President Roosevelt

Yesterday was President Roosevelt's birthday. We wish to observe it today.

President Roosevelt, we, the members of the United Nations, salute you! O man of lofty ideals, O hero-warrior, O prophet of the world-illumining dawn, we soulfully salute you!

Admiration you received in abundant measure; condemnation too. One more thing your soul rightfully deserved-your dear countrymen should have seen life clearer and should have seen it as a whole, as you so surprisingly did.

The supremacy of your soul's will power over your body's revolt, your physical paralysis, was unparalleled. Your very existence was a stranger to fear. Your indomitable courage was far beyond the flight of our wildest imagination. It was your heart's wisdom-light that so lovingly and convincingly taught the entire world: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Indeed, the vision-light of this loftiest message can illumine the length and breadth of the world.

The embodiment of your vision-height and action-power will always be treasured by the freedom-loving and peace-spreading world. It was your own aspiration-mind and dedication-heart that planned for this organisational conference of the United Nations. Therefore, today's flowering United Nations to you bows with its gratitude-heart.

Peace and faith: these two divine qualities abide in each other. Your last message to the American nation can most unmistakably and most profitably be accepted and treasured by the vast world: "To all Americans who dedicate themselves to the making of an abiding peace, I say the only limit to our realisation of tomorrow will be our doubt of today. Let us move forward with strength and active faith."

O great good illumining, inspiring fulfilling soul, Franklin Roosevelt, to you we bow.

31 January 1978