Speech Transcript:

 Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress:

I have the honor to report to the Congress on the state of the
Union.

At the outset, I should like to speak of the necessity for putting
first things first as we work together this year for the good of our
country.

The United States and the whole free world are passing through a
period of grave danger. Every action you take here in Congress, and
every action that I take as President, must be measured against the
test of whether it helps to meet that danger.

This will be a presidential election year-the year in which politics
plays a large part in our lives--a larger part than usual. That is
perfectly proper. But we have a greater responsibility to conduct our
political fights in a manner that does not harm the national
interest.

We can find plenty of things to differ about without destroying our
free institutions and without abandoning our bipartisan foreign
policy for peace.

When everything is said and done, all of us--Republicans and
Democrats alike--all of us are Americans; and we are all going to
sink or swim together.

We are moving through a perilous time. Faced with a terrible threat
of aggression, our Nation has embarked upon a great effort to help
establish the kind of world in which peace shall be secure. Peace is
our goal-not peace at any price, but a peace based on freedom and
justice. We are now in the midst of our effort to reach that goal. On
the whole, we have been doing very well.

Last year, 1951, was a year in which we threw back aggression, added
greatly to our military strength, and improved the chances for peace
and freedom in many parts of the world.

This year, 1952, is a critical year in the defense effort of the
whole free world. If we falter we can lose all the gains we have
made. If we drive ahead, with courage and vigor and determination, we
can by the end of 1952 be in a position of much greater security. The
way will be dangerous for the years ahead, but if we put forth our
best efforts this year--and next year--we can be "over the hump" in
our effort to build strong defenses.

When we look at the record of the past year, 1951, we find important
things on both the credit and the debit side of the ledger. We have
made great advances. At the same time we have run into new problems
which must be overcome.

Now let us look at the credit side first.

            Peace depends upon the free nations sticking together,
and making a combined effort to check aggression and prevent war. In
this respect, 1951 was a year of great achievement.

In Korea the forces of the United Nations turned hack the Chinese
Communist invasion-and did it without widening the area of conflict.
The action of the United Nations in Korea has been a powerful
deterrent to a third world war. However, the situation in Korea
remains very hazardous. The outcome of the armistice negotiation
still remains uncertain.

In Indochina and Malaya, our aid has helped our allies to hold back
the Communist advance, although there are signs of further trouble in
that area.

In 1951 we strengthened the chances of peace in the Pacific region by
the treaties with Japan and the defense arrangements with Australia,
New Zealand, and the Philippines.

In Europe combined defense has become a reality. The free nations
have created a real fighting force. This force is not yet as strong
as it needs to be; but it is already a real obstacle to any attempt
by hostile forces to sweep across Europe to the Atlantic.

In 1951 we also moved to strengthen the security of Europe by the
agreement to bring Greece and Turkey into the North Atlantic Treaty.

The United Nations, the world's greatest hope for peace, has come
through a year of trial stronger and more useful than ever. The free
nations have stood together in blocking Communist attempts to tear up
the charter.

At the present session of the United Nations in Paris, we, together
with the British and the French, offered a plan to reduce and control
all armaments under a foolproof inspection system. This is a concrete,
practical proposal for disarmament.

But what happened ? Vishinsky laughed at it. Listen to what he said:
"I could hardly sleep at all last night .... I could not sleep
because I kept laughing." The world will be a long time forgetting
the spectacle of that fellow laughing at disarmament.

Disarmament is not a joke. Vishinsky's laughter met with shock and
anger from the people all over the world. And, as a result, Mr.
Stalin's representative received orders to stop laughing and start
talking.

If the Soviet leaders were to accept this proposal, it would lighten
the burden of armaments, and permit the resources of the earth to be
devoted to the good of mankind. But until the Soviet Union accepts a
sound disarmament proposal, and joins in peaceful settlements, we
have no choice except to build up our defenses.

During this past year we added more than a million men and women to
our Armed Forces. The total is now nearly 3 Ѕ million. We have
made rapid progress in the field of atomic weapons. We have turned
out billion worth of military supplies and equipment, three times as
much as the year before.

Economic conditions in the country are good. There are 61 million
people on the job; wages, farm incomes, and business profits are at
high levels. Total production of goods and services in our country
has increased 8 percent over last year--about twice the normal rate
of growth.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about our economic progress is the way
we are increasing our basic capacity to produce. For example, we are
now in the second year of a 3-year program which will double our
output of aluminum, increase our electric power supply by 40 percent,
and increase our steelmaking capacity by 15 percent. We can then
produce 120 million tons of steel a year, as much as all the rest of
the world put together.

This expansion will mean more jobs and higher standards of living for
all of us in the years ahead. At the present time it means greater
strength for us and for the rest of the free world in the fight for
peace.

Now, I must turn to the debit side of the ledger for the past year.

            The outstanding fact to note on the debit side of the
ledger is that the Soviet Union, in 1951, continued to expand its
military production and increase its already excessive military
power.

It is true that the Soviets have run into increasing difficulties.
Their hostile policies have awakened stern resistance among free men
throughout the world. And behind the Iron Curtain the Soviet rule of
force has created growing political and economic stresses in the
satellite nations.

Nevertheless, the grim fact remains that the Soviet Union is
increasing its armed might. It is still producing more war planes
than the free nations. It has set off two more atomic explosions. The
world still walks in the shadow of another world war.

And here at home, our defense preparations are far from complete.

            During 1951 we did not make adequate progress in building
up civil defense against atomic attack. This is a major weakness in
our plans for peace, since inadequate civilian defense is an open
invitation to a surprise attack. Failure to provide adequate civilian
defense has the same effect as adding to the enemy's supply of atomic
bombs.

In the field of defense production we have run into difficulties and
delays in designing and producing the latest types of airplanes and
tanks. Some machine tools and metals are still in extremely short
supply.

In other free countries the defense buildup has created severe
economic problems. It has increased inflation in Europe and has
endangered the continued recovery of our allies.

In the Middle East political tensions and the oil controversy in Iran
are keeping the region in a turmoil. In the Far East the dark threat
of Communist imperialism still hangs over many nations.

This, very briefly, is the good side and the bad side of the
picture.

            Taking the good and bad together, we have made real
progress this last year along the road to peace. We have increased
the power and unity of the free world. And while we were doing this,
we have avoided world war on the one hand, and appeasement on the
other. This is a hard road to follow, but the events of the last year
show that it is the right road to peace.

We cannot expect to complete the job overnight. The free nations may
have to maintain for years the larger military forces needed to deter
aggression. We must build steadily, over a period of years, toward
political solidarity and economic progress among the free nations in
all parts of the world.

Our task will not be easy; but if we go at it with a will, we can
look forward to steady progress. On our side are all the great
resources of freedom--the ideals of religion and democracy, the
aspiration of people for a better life, and the industrial and
technical power of a free civilization.

These advantages outweigh anything the slave world can produce. The
only thing that can defeat us is our own state of mind. We can lose
if we falter.

The middle period of a great national effort like this is a very
difficult time. The way seems long and hard. The goal seems far
distant. Some people get discouraged. That is only natural.

But if there are any among us who think we ought to ease up in the
fight for peace, I want to remind them of three things--just three
things.

First: The threat of world war is still very real. We had one Pearl
Harbor--let's not get caught off guard again. If you don't think the
threat of Communist armies is real, talk to some of our men back from
Korea.

Second: If the United States had to try to stand alone against a
Soviet-dominated world, it would destroy the life we know and the
ideals we hold dear. Our allies are essential to us, just as we are
essential to them. The more shoulders there are to bear the burden
the lighter that burden will be.

Third: The things we believe in most deeply are under relentless
attack. We have the great responsibility of saving the basic moral
and spiritual values of our civilization. We have started out
well--with a program for peace that is unparalleled in history. If we
believe in ourselves and the faith we profess, we will stick to that
job until it is victoriously finished.

This is a time for courage, not for grumbling and mumbling.
Now, let us take a look at the things we have to do.

The thing that is uppermost in the minds of all of us is the
situation in Korea. We must, and we will, keep up the fight there
until we get the kind of armistice that will put an end to the
aggression and protect the safety of our forces and the security of
the Republic of Korea. Beyond that we shall continue to work for a
settlement in Korea that upholds the principles of the United
Nations.

We went into Korea because we knew that Communist aggression had to
be met firmly if freedom was to be preserved in the world. We went
into the fight to save the Republic of Korea, a free country,
established under the United Nations. These are our aims. We will not
give up until we attain them.

Meanwhile, we must continue to strengthen the forces of freedom
throughout the world.

            I hope the Senate will take early and favorable action on
the Japanese peace treaty, on our security pacts with the Pacific
countries, and on the agreement to bring Greece and Turkey into the
North Atlantic Treaty.

We are also negotiating an agreement with the German Federal Republic
under which it can play an honorable and equal part among nations and
take its place in the defense of Western Europe.

But treaties and plans are only the skeleton of our defense
structure. The sinew and muscle of defense are the forces and
equipment which must be provided.

In Europe we must go on helping our friends and allies to build up
their military forces. This means we must send weapons in large
volume to our European allies. I have directed that weapons for
Europe be given a very high priority. Economic aid is necessary, too,
to supply the margin of difference between success and failure in
making Europe a strong partner in our joint defense.

In the long run we want to see Europe freed from any dependence on
our aid. Our European allies want that just as bad as we do. The
steps that are now being taken to build European unity should help
bring that about. Six European countries are pooling their coal and
steel production under the Schuman plan. Work is going forward on the
merger of European national forces on the Continent into a single
army. These great projects should become realities in 1952.

We should do all we can to help and encourage the move toward a
strong and united Europe.

            In Asia the new Communist empire is a daily threat to
millions of people. The peoples of Asia want to be free to follow
their own way of life. They want to preserve their culture and their
traditions against communism, just as much as we want to preserve
ours. They are laboring under terrific handicaps--poverty, ill
health, feudal systems of land ownership, and the threat of internal
subversion or external attack. We can and we must increase our help
to them.

This means military aid, especially to those places like Indochina
which might be hardest hit by some new Communist attack.

            It also means economic aid, both technical know-how and
capital investment.

This last year we made available millions of bushels of wheat to
relieve famine in India. But far more important, in the long run, is
the work Americans are doing in India to help the Indian farmers
themselves raise more grain. With the help of our technicians, Indian
farmers, using simple, inexpensive means, have been able since 1948 to
double the crops in one area in India. One farmer there raised 63
bushels of wheat to the acre, where 13 bushels had been the average
before.

This is point 4--our point 4 program at work. It is working--not only
in India but in Iran, Paraguay, Liberia--in 33 countries around the
globe. Our technical missionaries are out there. We need more of
them. We need more funds to speed their efforts, because there is
nothing of greater importance in all our foreign policy. There is
nothing that shows more clearly what we stand for, and what we want
to achieve.

My friends of the Congress, less than one-third of the expenditure
for the cost of World War II would have created the developments
necessary to feed the whole world so we wouldn't have to stomach
communism. That is what we have got to fight, and unless we fight
that battle and win it, we can't win the cold war or a hot one
either.

We have recently lost a great public servant who was leading this
effort to bring opportunity and hope to the people of half the world.
Dr. Henry Bennett and his associates died in line of duty on a point 4
mission. It is up to us to carry on the great work for which they gave
their lives.

During the coming year we must not forget the suffering of the people
who live behind the Iron Curtain. In those areas minorities are being
oppressed, human rights violated, religions persecuted. We should
continue to expose those wrongs. We should continue and expand the
activities of the Voice of America, which brings our message of hope
and truth to those peoples and other peoples throughout the world.

I have just had an opportunity to discuss many of these world
problems with Prime Minister Churchill. We have had a most
satisfactory series of meetings. We thoroughly reviewed the situation
in Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East. We both look forward to
steady progress toward peace through the cooperative action and
teamwork of the free nations.

Turning from our foreign policies, let us consider the jobs we have
here at home as a part of our program for peace.

            The first of these jobs is to move ahead full steam on
the defense program.

Our objective is to have a well-equipped active defense force large
enough--in concert with the forces of our allies--to deter aggression
and to inflict punishing losses on the enemy immediately if we should
be attacked. This active force must be backed by adequate reserves,
and by the plants and tools to turn out the tremendous quantities of
new weapons that would be needed if war came. We are not building an
active force adequate to carry on full scale war, but we are putting
ourselves in a position to mobilize very rapidly if we have to.

This year I shall recommend some increases in the size of the active
force we are building, with particular emphasis on air power. This
means we shall have to continue large-scale production of planes and
other equipment for a longer period of time than we had originally
planned.

Planes and tanks and other weapons-what the military call "hard
goods"--are now beginning to come off the production lines in volume.
Deliveries of hard goods now amount to about a billion and a half
dollars worth a month. A year from now, we expect that rate to be
doubled.

We shall have to hold to a high rate of military output for about a
year after that. In 1954 we hope to have enough equipment so that we
can reduce the production of most military items substantially. The
next 2 years should therefore be the peak period of defense
production.

Defense needs will take a lot of steel, aluminum, copper, nickel, and
other scarce materials. This means smaller production of some civilian
goods. The cutbacks will be nothing like those during World War II,
when most civilian production was completely stopped. But there will
be considerably less of some goods than we have been used to these
past 2 or 3 years.

The very critical part of our defense job this year is to keep down
inflation.

            We can control inflation if we make up our minds to do
it.

On the executive side of the Government, we intend to hold the line
on prices just as tightly as the law allows. We will permit only
those wage increases which are clearly justified under sound
stabilization policies; and we will see to it that industries absorb
cost increases out of earnings wherever feasible, before they are
authorized to raise prices. We will do that, at any rate, except
where the recent amendments to the law specifically require us to
give further price increases.

Congress has a tremendous responsibility in this matter. Our
stabilization law was shot full of holes at the last session. This
year, it will be one of the main tasks before the Congress to repair
the damage and enact a strong anti-inflation law.

As a part of our program to keep our country strong, we are
determined to preserve the financial strength of the Government. This
means high taxes over the next few years. We must see to it that these
taxes are shared among the people as fairly as possible. I expect to
discuss these matters in the Economic Report and the Budget Message
which will soon be presented to the Congress.

Our tax laws must be fair. And we must make absolutely certain they
are administered fairly, without fear or favor of any kind for
anybody. To this end, steps have already been taken to remedy
weaknesses which have been disclosed in the administration of the tax
laws. In addition, I hope the Congress will approve my reorganization
plan for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. We must do everything
necessary in order to make just as certain as is humanly possible
that every taxpayer receives equal treatment under the law.

To carry the burden of defense we must have a strong, productive, and
expanding economy here at home. We cannot neglect those things that
have made us the great and powerful nation we are today.

Our strength depends upon the health, the morale, the freedom of our
people. We can take on the burden of leadership in the fight for
world peace because, for nearly 20 years, the Government and the
people have been working together for the general welfare. We have
given more and more of out citizens a fair chance at decent, useful,
productive lives. That is the reason we are as strong as we are
today.

This Government of ours--the Congress and the executive both--must
keep on working to bring about a fair deal for all the American
people. Some people will say that we haven't the time or the money
this year for measures for the welfare of the people. But if we want
to win the fight for peace, this is a part of the job we cannot
ignore.

We will have to give up some things, we will have to go forward on
others at a slower pace. But, so far as I am concerned, I do not
think we can give up the things that are vital to our national
strength.

I believe most people in this country will agree with me on that.

            I think most farmers understand that soil conservation
and rural electrification and agricultural research are not frills or
luxuries, but real necessities in order to boost our farm production.

I think most workers understand that decent housing and good working
conditions are not luxuries, but necessities if the working men and
women of this country are to continue to out-produce the rest of the
world.

I think our businessmen know that scientific research and
transportation services and more steel mills and power projects are
not luxuries, but necessities to keep our business and our industry
in the forefront of industrial progress.

I think everybody knows that social insurance and better schools and
health services are not frills, but necessities in helping all
Americans to be useful and productive citizens, who can contribute
their full share in the national effort to protect and advance our
way of life.

We cannot do all we want to in times like these--we have to choose
the things that will contribute most to defense--but we must continue
to make progress if we are to be a strong nation in the years ahead.
Let me give you some examples.

We are going right ahead with the urgently needed work to develop our
natural resources, to conserve our soil, and to prevent floods. We are
going to produce essential power and build the lines that are
necessary and that we have to have to transmit it to our farms and
factories. We are going to encourage exploration for new mineral
deposits.

We are going to keep on building essential highways and taking any
other steps that will assure the Nation an adequate transportation
system--on land, on the sea, and in the air.

We must move right ahead this year to see that defense workers and
soldiers' families get decent housing at rents they can afford to
pay.

We must begin our long deferred program of Federal aid to
education--to help the States meet the present crisis in the
operation of our schools. And we must help with the construction of
schools in areas where they are critically needed because of the
defense effort.

We urgently need to train more doctors and other health personnel,
through aid to medical education. We also urgently need to expand the
basic public health services in our home communities--especially in
defense areas. The Congress should go ahead with these two measures
immediately.

I have set up an impartial commission to make a thorough study of the
Nation's health needs. One of the things this commission is looking
into is how to bring the cost of modern medical care within the reach
of all the people. I have repeatedly recommended national health
insurance as the best way to do this. So far as I know, it is still
the best way. If there are any better answers, I hope this commission
will find them. But of one thing I am sure: something must be done,
and done soon.

This year we ought to make a number of urgently needed improvements
in our social security law. For one thing, benefits under old-age and
survivors insurance should be raised $5 a month above the present
average of $42. For another thing, the States should be given special
aid to help them increase public assistance payments. By doing these
things now, we can ease the pressure of living costs for people who
depend on those fixed payments.

We should also make some cost-of-living adjustments for those
receiving veterans' compensation for death or disability incurred in
the service of our country. In addition, now is the time to start a
sensible program of readjustment benefits for our veterans who have
seen service since the fighting broke out in Korea.

Another thing the Congress should do at this session is to strengthen
our system of farm price supports to meet the defense emergency. The
"sliding scale" in the price support law should not be allowed to
penalize farmers for increasing production to meet defense needs. We
should also find a new and less costly method for supporting
perishable commodities than the law now provides.

We need to act promptly to improve our labor law. The Taft-Hartley
Act has many serious and far-reaching defects. Experience has
demonstrated this so clearly that even the sponsors of the act now
admit that it needs to be changed. A fair law, fair to both
management and labor, is indispensable to sound labor relations and
to full, uninterrupted production. I intend to keep on working for a
fair law until we get one.

As we build our strength to defend the freedom in the world, we
ourselves must extend the benefits of freedom more widely among all
our own people. We need to take action toward the wider enjoyment of
civil rights. Freedom is the birthright of every American.

The executive branch has been making real progress toward full
equality of treatment and opportunity--in the Armed Forces, in the
civil service, and in private firms working for the Government.
Further advances require action by Congress, and I hope that means
will be provided to give the Members of the Senate and the House a
chance to vote on them.

I am glad to hear that home rule for the District of Columbia will be
the first item of business before the Senate. I hope that it, as well
as statehood for Hawaii and Alaska, will be adopted promptly.

All these measures I have been talking about--measures to advance the
well-being of our people--demonstrate to the world the forward
movement of our free society.

This demonstration of the way free men govern themselves has a more
powerful influence on the people of the world--on both sides of the
Iron Curtain--than all the trick slogans and pie-in-the-sky promises
of the Communists.

But our shortcomings, as well as our progress, are watched from
abroad. And there is one shortcoming I want to speak about plainly.

            Our kind of government above all others cannot tolerate
dishonesty among public servants.

Some dishonest people worm themselves into almost every human
organization. It is all the more shocking, however, when they make
their way into a Government such as ours, which is based on the
principle of justice for all. Such unworthy public servants must be
weeded out. I intend to see to it that Federal employees who have
been guilty of misconduct are punished for it. I also intend to see
to it that the honest and hard-working great majority of our Federal
employees are protected against partisan slander and malicious
attack.

I have already made some recommendations to the Congress to help
accomplish these purposes. I intend to submit further recommendations
to this end. I will welcome the wholehearted cooperation of the
Congress in this effort.

I also think that the Congress can do a great deal to strengthen
confidence in our institutions by applying rigorous standards of
moral integrity to its own operations, and by finding an effective
way to control campaign expenditures, and by protecting the rights of
individuals in congressional investigations.

To meet the crisis which now hangs over the world, we need many
different kinds of strength--military, economic, political, and
moral. And of all these, I am convinced that moral strength is the
most vital.

When you come right down to it, it is the courage and the character
of our Nation--and of each one of us as individuals-that will really
decide how well we meet this challenge.

We are engaged in a great undertaking at home and abroad--the
greatest, in fact, that any nation has ever been privileged to embark
upon. We are working night and day to bring peace to the world and to
spread the democratic ideals of justice and self-government to all
people. Our accomplishments are already remarkable. We ought to be
full of pride in what we are doing, and full of confidence and hope
in the outcome. No nation ever had greater resources, or greater
energy, or nobler traditions to inspire it.

And yet, day in and day out, we see a long procession of timid and
fearful men who wring their hands and cry out that we have lost the
way, that we don't know what we are doing, that we are bound to fail.
Some say we should give up the struggle for peace, and others say we
should have a war and get it over with. That's a terrible statement.
I had heard it made, but they want us to forget the great objective
of preventing another world war--the objective for which our soldiers
have been fighting in the hills of Korea.

If we are to be worthy of all that has been done for us by our
soldiers in the field, we must be true to the ideals for which they
are fighting. We must reject the counsels of defeat and despair. We
must have the determination to complete the great work for which our
men have laid down their lives.

In all we do, we should remember who we are and what we stand for. We
are Americans. Our forefathers had far greater obstacles than we have,
and much poorer chances of success. They did not lose heart, or turn
aside from their goals. In the darkest of all winters in American
history, at Valley Forge, George Washington said: "We must not, in so
great a contest, expect to meet with nothing but sunshine." With that
spirit they won their fight for freedom.

We must have that same faith and vision. In the great contest in
which we are engaged today, we cannot expect to have fair weather all
the way. But it is a contest just as important for this country and
for all men, as the desperate struggle that George Washington fought
through to victory.

Let us prove, again, that we are not merely sunshine patriots and
summer soldiers. Let us go forward, trusting in the God of Peace, to
win the goals we seek.