FEATURE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23rd EDITION

      Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to review the film we'd intended to this week. However, thanks to a link from a regular reader, we instead have the text of the Presidential Christmas Message delivered via radio to the American people on December 24th, 1950. President Harry Truman's words are just as relevant now as they were then.

      Here is the speech in its entirety:

 { "My fellow-Americans: across this country, and in many parts of the world, men, women, and children are preparing to celebrate the Birthday of Christ. Never before has it seemed that a Christmas was so important. I'm not thinking of turkey dinners and stacks of gifts. I mean the quiet, reverent celebration of faith, hope, and love: born in a manger in Bethlehem.

    {"Across all the continents of the world, peace-loving peoples are feeling apprehension, and loneliness, and fear. Many have forgotten the humble surroundings of the Nativity; and how---from a straw-littered stable---shown a Light, which for nearly 20 centuries has given men strength, comfort, and peace. Peace of mind. At this Christmastime, we should renew our faith in God.

    {"We celebrate the Hour in which God came to man. It is fitting that we should turn to Him.

    {"Many of us are fortunate enough to celebrate Christmas at our own fireside. But there are many others who are away from their homes and loved ones on this day. Thousands of our boys are on the cold and dreary battlefields of Korea. But all of us: at home, at war, wherever we may be are within reach of God's Love and Power. We can all pray. All of us should pray. We should ask the fulfillment of God's Will. We should ask for courage, for wisdom, for the quietness of soul which comes alone to those who place their lives in His Hands.

    {"We should pray for a peace that is based on righteousness. Our land is already in the midst of a crusade of prayer. On the last Sunday of the old year, there will be special services devoted to a revival of faith in God. I call upon all of you to enlist in this common cause. I call upon all of you no matter what your spiritual allegiance may be.

    {"We're all joined in the fight against the tyranny of Communism. Communism is godless. Democracy has its foundation in Faith: faith in oneself, faith in one's neighbors, faith in God. Democracy's most powerful weapon is not a gun, a tank, or a bomb: it is Faith. Faith in the brotherhood and dignity of man under God.

     {"Let us pray at this Christmastime for the courage, the wisdom, and the humility to carry on in this Faith."}

     It is actually amazing to reflect that 66 years later, two generations of Americans have grown up hearing nothing other than neo-Communism being taught in public schools and colleges; and have never heard a US President calling upon Americans to pray and renew their faith in God at Christmastime. Older generations probably never imagined that the first quarter of the 21st Century would witness the re-emergence of Communism, Anarchism, and Naziism within our own borders during an election year.

     But Truman was right: Faith is the foundation of freedom. This Christmastime of 2016, we should heed his message of 1950; though Truman is but a dead white male to our so-called Cultural Elites, he "being dead, yet speaks." This is the time today---as it was then---to renew that Faith, and go forward with courage, wisdom, and humility.