“The Jews of the United States stand now on the threshold of the fourth century as citizens, as partners with all other Americans in the great common adventure of freedom for nations and for the body, the mind and the spirit of man.” Adlai E. Stevenson declared here tonight, addressing a crowded assembly at Carnegie Hall which marked the closing of the nine-month observance of the American Jewish Tercentenary.
The Jews in this country, Mr. Stevenson told the audience, can “contemplate with joy and with pride” the three centuries just ended. “For all they have wrought, for this nation, for themselves, for the brave new Republic of Israel across the sea, for brothers and sisters in need and distress everywhere in the world, they are entitled to great and deserved satisfaction and also to the admiration of their fellow countrymen of all faiths,” he declared.
“From the days when this city was a tiny Dutch fort on the edge a trackless hostile wilderness to this moment when it stands as a towering monument to American achievement, the Jews who came here have been part of the fabric of American life.” Mr. Stevenson stated. “They have contributed inestimably to the building of our land–to the cultural vigor, the spiritual strength and the business and intellectual enterprise of Americans. And to a special degree it has seemed to me, the Jews have been aware of the fact that freedom means responsibility as well as opportunity. With devotion undimmed by prejudice and persecution, everywhere they have been in the forefront of the everlasting struggle for the freedom of the mind and the dignity of the individual–both articles of belief deeply rooted in the ancient Jewish faith.
Mr. Stevenson concluded by expressing confidence that “a century from now, our descendants will be celebrating the 400th anniversary of the first Jewish migration in a free and abundant nation dwelling in a spacious and peaceful world.” He predicted that the years ahead would not be easy “because the future of all mankind lies in the darkling shadows of the atom.” However, he added that “man’s lot has always been shadowed and painful and who knows that better than the Jews through countless ages.” Mr. Stevenson’s address was carried on a national radio hook-up as was an address by Sen. Herbert H. Lehman of New York.
LEHMAN CALLS FOR A PROGRAM GUARANTEEING SECURITY TO ALL MEN
Sen. Lehman said that the American Jewish Tercentenary celebration “has not been motivated by a desire for congratulations for past achievements.” He pointed out that “today’s mission of Jews–as of all Americans–furnishes the true theme of this Tercentenary.” This mission, he said, is still “to proclaim liberty throughout the land to uphold justice and to love mercy.”
Sen. Lehman called upon all Americans to undertake a program of action, and to espouse it “sincerely and passionately,” in world affairs and to apply it to the conduct of “affairs at home.” He outlined the following points of the program. “To insure equal rights and equal justice for all men; to make possible a basic security for all men; to spread the benefits of prosperity as widely as possible, to tolerate dissidence, be patient with non-conformity and insure to each among us the right to practice the good uses of freedom, to advocate freedom for all peoples who are enslaved tyrannized or exploited, wherever they are by whomever enslaved or exploited, to re-establish the traditions of asylum in this country to welcome aliens and immigrants, and to treat them with grace and hospitality.”
Jacob Blaustein expressed his belief that social and other form of discrimination against Jews will disappear in the United States just as legal discrimination and most forms of economic discrimination have been removed. “This equal participation of Jews in the total life of America will also bring with it, inevitably a change in the attitudes of American Jews themselves,” he predicted. There will be eliminated, where it may exist, any need for suspicion, for fear, for uneasy self-consciousness. “I think the time is coming, if it is not very nearly here already, when American Jews will be Jews, not just because they are born Jews, but essentially because they want to be Jews.”
Other speakers included. Ambassador Abba S. Eban of Israel, Dr. Israel Goldstein and Ralph E. Samuel, national Tercentenary chairman and others.
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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.
