[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 65 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT'S DEATH

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                         HON. HENRY B. GONZALEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 6, 1995
  Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform my colleagues that 
I have formally asked the President to honor the 50th anniversary of 
the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by reissuing and 
updating the proclamation signed by President Harry Truman in 1945 
declaring April 12th as a national day of mourning and prayer.
  It is fitting, but a bit ironic and actually quite sad, for this 
landmark anniversary to occur this year at a time when at once the 
strength of Franklin Roosevelt is admired and longed for and yet the 
programs of this great President are under attack. I never thought I 
would live to see the day when Social Security, for instance, was 
placed on the chopping block as the new majority in Congress has so 
willingly done in refusing to exempt it from the balanced budget 
amendment. I certainly never thought I would see the day when the House 
would vote on the Constitution--the 4th amendment in this case--and 
reject it. What a sad legacy we have become to the great leaders who 
have preceded us such as Roosevelt--a man whose beliefs and programs 
embodied the preamble to the Constitution:

       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
     created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
     certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, 
     liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  I am saddened by the reality that a great deal of the greatest 
constitution on Earth would undoubtedly be rejected by today's Congress 
if put to a vote, certainly the protections for minority viewpoints, 
for freedom of speech, and for the separation of church and State would 
be thrown out in an instant.
  It is a perfect time to recall the strength, vision, and perseverance 
of President Roosevelt and to remember that the Government should be 
used as a tool for the betterment of all and not as a wedge to divide 
us for the benefit of a few. When the most dire economic times this 
country has faced confronted Roosevelt, he did not blame illegal 
immigrants, he did not blame the poor, and he did not blame the 
Government--instead, he used the resources of the Government to pull us 
out of the Great Depression. When confronted with evil from abroad, he 
used the resources of the Government not only to protect our country 
but to protect liberty worldwide.
  Never before today has there been such anger toward and distrust of 
Government--not even during the Vietnam war or during Watergate. Those 
whose tactic has been to create distrust through lies and innuendo have 
trampled on the legacy of one who believed in Government, who believed 
in truth and justice, and who believed in the inherent wisdom and 
goodness of the American people. As sad as it is to remember the 
premature death of such a great man as Roosevelt, the timing is perhaps 
perfect to force us to look ourselves in the eye, to force ourselves to 
face our history, our present, and our future, and to force ourselves 
to remember the tradition of compassion, justice, and honesty that gave 
us definition for many years.
  In this respect, then, I have asked the President bring the national 
focus to President Roosevelt on April 12th by declaring a national day 
of mourning and prayer. The following is President Truman's original 
proclamation from 1945 on the death of President Roosevelt:
    A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

       To the People of the United States:
       It has pleased God in His infinite wisdom to take from us 
     the immortal spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Thirty-
     second President of the United States.
       The leader of his people in a great war, he lived to see 
     the assurance of the victory but not to share it. He lived to 
     see the first foundation of the free and peaceful world to 
     which his life was dedicated, but not to enter on that world 
     himself.
       His fellow countrymen will sorely miss his fortitude and 
     faith and courage in the time to come.
       The people of the earth who love the ways of freedom and of 
     hope will mourn for him.
       But though his voice is silent, his courage is not spent, 
     his faith is not extinguished. The courage of great men 
     outlives them to become the courage of their people and the 
     peoples of the world. It lives beyond them and upholds their 
     purposes and brings their hopes to pass.
       Now, therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United 
     States of America, do appoint Saturday next, April 14th, the 
     day of the funeral services for the dead President, as a day 
     of mourning and prayer throughout the United States. I 
     earnestly recommend the people to assemble on that day in 
     their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down 
     in submission to the will of Almighty God and to pay out of 
     full hearts their homage of love and reverance to the memory 
     the great and good man whose death they mourn.
       In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
     the seal of the United States to be affixed.
       Done at the City of Washington, the 13th day of April, in 
     the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and forty-
     five, and of the independence of the United States, the one 
     hundred and sixty-ninth.
       By the President:
     Harry S. Truman,
     Edw. R. Stettinius, Jr.,
       Secretary of State.
       The White House, Washington, April 13, 1945.
       

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