1949 Harry S. Truman - Doubling Minimum Wage

In 1938, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA).   The bill had a tough battle, fighting judicial opposition, and congressional altercation.   In it's final form, the bill only covered about one-fifth of the labor force and set the minimum wage at 25 cents per hour.  It was later increased to 40 cents per hour.  During his presidency, Harry S. Truman fought hard to raise this minimum wage and make it effective for a greater portion of the labor force.  Finally, at midnight on January 24th, 1950 the minimum wage was almost doubled to 75 cents per hour.   In a special statement to the nation, President Truman proudly announced:  "AT MIDNIGHT tonight the lot of a great many American workers will be substantially improved."

In each of his state of the union addresses, President Truman repeatedly urged congress to raise the minimum wage.   After he won re-election, he hit this especially hard, claiming that the recent election showed that he had a mandate from the American people. 

"We have rejected the discredited theory that the fortunes of the Nation should be in the hands of a privileged few. We have abandoned the "trickledown" concept of national prosperity. Instead, we believe that our economic system should rest on a democratic foundation and that wealth should be created for the benefit of all.

The recent election shows that the people of the United States are in favor of this kind of society and want to go on improving it.

The American people have decided that poverty is just as wasteful and just as unnecessary as preventable disease. We have pledged our common resources to help one another in the hazards and struggles of individual life. We believe that no unfair prejudice or artificial distinction should bar any citizen of the United States of America from an education, or from good health, or from a job that he is capable of performing."

Later in that same address, he made a simple request:

"The health of our economy and its maintenance at high levels further require that the minimum wage fixed by law should be raised to at least 75 cents an hour"

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13293
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13556&st=minimum+wage&st1=living+wage
http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm