The President's News Conference

THE PRESIDENT. I have no announcements to make this morning, but I thought maybe you might have some questions you might want to ask me, and I would let you come in and do it.

[1.] Q. Mr. President, have you expressed yourself to the Democratic Committee on the site for the Democratic convention ?

THE PRESIDENT. NO I haven't. That is a matter for the Democratic Committee to decide.

Q. Mr. President, have you expressed yourself on the Chairmanship?

THE PRESIDENT. No I haven't. That is still another matter for the Committee to decide.

[2.] Q. Has Senator Mead been in with any new postage stamp designs? [Laughter]

THE PRESIDENT. NO, not that I know of.

[3.] Q. Mr. President, do you favor the St. Lawrence waterway development?

THE PRESIDENT. Did you read my message to Congress?

Q. I just wanted to see if you had some new comment on it?

THE PRESIDENT. No new comment, no. The message speaks for itself.¹ Of course I favor it. I have been in favor of it for 14 years, that is, since I came to the Senate.

¹ See 1945 volume, this series, Item 155.

[4.] Q. Mr. President, particularly in view of the British-American loan conferences next Monday, will you comment on the British economic situation?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment about it.

[5.] Q. Mr. President, when will Secretary Forrestal take the oath as your--

THE PRESIDENT. As soon as he gets through with the--winds up the situation in the Navy. That is--I suppose some time soon. Whenever he is ready to--he is going to take the oath. I will let you know whenever the matter takes place.

Q. That actually puts unification into effect?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right--that's right. I may have some announcements to make to you on those at the next press conference. I can't make any today.

Q. That is relative to appointments, Mr. President ?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes.

[6.] Q. Mr. President, in view of the poor crop outlook of corn, is there anything under study to cut the export program, or to meet that situation?

THE PRESIDENT. The Food Committee of the Cabinet has had that in line and is working on it now.

[7.] Q. Mr. President, have you anything to add to the high-price investigation

THE PRESIDENT. NO, I have nothing to add to it. I hope it will obtain some results, and I think probably it will. I am wholeheartedly in favor of it.

Q. Mr. President, may I ask you to have him read that question again?

THE PRESIDENT, On what?

Q. Investigation of high prices ?

Mr. Romagna: "Mr. President, have you anything to add to the high-price investigation"--

Q. Oh yes.

THE PRESIDENT. That's the investigation of high prices, not the high-price investigation! [Laughter]

Q. Mr. President, do you think that the Attorney General's investigation can actually check the rise of prices, or will it merely point the finger as to who is responsible for it?

THE PRESIDENT. I think the second part of your question is probably what would happen.

Q. That that in itself would probably not check-

THE PRESIDENT. Have to wait and see what the results would be.

Q. Mr. President, do you believe that it's the violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust law that are responsible for high prices ?

THE PRESIDENT. I can't answer that until the investigation has found the answer. That is what the investigation is for.

[8.] Q. Mr. President, have you any comment on the state of the world 2 years after V-J Day?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, I was thinking when the press conference was called that it was--accidentally happened to be on the anniversary of the surrender of the Japanese. I think the announcement was made to you, as I remember, about 7 o'clock in the afternoon, and I had anticipated at that time that we would have arrived at a peaceful settlement of affairs in the world. I regret to say that we have not arrived at that situation. I am still hopeful that we will have peace in the world that will be for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, as I stated, I think, in my V-J Day announcement.

[9.] Q. Mr. President, there has been a lot of after thinking, and recently Colonel Fellers, who was a brigadier general under MacArthur out there, had a piece in which he insisted that the dropping of the atomic bomb was unnecessary, that the war had been won before that time.

THE PRESIDENT. When I was going to school we were discussing the battle of Gettysburg, and a very bright young man got up and stated the maneuvers that should have been made by General Lee and those that should have been made by General Meade, in order to make a complete victory at that point. And the old professor made the statement that any schoolboy's afterthought is worth more than all the generals' forethought. And that is true in the case you state. [Laughter]

Q. So far as you are concerned, you have never had any doubt that it was necessary?

THE PRESIDENT. I have never had any doubt that it was necessary, and I didn't have any doubt at the time. I hated very much to have to make that decision. Anybody would. But I thought that decision was made in the interest of saving about 250,000 American boys from getting killed, and I still think that was true.

[10.] Q. Mr. President, would you be in favor of Secretary Anderson for Democratic National Chairman, if Mr. Hannegan doesn't stay on?

THE PRESIDENT. Well now, Tony,¹ I can't answer a question like that. [Laughter] The next time the Democratic Committee meets, they will probably decide on a chairman. I think very highly of Secretary Anderson, of course, but I am not naming him as Chairman of the Committee, Tony. A trick question like that! [More laughter]

Q. I just wanted to clarify my thinking.

THE PRESIDENT. That's all right, Tony. [To another reporter] Go ahead.

¹ Ernest B. Vaccaro of the Associated Press.

Q. Could I ask this? Mr. President, there has been a report that if Mr. Anderson does make that move, you are going to appoint Roy Thompson as Secretary of Agriculture. Any idea--

THE PRESIDENT. That's the first I've heard of that. There is no vacancy in the Department of Agriculture yet.

[11.] Q. Mr. President, can you comment on the British political and financial situation?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment.

Q. How about these conferees coming on Monday ?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment.

[12.] Q. Mr. President, do you have any comment on the CIO request that you call a conference of management and labor and industry to discuss rolling back prices?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment on that. I made an attempt at that in November 1945. It was not successful.

[13.] Q. Mr. President, do you foresee success of the Rio conference which opens tomorrow ?

THE PRESIDENT. I certainly do. I made that statement, I think, to General Marshall yesterday.

[14.] Q. Mr. President, do you see any circumstances between now and, say, Christmas such as to change your opinion that a special session might not be necessary?

THE PRESIDENT. Nothing on the horizon at the present time.

[15.] Q. Any further details on the Rio trip, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT. No, I can't give you any details yet. As soon as I can, why I will furnish you with all the details.

Q. Learning any Portuguese or Spanish?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't know either Portuguese or Spanish, so it won't be necessary, any such comment as that.

Q. Mr. President, when you go to Brazil, is there any plan for you to meet the Presidents of any other countries except the President of Brazil?

THE PRESIDENT. NO.

[16.] Q. Mr. President, are you giving any consideration to possible transfer of the Unemployment Compensation Division to the Labor Department?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, I have been giving it a lot of consideration right along.

Q. Get the USES and the Unemployment Compensation Division together in one place?

THE PRESIDENT. They should be in one place, undoubtedly.

Q. To rebuild the Labor Department?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, we will rebuild the Labor Department, don't worry about that. It can't be torn--permanently torn up any more than any other Department can.

Q. Do you think it is sort of torn up at the moment ?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes I do. Yes I do. I think that is one of the accomplishments of the last Congress. [Laughter]

Q. Mr. President, I notice that one of the 1944 Republican platforms was to take all the--put under the Secretary of Labor once again, they said, all the labor and independent agencies. That is correct?

THE PRESIDENT. That's the Republican platform. I can give you the chapter and verse, if you want it.

Q. Have you any comment on that?

THE PRESIDENT. None. None whatever. It speaks for itself.

[17.] Q. Mr. President, would you favor a west coast city for the National Convention ?

THE PRESIDENT. I will be in favor of any city that the National Democratic Committee decides upon.

[18.] Q. Mr. President, have you got those supplemental budget estimates in view of the Congress appropriations?

THE PRESIDENT. I will have that information ready for you, I hope, inside of the next 10 or 15 days, and I will furnish it to you. It isn't ready yet.

Q. Will you announce it, or the Budget Director?

THE PRESIDENT. The Budget Director, in all probability, will make his report to me, and I will announce it to you.

Q. Mr. President--what was that, Mr. president? We were a little bit behind.

THE PRESIDENT. On the budget figures, as to estimates. I made the statement sometime--I think at the last press conference or the one before that, that as soon as we could get the figures together, I would tell you exactly what happened so you could understand and so I could understand them.

Q. Mr. President, in that connection, the Budget Director is reported to have sent a message to the departments saying that the--referring to the 1949 estimates in terms of rigid economy. I wonder if that was done on your direction?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, those are the same instructions that were given the departments last year. Just a repeat.

[19.] Q. I hate to ask you to repeat again that little description you had about the afterthought. What was it that the teacher said to you ?

THE PRESIDENT. The teacher said to me that any schoolboy's afterthought is worth more than all the greatest generals' forethought.

Q. I see. Thank you.

[20.] Q. Mr. President, in connection with your statement on the failure of peace 2 years after the end of the war, I wonder if you would care to elaborate on what is holding up peace, what might be done about it?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think I should elaborate on that, because we are trying to get the peace, and I don't think any comment I made at this time would be helpful in that direction.

[21.] Q. Mr. President, do you have any comment on the present status of the old Truman committee? [Laughter]

THE PRESIDENT. No, I have not. The Truman committee passed out when I resigned. It's another committee.

[22.] Q. Mr. President, will you have any budget figures in the next 10 or 15 days for some estimates on potential outlays under the so-called Marshall plan?

THE PRESIDENT. NO, no, We can't figure any potential estimates of that until we have finished the surveys which are now being needed for that purpose. The Paris conference will have one side of it, and our own economic setup which they--which I sent up for the purpose will give us the other. Then I will give you the facts and figures as soon as I have them.

Q. Then would those--would that midyear revision then have to be revised some time later in the year on the basis of whatever outlays will have to be made for Europe?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't understand your question. You will have to make it a little clearer.

Q. Well, the midyear estimates usually mean a pretty firm set of figures for the balance of the year. If the Marshall plan figures can't be included, will there be a real set of figures to show an overall picture of the effect of the European part of it on our budget?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, when the Marshall plan figures are ready, of course they will have an effect on the budget, but I don't think there is any midyear estimate that is contemplated to be made now.

Q. In that connection, Mr. President, does the United States--is the United States taking any notice of the clamor on the part of Western Hemisphere nations for a Marshall plan, as it were, of their own?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, I think there has always been a Marshall plan in effect for the Western Hemisphere. The foreign policy of the United States in that direction has been set for one hundred years, known as the Monroe Doctrine.

[23.] Q. Mr. President, is it true that you really laid the law down to the new members of the NLRB, and made it clear to them that they are members of the executive department rather than--

THE PRESIDENT. We discussed the situation, and I find that--I found that they were in the same frame of mind that I am, that they are a branch of the executive department of the Government. We have no argument on the subject, and I didn't have to lay any law down.

Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT. You're welcome.