Draft of Passover Speech for Vice President Harry S. Truman

I am happy to greet all Americans of Jewish faith in our Armed Forces who will observe the Passover this week on battlefields in every part of the world. Today, in Egypt, under the very shadow of the pyramids which your ancestors labored to build for their taskmasters in ancient times, men will gather to observe the Festival of Freedom. And in Germany itself, where the 20th century counterpart of those ancient Pnaros nave been driven back and down on their tottering thrones, Jewish soldiers in our Army will convene to celebrate this Holiday, the significance of which must surely be obscure to the enemies of truth and freedom. We have turned back the armies of the oppressors on every front by means of a miraclesees miracle of production, a miracle of free men united by the will to remain free, and fighting for their freedom. We have reached, as it were, the Red Sea. But ours isnot an exedus. It is an entrance. An entrance to that better world which we have prayed, and suffered, and fought, and sned blood, in order to attain. I need not reitterate to you how vital it is that plackening we fight on without the slightest of our efforts at this crucial juncture in history. Tuere are, at this time, half a million Americans of Jewish faith fighting this battle side by side with Americans of many faiths in all branches of our fighting forces. And fighting well, and valiantlyeeefor the records show that many thousands of them have received awardse--medals and citations for heroism X above and beyond the call of duty, and that 35,000 of them have been casualties 35,000 wounded in action, killed in action aboard the fighter planes, the flying fortresses, battlesnips, on the jungle battle grounds, in the towns, at the front lines---advancing beyond the towns, in Franch, Holland, Belgium, Germany itself. Millions of their faith died as martyrs while the clock ran backwards in Europe. When you Americans of Jewish faith sit down at the Passover table Wednesday REVAIRAN NARA night to observe the symbolic ritual of your Festival of Freedom, there will be good reason to give thanks to the Lord, for He, once again, has lifted his hand to deliver his children of all faiths, of all color, of every nationality. continued page 2