Jacob Blaustein noted Jewish leader, today received the Governor’s Medal and a tribute unique in Maryland’s history when he was presented with a giant silver tray engraved with the names of 250 American and foreign statesmen. Mr. Blaustein was honored for his services as a humanitarian and philanthropist.
The honors were paid here personally to Mr. Blaustein by 800 civic and business leaders at a testimonial luncheon of the Advertising Club of Baltimore. Among the tributes inscribed on the tray were those from Vice President Richard M. Nixon; former President Harry S. Truman; Secretary of State John Foster Dulles; House Speaker Sam Rayburn; Governor Theodore R. McKeldin of Maryland; Governor Averell Harriman of New York; Adlai Stevenson: Prime Minister Moshe Sharett and Defense Minister David Ben Gurion of Israel; Senators Alben W. Barkley, Herbert H. Lehman and John Marshall Butler: Abba Eban, Israel Ambassador to the U.S.; Archbishop Francis P. Keogh of Baltimore and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
Presentation of the silver tray was made by Dr. Lowell J. Reed, president of Johns Hopkins University. The Governor’s Medal was presented for Governor McKeldin by C.R., Zarfoss, president the club and vice-president of Western Maryland Railways. Governor McKeldin sent his cable of presentation from Heidelberg, Germany; where he is receiving an honorary degree from the university there. The city’s greetings were presented by Mayor Thomas D’Allesandro, Jr.
In accepting the two awards, Mr. Blaustein said that beyond the obligation of vocation, public service and philanthropy, “Americans have a further vital obligation to protect our nation and preserve our democratic processes against the inroads of totalitarianism be it Communism or Fascism. We must deal vigorously and effectively with subversive activities: but we must also be careful that in our eagerness to root out the cancer of Communism, we do not destroy the healthy tissue of American democracy.”
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