Ground is Broken on Mt. Scopus for Truman Center for Advancement of Peace

Former President Harry S. Truman, in a speech read here today, called on all nations, “especially those that tend toward chronic belligerency,” to “fore sake the primitive folly of the battlefield for the sane, sensible and civilized way of the conference table” to settle international disputes. The words of the former U.S. Chief Executive who, in 1948 made the United States the first nation to recognize the new born State of Israel, were read by his personal friend and representative, David Noyes, at ground-breaking ceremonies for the Harry S. Truman Center for the Advancement of Peace to be built on Mt. Scopus.

The ceremonies, held indoors because of rain, were attended by U.S. Ambassador William Barbour, members of the Cabinet and founding members of the Center which is made up of Americans, Canadians and subscribers from South America and other parts of the world. To date, more than $4 million have been raised toward construction of the Truman Center.

It will be primarily a research institute working with United Nations agencies concerned with problems of daily life such as health, food, shelter, soil conservation and irrigation.

President Truman declared in his speech that he urged all nations to eschew war because “all wars, no matter how fierce or savage, must come to an end and terminate at the conference table.” “Wouldn’t it be the better part of good sense and human compassion to use the conference table as the first approach to a negotiated solution?” he asked. “Let us put an end to provocations and incitements to hostilities; let us liberate ourselves from persisting prejudices of national, ideological or ethnic origins…We must put an end to war or war will put an end to us.”