Harry S. Truman: Letter to the Speaker on the Plight of Greek Children Abducted by Communist Guerrilla Forces.

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90 - Letter to the Speaker on the Plight of Greek Children Abducted by Communist Guerrilla Forces.
April 19, 1950

Harry S. Truman
1950

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[Released April 19, 1950. Dated April 18, 1950]

My dear Mr. Speaker:

I fully share the concern of the House of Representatives for the thousands of children removed from Greece to eastern Europe by the communist guerrilla forces, and I welcome the adoption of House Resolution 514 of March 22, 1950, calling for the speedy return of these children to their homes and homeland.

The rights of children and parents to share the protection, comradeship and beneficent influence of a family home are fundamental and have been implicitly recognized, in the case of the Greek children, in two unanimous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly. It is morally inadmissible that political considerations or technical difficulties should be allowed to stand in the way of the reunion of these children with their parents.

The Executive Branch of the Government has been persistent in its endeavors to secure effective compliance with the United Nations resolutions in this case. These efforts will not be relaxed until the Greek children are back in their homes.
Very sincerely yours,

HARRY S. TRUMAN

[Honorable Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.]

Note: The text of House Resolution 514 is as follows: "Resolved, That the House of Representatives expresses its profound concern for the thousands of Greek children removed or carried off into countries of eastern Europe by the Communist guerrilla forces during the course of the recent guerrilla warfare in Greece, and requests the President to exert all of his powers, acting through the United Nations and other international organizations and directly with the governments of the countries where these children are located, to the end that these thousands of children shall be speedily returned to their homes and homeland ."

Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=13766.

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