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Harry S. Truman: ‘Socialism is a Scare Word’ Claim President Harry S. Truman said socialism is a scare word in 1952. Rating True Like this fact check? Reporting In January 2020, a Facebook post from September 2019 featuring an image of President Harry S. Truman and claims in 1952 Truman said that socialism is a scare word continued to spread: https://www.facebook.com/psaxe/posts/10156858875219195 At the top of the meme, text over an image of Truman stated SOCIALISM IS A SCARE WORD. Under the image, text read: Socialism is a scareword they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. —Harry S. Truman, speech, Oct. 10 1952 Although the attribution claimed Truman said those things in 1952, a search restricted to results published during or before January 2017 returned mostly misdated links from 2019 or later. Typically, well-known figures’ statements have a more robust history, and a lack of history before a date can sometimes (but not always ) signal an apocryphal or misleading quote. In June 2019, Vox.com and The New Yorker quoted Sen. Bernie Sanders repeating this passage June 2019. The latter article leaned on the premise Sanders had quoted Truman accurately, but did not verify whether the quote actually belonged to Truman: Senator Bernie Sanders, the only avowed socialist in the Presidential race, delivered a speech [in June 2019] that presented his brand of democratic socialism as an unthreatening egalitarianism, in the spirit of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr. He called it the unfinished business of the New Deal and recited an economic bill of rights that included the right to a living wage, health care, a secure retirement, and a clean environment. ‘Socialism,’ Sanders quoted President Harry Truman as saying, in 1952, ‘is the epithet they have hurled at every advance that people have made in the last twenty years. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm-price supports. Socialism is what they called bank-deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor. Socialism is their name for almost everything that helps all of the people.’ Florida is where wokes go to die... Please enable JavaScript Florida is where wokes go to die More than sixty years after Truman spoke those words, socialism still is marked by strong connotations and conflicting definitions in the United States.... In May 2019 — one month prior to Sanders’ quoted remarks — the verified Facebook page of the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site (@HarrySTrumanNHS) shared a similar meme of the same Truman quote. Text in a status update read: On October 10, 1952 while campaigning for Adlai Stevenson in Syracuse New York, President Truman delivered a speech denouncing the use of socialism as a scare word used by Republicans. Truman had long criticized the Republican presidential nominee, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, as having, opposed almost all our programs to help the economic life of the country and having blindly turned [their] back on the tradition of public action for the public good. [Republican Senator] Taft explained that the great issue in this campaign is creeping socialism. Now that is the patented trademark of the special interest lobbies. Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they call public power. Socialism is what they call social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they call the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan Down With Socialism on the banner of his great crusade, that is really not what he means at all. What he really means is, Down with Progress — down with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and Down with Harry Truman’s Fair Deal. That is what he means. Now, it is a sad thing to see this man led around by those of little faith and no vision. It is a sad thing to see this man betraying his principles, deserting his friends, all for the sake of the votes he hopes to gain from Taft and Jenner and McCarthy. Going by the date cited on the original meme, we also located the only transcript of public remarks made by Truman on October 10 1952 on the official Harry S. Truman Library site. In a speech filed under Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in New York, Truman was quoted as saying: [A] directive was drafted by Senator Taft at that famous breakfast in New York City a few weeks ago. Senator Taft left that meeting and told the press what the General stands for. Taft explained that the great issue in this campaign is creeping socialism. Now that is the patented trademark of the special interest lobbies. Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan Down With Socialism on the banner of his great crusade, that is really not what he means at all. What he really means is, Down with Progress — down with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and down with Harry Truman’s fair Deal. That is what he means. Now, it is a sad thing to see this man led around by those of little faith and no vision. It is a sad thing to see this man betraying his principles, deserting his friends, all for the sake of the votes he hopes to gain from Taft and Jennet and McCarthy. This campaign has already demonstrated that a military man should stick to his profession. We do not need any additional proof. I can think of no worse combination in the White House than a military man, ignorant of all our problems, surrounded and controlled by the most backward-looking politicians in our national life. My friends, don’t turn the country over to that Republican combination. Look out for your own interests. You are the Government. The Constitution of the United States says the power of the Government in this great Nation of ours shall rest in the people. And when you exercise that power, you can only do it by votes. The socialism is a scare word quotation attributed to President Harry S. Truman was accurately described and properly dated. On October 10 1952, Truman did say socialism is a scare word, comments that received greater interest after Bernie Sanders quoted them in June 2019. Posted in Fact Checks , Politics Tagged bernie sanders , harry s truman , harry truman , quote memes , socialism , viral facebook posts , viral facebook quotes
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