Statement by United States Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath

STATEMENT * The right of every American citizen to cast a free ballot is the first right that the powers now arrayed against our nation would strike downi. Free speech, a free press, and educated min is help prepare voters to exercise this ri Light intelli ently. In the forthcoming national election, the right to vote is also a pressing obligation. For in this grave period, momentous issues are before the people--issues bound up with the well-being of every American, our whole democratic way of life, and the peace of the world. Every citizen who really cares about the nation's security, every citizen who deeply values the privilege, to live as a free American with wide economic and educational opportunities, will register, weigh the issues and candidates, and make his views count at the polls. *By Earl James McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., on June 9, 1952; to Gannett News Service to be published during the "Informed Voter Campaign".