SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1010 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN.

Arizona joins the Nation and the Free World in mourning the death of Harry S. Truman, the thirty-third President of the United States, who passed away on December 26, 1972, at the age of eighty-eight.

President Truman was born May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri and attended public schools in Independence, Missouri, and the Kansas City School of Law.

In 1901 he worked for the Kansas City Star, became a judge of the Jackson County Court in 1922 and was presiding judge from 1926 through 1934.

He was elected United States Senator from Missouri in 1934 and reelected in 1940. He was elected vice-president of the United States in 1944 and succeeded to the presidency upon the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 12, 1945. He was elected president and served from 1949 through 1953.

A veteran of World War I, he participated in the Vosges operations, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. He served as a first lieutenant and captain with the I 29th field artillery, 35th division, United States army. He was discharged as a major in May, 1919, and had been a colonel in the reserves since 1927.

He was married to the former Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919, and they had one daughter, Mary Margaret.

Although President Truman went home to Missouri two decades ago, the legislation enacted during his presidency continues to shape and affect policies today. The United nations, Marshall Plan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Taft-Hartley labor law are but a few of the landmarks of the Truman era.

But President Truman is remembered for more than his legislative triumphs and defeats. The earthy, populist style of the onetime farmer and unsuccessful haberdasher is recalled with nostalgia in an age of Madison Avenue techniques, programmed politics and alienated voters.

Despite the monumental events of his post-World War II presidency, President Truman would have preferred to participate as a senator from

Missouri rather than as president. He did not shrink from his duties, whether it meant standing up to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin or deciding to assist South Korea. "The buck stops here," read a sign on his White House desk-and he observed it. Within his first six months as President, Truman presented the United nations charter to the Senate, attended the Potsdam Conference, ordered the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and sent his Fair Deal domestic legislation package to congress. President Truman and his congresses-the 79th, 80th, 81st and 82nd-did more than return the country to postwar normalcy. Together they launched foreign policy programs and commitments that have laid the foundation for United States defense and diplomatic policies for the past twenty-five years. During the Truman presidency, congress ratified the United Nations charter, established the Atomic Energy Commission, approved and funded massive foreign aid programs and ratified mutual security treaties.

In domestic legislation, congress passed a major housing bill, authorized federal aid grants for hospital construction and created the President's Council of Economic Advisers. But his domestic proposals did not fare as well as the foreign policy innovations. Conservative elements in Congress banded together to thwart many of the administration's Fair Deal proposals.

In addition, they passed many measures of which the administration disapproved. President Truman vetoed seventy-eight bills during his eight years in office. Twelve of his vetoes were overridden.

Most of the major congressional accomplishments were in foreign policy. Following are some of those:

1. Senate ratification of the United Nations charter in 1945.

2. Authorization of a three billion seventy-five million dollar, fifty-year loan to Great Britain in 1946

3. Authorization of four hundred million dollars in United States assistance to Greece and Turkey in 1947-the first implementation of the "Truman Doctrine."

4. Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, signed by the United States and eighteen Latin American countries, ratified by the Senate in 1947.

5. Funding of the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan), started in 1948.

6. Senate ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949.Following is a topical summary of the most notable congressional accomplishments in the domestic area during the Truman years:Labor-Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act) in 1947. Increase in the minimum wage in 1949 from forty to seventy-five cents.Agriculture-1948 enactment of the Hope-Aiken flexible farm price support bill.Atomic Energy-Creation in 1946 of a five-man civilian Atomic Energy Commission to control all aspects of atomic energy development.Transportation-Federal Airport Act of 1947-authorization of five hundred million dollars in federal matching grants for airport construction.Government-Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946-streamlining of congressional procedure and regulation of lobbying activities. Unification of armed forces under a single Department of Defense and creation of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947.Presidential Succession Act-designating the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate next in succession to the vice-president, in 1947.22nd Amendment-limiting presidents to two terms-was approved by Congress in 1947 and adopted in 1951.Health, education and welfare-Hospital Survey and Construction Act of 1946 (Hill-Burton Act).Housing Act of 1949-expanding federal programs in slum clearance, public housing and farm improvement.Social Security Amendments of 1950-extending coverage to nine million two hundred thousand persons and increasing some benefits, and the Social Security Act of 1951, which increased benefits further.

President Truman, in his pride in his country, his desire for her freedom from oppression, his awareness of her power and responsibility to the world and through his strong personality, added new dimensions to the office of President as demonstrated by his Free World Policy and programs for the reconstruction of Europe following World War II, his leadership in resisting Communist aggression, his leadership in determining the role of the United States in world affairs, his ability to recognize the potential moral force of his country through active support of international organizations in affording aid to allied nations for defense and economic

growth and his ability to make decisions as President of the United States in response to a crisis, whether domestic or foreign.

Therefore

Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the members of the Arizona Legislature sincerely regret the passing of a distinguished soldier, a dedicated President and a beloved and great American, Harry S. Truman, and wish to express their condolences to the surviving members of his family.

Unanimously adopted by the Senate-January 26, 1973

Unanimously adopted by the House-January 29, 1973

Approved by the Governor-January 30, 1973