In a letter to the Patriotic Foundation, President Roosevelt has praised the proposed erection of a memorial to Haym Salomon, Jewish banker during the American Revolution. The memorial will portray Salomon side by side with George Washington and Robert Morris.
“I am indeed gratified to learn,” the President wrote to Barnet Hodes, cochairman of the Foundation, “that belated recognition is to be made of the invaluable services rendered to the cause of the American Revolution by Haym Salomon. History was for a long time strangely silent concerning the unselfish and munificent financial support accorded the struggling colonies by this Philadelphia banker.
“It was never disputed that at a critical period in the affairs of the Revolution, Haym Salomon came to the rescue of the Continental Congress with large loans freely extended. The debt of gratitude which the Nation owes Salomon’s memory will in part be paid through the fulfillment of plans of the Patriotic Foundation to erect in Chicago a monument which will portray Salomon with his fellow patriots, George Washington and Robert Morris. I bespeak for the undertaking the fullest measure of success.”
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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.