President Truman’s “Fair Deal” Speech

On January 5, 1949, President Harry S. Truman announced, in his State of the Union address, that every American has a right to expect from our government a fair deal. Truman’s “Fair Deal” was an ambitious set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. This single historic speech encapsulates the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953.

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Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union

January 7, 1948

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, and Members of the 80th Congress:

We are here today to consider the state of the Union.

On this occasion, above all others, the Congress and the President should concentrate their attention, not upon party but upon the country; not upon things which divide us but upon those which bind us together–the enduring principles of our American system, and our common aspirations for the future welfare and security of the people of the United States.
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Commencement Address at Princeton University

Delivered at Princeton University on June 17, 1947, following the conferment of an honorary degree on Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States of America

President Dodds, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

The President of Princeton University spoke of crises a while ago. He should try sitting in my chair for about an hour and a half!

It is with a great deal of pleasure, and much pride, that I am now able to count myself as a member of the Princeton family. Princeton University has conferred an honor upon me for which I am deeply grateful. I consider it a special privilege to have received the degree of Doctor of Laws at the Final Convocation of the Bicentennial Year in the presence of this distinguished company. Read More

2022 Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award

WILLIAM J. BURNS, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

The 2022 Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award was presented on Thursday, April 28, 2022 at Wild About Harry in Kansas City, Missouri.

 
Director Burns’s acceptance remarks at WILD ABOUT HARRY on April 28, 2022 represented only his second public speech as director and came in a week in which the United Kingdom and United States announced further military help for Ukraine.  Read More

Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union

President Harry S. Truman – January 6, 1947

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Vice President Truman’s Passover Address to the the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe

The traditional Passover greeting, chag Pesach samech, must have carried indescribable joy in 1945. The Second World War was nearly over, and victory over Nazi Germany was certain when, on March 26, then-Vice President Truman delivered his Passover address at the Jewish Welfare Board. His remarks, below, were broadcast from Washington, D.C. to the “Jewish men and women in the Armed Forces.”

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