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Home > Cold War Cast > President Truman’s St. Patrick’s Day Address 1948
Podcast: Cold War Cast
Episode:

President Truman’s St. Patrick’s Day Address 1948
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 00:22:33
Publish Date: 2018-02-28 12:59:12
Description:

President Truman went before the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in New York City on St. Patrick’s Day of 1948 and delivered this speech.   Truman wasn’t known as a great orator or really as a guy with much charisma or character, but this speech gets the point across to the American public and the world on where we were going to be standing with the Soviet Union from here on out.  What the speech lacks in finesse it makes up for with blunt power.

In this episode I read the speech and give a little bit of commentary.   Here’s a few things to look for in the speech –

  1.  Truman making the case for the draft during peacetime.  This was a big political gamble, definitely not an easy sell on the homefront.
  2. He explicitly confronts the USSR with this speech.  Although there’s *some* obscure language, everyone knew exactly who he was talking about.
  3. He makes the case for collective security between the Western world against Soviet aggression, which he specifically calls out in the speech
  4. He attacks some domestic opponents (Henry Wallace) and their soft stance towards the USSR.
  5. Truman basically draws a line in the sand, something along the lines of “you’re either with us or against us”.

The more I think about it, I really wonder if this speech was one of the bigger influences for George W. Bush’s 9/11 speech.   Lots of similarities and honestly both guys (respectively) had a similar style.

Consider this speech a bit of a foreshock for next week’s episode, where we tackle the Berlin Airlift, one of the most important events of the Cold War.

…and as always, please excuse some of my reading blunders!

 
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