Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The first part is to get our defense production going as fast as possible.
We have to convert plants and channel materials to defense production. This
means heavy cuts in civilian uses of copper, aluminum, rubber, and other
essential materials. It means shortages in various consumer goods.
The second part is to increase our capacity to produce and to keep our
economy strong for the long pull. We do not know how long Communist
aggression will threaten the world.
Only by increasing our output can we carry the burden of preparedness for
an indefinite period in the future. This means that we will have to build
more power plants and more steel mills, grow more cotton, mine more copper,
and expand our capacity in many other ways.
The Congress will need to consider legislation, at this session, affecting
all the aspects of our mobilization job. The main subjects on which
legislation will be needed are:
First, appropriations for our military buildup.
Second, extension and revision of the Selective Service Act.
Third, military and economic aid to help build up the strength of the free
world.
Fourth, revision and extension of the authority to expand production and to
stabilize prices, wages, and rents.
Fifth, improvement of our agricultural laws to help obtain the kinds of
farm products we need for the defense effort.
Sixth, improvement of our labor laws to help provide stable
labor-management relations and to make sure that we have steady production
in this emergency.
Seventh, housing and training of defense workers and the full use of all
our manpower resources.
Eighth, means for increasing the supply of doctors, nurses, and other
trained medical personnel critically needed for the defense effort.
Ninth, 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. But we should do all we can to make sure our children are being
trained as good and useful citizens in the critical times ahead.
Tenth, a major increase in taxes to meet the cost of the defense effort.
The Economic Report and the Budget Message will discuss these subjects
further. In addition, I shall send to the Congress special messages
containing detailed recommendations on legislation needed at this Session.
In the months ahead the Government must give priority to activities that
are urgent--like military procurement and atomic energy and power
development. It must practice rigid economy in its nondefense activities.
Many of the things we would normally do must be curtailed or postponed.
But in a long-term defense effort like this one, we cannot neglect the
measures needed to maintain a strong economy and a healthy democratic
society.
The Congress, therefore, should give continued attention to the measures
which our country will need for the long pull. And it should act upon such
legislation as promptly as circumstances permit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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