper engines can get him out of the trouble he is in now. With the crew he has got around him, I don't think he will ever be elected. I just don't think the people are going to elect a President who has surrendered to Taft and McCarthy and Jenner and Kern.
I am glad to come to your State and tell you that I am proud of the Democratic candidate for United States Senator. Utah has a wonderful man in Walter Granger. He has been one of the best Members of the House of Representatives for the past 12 years, and I know he is going to make a great United States Senator.
Your candidate for the House of Representatives, Mr. Ernest McKay, knows the importance of using our national resources for the benefit of all the people, instead of just the special interests. I met Mr. Glade this morning, the present mayor of Salt Lake City--he was there to welcome me, and I understand he is going to be the next Governor of Utah.
Now when you vote for President and Vice President, remember that this country has never had two better candidates than Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. They have shown by their record that they stand for the interests of the common everyday man.
I want to tell you this, too. They are telling the truth in this campaign. They aren't like some Republican politicians who are running around distorting the facts and trying to rewrite history.
You can count on Stevenson and Sparkman to continue the prosperity you now have. You people here in Price Canyon area know the importance of steady employment. Twenty years ago, when the American people voted the Republicans out of office, there were 12 to 14 million people out of work in this country. But today our country is working full blast, with over 62 million people in good jobs.
I told the students up at the Brigham Young University in Provo this morning that in 1932 when they were graduating, they didn't know where to go for jobs. There were 14 million people out of jobs, and the graduates of that university would be lucky if they got a job at a dollar a day. And then I read them an extract from a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle about the graduation of last June from colleges, in which it was said the students now have so many jobs to pick from, they don't know which one to take. Now I think you had better keep up that situation.
And the reason you can do that is because the Democratic Party has courage. This thing did not come about by accident. The Democratic Party has had the courage, the wisdom, and the faith to make our economy work in a way that all Americans, not just a special few, could enjoy prosperity and full employment.
Our policy is for the people. You will find that the Republican policy is always a property interest. The Democratic Party's policy is the welfare and benefit of all the people, not just a few.
Compare the terrible Republican record and the terrible Republican platform this year with the Democratic record and with the Democratic platform this year, and you can't possibly go wrong because you will vote the Democratic ticket.
Study them carefully. You will only come to one conclusion. Vote the Democratic ticket. Vote your own interests--that is what you are doing. You see, the power of the Government in this country is in the people, and the people exercise that power by voting.
You go to the polls and vote for your own interests--vote for the welfare of this great Nation, and vote for peace in the world, by voting the Democratic ticket, and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
Thank you a lot.
[4.] GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO (Rear platform, 5:05 p.m.)
Thank you. I appreciate it very much--very much indeed this introduction, and I am particularly happy over that synthetic "truth brigade" that is supposed to be following me.
You know, I was shadowed in 1948 by somebody, and now I am being shadowed again. You know what's the trouble? We're telling the truth on them, and that really hurts.
I am here in one of my many jobs--campaigning as a leader of the Democratic Party. It is good to come to a Democratic place like this. You gave me a good big majority in 1948. You have been Democratic since 1932. You have a good Democrat representing you in Congress--Wayne Aspinall. Keep him there. He is an excellent man.
Awhile ago when I heard your national committeeman introduce John Metzger, I didn't know who he was talking about. I know him as Bill, and I think he is all right, and he will make you a good Governor. I have known him a long, long time. Bill is a go-getter, and he will be an asset to Colorado and to you.
Now I want to call your attention particularly to our candidates for President and Vice President. I don't think that we have ever had abler men to head the Democratic ticket than we have in Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. They are both men of experience in government. They are both liberal-minded gentlemen, and they will carry on this great Government of ours in the manner in which it ought to be carried on. And you must elect them in November.
I am glad to see the great progress this area is making. I have been reading a copy of your good newspaper just as I came along here. You know, it is a grand paper. I have been in politics for 30 years, and in elective public office for 30 years, and down in Missouri there are 7 metropolitan papers, and I never had one for me in my whole life. If they did get for me, I would know I was wrong.
I wish we had newspapers like that in Missouri. We need them. In most places I visit, the newspapers are against the Democrats. Now, why that is I don't know. And against the plain people, generally.
But your paper is a good one, and I am happy to say that about your newspaper. Your paper told of the progress you are making--when most papers keep telling the people how bad things are. If you listen to most of them, you would think the country is just on the verge of ruin.
Well now, here is the quotation from your good paper: "There are more animals in the county this year, as compared with last; there are more acres of bearing orchard and more acres of meadow hay; people own more household furniture; stocks of merchandise are greater; there is more farm equipment, except combines; there has been a great deal of building and improvements; and mining is on the increase."
Well now, that's an awful situation for the Republicans to have to swallow in a campaign year.
In addition to this, I understand you have a fine new veterans hospital here that will be of great value to this whole area. I congratulate you on that record. You are especially fortunate here, but we are having the same sort of situation all over the United States.
This prosperity of ours is driving the Republican politicians almost crazy. That's the reason for those four little men following me. They can't stand to see the country so well off under a Democratic administration.
I was reading a speech by the Republican candidate for President the other day. He was doing his best to prove that this prosperity did not exist--that it was all done with mirrors, according to him. And at the end he said: "Do you want to stand still, mired in the mud of this New Deal prosperity, or do you want to march down the shining corridor of progress to the Republican idea of prosperity?"
Well, what do you think? I know what I think, and I know I am pouring it on them so you won't have to.
Do you want to march off under the orders of the Republican general, down that "shining corridor"--whatever that is--or would you just as soon stay behind, stuck in the mud of this terrible New Deal prosperity ?
The last time the Republicans marched off with us we were a long time getting back where we belonged.
Today is the first day of your community chest drive, and I hope you will take a little of that prosperity and give it to help others who need it. That's the American program.
One of the things that the Republicans are saying is that this prosperity is due to the defense program, and to the fighting in Korea. That is not true. Don't you believe it. If we didn't have the defense program, we would be even more prosperous. We would have a lot of things that we are holding back on now, because of defense.
That is true of the atomic energy programs, too. We are developing peaceful uses for the atom--like the submarine I started last summer in Connecticut, that has an atomic engine in it.
If it weren't for defense, we could go ahead much faster with the peaceful uses of the atom, and of the uranium that you are mining around here in this State.
They tell me that the independent uranium producers who are doing so much to get this ore out, are running into difficulties with existing Government procedures. I am going to look into that matter when I get back to Washington and see if it can't be straightened out, and in a way that will give the little fellow a square break. I am always for the little man. You will find that that is a Democratic policy. If you look over the Republican policy, you will find that they are for property. The Democratic policy is for people. I think the people come first, then the property will take care of itself.
We are working for peace. That is what our defense program is for. And with God's help we will get it. Then we will be even more prosperous. At least, we will have more prosperity if you don't elect the Republicans so they can bring on another depression.
Your Government under the Democratic Party has worked with you to create the prosperity we now have--and we will keep on doing just that.
One of the things we hope to do in the future is this Upper Colorado River storage project. This will do a tremendous lot for the whole area. The Secretary of the Interior is working on the planning of this project now, so that the dams can be built in such a way as not to damage the Dinosaur National Monument.
I think that Dinosaur National Monument ought to be preserved. In fact, it ought to be enlarged. After this election, we will enlarge it to accommodate the dinosaur wing of the whole Republican Party. We will fill it up with the old Republican fossils. Then maybe we could change the name of it to the Republican National Dinosaur Monument. They are still living so far in the past that they never in the world will catch up with the progress of this great Nation of ours. You can't count on the Republicans to continue the progress we are making. They are always obstructing measures for the good of the people.
And I want you to do something for me. I want you to get out the record and read it, find out just how many projects they tried to sabotage, find out their record on everything that has been for the welfare and benefit of this country; and you will find that the majority of the Republicans in Congress were against them every single time. If you read the record, you won't have any trouble whatever about making up your mind.
Now, that record is hard to read. It is in fine print, and it is the dullest document that was ever published in the history of the world. But it has the facts and the figures in it, and if you are interested in the welfare of your country, you will read that record, and then you will vote for yourselves on election day. Because it is you that is affected. You are the Government. The people of this country have the power that makes the Government. And when you exercise that franchise, you put the people in there who are to run your Government. And when you don't vote, and when you don't do your duty, you get just the kind of government you deserve.
Now, don't forget, on November the 4th, go to the polls and vote for Adlai Stevenson, and this whole Democratic ticket here in Colorado and the country will be safe another 4 years.
[5.] RIFLE, COLORADO (Rear platform, 7:00 p.m.)
I appreciate very much that welcome, You know, when I was here in 1948, we just went through. I wouldn't let them do it this time, because I wanted particularly to tell that band how much I appreciated them getting up at 4 o'clock and coming to serenade the President down here a few miles to the next stop. The group showed a real and unselfish interest in the Government. If the voters of Colorado and those of the country exercised the patriotism and initiative of young people like these, we wouldn't have to urge constantly that they exercise their right to vote. Everybody ought to take it on himself to vote. That is his patriotic duty.
There has been a rumor going around that I am out doing some campaigning for the Democratic ticket. Well, I am. That is my privilege as head of the Democratic Party. I am trying to tell you what the facts are and I want you to use your own judgment. That seems to worry a lot of the Republicans for some reason. I just want to tell them this is only the beginning. A lot more of them will be worried before I finish reading the terrible Republican record to the American people from one end of this country to the other.
I am out here because I believe that world peace, domestic prosperity, and the principles of justice and decency will be served better by the election of a Democratic ticket. That is just what you are going to do on the 4th of November.
Here in this district, you have been ably represented by Congressman Wayne Aspinall. He has done a good job for western Colorado, and I know you will elect him again for another term. I have known Bill Metzger for many, many years. He will make you a good Governor, one that you will be proud of, and I hope you will elect him, too--and I know you will.
This year the Democratic Party has at the head of the ticket two of the best candidates this country has ever produced--Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman.
Stevenson and Sparkman understand the problems of the little fellow, and they understand the problems of the West. They know that locked in the hills of western Colorado you have some of the most valuable natural resources to be found any place in the Nation. They know that these resources must be developed for all the people, and not just for the special interests. An example of the way to do this is the Bureau of Mines project for developing gasoline and oil products from coal and oil shale. There are about a thousand square miles in this area north and west of Rifle where beds of oil shale, hundreds of feet thick, will yield an average of 15 gallons or more of oil per ton of shale.
This project promises to open up a vast new era of industrial expansion. This is a wonderful example of the way the Government can undertake experimental work and develop resources from which all the people will benefit.
But the Republicans are wildly running around the country trying to fool the people into believing that projects like these are "socialism." They say the power dams, reclamation projects, and the whole development of this mountain area should not be carried forward by your own Government for your own benefit.
And now the Republican candidate has caved in to the power lobby. He is going around, too, claiming that the Government projects represent a "philosophy of the left"-whatever that is--and that they are regimenting people and destroying liberty.
Well, I have been looking into this subject as I have traveled around the country for the past 8 days, and I have met thousands of wonderful people, and I haven't seen anybody in slavery. Nobody has complained to me about having his liberty destroyed.
So, don't be fooled by this gloomy poppycock the Republicans are spreading.
Vote for the party that believes in you, and believes in the future development and the prosperity of this great country.
You yourselves are the Government of this country. The people are the Government, and the way they exercise the powers of government is at the polls on election day.
It is your duty to go to the polls and vote for yourselves. Vote for your own interest. Vote for the welfare of this great Nation. Vote for peace in the world.
Vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman, and the whole Democratic ticket, and you will have 4 more years of good government all across the country.
Thank you very much.
[6.] GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO (Rear platform, 7:50 p.m.)
Thank you--thank you very much. I appreciate that, and I am greatly enjoying this trip through Colorado. You know, when I was here before in 1948, it was 7:30 in the morning, and I didn't think anybody would be up at that time of day, but the people turned out. They wanted to hear the facts and they wanted to listen--and I see you are doing it better at this time of day, and I appreciate it more than I can tell you.
I have enjoyed the visit with your Congressman, Wayne Aspinall, about your progress out here, and your problems. Be sure and send him back to Congress because he has Colorado's interests at heart, and he does his job as well as any Congressman in the Congress. And I would like very much to see you vote for John William Metzger. I have known him a long time, and he is a good man and he will make you a good Governor.
My principal interest in being out here, however, is to get you to understand some of the issues of this campaign, and understand also that the Democrats have nominated a man to head the ticket, and a man for Vice President--two men who are unbearable so far as ability and honor and everything else is concerned--they'll never have better candidates for the Office of President than Adlai Stevenson, and John Sparkman. You will make no mistake voting for them.
I am not running for office this time--I didn't know whether you knew that or not-but I am going to leave the Government of the United States in good hands. Adlai Stevenson is one of the best qualified men ever to run for President. He has been a great Governor of a great State, and he has a lot of experience in foreign affairs.
John Sparkman is one of the best men that the Senate has ever had there--and I spent 10 years in the Senate myself, so you know I am paying him a high compliment.
One of the things that is most important to your progress and prosperity out here is the Federal program of reclamation and power projects. I have been telling the people in the West that the Republican Party is against these projects, and I have been exposing the record, showing how the Republicans in Congress have voted to hinder and obstruct and slash appropriations for these great dams and irrigation systems and powerlines.
A Republican spokesman piped up the other day, and said this was unfair--that a Republican started the reclamation program. That's right, it was a Republican-Theodore Roosevelt, back in 1902, who started it. He was a Republican who had a great sympathy for the West. And you know what happened to him? He was thrown out of the Republican Party by the Wall Street bankers. He had to go out and set up a party of his own--the Bull Moose party. And the special interest groups have run the Republican Party ever since.
The Republican Party always kicks out its liberals, or whips them into line. I could tell you a lot about this, and I will before this campaign is over.
The reason the Republican Party can't really be in favor of reclamation and public power, is that they let the private power lobby write their policies for them.
The private power lobby has been spending millions of dollars to persuade the people that everything from TVA to Boulder Dam is "creeping socialism." So naturally, the Republicans have to call it the same thing.
But it is not. It is a good American program of developing the resources of the people for the benefit of the people. And the Democratic Party has been doing things through Congress, and getting it done, in spite of the Republican opposition.
One of the best things for this whole part of Colorado would be the proposed Colorado River storage project. It would bring more electric power and new and bigger industries to this area. It would mean thousands of acres of new irrigated land, and more water for farms. The plans for this project are just about complete. They are being drawn up in the Department of the Interior, under the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Oscar Chapman. I don't have to tell you people here in Colorado about your fellow citizen, Oscar Chapman. He is one of the greatest friends the people of the West ever had.
After Oscar Chapman has approved these plans for the Upper Colorado River storage project, they come to the White House. They have to be approved by the President, and then they go to Congress.
Now, I won't be President when that project gets to the White House, and I can't make any promises for the man who will be there; but I can tell you this, if Governor Stevenson is the President, it will be considered on its merits and decided in the best interests of the people. And his decision won't be dictated by the private power lobby. And that's a lot more than I can say for the Republican candidate.
I am afraid he might say that this project is applying the "philosophy of the left" to the Government--and it might help the housewife get the dishes washed--so he will be against it. And that is what he has been saying about some of the Government dams and power projects that are under construction and have been built in these areas.
If you want that Upper Colorado storage project, you had better vote Democratic.
Some of you were a little careless up here in 1948, and didn't vote the Democratic ticket. But you had better be more careful this time.
The situation is of vital importance to the welfare of the country, and I tell all the people, when I talk to them, that their interests are at stake. You yourselves are the ones who have the interest in this election. When you vote on November the 4th you vote for yourselves, because you are the Government. You either vote for progress, you either vote for the improvement of the resources of this country and for the benefit of the people, or you vote against yourselves, you vote for a backward-looking crowd who do not believe in the things that have made this great West great.
Consider these things, and on election day use your own good judgment. For your own best interests, vote the Democratic ticket straight, and then the country will be safe another 4 years for the welfare and benefit of the Nation as a whole, and for the people that make up the Nation.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: In the course of his remarks on October 6 the President referred to Representative Walter K. Granger, Democratic candidate for Senator, Representative Reva Beck Bosone, former Judge of the Salt Lake City Municipal Court, Mayor Earl J. Glade of Salt Lake City, Democratic candidate for Governor, and Ernest R. McKay, Democratic candidate for Representative, all of Utah, and Senators Robert A. Taft of Ohio, Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, William E. Jenner of Indiana, and James P. Kem of Missouri. The President also referred to Representative Wayne N. Aspinall, Democratic candidate for Representative, John W. Metzger, Democratic candidate for Governor, and Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary of the Interior, all of Colorado.