Speech #810233264

The decision of the United States Supreme Court prohibiting restrictive covenants in deeds of real property was hailed by a newspaper in India as "another victory in the battle for civil rights that is now going on in America." Gandhis physician. to whom I have already referred. told the Calcutta Rotary Club on his return from the United States that "he sincerely felt that every decent American was outraged by the occurrence." The news abroad of President Trumans election in 1948 led to expressions of hope in the fulfillment of his civilrights program. in newspapers as distant as Manila and Bangkok. When in 1949. the House of Representatives passed the Judd billH. R. 199to drop the outright immigration ban against the admission of certain yellow and brown races from Thailand and certain other areas in the far Pacific. a newspaper in Calcutta praised this action as showing "imagination and statesmanship that is likely to have happy repercussions. An ounce of performance in these cases is far more important than a pound of precepts." In the friendly liberal press of Sweden. a comment on the American civilrights problem concludes with the observation "that responsible American opinion aims at reforms and amendments. in accordance with democratic and humanitarian principles." And in Iceland. where some Communistinspired newspapers flay us for persecuting Negroes. a friendly newspaper writes that "the struggle against racial oppression has been waged with everincreasing success in most civilized nations. In the United States. for example. many influential individuals have devoted much time and energy to the cause of racial equality." Thus.