Speech #890009066

Mr. President. on the evening of January 27 it was my great privilege to attend in New York a dinner organized under the auspices of the International Rescue Committee. an organization which has. for some four decades now. rendered assistance to refugees from totalitarian oppression in every part of the world. The occasion was a doubly auspicious one. because the International Rescue Committee had selected President George Meany. of the AFLCIO. as the recipient of its Freedom Award. in recognition of the outstanding services which the AFLCIO and President Meany himself have rendered to the cause of freedom in recent decades. It is a rare public function at which one can listen to a speech of historic significance.