I highly appreciate this award. It is a wonderful thing. This is one of the things that makes it possible for a man to carry on in this job. You see, I receive more bricks than plaques, and when I receive a thing of this kind, it always touches me to the quick. I hope I deserve it.
The President, you know, has a job where he can't do anything outside of the line of duty. Most medals are presented because a man has done something that is outside his regular line of duty. It is very difficult for the President to find anything that is outside his line of duty, but I do appreciate this recognition, and it is highly thoughtful of you to come and present it to me. I hope I will always deserve it.
Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House. The plaque was presented to the President by the National Committee for Labor Israel "in grateful appreciation of his outstanding efforts in fostering maximum understanding between the Peoples of the United States and the State of Israel and for his warmhearted recognition of the cause of the Histadrut, the General Federation of Jewish Workers in Israel."
Harry S Truman, Remarks on Receiving the 1951 Histadrut Humanitarian Award Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/231182
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