State of the Union

President Harry Truman laid down the same domestic program he has been championing for the last three years, in his forceful State of the Union address to Congress yesterday. With certain exceptions, he presented that lineup of legislative goals to the past two Congresses. And, with certain exceptions, those two bodies rejected the presidential suggestions. Yesterday, of course, there was an important difference--the Eighty-First Congress. The dominant note of suspicion and outright hostility between legislative and executive have vanished. Once more there is a victorious party in control of both governmental branches, a party elected on a platform of defined issues. There is consequently a feeling of relief in the country--even among opponents of the President--that the responsibility for future decisions rests squarely on one party. That party has a program, and, with the necessary party discipline and compromise, much of that program can be carried out.

Mr. Truman's list of objectives is broad; it fully represents the kind of government that the country's voters have approved in every major election since 1932. Truman wants $4 billion more in taxes (principally from corporations); he wants the Taft-Hartley Law repealed, and a revised Wagner Act put in its place. He asked again for limited economic controls; proposals that have been futilely batted around in Congress for well over a year. And the President wants plenty of legislation in other domestic fields--Social Security, conservation and resource development, health, education, civil rights, and housing.

This he termed "a fair deal." The New Deal for the American people is no longer "new." It is, as Truman said, what "every segment of our population and every individual has a right to expect from his government." Truman wants to extend and correct this program. Part of his message was directed at the short-range danger of inflation and threats of a recession, but more significant was the long-range schedule of needed social legislation, proposals that will be fought all the way by the "gluttons of privilege" he blasted in the fall campaign.

Mr. Truman said little on foreign policy in his message to Congress. It was striking that in what he did say he was conciliatory. He stressed international cooperation; he did not put foreign policy in terms of "get-tough-with-Russia." He requested the restoration of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act "to full effectiveness," and the admission of displaced persons "without unfair discrimination." He did ask for universal military training, and a strengthening of the national military organization, but this section of the speech was almost incidental--hardly warlike. The overwhelming emphasis was on the peaceful projects of "the Fair Deal."

The broad on lines of social goals have been stated by the Chief Executive. No one can expect the Eighty-First. Congress to fill these outlines completely. Important advances will surely be made in some areas, and the President will surely be stalled in others. Lobbyists will still be influential; an alliance of Dixiecrafts and Republicans will probably be able to block some important bills. But the importance of the state of the government this year is that now, after a brief Republican hiatus, the movement towards the human welfare society in America will continue. The President must fight just as hard in the future as he fought before November's election. But he now has a Congress that can be managed by Fair Dealers, and expectations of victories are more than justified.