Harry Truman Shows Us How to Organize a Labor Day Speech and Make Republicans into Villains

Harry Truman

Time to take a second look at President Harry Truman’s 1948 Labor Day speech.  In the classic fashion of good debaters, Truman made the problem sound terrible and then made himself and his fellow Democrats into a solution. But his real solution was for labor union members to vote.

So, Truman argued in three sharply-organized steps: 

1. When Republicans get into office, they crush working people.

2. When Democrats get into office, they save the economy and help working people.

3. The way to get Democrats into office is for working people to vote.


Step One: The Problem (Republicans)

First, in a sweeping partisan review of 20th-century economic history, Truman made Republicans into anti-labor villains:

"In the depression years of 1907 and 1908, sweeping injunctions were used against labor and sent its trusted leaders to jail. But another blow to the heart of labor came in 1921 when the Republican depression put nearly 6 million workers out of employment. The strength of labor organizations dropped off and vicious campaigns of anti-labor propaganda swept the country."

Vivid, powerful, and to the point. And Truman called it a "Republican depression." He talked about "vicious campaigns" and "propaganda." Republicans were "anti-labor." Problems! And, to Truman, the Republicans caused the problems.

Truman moved on to the Great Depression. This, the reader will recall, began under Republican President Herbert Hoover. To make sure no one missed the point, Truman mentioned the Republicans no less than five times:

"A few years passed, and you all remember came the Republican panic of 1930 and the great depression, which dealt the workers of the country a terrible blow. There was no unemployment compensation under the Republicans. There was no floor under wages under the Republicans. Average hourly earnings in 1932 were only 45 cents under the Republicans. From 12 to 15 million workers were out of work and unemployed under the Republicans."

Once again: "Republican panic," "under the Republicans," and more "under the Republicans." "No floor under wages." Truman made sure to place blame on the Republicans. No way to miss it!


Step Two: The Solution (Franklin Roosevelt)

Next, the audience heard Truman's solution, which was the Franklin Roosevelt administration: "And then in 1933 came the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt." Yes! The solution was a hero president. Truman made a classic political point. After citing some economic figures, Truman said that "You all remember how a Democratic administration turned the greatest depression in history into the most prosperous era the country has ever seen."

Aha! But, in Truman's speech, Republican villainy (as he saw it) wasn't finished. Voters were ready for change, Truman said:  

"They elected the Republican 80th Congress--and they got their change. That Congress promptly fell into the familiar Republican pattern of aid for big business and attack on labor. The Republicans promptly voted themselves a cut in taxes, and voted you a cut in freedom." 

So, with the 1948 campaign in full swing, Truman moved to Step Three, the ultimate cure: good citizenship and voting...



Step Three: Workers Need to Vote

After ranting about the anti-labor Taft-Hartley law, Truman told the union members to vote. He told them that the Taft-Hartley Act was a "body blow" and warned them, "And if you stay at home, as you did in 1946, and keep these reactionaries in power, you will deserve every blow you get."

How many politicians of today would speak so bluntly to their supporters? And yet, today, how many people complain about President Donald Trump when they themselves didn't vote in 2016? But Truman's political instincts were right...


Real Life: If You Don't Vote, You Don't Count 

Political campaigns don't change people's party affiliations in great numbers. People vote by party loyalty. Even people who pretend to be independent almost always vote for a straight party ticket. Party realignments are rare. Democrats win elections by getting their people to the polls. Republicans win by getting their people to the polls and keeping Democrats away. That's pretty much it. You win by getting your own voters excited. Everything else in American political communication is smokescreen. Truman gave a problem, said that Democrats would solve the problem, and told his people that if they didn't vote, they deserved what they got. No punches pulled. A tightly-organized argument. Poof.

P.S.: If readers want to understand how political campaigns change elections, there is still no better source than Dan Nimmo's groundbreaking book The Political Persuaders. Look in libraries and bookstores.

P.P.S.: A note to my academic colleagues in communication. Scholars don't pay enough attention to speech organization. But organization can almost by itself carry a big part of the persuasive message. That was very much true with Truman's Labor Day speech.

P.P.P.S.: There is evidence that Truman may have been right, that depressions do occur under Republicans, even today. Why? I don't know; ask an economist. Thanks for reading.


Image: Harry Truman speaking in 1948, National Park Service photo by Abbie Rowe (cropped) via Wikimedia Commons