Making his first public reference to racial agitation in the current political campaign, Governor Alfred M. Landon yesterday urged members of the American Legion to combat any attempts to “stir up racial antagonism.”
In his Labor Day address before the State convention of the American Legion, the Republican presidential candidate pleaded for racial tolerance and called upon legionnaires to fight for preservation of American freedom, with special stress on freedom of expression.
“It ought not to be necessary,” said the Governor, “to stress tolerance in America. We have a great tradition of tolerance growing out of the fundamentals of our past. Our forebears came of different stocks, different religions. Men of every nation, every clime, united in building this country.
“Protestants, Catholics, Jews worked here side by side, good neighbors, good citizens. No other nation has such a background.
“But of late there has been disquieting evidence of attempts to stir up racial antagonisms. This is due in part, I suppose, to the influence of the persecuting spirit that has broken out in certain regions in Europe. In part, I suspect, it is due to what we call ‘pure orneriness’, of which we all have a share.
“This fomenting of racial feeling is not serious as yet. It would be tragic if it should become serious.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
