Page:Report on the Memorial Meeting for Mahatma Gandhi.djvu/32

 gested him as a creed and a cure, the answer often was, ‘We already have Jesus Christ’. This actually constituted a great tribute to the Mahatma. When he was killed, America and Europe mourned. Truman, Secretary Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Attlee, Churchill, Leon Blum, the United Nations, and thousands of editors, preachers, and laymen bowed and wept. Apparently the West sensed that Gandhi was not merely the greatest man of the twentieth century; he was the greatest Christian of twenty centuries. A Hindu, nominally not a Christian, behaved more like Christ than any Christian. The West suddenly realized this when Gandhi fell, and realizing, began to look at itself, and saw its spiritual poverty. It looked and wondered how anybody could have been Christian in a non-Christian, in an anti-Christian world. It began to ask questions. From now on, the West will look at Gandhi in order the better to understand its own deficiencies.

“The second world war is ended and there is talk of a third. The aftermath of the second world war is almost as ugly as the years that preceded it. Civil wars, violence, suffering, unsolved problems everywhere. This makes men doubt, search, and open their minds to new ideas.

“The West needs Gandhi and I think it is more receptive to his ideas than ever before.”

JAMES G. FULTON, Member of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress:

“In a note so brief, I can not express too fully my shock to hear of the loss of Gandhi — one of the greatest leaders of our time. For one who devoted his life to the people as he did for peace and betterment, I am truly sorry and realize how deeply his death has been felt.”

COLONEL LOUIS JOHNSON, Former Assistant Secretary of War and Special Representative of President Roosevelt to India:

“I deeply regret that an engagement in California makes my