Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 97.djvu/1557

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—JULY 29, 1983 97 STAT. 1525 JOINT COMMITTEE FOR HARRY S TRUMAN— J^^y 29.1983 COMMEMORATION OF HIS BIRTH [« ^°" ^'- ^^s] Whereas the year 1984 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harry S Truman on May 8, 1884; Whereas Harry S Truman was born and reared in rural Missouri, enjoyed a boyhood reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn's, graduated from high school, made his living for a decade on a farm behind a plow, joined the Army in the First World War, and, as a captain, led Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division, in combat in the Meuse-Argonne and at Verdun; Whereas he served for a decade as judge (commissioner) of Jackson County, Missouri, and, among other responsibilities, oversaw the building of some of the first paved roads around Kansas City; Whereas he was elected to the United States Senate and took his seat in 1935, serving as a member of the Senate Appropriations, Military Affairs, and Interstate and Foreign Commerce Commit- tees, was instrumental in writing major pieces of legislation, including the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 and the Transporta- 52 Stat. 973. tion Act of 1940, proposed and served as chairman of the Senate 54 Stat. 898. Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program (the "Truman Committee"), which was estimated to have saved taxpayers billions of dollars on war contracts; Whereas under Franklin D. Roosevelt, he served as Vice President of the United States from January 20, 1945, to April 12, 1945; Whereas upon the death of Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Harry S Truman was sworn in as President of the United States at the climax of the Second World War and with almost no preparation for the historic military and diplomatic problems that were piling up on the United States, including the question of using the atomic bomb to end the war against Japan quickly so as to save Japanese and American lives in the end; Whereas with modesty, courage, and commonsense he took up the cause of opposing Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe, the Bal- kans, the Black Sea Straits, and Iran, directed that, despite Roosevelt's sudden death, the United Nations Conference on International Organization meet in San Francisco as scheduled to establish the United Nations, and successfully recommended that the Senate approve ratification of the charter, bringing the United States into the United Nations; Whereas he presided over the turbulent task of postwar reconver- sion of the economy from wartime to a peacetime production, obtained passage of the landmark Employment Act of 1946 that 15 USC 1021 note. declared that "it is the continuing policy and responsibility of the Federal Government ta usc all practical means... functions and resources" to foster "maximum employment, production and pur- chasing power", prevailed upon Congress to pass the National Housing Act of 1949 to provide low-cost housing and slum clear- 42 USC i44inote. ance, won a bitter battle in Congress to keep control of nuclear weapons in civilian hands, introduced legislation for national medical insurance that was the forerunner of Medicare, which has assured adequate medical treatment for millions of Americans, unified the Armed Forces in a new Department of Defense and created modern new organs of government, including the Council

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