Harry S. Truman today became the first American President to speak before a Zionist organization when he appeared before a Jewish National Fund dinner marking the completion of Kfar Truman, a village in Israel bearing his name.
A scroll of tribute was presented to Mr. Truman, extolling his “incomparable leadership of the peoples of the earth in the ways of peace, his matchless championship on behalf of the weak and the oppressed throughout the world and his many acts of friendship, in war and in peace, to the people and the Government of Israel.” Dr. Harris J. Levine, J.N.F. president, presented the scroll as 1, 000 Jewish leaders from all parts of the nation applauded. (Mr. Truman’s speech was not yet available when the Bulletin went to press.)
Sharing the dais with Mr. Truman was Vice President Alben W. Barkley, who served as the honorary chairman of the Kfar Truman project, Mr. Barkley praised Israel as the “front line of democracy in the Near East” and said that Israel’s economy was linked with American security. He expressed satisfaction that the proposed allocation for Israel under the Mutual Security Act was not reduced by the House despite the “grievous slash in the appropriations made by penny-wise and pound-foolish individuals.”
Israel Ambassador Abba Eban, addressing the dinner, expressed thanks to the President for his support of Israel. Mr. Eban said Israel’s progress in the last four years would have been impossible without America’s moral and material aid.
President Chaim Weizmann of Israel, in a message read at the dinner by Mendel N. Fisher, executive director of the Jewish National Fund of American, said that “the memorable support which the State of Israel has received from the President, the Government. Congress and the people of the U.S.A., at every decisive stage in its establishment and recent development will never be forgotten in the annals of our people.”
Dr. Harris J. Levine, in making the presentation of the scroll, said Mr. Truman was “the great man of the great moment in history.” Mr. Truman, he stated, found a world at the crossroads, wrecked by indecision. “With firm hands, he has lead this country of ours along the road of freedom and peace and resistance to aggression. At the most crucial moment he saved America and the world from the peril of tyranny,” he declared. He added that the greatest moment in 2, 000 years of Jewish history found in Mr. Truman its “greatest champion.”
Dr. Abraham Granott, world chairman of the J.N.F. board of directors, said in a message that “the Jewish people have neither orders nor decorations to bestow but there is no greater sign of their affection and respect than to associate the name of a great friend with the development and future of their age-old country. It is only fitting and proper that President Truman–the first among all the heads of governments in the world who recognized the State of Israel, and one who consistently has encouraged its growth–will through Kfar Truman be associated forever with our land.”
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.
