University Daily Kansan
Page 5
Truman Thanks People for Support; Says Stage May Be Set for Peace
Washington—(U.P.)—The man from Missouri thanked the people for the privilege of serving as their President last night. He told them he believed he had done his best.
There was the familiar, folksy, unemotional twang in his voice as President Truman said his good byes in a nationwide radio and television address.
Mr. Truman spoke wistfully of his nearly eight years in office, of the lonely burden of decision, of his hope for peace, his fears of atomic war, his gratitude for the nation's support and his good wishes for his successor.
"The president is president of the whole country," he said. "We must all give him our support as citizens of the United States. He will have mine and I want you to give him yours."
41. Truman said he had "no reason to he prepared to leave the White House to become "a plain, private citizen of this republic."
Through the difficult years he told his listeners he was aware they were working with him.
"No President could ever hope to lead our country, or to sustain the burdens of this office," he said, "save as the people helped with their support. I have had that help—you have given me that support—on all our great essential undertakings to build the free world's strength and keep the peace.
"Those are the big things. Those are the things we have done together. For that I shall be grateful, always."
Mr. Truman said he hoped his administration had brought the country to the threshold of international peace, to the point where World War III will be prevented "as far ahead as man can see."
"We have averted World War III up to now," he said, "and we may already have succeeded in establishing conditions which can keep that war from happening."
Looking back, Mr. Truman said it is "quite simple" to say why he has not tried to end international strike by dropping the atom bomb or blowing all-out war.
"We are not made that way," he said. "We are a moral people. Peace is our goal, and justice and freedom. We cannot, of our own free will, violate the very principles that we are striving to defend."
Atomic war, he added, is "totally unthinkable for rational men." The
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"whole purpose" of his foreign policies has been to prevent World War III, he said, and "starting a war is no way to make peace."
The President said his most important decision of the cold war was to send American forces into Korea to oppose Red aggression in 1950.
"It was not easy to make the decision that sent American boys again into battle," he said. "I was a soldier of course, and I know what a soldier goes through."
But he said he decided that Korea was a repetition of the events of the 1930's.
"My thoughts kept coming back to
... Manchuria ... Ethiopia ... the Rhineland ... Austria—and finally to Munich."
"The issue was whether there would be fighting in a limited area now or on a much larger scale later on—whether there would be some casualties now or many more casualties later," he said.
He also explained that he ordered use of the atomic bomb against Japan in World War II "in the conviction it would save hundreds of thousands of lives—Japanese as well as American."
But now, the President said, "we are living in the eighth year of the Atomic age. We are not the only nation that is learning to unleash the power of the atom.
Kenney Recalls Helsinki Trip In Speech Before Sasnak
Bob Kenney, former member of the Kansas and Olympic basketball teams, spoke and showed films describing his experiences in Helsinki, Finland, last night at a meeting of Sasnak in Robinson gymnasium.
He said the question most often asked him is, "How were the Russians?" Kenney's only contact with them was in the games, but he said they were "nice fellows and very good sportsmen. The world situation might be much better if decisions were left to men like the Russian athletes.
"The 60 nations that participated got along very well together. We were all housed in 35 new apartment buildings, with about eight men to each apartment, in an area called 'Olympic Village.'
"Finland is a very modern country, with about the same area and population as Kansas. Its education system is very thorough. A high school education in Finland is equivalent to our standards of a sophomore in college.
"Our biggest problem was with the basketball. It was handmade in Italy, handsewn, 'dead,' and it didn't bounce like our balls. The rules called for only four fouls and the free throw lanes were 12 feet instead of American six-feet lanes. The games were played on a remodeled indoor tennis court."
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