EDITORIAL: Shevchenko Centennial Committee (09/24/60)

EDITORIAL

Shevchenko Centennial Committee

Elsewhere in this issue of The Ukrainian Weekly there appears a report on the establishment of the "Shevchenko Memorial Committee," which was organized last Friday under the auspices of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. The Committee has an extremely important task to perform: to lay the foundations for the erection of a statue of Taras Shevchenko in Washington, D.C. and to organize dignified and momentous celebration in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the death of the great and immortal Ukrainian poet and humanitarian.

It is recalled that a few weeks ago the U.S. Senate passed the resolution authorizing the erection of a statue of Shevchenko, and President Eisenhower promptly signed it. The bill stipulates that such statue of Taras Shevchenko would be erected without cost to the U.S. Government.

It is evident that such an undertaking will entail a great amount of money which will have to be collected by the Ukrainian American community in the United States. Therefore, the Shevchenko Memorial Committee is organized from representatives of all national Ukrainian American organizations and societies which have local branches and membership. The Committee appeals to all those Ukrainian organizations which have as yet not submitted the name of their representatives to the Committee, to do so immediately, so as to be properly represented on it.

As one can see, the Shevchenko centennial committee will have an outstanding task to perform in the forthcoming year of 1961. All those who make up the Committee fully realize that the membership in it is not only an outstanding honor but also entails great responsibility.

The entire preparations for the dignified celebration of the 100th anniversary of the death of Shevchenko will be conducted by these various commissions.

The fund-raising campaign, which incidentally will be one of the most important undertakings of the Shevchenko Memorial Committee, will began early in 1961, and the funds will be entrusted to a special finance committee which will be incorporated and tax-free, so that all those who contribute to the Shevchenko Centennial fund will be able to deduct the amount of their contribution from their income tax.

Another important thing will be the selection of the plot in Washington which will be done in conjunction with the United States Government. A special committee was also formed for that purpose.

The preliminary phases for the erection of a statue of Taras Shevchenko in the nation's capital have been successfully accomplished. The U.S. Congress, with the assistance of all our communities, has enacted a special resolution which was signed by the President of the United States, thus becoming a law. A nation-wide committee has now been formed which has to implement the resolution. In fact the Shevchenko Centennial Committee has not only to erect a statue of Shevchenko, which in itself is a huge and important task, but it has also a series of other functions relating to the observance of the Shevchenko Centennial in 1961.

The Ukrainian community in the United States has a unique opportunity to make a great contribution to make the name of Ukraine and that of its greatest poet known among the American people. No effort and endeavor should be spared to make the Shevchenko Centennial one of the greatest and most dignified of Ukrainian events in the United States, one that will reverberate not only throughout this country, but will be heard in enslaved Ukraine as well.

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