Letter to Adlai E. Stevenson Agreeing To Serve as an Honorary Trustee of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial foundation.
[ Released January 28, 1964. Dated January 6, 1964 ]
Dear Governor:
Both Mrs. Johnson and I are delighted to accept your invitation to serve as Honorary Trustees of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial foundation. for more than thirty years, Eleanor Roosevelt was an inspiration to us, as she was to people all over the world. As President Kennedy said just one month before his tragic death, Eleanor Roosevelt "was a remarkable woman who enjoyed the affection and admiration of the entire world."
I want this foundation to succeed. To keep alive the inspiration of her life and work is the best possible memorial to her memory and a national service. I am particularly pleased that the major emphasis of the foundation will be in the vast field of human rights, for this is the necessary touchstone of universal brotherhood.
In completing the task of building the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial foundation, the people of this Nation can now pay tribute both to this gallant woman and to the late President who wanted so much to see this foundation succeed.
Sincerely,
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
[Honorable Adlai E. Stevenson, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial foundation, Empire State Building, New York 1, N.Y.]
Note: Portions of the President's letter were made public in a White House press release of January 28, 1964.
The release pointed out that the foundation, chartered by Congress as a charitable and educational organization concerned with furthering international good will, human welfare, and public health, was conducting a $25 million campaign to further its programs. Current projects would include the launching of a pilot program designed to train Peace Corps veterans for specialized work in the field of human rights and inter-group relations; cancer research; aid to emotionally-disturbed children; and the construction of two new Memorial Wings at the franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park.
The release lists Mrs. John f. Kennedy and the late President, and President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman as other honorary trustees; Philip M. Klutznick of Chicago, former U.N. Ambassador, as national campaign chairman; Robert S. Benjamin of New York as executive vice chairman; and states that the board of trustees consists of 40 distinguished business, labor, Government, cultural, and human welfare leaders.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter to Adlai E. Stevenson Agreeing To Serve as an Honorary Trustee of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial foundation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240043