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Harry S. Truman signed farewell address with exceptional content, delivered to the nation on 15 January 1953, five days before President Eisenhower's inauguration. At the time of this address, Truman had a very low approval rating of 22% among the American people, lower even than President Nixon's 24% when the latter left office. However, in the ensuing years, Truman's reputation has been rehabilitated and is now considered among most historians as one of the top 10 Presidents, having ended WWII and implemented the Marshall Plan, established the United Nations and NATO, and ignited the issue of Civil Rights in 1948.
Six page document is signed ''Harry Truman'' at the conclusion. Marked ''Confidential'' and ''Hold for Release'', document states that Truman will deliver the remarks from the White House on 15 January. Speech brings home, in visceral detail, the concerns and challenges facing leaders post WWII, in part, ''...Next Tuesday, General Eisenhower will be inaugurated as President of the United States. A short time after the new President takes his oath of office, I will be on the train going back home to Independence, Missouri. I will again be a plain, private citizen of this Republic. / This is as it should be. Inauguration Day will be a great demonstration of our democratic process. I am glad to be a part of it -- glad to wish General Eisenhower all possible success, as he begins his term -- glad the whole world will have a chance to see how simply and how peacefully our American system transfers the vast power of the Presidency from my hands to his. It is a good object lesson in democracy. I am very proud of it. I know you are too...In speaking to you tonight, I have no new revelations to make -- no political statements -- no policy announcements. There are simply a few things in my heart I want to say to you. I want to say 'goodbye' and 'thanks for your help'...The President -- whoever he is -- has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job...Your new President is taking office in quite different circumstances than when I became President eight years ago...President Roosevelt had died. I offered to do anything I could for Mrs. Roosevelt...Things were happening fast in those days...On May seventh, Germany surrendered...Meanwhile, the first atomic explosion took place out in the new Mexico desert. / The war against Japan was still going on. I made the decision that the atomic bomb had to be used to end it. I made that decision in the conviction it would save hundreds of thousands of lives -- Japanese as well as American. Japan surrendered, and we were faced with the huge problems of bringing the troops home...''
Truman continues with long analysis of the specter of communism, with the threat of a nuclear war, underscoring the anxiety America felt at the time: ''...I suppose that history will remember my term in office as the years when the 'cold war' began to overshadow our lives. I have had hardly a day in office that has not been dominated by this all-embracing struggle -- this conflict between those who love freedom and those who would load the world back into slavery and darkness. And always in the background there has been the atomic bomb...After the first World War, we withdrew from world affairs -- we failed to act in concert with other peoples against aggression -- we helped to kill the League of Nations -- and we built up tariff barriers which strangled world trade. This time, we avoided those mistakes...Think about those years of weakness and indecision, and World War II which was their evil result. Then think about the speed and courage and decisiveness with which we have moved against the communist threat since World War II...Most important of all, we acted in Korea...We are living in the eighth year of the atomic age...Starting an atomic war is totally unthinkable for rational men...In the long run, the strength of our free society, and our ideals, will prevail over a system that has respect for neither God nor man...''
He ends the speech reflecting on the unmatched prosperity America had in the immediate post-war years, ''...we in America have learned how to attain real prosperity for our people...And the income of our people has been fairly distributed, perhaps more so than at any time in recent history...So, as I empty the drawers of this desk, and as Mrs. Truman and I leave the White house, we have no regret. We feel we have done our best in the public service. I hope and believe we have contributed to the welfare of this Nation and to the peace of the world. When Franklin Roosevelt died, I felt there must be a million men better qualified than I, to take up the Presidential task. But the work was mine to do, and I had to do it. I have tried to give it everything that was in me. Through all of it, through all the years that I have worked here in this room, I have been well aware I did not really work alone -- that you were working with me. No President could ever hope to lead our country, or to sustain the burdens of this office, save as the people helped with their support. I have had that help -- you have given me that support -- on all our great essential undertakings to build the free world's strength and keep the peace. Those are the big things. Those are the things we have done together. For that I shall be grateful, always. And now, the time has come for me to say good night and - God bless you all.'' Six page document on three sheets measures 8'' x 14''. Folds, light toning and staple at upper left, otherwise near fine condition.
Harry Truman Signed Farewell Address From 1953 -- ''...The President...has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody...'' & ''...And always in the background there has been the atomic bomb...''
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