On October 5, 1947, President Harry Truman (left/above) made the
first-ever televised presidential address from the White House,
asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to
help starving Europeans.

At the time of Truman’s food-conservation speech, Europe was
still recovering from World War II and suffering from famine.

Truman, the 33rd commander in chief, worried that if the U.S. didn’t provide food aid, his administration’s Marshall Plan for European economic recovery would fall apart.

He asked farmers and distillers to reduce grain use and requested
that the public voluntarily forgo meat on Tuesdays, eggs and
poultry on Thursdays and save a slice of bread each day.