The “moral force of America is the most important force which she has to contribute to the winning of the war,” Wendell L. Willkie declared yesterday in a brief address following his receipt of the annual American Hebrew award for distinguished service in the “promotion of better understanding between Jews and Christians in America.” At the same time Mr. Willkie decried the use of the word “tolerance” in connection with the relationship between different groups in this country. In America, he said, “it is the right of every citizen to be treated by other citizens as an equal.”
The award, in the form of a silver medal, was presented to Mr. Willkie in his office by Joseph H. Biben, editor and publisher of the American Hebrew, who lauded the contributions of Mr. Willkie “to the unity of peoples at home and abroad, directly and indirectly, by speaking out boldly against discrimination, against minority baiting, and for national unity here, and by carrying the message of American good-will all over the earth.”
It was revealed by Mr. Biben that President Roosevelt was among the jurors who voted to award the medal to Mr. Willkie, as were former Governor Herbert H. Lehman and Mayor Ficrello LaGuardia. In casting his vote for his opponent in the presidential elections of 1940, the President wrote: “I have gone over the suggested names for the 1942 award of the American Hebrew Medal. I find it a bit difficult to make a choice but on the whole, I cast my vote for Hon. Wendell L. Willkie because he is working so consistontly throughout this war and in other nations for tolerance and better understanding.”
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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.
