Shut Your Pie Hole

NPR and the New York Times had stories this week about the 64th anniversary of the first televised presidential address.  I'm not sure what prompted the press interest (although granted it was a momentous change in how we interact with our Presidents), but I found the actual speech Harry Truman gave to be interesting for a couple of reasons.  Truman asked Americans to stop eating so much so that we could send the surplus food to our friends and defeated enemies in Europe who were starving.  Among other things Truman suggested that we should refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays, and poultry and eggs on Thursdays.  The idea was to give the grain that would have gone to feeding livestock (to produce those meat and dairy products) instead directly to hungry people. The food shortage that Truman was trying to tackle was caused by war.  But a number of people fear that if we don't do anything to curb population growth, reduce the per capita consumption of the relatively well off, or improve food production, that we are headed for a more profound and long-term shortfall in our food supply.  A number of people have focused on the consumption bit, particularly our love of woefully inefficient to produce meat.  See this video of Mark Bittman (its also on our class reading list).  Apparently Truman was ahead of the times!

Another thing that struck me was the blunt and almost moralizing tone that Truman had.  He basically says that you would be selfish, heartless, and even un-American if you didn't do your part to lessen world hunger.  I am not sure what the reception to Truman's speech was, but I suspect that it was nothing like the response that our First Lady  received from some over her Let's Move campaign to encourage kids to be more active and to have healthier eating habits.  Can you imagine the reaction if President Obama said that we should re-introduce meatless Tuesdays to help lessen the strain on our planet?