Did you know that today, October 9, is officiallyWorld Post Day? (We didn't! Until a few minutes ago.)
Universal Postal Union (UPU) was established way back in 1874 in Bern, Switzerland, at the start of the global communications revolution. In 1969 at the UPU Congress in Tokyo, October 9th was declared World Post Day, and it's been recognized internationally ever since.
Here in the Bullis Room today, we silently paid homage to World Post Day as we looked over the statistics for this blog. We are privileged to have visitors from Lithuania, Germany, Ukraine, Canada, China, United Kingdom, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland ... and so many other countries as well as countless villages, towns, cities and states within our own borders.
So to all of our readers, near and far, we say "thank you" for visiting us here on this blog. And let's all be grateful for the global communications revolution back in 1874 as well as all the advancements in this field over the past 139 years.
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
THE PRESIDENT'S FLAG DAY ADDRESS
In honor of Flag Day, we share with you the first two and last paragraphs of The President's Flag Day Address With Evidence of Germany's Plans, delivered by President Woodrow Wilson on June 14, 1917, in Washington, D.C.
"My Fellow Citizens:
We meet to celebrate Flag Day because this flag which we honor and under which we serve is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us--speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us and of the records they wrote upon it. We celebrate the day of its birth; and from its birth until now it has witnessed a great history, has floated on high the symbol of great events, of a great plan of life worked out by a great people. We are about to carry it into battle, to lift it where it will draw the fire of our enemies. We are about to bid thousands, hundreds of thousands, it may be millions, of our men, the young, the strong, the capable men of the Nation, to go forth and die beneath it on fields of blood far away--for what? For some unaccustomed thing? For something for which it has never sought the fire before? American armies were never before sent across the seas. Why are they sent now? For some new purpose, for which this great flag has never been carried before, or for some old, familiar, heroic purpose for which it has seen men, its own men, die on every battle field upon which Americans have borne arms since the Revolution?
... We are Americans. We in our turn serve America, and can serve her with no private purpose. We must use her flag as she has always used it. We are accountable at the bar of history and must plead in utter frankness what purpose it is we seek to serve."
If you would like to read the entire speech, ask a Bullis Room volunteer to access Document 2634 from our archives.
"My Fellow Citizens:
We meet to celebrate Flag Day because this flag which we honor and under which we serve is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us--speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us and of the records they wrote upon it. We celebrate the day of its birth; and from its birth until now it has witnessed a great history, has floated on high the symbol of great events, of a great plan of life worked out by a great people. We are about to carry it into battle, to lift it where it will draw the fire of our enemies. We are about to bid thousands, hundreds of thousands, it may be millions, of our men, the young, the strong, the capable men of the Nation, to go forth and die beneath it on fields of blood far away--for what? For some unaccustomed thing? For something for which it has never sought the fire before? American armies were never before sent across the seas. Why are they sent now? For some new purpose, for which this great flag has never been carried before, or for some old, familiar, heroic purpose for which it has seen men, its own men, die on every battle field upon which Americans have borne arms since the Revolution?
... We are Americans. We in our turn serve America, and can serve her with no private purpose. We must use her flag as she has always used it. We are accountable at the bar of history and must plead in utter frankness what purpose it is we seek to serve."
If you would like to read the entire speech, ask a Bullis Room volunteer to access Document 2634 from our archives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)