TRUMAN DELIVERS FIRST TELEVISED ADDRESS FROM WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 5, 1947, Harry S Truman became the first President of the United States to give a televised address from the White House.
The President called on Americans to cut back on grain consumption to help Europeans who were suffering food shortages in the post-war era. He also suggested Americans not eat meat on Tuesdays or eggs and poultry on Thursdays.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was actually the first Chief Executive to appear on the tube. His address, broadcast from the New York World's Fair in 1939, was seen by a limited audience at the fair and Radio City in Manhattan.
In 1947, television sets in American homes numbered in the thousands but in the 1950s that would change to millions.
The History Channel says that Truman's speech "signaled the start of a powerful and complex relationship between the White House and (television)."
SOURCES
"Harry Truman delivers first ever presidential speech on TV," This Day in History/October 5 www.history.com/
"Postwar American Television, RCA 630-TS," Early Television Museum, www.earlytelevision.org/
