Verhovayak Lapja, 1945 (28. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)

1945 / Verhovay Journal

VOL. XXVIII.

APRIL 25, 1945

31

NO. 8

A NATION IN MOURNING

Thousands of soldiers die daily on the far-flung battlefronts of the world and the people at home live in the constant fear for the fate that may befall their loved ones. Our eyes are constantly looking across the oceans, for from there come the dreadful notices that bring sorrow to thousands of families every day. And because in our thoughts we live on those distant continents where our young men fight, we don’t expect tragedy to strike in our very midst. It is for this reason that the nation as well as the whole world was so stunned by the sudden passing away of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 31st President of the United States of America, affectionately called “F.

D.R.” by the nation which elected him four times to the highest office of this land. In every town and in every city the papers publish the long list of the soldiers who were killed in action, but no one expected the Commander in Chief to be “killed in action” while he was working on the immense problems of the world in the safe haven of

one should be humble enough to shy away from the responsibility of this position which Warm Springs, surrounded u ig impossible to fill to

by the great family of the young victims of infantile paralisis.

We have a tendency to take our great men for granted. They are glorified for their achievements and criticized for their failures and they are expected to go on for ever and no one ever stops to think that they, too, may collapse under the burden of their terrific task.

Great statesmen are expected to have faultless judgment and to form decisions for the benefit of all classes and groups. Whenever they decide in favor of one group, the others accuse them with being one-sided, prejudiced.

The burden of a President’s responsibility is terrific and it isn’t made easier to bear by the way the population reacts to the decisions made by him. Though it is true that every American-born boy may become president of the United States, nevertheless, everyeveryone’s satisfaction.

It is only natural, therefore, that the President had friends as well as enemies. No man is really great who has no enemies. The greatness of a man does not depend on the number of admirers he has but on the number of people he benefits by his leadership. And in this respect, President Roosevelt was a great man. He remembered the little people. He elevated Labor to the point where the miners and factory workers became figures of national importance. The social reforms written into law during the twelve years of his presidency will for ever endear his memory to the millions who benefited by them. He was the peoples’ president and therein lies his similarity to Lincoln.

The American nation will mourn for the President much longer than the prescribed thirty days. But he will be

mourned for most deeply and most sincerely by the immigrants and the laboring class. For he was their champion.

History will evalute Roosevelt and give him his proper place in the Hall of Fame. Contemporary evalution is apt to be prejudiced. While he lived, various groups of the nation judged his acts by the standards of their own interests. But one thing is sure even now, that history wHl remember him as the president whose most outstanding trait was his social consciousness. From the New Deal to the Atlantic Charter, all his ideas, all his proposals were dictated by a conscience that was bound to champion the interests of the little people. And the smallest people among the little are the immigrant laborers. For them, he was more than just a President. For them he was godsent, a man whose picture hung in every hut and in every humble home, for he represented to them the Liberties that are the greatest asset of the United States of America.

Only the future will tell what he did for America and the entire world. While the war is still going on, it is certain that the Allied Nations will win. And the war will be won by America, because it was the United States which suppliéd the Allied Nations with the weapons of war as well as with the greatest army, navy and air-force of the world, all of which was done under the leadership of President Roosevelt. Industrialists scoffed at his demands at the beginning of the war and declared that his expectations could not be met. Yet i his inspiring leadership fired j them on, until they produced, with the help of the American labor, even more than he expected. Roosevelt did not live to see the day of victory, but he passed away in the absolute certainty that his goal was attained. It doesn’t matter that he died before the bells could ring out the message of peace, for he died with the vision of peace approaching with unavoidable certainty. The greatest part of the hardest job was done under his leadership and it is due to his leadership that the certain promise of victory came sooner than anyone expected.

But winning the war isn’t enough. He also wanted to win the peace. And for that —there is no question about it—he died too early for the good of the world. He was reproached by many for the concessions he had to made, but one doesn’t know if any other leader would have been able to give in less. To President Truman falls the great task to win the peace. It is a great promise that he asks the nation to pray for him, for it shows that he is conscious of the undescribable difficulties he will have to face. It is a great comfort that he declared to follow the path of President Roosevelt and we do hope that he will champion the cause of the little people and the small nations with the same understanding and with the same

social consciousness which endeared his predecessor to all small nations who looked upon President Roosevelt as their only defender.

We, Americans of Hungarian origin, have a special reason to pay tribute to the late President. We shall never forget that he stood up for Hungary at times, when even certain groups of so-called American Hungarians turned against their native country and condemned Hungary for the part it was forced to take in this terrible war.

The so-called proofs with which they proposed to substantiate their accusations, had no effect on the late President. He stood up for Hungary, convinced that the Hungarian people were forced into the war on Hi tier's side. Only history will tell how much harsher treatment Hungary would have received, had Roosevelt not insisted that a fair chance be given to this unfortunate nation.

The membership of the Verhovay F. I. Association joins the nation in mourning for the late President. Our sorrow is as deep and as sincere as any other native American’s if not more so. And we are proud to have lived in the time during which Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president of the United States of America. His noble memory will live in our hearts and inspire us to dedicate ourselves even more, than in the past, to the great cause for which our army, navy and air-force fights on the seven seas, on three continents and in the air.

At the same time, the membership of the Verhovay F. I. Association pays its respects to President Truman and prays that he may be granted the wisdom, the strength and the determination needed for the great task begun by the late President. Trusting that he will justify our sincere confidence in him. we wish him the help of God and the whole-hearted cooperation of the American people.