President Eisenhower will again serve as honorary chairman of Brotherhood Week, to be observed next February 20-27 under the sponsorship of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, it was announced here today by Ben Duffy, general chairman of Brotherhood Week. Simultaneously. Mr. Duffy, released a letter from President Eisenhower extolling the spirit behind the annual observance.
“The spirit which lies behind our observance of Brotherhood Week is as old as our civilization,” the President’s letter declared. “It goes back to the answer given to the first man who asked, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
“Through thousands of years there have been many noble answers to this same question, answers which bravely affirm that all men – of all religions, of all colors, of all languages – are in fact brothers, that no man can live alone. But in every age the question is asked, and in every age it must be answered anew.
“We live in a period in which the question has a new sharpness and a new edge, because there are new forces in the world which divide and threaten men, forces which work to lock each man within the prison of his own mind, which make friend distrust friend, nation distrust nation. In the face of these forces it is imperative that we heroically by word and deed give voice to our faith: that every man is indeed his brother’s keeper, that no human being in the world can escape his spiritual involvement in what happens to any other human being, that no man, in the troubled sea of mankind, can be an island.
“It is the purpose of Brotherhood Week to inspire us to give that answer for our time, with an eloquence never before heard,” the letter concluded.
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