47.03.02
(633w)
SPEECH TO THE AMERICAN RED CROSS1
March 2, 1947
[Washington, DC]
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am glad tonight to be
able to pay tribute to the work of the American Red Cross.
Without detracting in any way from the importance of
the Red Cross domestic program I wish to draw special
attention to the Red Cross activities in the field of
international good will and peace.
No one, I think, aware of world conditions today will
deny the necessity of multiplying many fold the activities
of voluntary relief agencies. We have a very sick world,
which needs not only material assistance but moral
encouragement. Evidence of brotherly concern and
compassionate action are necessary to a peaceful society
for the future.
It is becoming increasingly evident that our security
as a people will depend more and more upon the personal
initiative of the individual.
There are spiritual values and human dignities for
which each individual must fight. The responsibility for
maintenance of these values should not be delegated
entirely to any government, no matter how representative.
Americans individually can influence world relationships
through voluntary acts of compassion extended to the
oppressed, the hungry and the homeless, wherever and
whoever these may be.
This world of ours is an imperfect one at best, and
for the people of the old world life is a grim affair. We
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in the Americas are fortunate people. The problems that vex
us in this hemisphere are not easy of solution but we are
largely spared the bitter suffering that is a daily ordeal
of the people of Europe and Asia.
The needs of the peoples of the world are our concern.
Many of them are dependent upon external aid to keep alive
the shreds of hope remaining to them. We must not permit
this hope to die. Individual desperations can easily merge
into a general desperation with consequences fatal to a
lasting peace.
The United Nations Organization is, of course, the
rock upon which this nation has built its hopes for a
stable world order. But for a time something more is
needed. We cannot divest ourselves of our individual
responsibilities. We are still our brothers’ keepers.
Voluntary as well as governmental aid is essential during
this period of readjustment. The necessity is grave and
action should conform to the emergency.
Voluntary relief organizations have a special role to
play. They are designed for emergency operation, to meet
emergency situations. Their aims are well known to be
purely humanitarian and political purposes cannot easily be
ascribed to them. They are purveyors not only of material
aid but of moral encouragement and international good will.
As a link between peoples they help to promote that
understanding among peoples which is so necessary a factor
in relationships between nations.
The American Red Cross is peculiarly fitted to meet
the challenge presented to it. Operating under a formal
mandate from the American people and in close cooperation
with the Red Cross Societies of other nations, it should
play the leading part in a wide popular movement of
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voluntary aid. In so doing, it would not only supplement
the activities of governmental and inter-governmental
agencies but would also perform a service which it alone
can do. I can imagine no project more in keeping with the
traditions of the Society. I know that the American people
will support it.
GCMRL/G. C. Marshall Papers (Secretary of State, Speeches)
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1. Marshall was the featured speaker at the launch of
the American Red Cross's 1947 Fund Campaign at 8:30 p.m. in
the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution
Hall in downtown Washington, DC. The audience consisted of
some four thousand active volunteers. The copy text is
Marshall's heavily edited version of an Office of Public
Affairs draft; the editors have not found a reading copy.
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