President Truman, in his State of the Union message today, called upon Congress “to open our doors to displaced persons without unfair discrimination.”
It was the only reference to displaced persons legislation in the nearly 4,000-word speech which covered a multitude of domestic problems, touched on foreign policy, and described “prejudice and intolerance” as one of the country’s major shortcomings. “The driving force behind our progress is our faith in our democratic institution,” the President said. “That faith is embodied in the promise of equal rights and equal opportunities which the founders of our republic proclaimed to their country-men and to the whole world.”
“The fulfillment of this promise is among the highest purposes of government. The civil rights proposals I made to the 80th Congress I now repeat to the 81st Congress,” he declared. “They should be enacted in order that the Federal Government may assure the leadership and discharge the obligations clearly placed upon it by the Constitution. I stand squarely behind those proposals,” Truman emphasized.
Two bills providing for the setting up of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission were introduced in the House late yesterday at the opening session of the 8lst Congress. The measures wore Introduced by Reps. Adam Clayton Powell, of New York, and James Fulton, of Pennsylvania.
A bill calling upon the United States to remove its embargo on the shipment of arms to Israel was introduced in the House by Rep. Emanuel Celler. The same measure was first introduced by Celler during the last Congressional session.
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.
