"The strength of our nation must continue to be used in the interest of all our people rather than a privileged few, " said President Harry S. Truman in his State of the Union address on Jan. 5, 1949. | AP Photo Truman unveils his ‘Fair Deal’ program to Congress, Jan. 5, 1949

In a 3,400-word State of the Union address to a joint meeting of Congress on this day in 1949, President Harry S. Truman submitted an eight-point domestic reform program, declaring, “every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.”

In sum, Truman’s Fair Deal postwar proposals sought to extend and update the liberal thrust of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Fresh from his unforeseen 1948 election victory, the president described the United States as a society that is “conservative about the values and principles we cherish. At the same time, he said, the nation looks forward to protecting “those values and principles and in extending their benefits.”


"The American people,” Truman said, “have decided that poverty is just as wasteful and just as unnecessary as preventable disease. We have pledged our common resources to help one another in the hazards and struggles of individual life. We believe that no unfair prejudice or artificial distinction should bar any citizen of the United States of America from an education, or from good health, or from a job that he is capable of performing."

The United States, Truman added, “cannot maintain prosperity unless we have a fair distribution of opportunity and ... widespread consumption of the products of our factories and farms.”

As Truman put it: “We stand at the opening of an era which can mean either great achievement or terrible catastrophe for ourselves and for all mankind. The strength of our nation must continue to be used in the interest of all our people rather than a privileged few. It must continue to be used unselfishly in the struggle for world peace and the betterment of mankind the world over.”

Although Truman received a warm reception from the legislators, some of his key proposals, such as enactment of comprehensive civil rights reforms and the adoption of a universal national health care system, failed to pass muster.

“It looks like he will get what he wants,” Rep. John McMillan (D-S.C.) erroneously predicted. “… I don’t see why he should try to tear the whole world apart just because he was reelected.”

Sen. Hugh Scott (R-Pa.) objected, declaring: “If Mr. Truman has his way, this will be known as the grab-bag, payoff Congress.”

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Congress, however, did enact three of Truman’s proposals. It passed the American Housing Act of 1949, which provided funding for localities to build more than 800,000 low-income public housing units. It created the National Science Foundation “to promote the progress of science.” And it amended the Social Security Act of 1935, approving the first comprehensive overhaul of that iconic program.

In the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson cited Truman’s unfulfilled program in heralding such Great Society measures as Medicare. LBJ presented Truman with the first Medicare card.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF HISTORY AND PRESERVATION, CLERK OF THE U.S. HOUSE

