Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Tax and fiscal policy; interstate programs and activities; foreign affairs; states and their localities; and civil defense

Points of Interest:

Governors discussed a joint conference of representatives from the Governors' Conference and Congress that had taken place in September 1947. Objectives agreed upon at the conference included federal reduction of excise taxes (e.g., local phone usage and gasoline); equitable division of inheritance and estate taxes between the federal government and the states; federal relinquishment of taxes on employers levied to cover administrative expenses of the state employment security programs; state assumption of responsibility for unemployment compensation and employment service programs; and avoidance by states of encroachment on taxes peculiarly adaptable to federal uses. One proposal discussed at the conference for fulfilling these objectives was a compromise: that rather than withdraw entirely from imposition of gasoline tax, the federal government would withdraw from it except to the extent necessary for highway construction.

Governors also discussed the feasibility of engaging in interstate cooperatives with respect to state university systems so as to make federal assistance unnecessary. Rather than expect every school to cover every field, for example, public universities in different states could divvy up specialties that were open to students from all states in their region.

Famed journalists Dorothy Thompson and Edward R. Murrow addressed the conference regarding America's role in world affairs.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina said: "The apparent trend in Washington today is toward a broadening of federal tax systems. In order to make certain that this trend shall take a course that will not endanger the traditional fiscal policies of our states, it is of paramount importance that a coordinating agency be maintained for this purpose...In the field of income taxation, it would be of real benefit to taxpayers if states were to pattern their taxing systems after that of the federal government. Tax forms, deductions, definitions of income, and so forth, would be identical..."

In his address, titled "America as an Island," Edward R. Murrow emphasized the extent to which WWII had shifted the balance of power and reversed America's traditional isolationism. He said: "From our position of crew we changed to that of captain, and for better or for ill we came into our full inheritance and assumed a position of dominance in the world today...we shall be making a basic mistake if we assume that our aid to Europe will cause them to base their policy upon gratitude or to follow us blindly...I suggest that we cannot achieve leadership by largesse, by supersonic aircraft or by guided missiles...There is now...a bitter and brutal contest between two definitions of democracy, that of Russia and that of this country...We cannot make democrats of Western Europeans with X billions of dollars. We may be able to create a symbol to which they will rally if we can in this country demonstrate that we have a stable economy, an expanding horizon of civil rights, and, above everything else, a foreign policy which is not running hot and cold...we cannot insist that we will help only those who believe in our particular definition of free enterprise economy. There is no such thing left..."

Selected Resolutions Adopted:
(1) Supporting programs designed to coordinate federal-state services and structures, to ensure appropriate division of labor between states and the federal government, and to adjust tax structures to achieve fair apportionment of the tax burden; (2) affirming the view that federal gas and highway tax revenues not be diverted but be used for expansion and improvement of highway systems; (3) urging that airport plans be developed in cooperation with states and that airport funds be channeled through state governments; and (4) supporting statehood for Alaska and Hawaii.