Video: 'Truman's Address To Congress Aka 'the State Of The Union Is Good' (1948)' (Jan. 5, 1949)

(Wednesday, January 5, 1949, 1:00 p.m. EST) — U.S. President Harry S. Truman submitted an eight-point domestic reform program today in a 3,400-word State of the Union address to a joint meeting of Congress, declaring, “every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.”

Truman’s Fair Deal postwar proposals sought to extend and update the liberal thrust of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal (click here to listen to the entire speech).

Fresh from his unforeseen 1948 election victory, the president described the United States as a society that is “conservative about the values and principles we cherish. At the same time, he said, the nation looks forward to protecting “those values and principles and in extending their benefits.”