Statement by the President on the Occasion of the Transfer of a Statue of Simon Bolivar to the Avenue of the Americas in New York City.
ON THIS DAY, April 19, the 130th anniversary of Venezuela's demand for independence, it is fitting for us to recall that the life and work of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, are still highly significant to all free peoples of the world. His precepts have a direct bearing on the problems of our greatest concern at this present time. Bolivar, who believed in freedom and in union to defend it, said: "It is essential that our society be a society of sister nations, divided at present in the exercise of their sovereignties by the course of human events; but united, strong, and powerful in ability to aid one another against foreign aggression."
I am happy to join in paying homage to the great Liberator.
Note: The President's statement was read at 2 p.m. by Robert Moses, Park Commissioner of New York City, at the dedication ceremonies in Central Park.
The statue was moved to the entrance of the park from its former location in the park near West 83rd Street where it was first dedicated in 1921. The new site was to be known henceforth as Plaza Bolivar.
Harry S Truman, Statement by the President on the Occasion of the Transfer of a Statue of Simon Bolivar to the Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230426