Pres. Truman's State of the Union speeches: on Homeland Security

UN should control weapons of mass destruction

As an immediate means to this end we must continue our support of the European recovery program. This program has achieved great success in the first 2 years of its operation, but it has not yet been completed. If we were to stop this program now, or cripple it, just because it is succeeding, we should be doing exactly what the enemies of democracy want us to do. We should be just as foolish as a man who, for reasons of false economy, failed to put a roof on his house after building the foundation and the walls.

Mobilize by extending draft & taxes to pay for defense

1. Appropriations for our military buildup.
2. Extension of the Selective Service Act.
3. Military and economic aid to help build up the strength of the free world.
4. Extension of the authority to expand production and to stabilize prices, wages, and rents.
5. Improvement of our agricultural laws to help obtain the kinds of farm products we need for the defense effort.
6. Improvement of our labor laws to make sure that we have steady production in this emergency.
7. Housing and training of defense workers and the full use of all our manpower resources.
8. Means for increasing the supply of trained medical personnel critically needed for the defense effort.
9. Aid to the States to meet the most urgent needs of our elementary and secondary schools. Some of our plans will have to be deferred for the time being.
10. A major increase in taxes to meet the cost of the defense effort.

Propose Soviet disarmament; but build up army to 3 million

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.

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 & women to our Armed Forces. The total is now nearly 3 million. We have made rapid progress in the field of atomic weapons.