Independence Day meetings in an estimated 5,000 communities today adopted an “American Declaration of Tolerance and Equality,” while a nationwide broadcast under the auspices of the Council against Intolerance in America, linking the New York and San Francisco fairs, brought to America a message of equality.
The “declaration,” framed in the form of a pledge on the model of the Declaration of Independence, stresses repudiation of “all doctrines of inequality,” condemnation of intolerance and reaffirmation of the doctrine that all men are created free and equal. It was drafted by William Allen White, Senator W. Warren Barhour and George Gordon Battle, co-chairmen of the council.
The pledge was read during intermission in New York theaters, by arrangement with the League of New York Theaters, and at the Fourth of July concert at the Lewisohn Stadium tonight. It was recited during this afternoon’s radio broadcast by Governor Culbert Olson of California, who declared that “the means of unity is tolerance.”
Mayor LaGuardia, speaking from the New York World’s Fair before a large crowd in the Court of Peace, declared that America would resist foreign propagandas of hatred. He compared dictatorships to gangster rule in their attacks on defenseless minority groups. Other speakers were Mr. White, Mr. Battle, Grover Whalen and clergymen of three faiths. The program included music and plays dedicated to tolerance in which the participants included Lawrence Tibbett, Melvyn Douglas and Eddie Dowling. At the two fairs, contingents of patriotic, veteran and civic groups participated in massing of the colors ceremonies.
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.
