Remarks at a Luncheon of the Finance Committee of the Democratic National Committee

Mr. Chairman of the Finance Committee, and members of the Finance Committee:

I simply want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the job you have done. I never was, in my political career, connected with the necessary dollar-raising section of the political game. It is necessary, nevertheless, that a political party have the sinews of war with which to operate.

I have always been exceedingly lucky to have people with me who were willing to make the effort to raise the necessary finances so that the party with which I have been connected, ever since I was old enough to be connected with a party, could function.

There were times in this campaign when we were pretty well strapped. We couldn't buy radio time, we couldn't even pay for the transportation of the President from one end of the country to the other to make his campaign. But we did get Louis Johnson interested in the situation, and from the time he began operations, we were able to make the necessary tours and get some of the radio time necessary to tell the people of the United States what the issues really are, and were.

I have always been an optimist. I have always believed that right would prevail. I have labored under the idea that if the people of the country understood clearly what the issues were in this campaign, they would only vote one way.

We succeeded in getting that idea sold to the public through the efforts of all of you, through the efforts of the Vice President, through the efforts of the Speaker of the House, through the efforts of the chairman of the Democratic Committee, and through the efforts of all those of you who have from the beginning been Democrats at heart.

And Democrats are those people who believe that the welfare of the whole country is much more important than the welfare of any individual in it.

Thanks to the efforts of all of you, thanks to the efforts of the people who were interested in the welfare of the country as a whole, on November the 2d the people expressed their will.

Now, that is only the beginning--that is only the beginning. We made the issues. We expressed our convictions. We said in the platform at Philadelphia what we stand for. We have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic Senate and Democratic House of Representatives. It is the business of every one of you gentlemen, from now on, to help the Vice President, the Speaker, and the President of the United States to implement that program in such a way that the welfare of the country will continue to be in the interest of all the people.

I am sure that is what you will do.

Louis Johnson says the Finance Committee is resigning as of today. That's what you think! As long as I am President, you are in the harness, and you are going to stay there, because you brought this situation about by the help which you gave to the Democratic Party.

Now you have got to help the Democratic Party to implement that program for which we stand.

There has been a great deal of controversy in the last week: since November the 2d, particularly since January 3d, as to protocol and precedence. When I call the "Big Four" down for consultation, there is an argument out in Matt Connelly's office as to who comes into my office first, the Speaker or the prospective Vice President.

Now it has been that up to date, and up until tomorrow at 12 o'clock, the Speaker has had the advantage, and I am going to give him the advantage right now. He is still, according to protocol, ahead of Senator Barkley.

[At this point Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said a few words, the text of which was not released. The President then resumed speaking.]

I once nominated Sam Rayburn for Vice President of the Senate in San Francisco. You remember that, don't you, Sam? Now I rather think it is Senator Tom Connally: That was in the twenties.

THE PRESIDENT. Tom Connally says it was in the twenties. Well, this was not a convention, Tom, it was at a meeting in San Francisco. I just publicly nominated him, not at a convention.

You are very kind to me, Sam, and I hope I can live up to the things you say. I doubt very much whether I can or not because I am just an ordinary human being who has been lucky--or unlucky, whichever way you want to look at it--and I have always said that I'm sure there are a million men in the United States, no doubt, who could do the job much better than I can, or could do it. But I have a job, and I have to do it, and the rest of you have got to help me.

I now want to let the man who will rank the Speaker of the House, tomorrow at noon, speak for himself. The Senator from Kentucky!

[At this point Vice President-elect Barkley spoke; his remarks were not released. The President then resumed speaking.]

I said last night, I think, that no President in the history of the country has been more ably assisted in the conditions that now face us as I am now with Sam Rayburn, the Speaker of the House; Senator Barkley, the President of the Senate; Senator Connally, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; Howard McGrath, chairman of the National Democratic Committee; and all the rest of the people that I could name who are now members of the executive and legislative branches of the Government. We should be able to meet the situation with which we are faced, and put over the program.

Again, I want to say to you that I am exceedingly grateful to all of you gentlemen, and ladies, and I am extremely grateful to the men who have contributed to this victory which took place on November the 2d. All of you made a contribution that was absolutely necessary, in order for us to win.

I had a conversation this morning with a former Congresswoman from the far West, and she said the most remarkable thing to her was that the people who always like to be on the bandwagon with the winning side voted their sentiments when they thought they were going to lose, and therefore the expression of the people was from the heart. And that is why we won.

I want to thank Joe Blythe for what he did as Treasurer. I want to thank every one of you individually and collectively, and I sincerely wish that there was time to say what I think about each one of you. It would all be printable.

Every single one of you--the sinews of the Democratic Party are here. As I say, the leaders in the Government, the Cabinet, the executive and the legislative branches of the Government are here. And I know that with an organization like this behind us, We Can Win.

I want to thank you for that gold key, and I know that Senator Barkley is appreciative of his, and I am going to make your speech on that for you.

I don't know why he rates the cowbell, because there are more cows in Missouri than there are in Kentucky. You want to give him a cowbell--he will need it when he becomes the Presiding Officer of the Senate. Nobody knows that better than I do, because I have been there.

Vice President-elect Barkley: I'll need a little bull, too.

THE PRESIDENT. Missouri can furnish you with a bull.

It's getting late in the afternoon. I am sincerely sorry that it is. I think, Mr. Chairman, that we had better close the meeting.

Thank you very much.