Freedom Train arrives in El Paso, thousands see historic documents: Trish Long
The Freedom Train was a seven-car train that traveled across the United States from September 1947 until January 1949. It contained some of the country's most priceless historical documents.
Then Attorney General Tom Clark thought something dramatic was needed to increase American public awareness of their heritage of freedom and the responsibilities of citizenship. Visitors to the Freedom Train were asked to take the following pledge:
The Freedom Pledge
I am an American. A free American.
Free to speak — without fear.
Free to worship God in my own way.
Free to stand for what I think right.
Free to oppose what I believe wrong.
Free to choose those who govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold.
For myself and all mankind.
The Freedom Train stopped in El Paso on Feb. 14, 1948. Nearly 600 people an hour toured the exhibit for the 12 hours the train was in town.
Thousands file through Freedom Train Crowd sees historic documents
Feb. 15, 1948, El Paso Times
Thousands of El Pasoans lined up for hours Saturday to pass through The Freedom Train and view its precious cargo of America’s historical documents.
When the last person had passed out of the train, shortly after 10 p.m., the total attendance recorded was 6,971, an average of nearly 600 an hour for the 12-hour stay in El Paso.
The train arrived at 7 a.m., over Southern Pacific Lines from Del Rio. Three hours earlier youngsters already were starting a six-hour vigil to be the first inside the cars after the official party had been escorted through.
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Voices hushed
It was an orderly crowd that moved through the roped lanes leading to the first car. Inside the train, as in a cathedral, voices were hushed. Comments were whispered as men, women, children of all races filed past the cases and saw for the first time the originals of manuscripts they had studied and memorized in school.
Mayor Pro Tem Karl Wyler, speaking in the absence of Mayor Dan Ponder, welcomed the train to El Paso. He called the train a “glorious expression of American unity – at a time when unity within our country is indeed precious.”
“It has all been inspiring,” Wyler said, “but let us not forget for a moment the unselfish and untiring efforts of the many people who so warmly brought this inspiration home to us all. …We s a community should achieve certain definite goals from the visit of the Freedom train. By learning the foundations of good government we should strive to see that the government of our own community and our state is progressively better.”
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Crowd three blocks long
By the time the ceremonies were ended and the public had started through the train, the columns extended west from the spur track berthing the train at Campbell Street, reached Kansas Street, and continued in a long loop back to and north on Campbell Street.
A public address system kept urging those inside and out of the train to keep moving, to remember that “thousands are waiting behind you.”
Three cars of the seven-car train contained the 127 manuscripts and printed matter on display. The other cars house the maintenance party, the 27 Marines headed by Col. R.F. Scott, and officials of the American Heritage Foundation, sponsors of the train, in chare of W.H.S. O’Brien.
Again the voice over the loudspeaker sounded the objectives of the foundation in arranging the four: “To develop a greater awareness of the advantages we enjoy as Americans, emphasizing the relationship of our hard-won personal freedoms in our development as the strongest nation of free people in history.
“To persuade all Americans that only by active person participation in the affairs of the nation can we safeguard and preserve our liberties and continue to demonstrate to ourselves and to the world that the way of free men is best.”
The documents go all the way back to Columbus’ time, including his official letter announcing the discovery of the new land Exhibited was a copy of the second Latin edition o the letter, printed in Rome in 1493. There was the manuscript of the signing of the Magna Carta by King John of England in 1215.
History moves forward through the cars, bringing the protest of the nine colonies, their 1765 declaration in which they protested against “taxation without representation,” an early printing lent by the Library of Congress.
Original Washington letters
Youngsters who will be celebrating Washington’s birthday in a week saw his original letters and saw in his handwriting the farewell address delivered in 1796. Many who had doubted the story of Paul Revere’s ride saw the manuscript, dated April 29, 1775, in which Revere was given his commission as messenger to the Committee of Safety.
History’s footprints continued through Washington’s own copy of the Constitution and Alexander Hamilton’s draft of his report on the public credit in 1790. Many of the manuscripts had cross-outs and inserts where last-minute changes had been made.
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Emancipation proclamation
El Pasoans saw the original sheet upon which the words of the national anthem were written by Francis Scott Key. They saw Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in his own hand, and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s letter accepting the presidency of Washington College, in 1865.
There were historical communications signed by both Roosevelts, and publications testing the freedom of the press, going back to 1734. Moving up to modern times, the “greatest blank check” ever written is shown. It is a list of signatures prepared for the United Nations Charter before the charter was available to attach the signatures.
Several cases held flags, including Commodore Perry’s gonfalon, the famous Iwo Jima flag raised on Mount Sribachi by the U.S. Marines, and General Eisenhower’s personal flag.
The pathetic message from Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, announcing that he was forced to surrender, is beside messages outlining Operation “Overlord” and “Anvil” and tell of coming invasions. In the final car is the surrender instrument of Japanese forces in the Philippines and the German unconditional surrender.
Hard to believe they
At 9:45 p.m. the doors closed and a number of disappointed visitors were turned away. The train left for Santa Fe, N.M., late Saturday, after which it will make an appearance in Albuquerque, N.M, and proceed to Douglas, Ari.
Comment of those coming from the train ran usually to: “If only there were time to read those documents, to study them a while.”
One girl, gushing her excitement, breathed: “It’s hard to believe they’re real, isn’t it?”
Trish Long may be reached at tlong@elpasotmes.com or 915-546-6179.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Freedom Train arrives in El Paso, thousands see historic documents
