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Harry S Truman Signed 1953 State of the Union Harry S Truman Signed 1953 State of the Union Address

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 800.00 USD
Harry S Truman Signed 1953 State of the Union Harry S Truman Signed 1953 State of the Union Address
<B>Harry S Truman Signed 1953 State of the Union Address</B></I> Mimeographed Speech Signed: <I>"Harry S Truman"</B></I> at conclusion, 16p (front & verso), 8" x 14". The White House., January 7, 1953. Headed, in part: "HOLD FOR RELEASE/CONFIDENTIAL: The President's Srate of the Union Message is for automatic release at 12:15 p.m., E.S.T., Wednesday, January 7, 1953...." In part: <I>"This is the eighth such report that, as President, I have been privileged to present to you and to the country. On previous occasions, it has been my custom to set forth proposals for legislative action in the coming year. But that is not my purpose today. The presentation of a legislative program falls properly to my successor, not to me, and I would not infringe upon his responsibility to chart the forward course. Instead, I wish to speak of the course we have been following the past eight years and the position at which we have arrived. In just two weeks, General Eisenhower will be inaugurated as President of the United States and I will resume--most gladly--my 'place as a private citizen of this Republic. The Presidency last changed hands eight years ago this coming April. That was a tragic time: a time of grieving for President Roosevelt--the great and gallant human being who had been taken from us; a time of unrelieved anxiety to his successor, thrust so suddenly into the complexities and burdens of the Presidential office. Not so this time. This time we see the normal transition under our democratic system. One President, at the conclusion of his term, steps back to private life; his successor, chosen by the people, begins his tenure of the office. And the Presidency of the United States continues to function without a moment's break...I took the oath of office on April 12, 1945. In May of that same year, the Nazis surrendered. Then, in July, that great white flash of light, man-made at Alamogordo, heralded swift and final victory in World War II--and opened the doorway to the atomic age. Consider some of the great questions that were posed for us by sudden, total victory in World War II. Consider also, how well we as a Nation have responded. Would the American economy collapse, after the war? That was one question. Would there be another depression here--a repetition of 1921 or 1929? The free world feared and dreaded it. The communists hoped for it and built their policies upon that hope. We answered that question--answered it with a resounding "no."...For our part, we in this Republic were--and are--free men, heirs of the American Revolution, dedicated to the truths of our Declaration of Independence: '... That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' Our post-war objective has been in keeping with this great idea...The world is divided, not through our fault or failure, but by Soviet design. They, not we, began the cold war. And because the free world saw this happen--because men know we made the effort and the Soviet rulers spurned it--the free nations have accepted leadership from our Republic, in meeting and mastering the Soviet offensive...Now we turn to the inaugural of our new President. And in the great work he is called upon to do he will have need for the support of a united people, a confident people, with firm faith in one another and in our common cause. I pledge him my support as a citizen of our Republic, and I ask you to give him yours. To him, to you, to all my fellow citizens, I say, Godspeed. May God bless our country and our cause."</B></I> Stapled at top left corner. Folds, else in fine condition. From the Henry E. Luhrs Collection. Accompanied by LOA from PSA/DNA.