Brigadier General David Sarnoff, chairman of the Radio Corporation of America, was awarded the B’nai B’rith President’s Medal last night by president Label Katz. The presentation was made at the awards banquet of the 116th annual meeting of B’nai B’rith at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel here. The citation noted that the award was made in recognition of Gen. Sarnoff’s “creative genius in higher communications–advancing knowledge and understanding between men and nations.”
President Eisenhower, in a letter read at the dinner paying tribute to Gen. Sarnoff, said that “during your distinguished career in science and industry your leadership has been felt in the wide field of human endeavor and your generous talents have been repeatedly placed at the service of your countrymen.”
Gen. Sarnoff, in his acceptance speech, dwelt on the vast new discovery prospects in the fields of science and medicine and the new electronic marvels. He warned, however, that there is “danger that thinking and feeling may also be mechanized and standardized.” He stressed that children had to be helped in this time of flux to find fixed points of faith and confidence and lauded the B’nai B’rith youth program as “working effectively along these lines.”
The President’s Medal is given by the board of governors of B’nai B’rith to an eminent individual whose life and achievements have been particularly noteworthy on a worldwide scale. President Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman, Bernard Baruch and Israel’s Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, were the recipients of this award.
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.
