White House Press Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 28, 1947 Under date of August 6, 1947, the President addressed a letter to Pope Pius XII, which was presented by Myron C. Taylor, Personal Represen- tative of the President of the United States of America to His Holiness the Pope. The text of this letter follows: "August 6, 1947 Your Holiness: In continuance of the exchanges of views undertaken from time to time since their beginning, on December 23, 1939, for the purpose of facilitating parallel endeavors for peace and the alleviation of human suffering, I am requesting Mr. Taylor to return to Rome and to resume audiences with Your Holiness at such times as may be found appropriate. These exchanges have already contributed profoundly toward a sound and lasting peace and to the strengthening of the impelling convictions pursued by the peoples of the world in their quest for a moral world order firmly established in the life of nations. I desire to do >verything in my power to support and to contribute to a concert of all the forces striving for a moral world. Those forces are in the homes of peaceful and law-abiding citizens in every part of the world who are exemplifying in their own lives the principles of the good neighbor: the Golden Rule itself. They are on the farms, in the factories, mines, and. little shops in all parts of the world where the principles of free coop- eration and voluntary association in self-government are honored. These moral aspirations are in the hearts of good men the world over. They are in all churches, and in schools. The war demonstrated that all persons, regardless of divergent religious allegiances, can unite their efforts for the preservation and support of the principles of freedom and morality and justice. They must unite their efforts in the cause of enduring peace if they are not one by one to be weakened and rendered impotent at the times of their great need. They have, individually and together, the duty to vin- dicate, by their thoughts and deeds, the great hopes for which men fought in World War II and the hopes which today all serious-thinking men and women throughout the world know must be attained. TRUMAN 5. SERVICE" RECORDS ARCHIVES "NATIONAL AND For s