Praising the contributions of various racial strains to the United States, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt today told an audience of 1,500 persons at the annual luncheon of the Women’s Division of the American Jewish Congress at the Hotel Astor that “a unified people can solve any problem.”
The citizens of America “come from many lands and racial strains,” Mrs. Roosevelt said, and all groups have aided the growth of America. She asserted that “no child should grow up without respect for every other American citizen.”
The First Lady cited the contributions of the Jews during the Revolution and subsequent wars, mentioning particularly the aid which Haym Solomon had given in financing the Revolution. She said the fact that Judah Touro had donated the funds to complete the Bunker Hill monument in Boston was particularly interesting to her because it was the only historical fact she had ever told the President “that he never knew before.”
The most important tasks of the moment, Mrs. Roosevelt said, are to preserve liberty for everyone in the country and to face without fear the problem of readjusting the governmental and economic structure to meet new needs. She praised the Women’s Division’s houses for refugees, which she had visited with Mrs. Stephen S. Wise, as “a wonderful piece of work” and also lauded the organization’s activities in contributing textbooks for school children.
Dr. Maurice L. Perlzweig, chairman of the British Section of the World Jewish Congress, stressed the necessity of intensifying aid to Britain. Mrs. Wise, president of the Women’s Division, reported that so far three ambulances and three mobile kitchens had been sent to England. Mrs. Bernard S. Deutsch, chairman of the division’s British aid committee, urged that the $400,000 quota of the Jewish Section of the Interfaith Committee for Aid to the Democracies, which has already raised $75,000, he completed before Summer. Dr. Frank Bohn and Katharine Devereaux Blake were among other speakers.
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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.
