Brotherhood Week to Start Sunday; 10,000 Communities to Participate

A call for participation of all Americans in the Brotherhood Week, which starts on Sunday, was issued today by President Eisenhower. The Brotherhood Week is sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews President Eisenhower is honorary chairman of the Week, which will be observed in more than 10,000 communities throughout the United States.

“Brotherhood is one of the most demanding–and most rewarding–principles in our lives,” declared the President. “Its application is not limited to our homes or to our homeland. The responsibilities of brotherhood stretch around the world; and wherever man dwell, their needs and their successes are for all to share. The furtherance of such a principle demands the utmost in justice and charity, but the rewards of brotherhood are even greater. These are the fruits of a world at peace.”

The National Conference of Christians and Jews, organized in 1928, has been sponsoring the observance of Brotherhood Week since 1934. The first observance, with 300 communities in the United States participating, was originally suggested by Monsignor Hugh McMenamin, a Catholic priest of Denver.

All through the week, in large and small communities everywhere, a variety of Brotherhood Week programs will take place. These include school assemblies, youth conferences, pageants, film forums, plays, sermons, festivals of religious music, civic club meetings, displays and exhibits in department stores and business establishments, and human relations institutes. Chaplains with the armed services have arranged brotherhood programs at military installations in this country and abroad. Radio and television stations will carry brotherhood messages in a variety of programs.