A Prayer to the Prince of Peace
Remarks of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Christmas Eve 1953
WashingtonTimes.com
My Fellow Americans — here in
Washington, in
your homes across the nation and abroad — and in
our country’s service around the world:
This evening’s ceremony, here at the White House, is
one of many thousands in America’s traditional
celebration of the birth, almost 2,000 years ago, of
the Prince of Peace.
For us, this Christmas is truly a season of good
will — and our first peaceful one since 1949. Our
national and individual blessings are manifold. Our
hopes are bright even though the world still stands
divided in two antagonistic parts.
More precisely than in any other way, prayer places
freedom and communism in opposition, one to the
other. The Communist can find no reserve of strength
in prayer because his doctrine of materialism and
statism denies the dignity of man and consequently
the existence of God. But in America,
George Washington long ago rejected exclusive
dependence upon mere materialistic values. In the
bitter and critical winter at Valley Forge, when the
cause of liberty was so near defeat, his recourse
was sincere and earnest prayer. From it, he received
new hope and new strength of purpose, out of which
grew the freedom in which we celebrate this
Christmas season.
As religious faith is the foundation of free
government, so is prayer an indispensable part of
that faith.
Tonight, richly endowed in the good things of the
earth, in the fellowship of our neighbors and the
love of our families, would it not be fitting for
each of us to speak in prayer to the Father of all
men and women on this earth, of whatever nation,
and of every race and creed — to ask that He help us
— and teach us — and strengthen us — and receive our
thanks.
Should we not pray that He
help us? Help us to remember that the Founders
of this, our country, came first to these shores in
search of freedom — freedom of man to walk in
dignity; to live without fear; beyond the yoke of
tyranny; ever to progress. Help us to cherish
freedom, for each of us and for all nations.
Might we not pray that He teach us? Teach us to shun
the counsel of defeat and of despair of self-pride
and self-deceit. Teach us, and teach our
leaders, to seek to understand the problems and
the needs of all our people. Teach us how those
problems may reach solution in wisdom and how best
those needs may be met. But teach us, also, that
where there may be special problems, there can be no
special rights; and though there may be special
needs, there can be no special privileges. Teach us
to require of all those who seek to lead us, these
things: integrity of purpose, the upright mind,
selfless sacrifice and the courage of the just.
Teach us trust and hope and self-dependence. Teach
us the security of faith.
And may we pray that He strengthen us. Strengthen us
in understanding ourselves and others — in our
homes, in our country, and in our world.
Strengthen our concern for brotherhood. Strengthen
our conviction that whatever we, as Americans, would
bring to pass in the world must first come to pass
in the heart of America. Strengthen our efforts to
forge abroad those links of friendship, which must
one day encircle the world if its people are to
survive and live in peace.
Lastly, should we not pray that He receive our
thanks? For certainly we are grateful for all the
good we find about us, for the opportunity given us
to use our strength and our faith to meet the
problems of this hour. And on this
Christmas Eve, all hearts in America are filled
with special thanks to God that the blood of those
we love no longer spills on battlefields abroad. May
He receive the thanks of each of us for this, His
greatest bounty — and our supplication that peace on
earth may live with us, always.