Christmas address by President Truman (12-24-45)

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 24, 1945)

President leads the nation in first post-war Christmas

Truman speaks at lighting of White House tree; last such observance was in 1941

WASHINGTON (UP) – The sweeping, snow-covered south lawn of the White House will serve as a setting today as President Truman leads the nation in the first national community Christmas observance since 1941.

Mr. Truman will light the national Christmas tree at 5 p.m. then, in a nationally broadcast address, he will voice the nation’s hopes and prayers for lasting peace at this first peacetime Christmas season in four years.

Mr. Truman’s speech and the Christmas tree ceremonies will be carried on all Pittsburgh radio stations starting at 5 p.m.

Gone was the sadness and the gloom that pervaded the nation at the last White House ceremony in 1941, just 17 days after the Pearl Harbor attack. Speaking to a people in the first throes of total war, the late President Roosevelt asked that they dedicate that Christmas to the men and women who were going out to fight for a hard but certain victory.

“Our strongest weapon in this war,” Mr. Roosevelt said,” is that conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies – more than any other day or any other symbol.”

Thousands were expected to attend the ceremonies this year to hear Mr. Truman’s words and witness ceremonies in which he receives season’s greetings from the Boy Scouts of America.

The chief executive will join the audience in singing the Christmas hymn, “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.” Music will be played by the U.S. Marine Band. Carols will be sung by the Washington Choral Society.

The musical program will begin at 4:30 p.m. The gates to the White House grounds will be opened at 3:30. Guards were instructed for safety reasons not to admit anyone carrying a camera, umbrella or package.

At 8:30 tomorrow morning, Mr. Truman, accompanied by Washington newspapermen, will fly to his home at Independence, Missouri, to spend Christmas with his family. The first lady and daughter Margaret already are there.

To attend three dinners

Mr. Truman will attend three turkey diners tomorrow. The White House confided, however, that he really wouldn’t eat three meals.

First the president will have dinner at the “Little White House” with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law. After that he will step across the street for the second dinner with his aunt, 96-year-old Mrs. J. T. Toland. Then he goes to Grandview, Missouri, some 15 miles away, for his mother’s Christmas dinner.

If weather conditions are right, Mr. Truman may go to Kansas City for a day to his old friends and political acquaintances.

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Address by the President at the Lighting of the White House Christmas Tree
December 24, 1945, 5:15 p.m. EST

White House Grounds
Washington, D.C.

truman.45

Broadcast (CBS):

Ladies and gentlemen, and listeners of the radio audience:

This is the Christmas that a war-weary world has prayed for through long and awful years. With peace come joy and gladness. The gloom of the war years fades as once more we light the National Community Christmas Tree. We meet in the spirit of the first Christmas, when the midnight choir sang the hymn of joy: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Let us not forget that the coming of the Saviour brought a time of long peace to the Roman World. It is, therefore, fitting for us to remember that the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of peace, of love, of charity to all men. From the manger of Bethlehem came a new appeal to the minds and hearts of men: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.”

In love, which is the very essence of the message of the Prince of Peace, the world would find a solution for all its ills. I do not believe there is one problem in this country or in the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. The poets’ dream, the lesson of priest and patriarch and the prophets’ vision of a new heaven and a new earth, all are summed up in the message delivered in the Judean hills beside the Sea of Galilee. Would that the world would accept that message in this time of its greatest need!

This is a solemn hour. In the stillness of the Eve of the Nativity when the hopes of mankind hang on the peace that was offered to the world nineteen centuries ago, it is but natural, while we survey our destiny, that we give thought also to our past–to some of the things which have gone into the making of our Nation.

You will remember that Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, and his companions, suffering shipwreck, “cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for the day.” Happily for us, whenever the American Ship of State has been storm-tossed we have always had an anchor to the windward.

We are met on the South Lawn of the White House. The setting is a reminder of Saint Paul’s four anchors. To one side is the massive pile of the Washington Monument – fit symbol of our first anchor. On the opposite end of Potomac Park is the memorial to another of the anchors which we see when we look astern of the Ship of State – Abraham Lincoln, who preserved the Union that Washington wrought.

Between them is the memorial to Thomas Jefferson, the anchor of democracy. On the other side of the White House, in bronze, rides Andrew Jackson – fourth of our anchors – the pedestal of his monument bearing his immortal words: “Our Federal Union – it must be preserved.”

It is well in this solemn hour that we bow to Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln as we face our destiny with its hopes and fears-its burdens and its responsibilities. Out of the past we shall gather wisdom and inspiration to chart our future course.

With our enemies vanquished we must gird ourselves for the work that lies ahead. Peace has its victories no less hard won than success at arms. We must not fail or falter. We must strive without ceasing to make real the prophecy of Isaiah: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

In this day, whether it be far or near, the Kingdoms of this world shall become indeed the Kingdom of God and He will reign forever and ever, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. With that message I wish my countrymen a Merry Christmas and joyous days in the New Year.