October 22, 1952
[1.] SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA (Courthouse, 8:35 a.m.)
Mr. Mayor, distinguished candidates election on the Democratic ticket:
I am very happy to be back in Scranton today. This is good Democratic country and there's nothing I like better than to visit with Democrats. I remember very well how kindly you received me when I spoke here just 4 years ago tomorrow. And I remember, too, the solid Democratic majority you gave me in the election in 1948. And I certainly appreciated it.
You know, there is one thing I am happy about. You have a good newspaper with the courage to give you the facts, in the Scranton Times. And I want to say to you that that sort of newspaper is decidedly in the minority these days. I have been all over the United States, from one end of the country to the other, and about 90 percent of the press--[here some tables, with sound equipment and too many people standing on them, gave way]--is against the Democrats.
Anybody get hurt? Nobody's hurt--I am glad to say. Somebody knocked out the sound equipment, but then I guess that will be good for you.
As you well know, I have not come here-I am afraid the sound has gone off, but they will get it fixed directly; get it fixed ?--asking anything for myself. The Democratic Party has given me everything that a man could ask. I have had every honor that the party can give me. And I am not like a lot of people who get everything out of the Democratic Party and then say, "I like Ike." I do like Ike, but I like him in the Army. don't think he belongs in the White House.
I am out here campaigning for a very, very great man--the Governor of Illinois, who will make you a good President, Adlai Stevenson.
I'm not going to give you a lecture about Governor Stevenson today. He'll be here to speak for himself next week, on John Mitchell Day.
Then you'll have a chance to see for yourselves that he is the best new leader to emerge in this country since another Governor went to Washington in 1932--Franklin Roosevelt.
I hope you'll enjoy his visit. John Mitchell Day in Scranton is always a good day, for John Mitchell was a good man and a great trade union leader.
And after it is over, I hope you'll go out and vote for Adlai Stevenson. And I am sure that is exactly what Scranton is going to do.
He is the man we need as President, these next 4 years. And to support him, we will need a real working majority of liberal Democrats in the Congress.
We need men like Judge Bard in the Senate-take a bow, Judge--to help our new President carry out the pledges of the Democratic Party. We need men like Harry O'Neill in the House of Representatives. Everybody's been yelling at the car I am in this morning "Give 'era hell, Harry," and I thought they were talking to Harry O'Neill.
I urge you to vote for all these candidates on November the 4th. They are good Democrats and your friends. Your interests and your country's interests will be safe with them.
You people here in Scranton know how important it is to have a national administration that is concerned about your problems, and anxious to help you to solve them. Harry O'Neill and your Democratic Party leaders have done a great deal to get new contracts in here and to create new opportunities. That is because the Democrats believe in using the power of the Government for the benefit of all the people, and not for just a few.
For 20 years the Democratic Party has been working to promote the interests and the welfare of the plain people in this country. That was the meaning and the purpose of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal--and of Harry Truman's Fair Deal.
During this whole period, for 3 years and 11 months out of every 4 years, we have had to fight off Republican attempts to wreck the programs that were put on the books by the New Deal and the Fair Deal. At every session of Congress--as Harry O'Neill can tell you--we have had a struggle with the Republican obstructionists. They have put things in the way of every progressive measure we have offered.
This goes on all the time--day in and day out--until the last few weeks of the campaign for President. And then they come around and try to tell you that they have been for everything. Then, suddenly, as you will find, the Republican candidates begin to take an interest in the people, begin to sing a strange new song to the people of the country. It is called the "me too" song. It's a marvelous thing to hear.
You may remember the old story about the maidens who sat on a rock, and sang sweet songs to addle the brains of passing sailors and cause their ships to crash.
Well, the Republican song, at this time in an election year, is just about the same thing. It is intended to beguile the voters and to addle their brains--and cause them to go crashing on the rocks of a Republican victory in the election.
This year the Republican candidate for President spent the first 6 weeks of the campaign embracing all the reactionary leaders in his party--the men who made the Republican record of obstruction in the Congress. He hugged them all. Indeed, Senator Taft, "Mr. Republican" himself, received the special privilege of telling the country, on the candidate's behalf, that they were in complete agreement on all domestic issues. Don't forget that, now. He is in complete agreement with Taft on all domestic issues.
First, the Republican candidate embraced the Old Guard leaders--and their record, too. A few days ago came a sudden shift. The sweet singing began. The "me too" song was heard in the land--just as Willkie sang it, and just as Dewey sang it.
There is a verse of this song for almost every issue. Today, I have time to tell you of only one--the "me too" version of social security.
Now, it is a matter of plain fact that our original social security law was one of the great accomplishments of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. And it's also a fact that the big expansion of social security was put through by the Fair Deal--after the election of 1948.
And, finally, it's a fact that right from the beginning, a great majority of the Republicans in the Congress have fought, blocked, and hampered our social security program.
Yet the Republican candidate for President spoke in Los Angeles--now beat that, if you can!--a few days ago and claimed that his party was in favor of social security and wanted to improve and expand it. He even made the startling assertion--and I quote him directly--that "the social security law was a bipartisan law." He called it bipartisan and said the overwhelming majority of his party voted for it.
That, my friends, is taking extreme liberties with the truth. I am not sure, of course, that the candidate was deliberately trying to deceive the people. It may well be that he just doesn't know the facts of his party's record.
But whether he knows the facts or not, I think you ought to know them, and so I'm going to give them to you.
Here is the record:
In 1935 the Republican Congressmen voted--95 to 1--to eliminate old-age insurance from the original social security bill.
In 1936 the Republicans tried to win the election by making social security an issue-their candidate for President--and I bet you can't name him--called it a "cruel hoax," and actually advocated its repeal.
In 1939 the Republican Senators voted--9 to 1--against raising the old-age assistance grants, and to help the poorer States.
In 1948 the Republican 80th Congress-that terrible Congress on which I won the election--passed a bill over my veto that took the protection away from nearly 1 million people. The Republicans in both Houses voted overwhelmingly for that proposition.
In 1949 the Republican Congressmen voted--4 to 1--to cripple the great social security expansion we put through that year.
And just this year--in 1952--almost twothirds of the Republican Congressmen voted against a bill that would increase social security benefits.
Now, let me give you one word of warning. The Republicans have tried to make much of the fact that on a few occasions a majority of their Senators and Congressmen voted for final passage of social security bills. That has been so, but it does not change the facts as I have given them to you.
The Republicans, you see, have a favorite trick--it's an old trick, as Congressman O'Neill can tell you--which they use all the time to confuse the voters and obscure their real intentions. They will fight as hard as they can against a progressive bill--voting for crippling amendments, or voting for a recommital motion which would turn the bill back to committee and bury it there. Then, if we defeat them on all these efforts, they sometimes go along and vote for final passage--thus making a record to take home to their unwary constituents.
That is what they did on the original social security bill in 1935 and again, one time, this year. But if you look into the real votes, the key votes, the ones that make the difference between good laws and bad, you'll find most of the Republicans on the wrong side, time after time, just as I have demonstrated here today.
There is one other word of warning I would give you. The "me too" statements the Republican candidate is making now, about our social security laws, apply not only to his party's record and intentions, but to his own personal position. In his speech in Los Angeles he said of social security: "This is a matter that is much on my heart."
Well, if the security of our people is "much on his heart" it has only recently arrived there. It has only been 3 years since this candidate, speaking for himself, not as a politician, told an audience in Texas: "If all the Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They will have enough to eat, a bed to sleep on, and a roof over their heads."
On another occasion he said: "In these times we hear so much of security . . . I should think the best example of it would be a man serving a lifetime prison sentence." Now which would you rather do, have social security or go to jail? Answer me!
My friends, it has been 20 years since we had in the White House a man who did not really feel--deeply and personally--the needs and rights of his fellow citizens for a secure livelihood and a secure future.
Yet now the Republicans offer you a man who has had complete social security in the Army all his life, but he has scorned the needs of others--except in that brief interval of time, the "me too" phase of the Republican campaign in a presidential election year.
Think, my friends, think hard. Where would you be, where would our country be, if we were dependent on a party with the kind of record I have described--or on a President with the basic attitude this man expressed, before he became a candidate for public office ?
I think that is a risk you cannot afford to take. Don't listen merely to the songs these people sing to you now. Look at the record. Look at what they have done--and said-in all the years past.
I urge upon you to think of your own interests. Remember that you, the people, have the right and the duty to choose the kind of government which shall rule this country. And it's your business to go to the polls on election day and exercise your right to tell the country what it should do for the next 4 years.
The choice is up to you. When you go to the polls, register that choice, vote for yourselves. Vote for what helps you. Vote in your own interests and vote for the best interests of the country.
And when you do that, we will have a Democratic administration for the next 4 years, and the country and the world will be safe.
Thank you a lot.
[2.] WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA (Wilkes-Barre Square, 9:55 a.m.)
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor, Congressman Flood:
I thank you most sincerely for this reception. I believe this welcome is bigger than it was when I was here in 1948. At that time I was trying to get a job for myself. Now I am not running for anything. I am trying to help another fellow get a job.
You have some fine candidates here in Pennsylvania. You have just met two of them--Judge Bard and Dan Flood. I like both of these gentlemen, and I sincerely hope you will keep Dan Flood in Washington, and send Judge Bard down there to do you a good job in the Senate.
Now I am out trying to help elect the Democratic ticket for two reasons. First, because I believe that the Democratic Party stands for those things that are best for all the people. And second, I am grateful to the Democratic Party because it has done everything for me that any one man could ever expect. I have had every honor at the hands of the Democratic Party that any man can have--and I am grateful. I am not like a lot of these birds that get everything out of the party and then get rich and join the Republican Party. I never expect to get rich, but I never expect to join the Republican Party, either--even if I do.
And I want to tell you another thing. In my opinion, this is the most important election since the Civil War. This election will decide whether we go back to the days of William McKinley or whether we will go forward with the progressive ideas of the Democratic Party.
It is important for your own interests and for the interests of the whole country that you elect as the next President of the United States the man who has made a great record as Governor of Illinois--Adlai Stevenson.
When I was here in 1948, I told you the big issue in the campaign was the people against the special interests. Now that is just as true today as it was in 1948, and it can be illustrated time and again.
Take one example. That awful Taft-Hartley law. Are you going to vote for yourselves, or against yourselves? The Republican platform endorsed that law. And I want to say to you the objective of the 80th Congress that I was campaigning against in 1948 was to drive the laboring man back to slavery. And that is what they will do again if the Republicans get control of this country.
Listen to what the Republican platform in 1952 says, and I quote: "We favor the retention of the Taft-Hartley Act, which guarantees to the workingman the right to quit his job at any time." And it also keeps him from organizing if he wants to, and holds him down by injunction--which I wouldn't use, as you steelworkers know.
Now, if you can beat that--well, if you go out and vote for a thing like that, you ought to have your head examined, I'll say that.
The Republicans seem to be hipped on the idea of having people quit their jobs. They have had a lot of experience with it. And when they were last in power, there were 12 to 14 million unemployed on the streets. You know, they had two depressions, they did, within 25 years. In the first one they had 7 million unemployed, the next time they had 14 million unemployed, and if you put them back you will probably have 28 million before you get through. So they let the people quit their jobs by invitation and not because they have to.
Now, let me tell you about some more Republican ideas on the Taft-Hartley Act, and what they think should be done to labor. I have got a copy of the Wall Street Journal here. I don't very often read the Wall Street Journal, but somebody interested in politics sent me this copy. The headline on the front page says, "New labor law. Congress ponders curb on industry-wide pay bargaining by unions"--wants a curb on that. And the headline says: "Mr. Taft has some ideas." I'll bet he has all right. Mr. Taft, you know, is going to run this administration if you elect the Republicans, because he will control the Senate.
The article goes on to say: "... if the Republicans hold their own or gain new strength in the House or Senate, it is almost certain that there will be a new effort next year to crack down on the unions." Now this is the Wall Street Journal talking, not me--I did my talking before I got to this quote.
"If the GOP controls Congress by a comfortable margin, the effort will probably succeed." Now that is the end of what the Wall Street Journal said.
We also have some other clues on what the Republicans want to do about Taft-Hartley. I have here the Washington Bulletin of the National Association of Manufacturers, that great liberal organization that is always looking out for the people.
It is dated October 7, 1952, and here is what it says--the National Association of Manufacturers talking--they don't like me very well, for some reason: "With the campaign in full swing, it already is possible to forecast some of the major struggles in Congress next winter. Regardless of who wins, the Taft-Hartley law must be defended. Stevenson wants it repealed and replaced. Eisenhower holds it 'might be used to break unions.' This remark will prompt liberals to demand revision. If revision is considered, the whole act is open to amendment." Now that is the National Association of Manufacturers talking.
So there you have the National Association of Manufacturers in agreement with the Republican platform--and I guess that is no surprise to you people.
You know which party represents Wall Street and the National Association of Manufacturers in Congress. It is not the Democratic Party. It is the Republican Party.
You also know it is the Democratic Party that stands up for the plain people of America and against the lobbies. You know where the Democratic Party stands on Taft-Hartley. It's in the platform. We want it repealed and replaced with a fair law.
I have tried to get that terrible law repealed, but the Republicans in Congress always voted for Taft-Hartley, and they get a few Democrats--well, I would say they are not Democrats, they are going under a Democratic label, they are Dixiecrats and Shivercrats, and a few that are no friends of yours, they are just so-called Democrats--to vote with them. Then things stood pat.
That's the reason we need to elect a good Democratic majority to the Congress. That is why we must elect a President who will stand up and fight for the rights of labor.
Now it is up to you. You people are the Government. You exercise your control of the Government when you vote. And when you don't exercise that control, when you don't vote, and then you quarrel about the kind of government you get, you "ain't got nobody" to blame but yourselves.
The only reason I am going up and down this country trying to tell you the issues is because I want you to start thinking. Start thinking in your own interests. Start thinking for the welfare of this great Nation of ours.
If you do that, you will go down to the polls on the 4th day of November and you will elect Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman President and Vice President of this great United States, and we will continue to have 4 more years of prosperous and free government.
Thank you very much.
[3.] BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 11:22 a.m.)
Good morning. I appreciate very much this reception. I am very glad to be with you again. It is a beautiful morning, but I have already been over half of Pennsylvania this morning--going and cunning-and I have enjoyed that, too.
I am working day and night, in case you don't know it, for the Democratic ticket. Because I believe that we must elect people who will carry forward our programs to bring prosperity at home and world peace abroad.
I hope you will send Pat McGowan to Congress, and elect Judge Bard to the Senate. If you have your own interests at heart, you will elect Adlai Stevenson of Illinois President of the United States. He is a man of principle, who tells you where he stands on the issues. He is a man you can trust. And his great record as Governor of Illinois shows that he is well qualified to be President of the United States.
Now the Republican candidate won't tell you where he stands on the issues. He has a different policy for each of the 48 States, and he is asking you to sign a blank check.
The General says one thing in the East. He says another thing in the West. What he says in the North is different from what he says in the South. His advisers are telling him that is smart politics. I won't say what I think about the morals of it, but I say I don't think it's even smart politics. I don't think the American people are going to be fooled that easily. I don't think they are going to let him get away with double-talk.
I have always thought that honesty is best in politics, just as it is anywhere else. I have got into trouble sometimes by saying just exactly what I thought. You may have heard something about that at one time or another. But I have stuck to my guns, and I know that it pays in the long run.
The true facts finally get out to the people, no matter how much the one-party press tries to cover them up or distort them. It is absolutely necessary to have as President a man who has the backbone to stand firm for what is right. The President has to make many decisions that determine what happens to the people of this country.
If he can't stand up against the pressures, or if he doesn't know what he is doing, he could plunge us into another depression--or even worse, he might get us into a third world war.
My friends, I don't think you can afford to take a chance on a man who has jumped around on the issues the way the Republican candidate has in this campaign.
I am asking you to weigh these issues carefully. I am out going up and down the country trying to get people to think. I am not running for anything. I will be out of a job January 20th, and I may be around trying to get you to get one for me. But I am very much interested in this great country of ours.
I am very much interested in the endeavor which I have been making for 7 years to get a world peace that will stand up and last beyond your generation. If that can be done, we are facing the greatest age in history.
Now, in order to face that age as we should, you should study the issues in this campaign. In my opinion, this is the most important campaign that we have gone through since the Civil War. It means the future of the world is at stake. The future of this great Republic is at stake, and your own future is at stake.
If you don't have somebody in the White House, and if you don't have a Congress who is looking forward instead of backward, you will be in a bad way over the next 4 years.
Now if you will just study the situation, as I am begging you to, use your brains and your head, then on the 4th of November you will go to the polls and you will vote for the welfare of the free world, you will vote for the forward-looking progress for this the greatest Republic in history, and you will vote for your own interests.
And if you do that, you can't help but vote the Democratic ticket and have 4 more years of good government in this country. And you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House, and you will send a Democratic delegation from Pennsylvania to the Congress, and then things will go forward instead of backward.
Thank you very much.
[4.] NORTHUMBERLAND, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 12:38 p.m.)
I am very appreciative of this nice welcome, and I am glad to be here this morning. I understand that Joseph Priestley, the famous British scientist, lived here from 1794 to 1804--10 years. He was a great progressive scientist and scholar, and I think he would be amazed if he could see the miracle of the 20th century. And I think he would also be amazed if he could see the courtesy of the young men and young women of this great day and age. It is amazing to me--both of them, to look back just 20 years, and consider the tremendous progress we have made in this country. We have emerged from the depths of a terrible depression with 14 million unemployed, to become the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
This has happened under the sound policies of 20 years of Democratic leadership. It has happened, despite the constant, nagging opposition of the backward-looking Republican Party.
I hope you will think about these things when you go to the polls to vote on November the 4th. I hope you will consider which party has worked the hardest for the welfare of all the plain everyday people in this country, and what the results have been.
And I believe you should reflect carefully on what your own future would be under a party of reaction--a party that is controlled by the big money interests, by a party that doesn't care a thing about your personal welfare.
I believe we stand at the threshold of the greatest age in history. With all the modern miracles of science, we can make this world a better place to live in than we can ever possibly dream about.
I wish I were 18 instead of 68. But I expect to live to be a hundred, anyway, and I'll see some of it anyway--though not all of it.
If I were your age I would be living 20 years from now in the greatest age of history--after we have 20 more years of Democratic rule.
Now, if we are going to achieve that wonderful future, we must have a forward-looking--I want you young people to listen to this--you have got to have a forward-looking Government, one that is thinking about the future, and not one that is trying to turn the clock back to William McKinley in 1896, which is what the Republican Party wants to do.
You young people ought to do a little bit of studying of history. You ought to study history--you ought to inform yourselves on how it comes that some of you want to roll backwards instead of go forward. You can't do that. The world won't stand still for you. You have got to go forward.
I am urging you to use a little commonsense, to use a little judgment, to do a little earnest studying, not only of history but of conditions as they affect you and your future.
When you do that, you won't do but one thing, you will go home and pray over them and tell your momma and poppa that--you can't vote, you know--nine-tenths of you can't vote, but you will vote in the next election, maybe--2 or 3 years from now. But you ought to go home and tell your mom and poppa that you want this to be a country of progress, one that looks forward. And you won't have it under Taft. Taft will run the Government, not Ike. Ike won't have a word to say about the policies.
In the first place, my young friends, Ike is not going to get a chance to operate, you can be sure of that. So, I am advising you-I am advising you, for your own good-I am 68 years old and I have had a lot of experience--I have had a lot of experience-consider these things.
Now, you young people, you had a good time here this morning--and so have I. I like you. I like for you to yell your lungs out, and you ought to be on one side or other of the fence. But I don't want to see you go backward, I don't want to see you back up down the track. I want to see you go forward the other way.
Vote for the welfare of the country. Now if you use a little judgment, use your head, you can't do but one thing--because the people on this side--[indicating]--can vote-you can't do but one thing, and that is on November the 4th, vote the Democratic ticket and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
[5.] WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 1:40 p.m.)
You know, I am very glad to be in Williamsport today. I appreciate this reception more than I can tell you. Somebody told me that Williamsport was the place where the little baseball league started. Now I am something of a fan, although not a very good one. I am not nearly so good a fan as the Chief Justice of the United States. He can tell you the history of every player, his batting average, how many games he has won and lost. But I can't do that, although I like baseball games. I think one of the finest things in the world is to get young people interested in that great American sport. So I congratulate you on having done something that is good for citizenship. You may have heard a rumor as to why I am in Pennsylvania. Well, I am going to let you in on a secret, I am out campaigning for the Democratic ticket. I have been telling the people around the country that there is one fundamental issue in this campaign, and that is the kind of party you want to control your Government.
The Democratic Party is the party of the plain everyday people. That party has been working for your interests for 20 years.
The Republican Party is the rich man's party, the party that is controlled by the oil lobby, and giant corporations, the power lobby, and the big financial interests.
You know, I say down in Washington that there is the oil lobby, there is the China lobby, there is the real estate lobby, the National Association of Manufacturers lobby, and the only lobbyist that the common everyday man has in Washington to look after his interests entirely is the President of the United States. So you had better think about that.
I think you know why the Republican Party is not your party. I think you know their record. The Republicans sat on their hands after the depression hit in 1929. They scarcely lifted a finger to help them--and we had about 14 million unemployed.
They fought Franklin Roosevelt's efforts to 'bring you out of that depression, because they placed the greed of the special interests above the welfare of all the people. The Republicans fought the New Deal all the way--and they have fought me tooth and toenail ever since I have been President, because I have stood up against them, because I have been working for the people. I think it is an honor to have that sort of people fight you.
Now in Congress they have been against social security, against minimum wage, against the Wagner Act, against full employment legislation, against public housing, against unemployment compensation, against Federal aid for schools and hospitals, against price controls and rent controls. I haven't been able to find out anything I can tell you that they are for. They have been against everything that has been for the welfare of this country.
The Old Guard reactionary Republican Party is no friend of yours. You ought to remember that. Those Republicans are always trying to pull a fast one on you--and they are trying to do it again this year. They knew they couldn't win this election on their terrible reactionary record which I have just read to you, so they decided to try to camouflage it. So they picked a general, a man with 40 years experience in the Army, a man with no experience in civilian affairs, a military hero who would talk in generalities. And they have been telling him what to say, making sure he doesn't tell you the true facts about the Republican record. They don't dare let that record out, and to tell you the honest truth, I think the good General doesn't know the facts. I don't think he knows what it is all about--that's the reason he gets mixed up.
Now, don't you be fooled--don't you be fooled by what the General tells you. If you read his speeches in the West, and then read his speeches in the East, then read them in the North and read them in the South, you can't tell what he's for. He's for everything and against nothing. A man has to be against something if he is going to be President of the United States. He has also got to be for the people, in the first place.
If the Republicans win this election, you will have big business government in Congress, and a military man in the White House. You may have government by generals-but the general welfare won't enter into it, and you will be the losers, for sure.
There is just one thing for you to do, and that is to go out and study the issues--find out what it's all about--inform yourselves. That is all I am asking you to do. That is the reason I am out here talking to you, because I want to call your attention to the fact that you ought to know what is going on.
And if you listen to these Republican orators, you will never find out what they stand for. They are for anything they think can get the votes.
But study their record in the Congress. Find out how they voted on these various issues I have just named to you. And then find out where you would be if you had gotten people in the Congress and in the White House that want to turn the clock back.
Now we had a Republican Congress called the 80th Congress, on which I campaigned in 1948. And I want to tell you that if I hadn't been in the White House, standing guard in your interests, they would have succeeded in turning the clock back. And then where would you be?
Think about that a little bit. Then use good sense. Use good sense. Vote for the welfare of the free world. Vote for the welfare of the greatest Republic in the history of the world. Vote in your own interests. And when you do that, you will send Judge Bard to the Senate, you will send Pat McGowan to the House of Representatives, and the next President will be Adlai Stevenson-and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
[6.] ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 4:05 p.m.)
Well, the last time I was here it was early in the morning, and I was working at that time to get myself elected, if you remember. I came out and talked from this platform at 6 o'clock in the morning, and I was surprised to see that so many people get up as-early as I do in this good town. This year I am not seeking anything for myself. I am working for a victory of a new Democratic candidate this fall.
You have some fine Democratic candidates here in Pennsylvania. You have just met Judge Bard who is the candidate for the Senate and who will make you a good Senator, and Joseph A. Moran, who will make you a good Congressman.
I am very anxious that you should send the right sort of people to the Congress. I have had experience with contrary Congresses, and I know what it means to a president to have the right sort of Congress.
On the national ticket we have two of the best qualified men any party has ever offered the voters--Adlai Stevenson for President and John Sparkman for Vice President.
Governor Stevenson has a great record in Illinois as its Governor. He is talking about the issues, and telling you where he stands. He is a real friend of the common everyday man, and not a front for the special interests and for Wall Street.
You know, in the past 7 years, under the Democratic Party, the average man has fared better than in any period of American history. Let me give you an example. In 1945, the average straight time hourly rate of railroad employees was about 93 cents. Under an increase effective October 1st, 1952, that income will be about $1.86--an increase of exactly 100 percent. It is true that a lot of that raise has been taken up by price increases--more than it should have been-and more than it would have been if the Republicans had helped us to keep some decent price controls. But even after adjustments for price changes, the workingman is a lot better off than he was in 1945. And so far as 1932 is concerned, there is no comparison.
And look at the other things workers have gotten, things like social security, railroad retirement, unemployment compensation, and recognition for the rights of labor.
It isn't just workers who have gained in this period. Everyone else, too, has had his share--the farmer, the businessman, and everybody.
Now, all these gains did not come by accident. They came because you had a government that worked for the welfare of the people. The Republicans have never liked the things we have done to help the people. They fought against most of them--time and again they have fought the things that we wanted for the people. And what have they fought for? Well, a good example of what they fought for is Taft-Hartley. The truth is that the Republican Party does not represent the average man in this country. Indeed, the Republican Party represents the big special interests, the oil lobby, the real estate lobby, the big corporations and the banks, and all the rest of that crew. I saw a poll the other day that said over 90 percent of the bankers were going to vote the Republican ticket this year. I think that is a pretty good sign of who the Republican Party is working for.
You can't expect their five-star candidate for President to make his party any better. He has endorsed the Republican platform, which is the most reactionary document you ever saw. In fact, up in New England the other day I called it a lousy platform--and that's just what it is.
It is the most recent reactionary document-and the most reactionary that you have seen in 20 years.
The Republican candidate for President has urged the reelection to Congress of the worst elements in the Republican Old Guard, men who voted wrong time after time when the welfare of the common man is at stake. The General has contradicted himself on so many issues that you can't tell exactly where he does stand. He meets himself coming back--worse than a train going around Horseshoe Curve.
That is a matter for you to think about, and to think about it carefully, for the reason that it is your interest that is at stake. I am only out here trying to get you to think--to think for yourself.
Study the platforms of these two parties. Study the record of the Republicans in Congress. Study the record of the Democrats in Congress, and then after you have done that, consider the welfare of the free world, consider the welfare of this great Nation of yours--the greatest Republic in the history of the world--and then consider your own welfare.
If you will do that, I don't have to argue with you. I just want you to do a little thinking-to think for yourself. If you do that, you will go to the polls on November the 4th and Adlai Stevenson will be President of the United States for the next 4 years, and the country and the world will be safe.
[7.] JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA (Near the train station, 5:25 p.m.)
I am more than happy to be with you here today. I remember very well that wonderful reception you gave me when I was here in 1948. I appreciated that, and I also appreciate the way Johnstown voted. I want you to do as well or better for Adlai Stevenson. Won't you do that for me?
I have been going around the country telling the people the facts and the truth about what is at stake in this election. I think it is one of the most important we have had. In fact, I think it is the most important since the Civil War. I have been pointing out the real and the essential differences between the two parties. The Democratic Party has a heart for the plain everyday people of the country. That is what Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was all about, and that is what Harry Truman's Fair Deal is all about.
The Republican Party, on the other hand, is the servant of the big banks, big industry, the real estate lobby, the oil lobby, and the rest of that crew. With them profits come first ahead of the people.
And you know the reason you have to be so careful in this election, they have the oil lobby and the real estate lobby and the China lobby and the National Association of Manufacturers, and the only man in Washington who represents all the people and is elected by all the people and who is the people's lobbyist is the President of the United States. So you will have to be mighty careful who you put in there.
These special interests, these special lobbies, have fought the New Deal and the Fair Deal from the beginning. They are fighting still, and they will go back on all the progress we have made if you are foolish enough to give them a chance. That is not what they are telling you now during this campaign, but it is the way they have been voting in the Congress.
Of course, there is a whole generation of young people now who do not remember much about what happened to this country the last time the Republicans ran the national government. Well, anybody who can't remember had better ask and find out, because the same thing may happen again if you let them into power this time. There are a lot of people here who know exactly what it was like.
I am told that in the Bethlehem plant here at Johnstown, the mills are 8 miles long. I am also told that from 1930 to 1934 no smoke came from even one of the hundreds of stacks in all those miles of mills.
Now they will tell you that that just happened. Well, why is it that they have been expanding and growing and have people working at jobs? I will tell you why. It is because we had a change of administration that had a heart for the people.
I was told, at that same time, that twothirds of the homes in Cambria County were up for sale for delinquent taxes 20 years ago. Conditions were just that desperate all over the country, it was not confined to your place in this county, in this city.
Now, any time I mention the great depression, the Republicans yell that we are just running against Herbert Hoover. Well, for one thing, they keep bringing him up. It was not our idea. It was not our idea at all. They had him turn up at their Republican Convention, to remind everybody that he was still a power in the Republican Party. We didn't take him there.
And for another thing, the Republican record in Congress during all the years since Hoover's time, shows they haven't learned a thing, and probably will act as they did before, and just like he did, if they got in again.
They are the people who vote against social security, they vote against-housing, they vote against rent controls, they vote against minimum wages. They are the people who voted for Taft-Hartley and for the labor injunction in the steel case. They are the people that want to take over the Government. That is the reason I am going around the country, trying to remind the people to do a little thinking for themselves. And it wasn't 1932 when they did these things. It was 1946, it was 1947, it was 1949, and even 1952.
You know, you ought to read the fine print in the Congressional Record and find out how these birds behave when they think you don't know what they are doing, and then you will know what to do. The Republicans never have looked after the interests of the common people--and they never will, no matter what their five-star candidate may tell you at election time. It is clear by now that any relation between what he says about the Republican Party and its actual record is just purely coincidental.
It isn't necessary to "pour it on." All that is necessary for me to do is to tell you the truth and get you to think a little bit. Signs like that young man is wearing "Give 'em hell, Harry"--I don't have to give 'em hell, it's a lot worse for me to tell the truth on 'em, because they can't stand the truth.
Now you people are intelligent. You are a cross-section of this United States of America. You are educated. You understand the English language. You understand what words mean when they are put together in a proper way. I want you to read the Democratic 'platform. The Democratic platform says exactly what the Democratic Party stands for. It says exactly what we have done and what we hope to do.
Then I want you to read the Republican platform, and if you can make anything out of it but gobbledegook, I'll pay for lying. It's about the lousiest platform that has ever been presented to this country of intelligent people to expect them to support it. Then they go around and tell you what they are going to do, and how they love you, and they have been for this and that, and what they will do in the future.
But I am asking you to read the Republican platform, and read the fine print in the Congressional Record, and see how these birds voted. And then you can't do anything else but use your heads. If you do that, you will vote for the welfare of the free world. You will vote for the welfare of the free world. And the greatest Nation in the history of the world is the leader of the free world--that is the United States of America.
Then you will vote for the interests of this great country--which is your interest. Then you will look after yourselves. You will remember what happened--you will remember 1932, and you will also remember that awful "do-nothing good-for-nothing" Both Congress that I put under the sod in 1948.
And if you do that, then my trip around the country has not been in vain. I am trying to wake you up to just think--to think in your own interest. And when you do that, on November the 4th you will go to the polls and you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House and we will have 4 more years of good government and prosperity.
Thank you very much.
[8.] PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (Hill District Police Station, 8 p.m.)
ยท I appreciate your coming down here tonight. It is a wonderful, wonderful compliment.
You know, I have been going around all over this United States, trying to get people in a frame of mind to do some thinking on the responsibilities which this election imposes upon the people--the everyday people.
I have tried--well, anyway, I want you not only to cheer me to show me you like me, I want you to go to the polls and show me that you like me by voting the Democratic ticket on November the 4th.
NOTE: In the course of his remarks on October 22 the President referred to Mayor James Hanlon of Scranton, Judge Guy K. Bard, Democratic candidate for Senator, Representative Harry P. O'Neill, Mayor Luther M. Kniffen of Wilkes-Barre, Representative Daniel J. Flood, and Patrick A. McGowan and Joseph A. Moran, Democratic candidates for Representative, all of Pennsylvania.
[1.] SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA (Courthouse, 8:35 a.m.)
Mr. Mayor, distinguished candidates election on the Democratic ticket:
I am very happy to be back in Scranton today. This is good Democratic country and there's nothing I like better than to visit with Democrats. I remember very well how kindly you received me when I spoke here just 4 years ago tomorrow. And I remember, too, the solid Democratic majority you gave me in the election in 1948. And I certainly appreciated it.
You know, there is one thing I am happy about. You have a good newspaper with the courage to give you the facts, in the Scranton Times. And I want to say to you that that sort of newspaper is decidedly in the minority these days. I have been all over the United States, from one end of the country to the other, and about 90 percent of the press--[here some tables, with sound equipment and too many people standing on them, gave way]--is against the Democrats.
Anybody get hurt? Nobody's hurt--I am glad to say. Somebody knocked out the sound equipment, but then I guess that will be good for you.
As you well know, I have not come here-I am afraid the sound has gone off, but they will get it fixed directly; get it fixed ?--asking anything for myself. The Democratic Party has given me everything that a man could ask. I have had every honor that the party can give me. And I am not like a lot of people who get everything out of the Democratic Party and then say, "I like Ike." I do like Ike, but I like him in the Army. don't think he belongs in the White House.
I am out here campaigning for a very, very great man--the Governor of Illinois, who will make you a good President, Adlai Stevenson.
I'm not going to give you a lecture about Governor Stevenson today. He'll be here to speak for himself next week, on John Mitchell Day.
Then you'll have a chance to see for yourselves that he is the best new leader to emerge in this country since another Governor went to Washington in 1932--Franklin Roosevelt.
I hope you'll enjoy his visit. John Mitchell Day in Scranton is always a good day, for John Mitchell was a good man and a great trade union leader.
And after it is over, I hope you'll go out and vote for Adlai Stevenson. And I am sure that is exactly what Scranton is going to do.
He is the man we need as President, these next 4 years. And to support him, we will need a real working majority of liberal Democrats in the Congress.
We need men like Judge Bard in the Senate-take a bow, Judge--to help our new President carry out the pledges of the Democratic Party. We need men like Harry O'Neill in the House of Representatives. Everybody's been yelling at the car I am in this morning "Give 'era hell, Harry," and I thought they were talking to Harry O'Neill.
I urge you to vote for all these candidates on November the 4th. They are good Democrats and your friends. Your interests and your country's interests will be safe with them.
You people here in Scranton know how important it is to have a national administration that is concerned about your problems, and anxious to help you to solve them. Harry O'Neill and your Democratic Party leaders have done a great deal to get new contracts in here and to create new opportunities. That is because the Democrats believe in using the power of the Government for the benefit of all the people, and not for just a few.
For 20 years the Democratic Party has been working to promote the interests and the welfare of the plain people in this country. That was the meaning and the purpose of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal--and of Harry Truman's Fair Deal.
During this whole period, for 3 years and 11 months out of every 4 years, we have had to fight off Republican attempts to wreck the programs that were put on the books by the New Deal and the Fair Deal. At every session of Congress--as Harry O'Neill can tell you--we have had a struggle with the Republican obstructionists. They have put things in the way of every progressive measure we have offered.
This goes on all the time--day in and day out--until the last few weeks of the campaign for President. And then they come around and try to tell you that they have been for everything. Then, suddenly, as you will find, the Republican candidates begin to take an interest in the people, begin to sing a strange new song to the people of the country. It is called the "me too" song. It's a marvelous thing to hear.
You may remember the old story about the maidens who sat on a rock, and sang sweet songs to addle the brains of passing sailors and cause their ships to crash.
Well, the Republican song, at this time in an election year, is just about the same thing. It is intended to beguile the voters and to addle their brains--and cause them to go crashing on the rocks of a Republican victory in the election.
This year the Republican candidate for President spent the first 6 weeks of the campaign embracing all the reactionary leaders in his party--the men who made the Republican record of obstruction in the Congress. He hugged them all. Indeed, Senator Taft, "Mr. Republican" himself, received the special privilege of telling the country, on the candidate's behalf, that they were in complete agreement on all domestic issues. Don't forget that, now. He is in complete agreement with Taft on all domestic issues.
First, the Republican candidate embraced the Old Guard leaders--and their record, too. A few days ago came a sudden shift. The sweet singing began. The "me too" song was heard in the land--just as Willkie sang it, and just as Dewey sang it.
There is a verse of this song for almost every issue. Today, I have time to tell you of only one--the "me too" version of social security.
Now, it is a matter of plain fact that our original social security law was one of the great accomplishments of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. And it's also a fact that the big expansion of social security was put through by the Fair Deal--after the election of 1948.
And, finally, it's a fact that right from the beginning, a great majority of the Republicans in the Congress have fought, blocked, and hampered our social security program.
Yet the Republican candidate for President spoke in Los Angeles--now beat that, if you can!--a few days ago and claimed that his party was in favor of social security and wanted to improve and expand it. He even made the startling assertion--and I quote him directly--that "the social security law was a bipartisan law." He called it bipartisan and said the overwhelming majority of his party voted for it.
That, my friends, is taking extreme liberties with the truth. I am not sure, of course, that the candidate was deliberately trying to deceive the people. It may well be that he just doesn't know the facts of his party's record.
But whether he knows the facts or not, I think you ought to know them, and so I'm going to give them to you.
Here is the record:
In 1935 the Republican Congressmen voted--95 to 1--to eliminate old-age insurance from the original social security bill.
In 1936 the Republicans tried to win the election by making social security an issue-their candidate for President--and I bet you can't name him--called it a "cruel hoax," and actually advocated its repeal.
In 1939 the Republican Senators voted--9 to 1--against raising the old-age assistance grants, and to help the poorer States.
In 1948 the Republican 80th Congress-that terrible Congress on which I won the election--passed a bill over my veto that took the protection away from nearly 1 million people. The Republicans in both Houses voted overwhelmingly for that proposition.
In 1949 the Republican Congressmen voted--4 to 1--to cripple the great social security expansion we put through that year.
And just this year--in 1952--almost twothirds of the Republican Congressmen voted against a bill that would increase social security benefits.
Now, let me give you one word of warning. The Republicans have tried to make much of the fact that on a few occasions a majority of their Senators and Congressmen voted for final passage of social security bills. That has been so, but it does not change the facts as I have given them to you.
The Republicans, you see, have a favorite trick--it's an old trick, as Congressman O'Neill can tell you--which they use all the time to confuse the voters and obscure their real intentions. They will fight as hard as they can against a progressive bill--voting for crippling amendments, or voting for a recommital motion which would turn the bill back to committee and bury it there. Then, if we defeat them on all these efforts, they sometimes go along and vote for final passage--thus making a record to take home to their unwary constituents.
That is what they did on the original social security bill in 1935 and again, one time, this year. But if you look into the real votes, the key votes, the ones that make the difference between good laws and bad, you'll find most of the Republicans on the wrong side, time after time, just as I have demonstrated here today.
There is one other word of warning I would give you. The "me too" statements the Republican candidate is making now, about our social security laws, apply not only to his party's record and intentions, but to his own personal position. In his speech in Los Angeles he said of social security: "This is a matter that is much on my heart."
Well, if the security of our people is "much on his heart" it has only recently arrived there. It has only been 3 years since this candidate, speaking for himself, not as a politician, told an audience in Texas: "If all the Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They will have enough to eat, a bed to sleep on, and a roof over their heads."
On another occasion he said: "In these times we hear so much of security . . . I should think the best example of it would be a man serving a lifetime prison sentence." Now which would you rather do, have social security or go to jail? Answer me!
My friends, it has been 20 years since we had in the White House a man who did not really feel--deeply and personally--the needs and rights of his fellow citizens for a secure livelihood and a secure future.
Yet now the Republicans offer you a man who has had complete social security in the Army all his life, but he has scorned the needs of others--except in that brief interval of time, the "me too" phase of the Republican campaign in a presidential election year.
Think, my friends, think hard. Where would you be, where would our country be, if we were dependent on a party with the kind of record I have described--or on a President with the basic attitude this man expressed, before he became a candidate for public office ?
I think that is a risk you cannot afford to take. Don't listen merely to the songs these people sing to you now. Look at the record. Look at what they have done--and said-in all the years past.
I urge upon you to think of your own interests. Remember that you, the people, have the right and the duty to choose the kind of government which shall rule this country. And it's your business to go to the polls on election day and exercise your right to tell the country what it should do for the next 4 years.
The choice is up to you. When you go to the polls, register that choice, vote for yourselves. Vote for what helps you. Vote in your own interests and vote for the best interests of the country.
And when you do that, we will have a Democratic administration for the next 4 years, and the country and the world will be safe.
Thank you a lot.
[2.] WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA (Wilkes-Barre Square, 9:55 a.m.)
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor, Congressman Flood:
I thank you most sincerely for this reception. I believe this welcome is bigger than it was when I was here in 1948. At that time I was trying to get a job for myself. Now I am not running for anything. I am trying to help another fellow get a job.
You have some fine candidates here in Pennsylvania. You have just met two of them--Judge Bard and Dan Flood. I like both of these gentlemen, and I sincerely hope you will keep Dan Flood in Washington, and send Judge Bard down there to do you a good job in the Senate.
Now I am out trying to help elect the Democratic ticket for two reasons. First, because I believe that the Democratic Party stands for those things that are best for all the people. And second, I am grateful to the Democratic Party because it has done everything for me that any one man could ever expect. I have had every honor at the hands of the Democratic Party that any man can have--and I am grateful. I am not like a lot of these birds that get everything out of the party and then get rich and join the Republican Party. I never expect to get rich, but I never expect to join the Republican Party, either--even if I do.
And I want to tell you another thing. In my opinion, this is the most important election since the Civil War. This election will decide whether we go back to the days of William McKinley or whether we will go forward with the progressive ideas of the Democratic Party.
It is important for your own interests and for the interests of the whole country that you elect as the next President of the United States the man who has made a great record as Governor of Illinois--Adlai Stevenson.
When I was here in 1948, I told you the big issue in the campaign was the people against the special interests. Now that is just as true today as it was in 1948, and it can be illustrated time and again.
Take one example. That awful Taft-Hartley law. Are you going to vote for yourselves, or against yourselves? The Republican platform endorsed that law. And I want to say to you the objective of the 80th Congress that I was campaigning against in 1948 was to drive the laboring man back to slavery. And that is what they will do again if the Republicans get control of this country.
Listen to what the Republican platform in 1952 says, and I quote: "We favor the retention of the Taft-Hartley Act, which guarantees to the workingman the right to quit his job at any time." And it also keeps him from organizing if he wants to, and holds him down by injunction--which I wouldn't use, as you steelworkers know.
Now, if you can beat that--well, if you go out and vote for a thing like that, you ought to have your head examined, I'll say that.
The Republicans seem to be hipped on the idea of having people quit their jobs. They have had a lot of experience with it. And when they were last in power, there were 12 to 14 million unemployed on the streets. You know, they had two depressions, they did, within 25 years. In the first one they had 7 million unemployed, the next time they had 14 million unemployed, and if you put them back you will probably have 28 million before you get through. So they let the people quit their jobs by invitation and not because they have to.
Now, let me tell you about some more Republican ideas on the Taft-Hartley Act, and what they think should be done to labor. I have got a copy of the Wall Street Journal here. I don't very often read the Wall Street Journal, but somebody interested in politics sent me this copy. The headline on the front page says, "New labor law. Congress ponders curb on industry-wide pay bargaining by unions"--wants a curb on that. And the headline says: "Mr. Taft has some ideas." I'll bet he has all right. Mr. Taft, you know, is going to run this administration if you elect the Republicans, because he will control the Senate.
The article goes on to say: "... if the Republicans hold their own or gain new strength in the House or Senate, it is almost certain that there will be a new effort next year to crack down on the unions." Now this is the Wall Street Journal talking, not me--I did my talking before I got to this quote.
"If the GOP controls Congress by a comfortable margin, the effort will probably succeed." Now that is the end of what the Wall Street Journal said.
We also have some other clues on what the Republicans want to do about Taft-Hartley. I have here the Washington Bulletin of the National Association of Manufacturers, that great liberal organization that is always looking out for the people.
It is dated October 7, 1952, and here is what it says--the National Association of Manufacturers talking--they don't like me very well, for some reason: "With the campaign in full swing, it already is possible to forecast some of the major struggles in Congress next winter. Regardless of who wins, the Taft-Hartley law must be defended. Stevenson wants it repealed and replaced. Eisenhower holds it 'might be used to break unions.' This remark will prompt liberals to demand revision. If revision is considered, the whole act is open to amendment." Now that is the National Association of Manufacturers talking.
So there you have the National Association of Manufacturers in agreement with the Republican platform--and I guess that is no surprise to you people.
You know which party represents Wall Street and the National Association of Manufacturers in Congress. It is not the Democratic Party. It is the Republican Party.
You also know it is the Democratic Party that stands up for the plain people of America and against the lobbies. You know where the Democratic Party stands on Taft-Hartley. It's in the platform. We want it repealed and replaced with a fair law.
I have tried to get that terrible law repealed, but the Republicans in Congress always voted for Taft-Hartley, and they get a few Democrats--well, I would say they are not Democrats, they are going under a Democratic label, they are Dixiecrats and Shivercrats, and a few that are no friends of yours, they are just so-called Democrats--to vote with them. Then things stood pat.
That's the reason we need to elect a good Democratic majority to the Congress. That is why we must elect a President who will stand up and fight for the rights of labor.
Now it is up to you. You people are the Government. You exercise your control of the Government when you vote. And when you don't exercise that control, when you don't vote, and then you quarrel about the kind of government you get, you "ain't got nobody" to blame but yourselves.
The only reason I am going up and down this country trying to tell you the issues is because I want you to start thinking. Start thinking in your own interests. Start thinking for the welfare of this great Nation of ours.
If you do that, you will go down to the polls on the 4th day of November and you will elect Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman President and Vice President of this great United States, and we will continue to have 4 more years of prosperous and free government.
Thank you very much.
[3.] BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 11:22 a.m.)
Good morning. I appreciate very much this reception. I am very glad to be with you again. It is a beautiful morning, but I have already been over half of Pennsylvania this morning--going and cunning-and I have enjoyed that, too.
I am working day and night, in case you don't know it, for the Democratic ticket. Because I believe that we must elect people who will carry forward our programs to bring prosperity at home and world peace abroad.
I hope you will send Pat McGowan to Congress, and elect Judge Bard to the Senate. If you have your own interests at heart, you will elect Adlai Stevenson of Illinois President of the United States. He is a man of principle, who tells you where he stands on the issues. He is a man you can trust. And his great record as Governor of Illinois shows that he is well qualified to be President of the United States.
Now the Republican candidate won't tell you where he stands on the issues. He has a different policy for each of the 48 States, and he is asking you to sign a blank check.
The General says one thing in the East. He says another thing in the West. What he says in the North is different from what he says in the South. His advisers are telling him that is smart politics. I won't say what I think about the morals of it, but I say I don't think it's even smart politics. I don't think the American people are going to be fooled that easily. I don't think they are going to let him get away with double-talk.
I have always thought that honesty is best in politics, just as it is anywhere else. I have got into trouble sometimes by saying just exactly what I thought. You may have heard something about that at one time or another. But I have stuck to my guns, and I know that it pays in the long run.
The true facts finally get out to the people, no matter how much the one-party press tries to cover them up or distort them. It is absolutely necessary to have as President a man who has the backbone to stand firm for what is right. The President has to make many decisions that determine what happens to the people of this country.
If he can't stand up against the pressures, or if he doesn't know what he is doing, he could plunge us into another depression--or even worse, he might get us into a third world war.
My friends, I don't think you can afford to take a chance on a man who has jumped around on the issues the way the Republican candidate has in this campaign.
I am asking you to weigh these issues carefully. I am out going up and down the country trying to get people to think. I am not running for anything. I will be out of a job January 20th, and I may be around trying to get you to get one for me. But I am very much interested in this great country of ours.
I am very much interested in the endeavor which I have been making for 7 years to get a world peace that will stand up and last beyond your generation. If that can be done, we are facing the greatest age in history.
Now, in order to face that age as we should, you should study the issues in this campaign. In my opinion, this is the most important campaign that we have gone through since the Civil War. It means the future of the world is at stake. The future of this great Republic is at stake, and your own future is at stake.
If you don't have somebody in the White House, and if you don't have a Congress who is looking forward instead of backward, you will be in a bad way over the next 4 years.
Now if you will just study the situation, as I am begging you to, use your brains and your head, then on the 4th of November you will go to the polls and you will vote for the welfare of the free world, you will vote for the forward-looking progress for this the greatest Republic in history, and you will vote for your own interests.
And if you do that, you can't help but vote the Democratic ticket and have 4 more years of good government in this country. And you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House, and you will send a Democratic delegation from Pennsylvania to the Congress, and then things will go forward instead of backward.
Thank you very much.
[4.] NORTHUMBERLAND, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 12:38 p.m.)
I am very appreciative of this nice welcome, and I am glad to be here this morning. I understand that Joseph Priestley, the famous British scientist, lived here from 1794 to 1804--10 years. He was a great progressive scientist and scholar, and I think he would be amazed if he could see the miracle of the 20th century. And I think he would also be amazed if he could see the courtesy of the young men and young women of this great day and age. It is amazing to me--both of them, to look back just 20 years, and consider the tremendous progress we have made in this country. We have emerged from the depths of a terrible depression with 14 million unemployed, to become the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
This has happened under the sound policies of 20 years of Democratic leadership. It has happened, despite the constant, nagging opposition of the backward-looking Republican Party.
I hope you will think about these things when you go to the polls to vote on November the 4th. I hope you will consider which party has worked the hardest for the welfare of all the plain everyday people in this country, and what the results have been.
And I believe you should reflect carefully on what your own future would be under a party of reaction--a party that is controlled by the big money interests, by a party that doesn't care a thing about your personal welfare.
I believe we stand at the threshold of the greatest age in history. With all the modern miracles of science, we can make this world a better place to live in than we can ever possibly dream about.
I wish I were 18 instead of 68. But I expect to live to be a hundred, anyway, and I'll see some of it anyway--though not all of it.
If I were your age I would be living 20 years from now in the greatest age of history--after we have 20 more years of Democratic rule.
Now, if we are going to achieve that wonderful future, we must have a forward-looking--I want you young people to listen to this--you have got to have a forward-looking Government, one that is thinking about the future, and not one that is trying to turn the clock back to William McKinley in 1896, which is what the Republican Party wants to do.
You young people ought to do a little bit of studying of history. You ought to study history--you ought to inform yourselves on how it comes that some of you want to roll backwards instead of go forward. You can't do that. The world won't stand still for you. You have got to go forward.
I am urging you to use a little commonsense, to use a little judgment, to do a little earnest studying, not only of history but of conditions as they affect you and your future.
When you do that, you won't do but one thing, you will go home and pray over them and tell your momma and poppa that--you can't vote, you know--nine-tenths of you can't vote, but you will vote in the next election, maybe--2 or 3 years from now. But you ought to go home and tell your mom and poppa that you want this to be a country of progress, one that looks forward. And you won't have it under Taft. Taft will run the Government, not Ike. Ike won't have a word to say about the policies.
In the first place, my young friends, Ike is not going to get a chance to operate, you can be sure of that. So, I am advising you-I am advising you, for your own good-I am 68 years old and I have had a lot of experience--I have had a lot of experience-consider these things.
Now, you young people, you had a good time here this morning--and so have I. I like you. I like for you to yell your lungs out, and you ought to be on one side or other of the fence. But I don't want to see you go backward, I don't want to see you back up down the track. I want to see you go forward the other way.
Vote for the welfare of the country. Now if you use a little judgment, use your head, you can't do but one thing--because the people on this side--[indicating]--can vote-you can't do but one thing, and that is on November the 4th, vote the Democratic ticket and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
[5.] WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 1:40 p.m.)
You know, I am very glad to be in Williamsport today. I appreciate this reception more than I can tell you. Somebody told me that Williamsport was the place where the little baseball league started. Now I am something of a fan, although not a very good one. I am not nearly so good a fan as the Chief Justice of the United States. He can tell you the history of every player, his batting average, how many games he has won and lost. But I can't do that, although I like baseball games. I think one of the finest things in the world is to get young people interested in that great American sport. So I congratulate you on having done something that is good for citizenship. You may have heard a rumor as to why I am in Pennsylvania. Well, I am going to let you in on a secret, I am out campaigning for the Democratic ticket. I have been telling the people around the country that there is one fundamental issue in this campaign, and that is the kind of party you want to control your Government.
The Democratic Party is the party of the plain everyday people. That party has been working for your interests for 20 years.
The Republican Party is the rich man's party, the party that is controlled by the oil lobby, and giant corporations, the power lobby, and the big financial interests.
You know, I say down in Washington that there is the oil lobby, there is the China lobby, there is the real estate lobby, the National Association of Manufacturers lobby, and the only lobbyist that the common everyday man has in Washington to look after his interests entirely is the President of the United States. So you had better think about that.
I think you know why the Republican Party is not your party. I think you know their record. The Republicans sat on their hands after the depression hit in 1929. They scarcely lifted a finger to help them--and we had about 14 million unemployed.
They fought Franklin Roosevelt's efforts to 'bring you out of that depression, because they placed the greed of the special interests above the welfare of all the people. The Republicans fought the New Deal all the way--and they have fought me tooth and toenail ever since I have been President, because I have stood up against them, because I have been working for the people. I think it is an honor to have that sort of people fight you.
Now in Congress they have been against social security, against minimum wage, against the Wagner Act, against full employment legislation, against public housing, against unemployment compensation, against Federal aid for schools and hospitals, against price controls and rent controls. I haven't been able to find out anything I can tell you that they are for. They have been against everything that has been for the welfare of this country.
The Old Guard reactionary Republican Party is no friend of yours. You ought to remember that. Those Republicans are always trying to pull a fast one on you--and they are trying to do it again this year. They knew they couldn't win this election on their terrible reactionary record which I have just read to you, so they decided to try to camouflage it. So they picked a general, a man with 40 years experience in the Army, a man with no experience in civilian affairs, a military hero who would talk in generalities. And they have been telling him what to say, making sure he doesn't tell you the true facts about the Republican record. They don't dare let that record out, and to tell you the honest truth, I think the good General doesn't know the facts. I don't think he knows what it is all about--that's the reason he gets mixed up.
Now, don't you be fooled--don't you be fooled by what the General tells you. If you read his speeches in the West, and then read his speeches in the East, then read them in the North and read them in the South, you can't tell what he's for. He's for everything and against nothing. A man has to be against something if he is going to be President of the United States. He has also got to be for the people, in the first place.
If the Republicans win this election, you will have big business government in Congress, and a military man in the White House. You may have government by generals-but the general welfare won't enter into it, and you will be the losers, for sure.
There is just one thing for you to do, and that is to go out and study the issues--find out what it's all about--inform yourselves. That is all I am asking you to do. That is the reason I am out here talking to you, because I want to call your attention to the fact that you ought to know what is going on.
And if you listen to these Republican orators, you will never find out what they stand for. They are for anything they think can get the votes.
But study their record in the Congress. Find out how they voted on these various issues I have just named to you. And then find out where you would be if you had gotten people in the Congress and in the White House that want to turn the clock back.
Now we had a Republican Congress called the 80th Congress, on which I campaigned in 1948. And I want to tell you that if I hadn't been in the White House, standing guard in your interests, they would have succeeded in turning the clock back. And then where would you be?
Think about that a little bit. Then use good sense. Use good sense. Vote for the welfare of the free world. Vote for the welfare of the greatest Republic in the history of the world. Vote in your own interests. And when you do that, you will send Judge Bard to the Senate, you will send Pat McGowan to the House of Representatives, and the next President will be Adlai Stevenson-and the country will be safe for another 4 years.
[6.] ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA (Rear platform, 4:05 p.m.)
Well, the last time I was here it was early in the morning, and I was working at that time to get myself elected, if you remember. I came out and talked from this platform at 6 o'clock in the morning, and I was surprised to see that so many people get up as-early as I do in this good town. This year I am not seeking anything for myself. I am working for a victory of a new Democratic candidate this fall.
You have some fine Democratic candidates here in Pennsylvania. You have just met Judge Bard who is the candidate for the Senate and who will make you a good Senator, and Joseph A. Moran, who will make you a good Congressman.
I am very anxious that you should send the right sort of people to the Congress. I have had experience with contrary Congresses, and I know what it means to a president to have the right sort of Congress.
On the national ticket we have two of the best qualified men any party has ever offered the voters--Adlai Stevenson for President and John Sparkman for Vice President.
Governor Stevenson has a great record in Illinois as its Governor. He is talking about the issues, and telling you where he stands. He is a real friend of the common everyday man, and not a front for the special interests and for Wall Street.
You know, in the past 7 years, under the Democratic Party, the average man has fared better than in any period of American history. Let me give you an example. In 1945, the average straight time hourly rate of railroad employees was about 93 cents. Under an increase effective October 1st, 1952, that income will be about $1.86--an increase of exactly 100 percent. It is true that a lot of that raise has been taken up by price increases--more than it should have been-and more than it would have been if the Republicans had helped us to keep some decent price controls. But even after adjustments for price changes, the workingman is a lot better off than he was in 1945. And so far as 1932 is concerned, there is no comparison.
And look at the other things workers have gotten, things like social security, railroad retirement, unemployment compensation, and recognition for the rights of labor.
It isn't just workers who have gained in this period. Everyone else, too, has had his share--the farmer, the businessman, and everybody.
Now, all these gains did not come by accident. They came because you had a government that worked for the welfare of the people. The Republicans have never liked the things we have done to help the people. They fought against most of them--time and again they have fought the things that we wanted for the people. And what have they fought for? Well, a good example of what they fought for is Taft-Hartley. The truth is that the Republican Party does not represent the average man in this country. Indeed, the Republican Party represents the big special interests, the oil lobby, the real estate lobby, the big corporations and the banks, and all the rest of that crew. I saw a poll the other day that said over 90 percent of the bankers were going to vote the Republican ticket this year. I think that is a pretty good sign of who the Republican Party is working for.
You can't expect their five-star candidate for President to make his party any better. He has endorsed the Republican platform, which is the most reactionary document you ever saw. In fact, up in New England the other day I called it a lousy platform--and that's just what it is.
It is the most recent reactionary document-and the most reactionary that you have seen in 20 years.
The Republican candidate for President has urged the reelection to Congress of the worst elements in the Republican Old Guard, men who voted wrong time after time when the welfare of the common man is at stake. The General has contradicted himself on so many issues that you can't tell exactly where he does stand. He meets himself coming back--worse than a train going around Horseshoe Curve.
That is a matter for you to think about, and to think about it carefully, for the reason that it is your interest that is at stake. I am only out here trying to get you to think--to think for yourself.
Study the platforms of these two parties. Study the record of the Republicans in Congress. Study the record of the Democrats in Congress, and then after you have done that, consider the welfare of the free world, consider the welfare of this great Nation of yours--the greatest Republic in the history of the world--and then consider your own welfare.
If you will do that, I don't have to argue with you. I just want you to do a little thinking-to think for yourself. If you do that, you will go to the polls on November the 4th and Adlai Stevenson will be President of the United States for the next 4 years, and the country and the world will be safe.
[7.] JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA (Near the train station, 5:25 p.m.)
I am more than happy to be with you here today. I remember very well that wonderful reception you gave me when I was here in 1948. I appreciated that, and I also appreciate the way Johnstown voted. I want you to do as well or better for Adlai Stevenson. Won't you do that for me?
I have been going around the country telling the people the facts and the truth about what is at stake in this election. I think it is one of the most important we have had. In fact, I think it is the most important since the Civil War. I have been pointing out the real and the essential differences between the two parties. The Democratic Party has a heart for the plain everyday people of the country. That is what Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was all about, and that is what Harry Truman's Fair Deal is all about.
The Republican Party, on the other hand, is the servant of the big banks, big industry, the real estate lobby, the oil lobby, and the rest of that crew. With them profits come first ahead of the people.
And you know the reason you have to be so careful in this election, they have the oil lobby and the real estate lobby and the China lobby and the National Association of Manufacturers, and the only man in Washington who represents all the people and is elected by all the people and who is the people's lobbyist is the President of the United States. So you will have to be mighty careful who you put in there.
These special interests, these special lobbies, have fought the New Deal and the Fair Deal from the beginning. They are fighting still, and they will go back on all the progress we have made if you are foolish enough to give them a chance. That is not what they are telling you now during this campaign, but it is the way they have been voting in the Congress.
Of course, there is a whole generation of young people now who do not remember much about what happened to this country the last time the Republicans ran the national government. Well, anybody who can't remember had better ask and find out, because the same thing may happen again if you let them into power this time. There are a lot of people here who know exactly what it was like.
I am told that in the Bethlehem plant here at Johnstown, the mills are 8 miles long. I am also told that from 1930 to 1934 no smoke came from even one of the hundreds of stacks in all those miles of mills.
Now they will tell you that that just happened. Well, why is it that they have been expanding and growing and have people working at jobs? I will tell you why. It is because we had a change of administration that had a heart for the people.
I was told, at that same time, that twothirds of the homes in Cambria County were up for sale for delinquent taxes 20 years ago. Conditions were just that desperate all over the country, it was not confined to your place in this county, in this city.
Now, any time I mention the great depression, the Republicans yell that we are just running against Herbert Hoover. Well, for one thing, they keep bringing him up. It was not our idea. It was not our idea at all. They had him turn up at their Republican Convention, to remind everybody that he was still a power in the Republican Party. We didn't take him there.
And for another thing, the Republican record in Congress during all the years since Hoover's time, shows they haven't learned a thing, and probably will act as they did before, and just like he did, if they got in again.
They are the people who vote against social security, they vote against-housing, they vote against rent controls, they vote against minimum wages. They are the people who voted for Taft-Hartley and for the labor injunction in the steel case. They are the people that want to take over the Government. That is the reason I am going around the country, trying to remind the people to do a little thinking for themselves. And it wasn't 1932 when they did these things. It was 1946, it was 1947, it was 1949, and even 1952.
You know, you ought to read the fine print in the Congressional Record and find out how these birds behave when they think you don't know what they are doing, and then you will know what to do. The Republicans never have looked after the interests of the common people--and they never will, no matter what their five-star candidate may tell you at election time. It is clear by now that any relation between what he says about the Republican Party and its actual record is just purely coincidental.
It isn't necessary to "pour it on." All that is necessary for me to do is to tell you the truth and get you to think a little bit. Signs like that young man is wearing "Give 'em hell, Harry"--I don't have to give 'em hell, it's a lot worse for me to tell the truth on 'em, because they can't stand the truth.
Now you people are intelligent. You are a cross-section of this United States of America. You are educated. You understand the English language. You understand what words mean when they are put together in a proper way. I want you to read the Democratic 'platform. The Democratic platform says exactly what the Democratic Party stands for. It says exactly what we have done and what we hope to do.
Then I want you to read the Republican platform, and if you can make anything out of it but gobbledegook, I'll pay for lying. It's about the lousiest platform that has ever been presented to this country of intelligent people to expect them to support it. Then they go around and tell you what they are going to do, and how they love you, and they have been for this and that, and what they will do in the future.
But I am asking you to read the Republican platform, and read the fine print in the Congressional Record, and see how these birds voted. And then you can't do anything else but use your heads. If you do that, you will vote for the welfare of the free world. You will vote for the welfare of the free world. And the greatest Nation in the history of the world is the leader of the free world--that is the United States of America.
Then you will vote for the interests of this great country--which is your interest. Then you will look after yourselves. You will remember what happened--you will remember 1932, and you will also remember that awful "do-nothing good-for-nothing" Both Congress that I put under the sod in 1948.
And if you do that, then my trip around the country has not been in vain. I am trying to wake you up to just think--to think in your own interest. And when you do that, on November the 4th you will go to the polls and you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House and we will have 4 more years of good government and prosperity.
Thank you very much.
[8.] PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (Hill District Police Station, 8 p.m.)
ยท I appreciate your coming down here tonight. It is a wonderful, wonderful compliment.
You know, I have been going around all over this United States, trying to get people in a frame of mind to do some thinking on the responsibilities which this election imposes upon the people--the everyday people.
I have tried--well, anyway, I want you not only to cheer me to show me you like me, I want you to go to the polls and show me that you like me by voting the Democratic ticket on November the 4th.
NOTE: In the course of his remarks on October 22 the President referred to Mayor James Hanlon of Scranton, Judge Guy K. Bard, Democratic candidate for Senator, Representative Harry P. O'Neill, Mayor Luther M. Kniffen of Wilkes-Barre, Representative Daniel J. Flood, and Patrick A. McGowan and Joseph A. Moran, Democratic candidates for Representative, all of Pennsylvania.