First Televised White House Address
On October 5, 1947, US President Harry Truman delivered the first televised White House address.
Truman wasn’t the first president to appear on TV. That honor went to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who delivered a speech at the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens. But the address was only broadcast on special TVs set up at the New York City Fairgrounds and Radio City Music Hall.
At the time of Truman’s speech, there were only about 44,000 television sets in American homes, and most of those were in larger East Coast cities. At the time, most people got their news from radios.
The purpose of Truman’s speech was to encourage Americans to conserve food to help provide for Europeans that were still recovering from World War II. As Europe braced for a massive winter famine, Truman offered several suggestions for Americans to help. As he explained it, American overeating and wastefulness would lead to domestic inflation, so both America and Europe would suffer.
Truman offered several suggestions on how people could help. He asked people in the agricultural industry and distilleries to decrease their grain usage. He also asked people to stop eating meat on Tuesdays and eggs and poultry on Thursdays. He also suggested that everyone eat one less slice of bread each day.
Truman and his cabinet were encouraging these cutbacks in advance of the upcoming Marshall Plan to provide aid to Europe. Of the situation, Secretary of State George C. Marshall said, Food from the United States would deter the march of hunger, cold and collapse, not only enabling Europe to recover its economic stability but also contributing to the resolution of a crisis that could mean the difference between the failure or attainment of world peace and security.”
While the program Truman laid out in his speech was short-lived, he would continue to embrace the television medium in the coming years. All of his later speeches would be aired on TV, including his 1949 inaugural address. He was also the first presidential candidate to air a political ad on TV.
Click here to read Truman’s full speech.
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At the time of Truman’s speech, I was at Indiana University under the GI Bill. I have no recollection of Truman’s suggestion nor did I see anyone cutting back on eating. So much for the power of TV then. But it was a beginning. And the Marshall Plan was a marvelous and significant government program of foreign aid. We all knew about it and supported it.
V
He’s from Missouri, the “Shw Me” state. Good man, honest and tough. We don’t seem to elect this type of politicians anymore. It’s all about them, and their self-serving power.
He’s from Missouri, the “Show Me” state. Good man, honest and tough. We don’t seem to elect this type of politicians anymore. It’s all about them, and their self-serving power.
Did not know he put Americans on a diet!
The Marshall Plan was one of the most important actions of the 20th Century. Not only did it give economic aid to Europe, it was also the foundation of NATO and the battle against the Soviet Union in Greece. George C Marshal was one of the least known and appreciated great men of the last century
Lets compare President Truman and General George C. Marshall with the occupant in the White House today. Truman and Marshall tried to establish the leadership of the U..S. for good in the world. The present president of the u.s. has done all he could to embarrass and diminish the u.s. and draw back to the pre WW II isolationist doctrine of isolationism.
Wow Conrad, you really ARE a Dimocrat aren’t you?
Well, yes I am, but I am also a history teacher, so I’m not just shooting from the hip. I’ll just say this. The Big Powers of Europe before WW I pretty much believed in their country first and the hell with everybody else. That kind of foreign policy led to the First World War. The “America First” people prior to WW II said that the Germans couldn’t be stopped, so America should just pull back and protect our borders. That kind of thinking and policy just emboldened the authoritarian regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese warlords, and helped lead to World War II. Thankfully, President Roosevelt didn’t agree with the America Firsters and believed that America should stand together with our democratic allies. Trump’s actions and policies are reflections of those earlier discredited “America First” policies.
Thank you Conrad. Trump is an embarrassment for sure and can be seen when he gave a speech at the UN and all the countries were laughing at him. Hope he gets better so that he can cry over Biden’s victory.
Well said , Conrad! Can’t argue with history. Thank you for that history lesson.
“The country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by aid of it.”
Will Rogers