Sunday, October 10, 2010

Quote of the Day (Stephen Vincent Benet, on "Bread and Peace")


"Grant us a common faith that man shall know bread and peace--that he shall know justice and righteousness, freedom and security, an equal opportunity and an equal chance to do his best not only in our own lands, but throughout the world. And in that faith let us march toward the clean world our hands can make."--Stephen Vincent Benet, "Prayer," concluding sentences (1942)


Archibald MacLeish, poet and Librarian of Congress, asked Benet to write "The United Nations Prayer" to be used in celebration of Flag Day, June 14, 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended up using it in his radio address for that occasion. Adlai E. Stevenson used these last few sentences on his Christmas cards in 1964.

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