ADDRESS HON. ALLEN WELSH DULLES CORNERSTONE LAYING GEORGETOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH WASHINGTON, D.C. JULY 1, 1956

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00058R000200050057-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 1999
• Sequence Number: 57
• Publication Date: July 1, 1956
• Content Type: SPEECH

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HON. ALLEN WELSH DULLES
,CORNERSTONE LAYING;
GEORG&OWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
WASHINGTON, D. C.
July 1, 1956
It is an honor and a privilege to be with you here today. I
have had, as Dr. Stroup has said, a long heritage of Presbyterian
affiliations, associations, and upbringing. I believe that this
heritage, for all of us who have had it, is a challenge to servIs e
in the public interest. In my early youth, if the world had developed
as one had expected at that time in the early days of this century,
I had planned to go into the ministry, But graduating from coil'
legs just as the First World War broke out, I became immersed in
various activities of direct service"-although no service is more
direct than that of the .ministry-of direct service to the govern."
went, which changed the course of my life.
Mach that has been said this morning has related to the long
background of tradition of this church--,the tradition of service
going back to the War of the Revolution, and a tradition of Presby-
terianism. I want this morning, just for a moment, to look a bit
to the challenge of the future. In the eloquent message that was
read to you from the President of the United States, he referred to
the early beginnings of the church and then said that you will be
remembering the past and evidencing your faith in the future.
President Monroe, who laid the cornerstone in 1821, has gone down
in history for having promulgated a noble doctrine, the real purpose
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of which was the protection of the weaker states of this hemisphere
as well as this country itself, from being taken over by dictator-
ships,
It is interesting today as we relay the cornerstone and re-
dedicate this church to a new era of service, that we have a task,
which is different but yet which has many elements of similarity,'
Because the greatest problem we face today is the problem of pro-
tecting our ways of freedom, and helping other countries that have,
had our same ideas of freedom and liberty to protect their way of
life from the dictatorship of athiestic Communism. This dictator-
ship has taken physical control of great land areas of the world,
I do not admit, though, that this dictatorship has taken over greet
areas of the mind of the worlds Nor do I believe that even in the
homeland of this dictatorship it has destroyed that innate love of
freedom, nor that yearning for religion and all that religion meats,
which is the heritage of the human race, In facts I would predict,
that in this atomic age, Communism has more to fear from the inhe~ ent
power of religious faith and the inherent yearning for freedom which,
as I believe, is a part of every human being, It is the role of
the church, of the churches of every denomination, and of this church
as we rededicate it to service, to develop and make living this x4li-s
gious faith and this love of freedoms.
There is one passage in the Bible that I turn to often in
the Gospel of St. John, where Christ says, "Ye shall know the true h,
and the truth shall make you free." I believe that resounding we d
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will go around the world, will eventually prevail against all that
tyrants can dos and that its as some of the translations of this
passage state,, will set you free; and you means everyone who is
under tyranny today. As I have the great honor and privilege
with you and for you today to lay the cornerstones I rededicate!
this church to this task.
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