⑦ Whistle-stop Train Rally

30,000-mile whistle-stop train tour of 30 states,

Delivered about 300,

Denounced the "do-nothing" Republican Congress,

Earning the nickname Give 'Em Hell Harry.

Truman began the presidential campaign in earnest with a Labor Day speech to a large union crowd in Detroit. He stumped energetically throughout the fall, making several train tours across the country.

He spoke out on behalf of civil rights legislation, for repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and in support of farm aid programs. By trumpeting these issues, the president helped to revive the old New Deal coalition of Southern blacks, labor unionists and farmers.

In Iowa, the President claimed that

"This Republican Congress has already stuck a pitchfork in the farmer's back."