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State of the Union Address
Harry S. Truman
January 8, 1951

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress: 

This 82d Congress faces as grave a task as any Congress in the history of our Republic.  The actions you take will be watched by the whole world.  These actions will measure the ability of a free people, acting through their chosen representatives and their free institutions, to meet a deadly challenge to their way of life.

We can meet this challenge foolishly or wisely.  We can meet it timidly or bravely, shamefully or honorably.

I know that the 82d Congress will meet this challenge in a way worthy of our great heritage.  I know that your debates will be earnest, responsible, constructive, and to the point.  I know that from these debates there will come the great decisions needed to carry us forward.

At this critical time, I am glad to say that our country is in a healthy condition.  Our democratic institutions are sound and strong.  We have more men and women at work than ever before.  We are able to produce more than ever before—­in fact, far more than any country ever produced in the history of the world.

I am confident that we can succeed in the great task that lies before us.

We will succeed, but we must all do our part.  We must all act together as citizens of this great Republic.

As we meet here today, American soldiers are fighting a bitter campaign in Korea.  We pay tribute to their courage, devotion, and gallantry.

Our men are fighting, alongside their United Nations allies, because they know, as we do, that the aggression in Korea is part of the attempt of the Russian Communist dictatorship to take over the world, step by step.

Our men are fighting a long way from home, but they are fighting for our lives and our liberties.  They are fighting to protect our right to meet here today—­our right to govern ourselves as a free nation.

The threat of world conquest by Soviet Russia endangers our liberty and endangers the kind of world in which the free spirit of man can survive.  This threat is aimed at all peoples who strive to win or defend their own freedom and national independence.

Indeed, the state of our Nation is in great part the state of our friends and allies throughout the world.  The gun that points at them points at us, also.  The threat is a total threat and the danger is a common danger.

All free nations are exposed and all are in peril.  Their only security lies in banding together.  No one nation can find protection in a selfish search for a safe haven from the storm.

The free nations do not have any aggressive purpose.  We want only peace in the world—­peace for all countries.  No threat to the security of any nation is concealed in our plans and programs.

We had hoped that the Soviet Union, with its security assured by the Charter of the United Nations, would be willing to live and let live.  But I am sorry to say that has not been the case.