Evening star., 1950-09-10
Text of Byrd Speech.

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Text of Byrd Speech.
TheteEt OF the speech tollo,os:
There have been just five years
since World War II ended. They
may well 60 down in history as the
most irresponsible five years OF the
great American Republic, and, unless
we begin thinking straight and act
ing accordingly, they may be re-
corded as the prelude to the down
fall of the greatest democracy Of all
time.
To think straight and act accord
ingly from this point forward, we
would do we'll to analyze the post
war orgy to which we have INDUCED
ourselves, for we are about to find
that the adversarieS which now con-
front us are strong and ruthless.
In these five years, we have squan-
dered the greatest prosperity ever to
come to any nation; the Federal
Government has collected far more
taxes than ever before; 1t has spent
far more money on purely domestic
civilian programs than ever before;
it has spent far more money abroad
than ever before; it has spent far
moro money for defense than ever
before without achieving prepared
ness: and we have failed to curtail
the greatest public debt any nation
has ever known. In the past 10
years, our Government has been in
the black only twice. We have
started deficit spending again in
large way, and it is very possible
that our Federal budget may not be
balanced before we 60 over the preci-
pice of financial disaster
We were forced to go to war on
Korea without effective preparation,
although we had spent more than
$50 billion for national defense in
the past five years. Before the in
vasion, Congress was told that the
South Koreans were we'll trained,
well equipped, and well prepared to
defend themselves, and later we were
told that we did not dare to train
them more, or give them effective
military equipment for fear they
would attack the North Koreans.
Conflicting Stories.
We were told that the ECA Mar-
shall Plan) expenditures abroad are
necessary to contain communism and
prevent war, but, at the same time,
we were told by Administrator Hoff .
man that the great effect of the
foreign give-away program in Korea
provoked the Communist Koreans
into starting war to hide its
benefits.
We unity our armed services, and
join the United Nations to work as
an integrated national and inter-
national team for peace, and, as we
send the Marines to do a dirty job
of shock troop relief at the war
front of our own unified forces under
the direction of the United Nations,
we call them bunch of ballyhoo-
bedecked policemen.
Our leaders complained that the
high cost of defense was depriving
socialistic domestic c-civilian programs
of Federal funds, but now we are
saying we didn't spend enough for
defense.
How inconsistent can national
policy be?
To shift the blame. or conceal It,
Is natural and inevitable follow-up
to irresponsibility. We thus have
what is very obvious hostility be-
tween the two greatest and most
vital departments in the executive
branch of the Government. Who is
shifting the blame or whose blame
is being concealed remains to be
seen.
These are some Of the things I
have in mind when I say we had
better start thinking straight and
acting accordingly, for assert with
out fear of contradiction that the
American democracy - all of the
things that make it and all of its
benef1cence-Stands today in the
hour Of its greatest peril. II we
don't recognize it, it's because we
haven't thought about it, and if
we don't know it, it's because we
haven't been told about it. If we
haven't thought about it then our
civilization is void of it's vaunted
intellect. If we aren't told about 1t,
then our leadership is criminally
delinquent.
We have maneuvered the greatest
country, the best form of govern
ment, and the finest nation of people
in the history of the world, into a
position where they are fiscally vul-
nerable from within, and perhaps
so greatly extended that they may
be militarily vulnerable from with
out. Neither democracy nor free
dom can survive in either the
shackles of overwhelming debt or
the bondage of military dictatorship.
Must Overcome Situation.
This, then, is simple plea for
the preservation of freedom in our
homes, in our work and our religion.
1t is simple plea that we do what
we know has to be done-strip off
the luxuries of sociological ventures
and political bids for votes by spend
Ing public money. 1t is simple plea
that we get down to the sweat and
the toll Of the work that is required
to make this country fiscally sound
and militarily impregnable.
Here is the situation into which
we have gotten ourselves-the stu
alton which we must overcome If
we are not to be overcome.