Speech of Senator Harry S. Truman Delivered at the Centennial of B'Nai B'rith, St. Louis, Missouri
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OCR Page 1 of 8SPEECH OF SEMATOR HARRY S. TRUMAN,
TO BE DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL
OF B'INAI B'RITH, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,
ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1943.
TO BE RELEASED ON DELIVERY
These are days of great peril. In the one hundred and sixty-seven
years of its existence, this country has had to resort to arms several times
for causes which involved its national honor or the freedom of its subjects
or institutions. Its sword has always been drawn reluctantly, used courage-
ously, and sheathed willingly. But in this war, for the first tire since our
forefathers proclaimed to an astonished world that all men are enual and pos-
sess inalienable rights, we are fighting for our very existence. One does not
need, to see the blue prints in Berlin and Tokyo to know what would be the fate
of this nation if we fail in the awful task before us. Our American system of
government would be destroyed -- our heritage of liberty and freedom oblitera-
ted- our economy laid waste -- and these years of our great Commonwealth would
be remembered in the histories of the ages as the "Era of the Common Man." The
light which has kindled the hopes of the downtrodden and oppressed for almost
two centuries would be extinguished and the world would be plunged into the
gloom of another Dark Age -- for the fate of all humanity is tied into the fate
of America.
Great crises, grave dangers, call for heroic effort - for tremendous
sacrifices. The men who dared so gallantly in the first great trial of this
country were not writing empty words when they pledged their lives, their for-
tunes and their scared honor. The extent of the sacrifice recuired is responsive
to the degree of danger which confronts us and when so measured we can be certain
that our present peril calls for all we can offer on the altar of our country.
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World War, 1939-1945
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