10/18/2026
On this date in Beacon history:
Forrestal Returns Home
On October 18, 1943, the Under Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, made a long overdue return to his hometown of Beacon, New York. The occasion was the presentation of the Army-Navy "E" Production Award to the employees of the New York Rubber Corporation at its factory on Tioronda Avenue. For Forrestal, who later became our nation's first Secretary of Defense, it was a rare opportunity to reveal his thoughts about Beacon. His speech, excerpted, follows:
I am glad to get back to Beacon for this award because it is a healthy thing for bureaucrats to come back to their origins and get a reminder that the roots of government in our country lie in such communities as these. Beacon and Dutchess County are as good an example as there is of what constitutes American life. We live in a valley richly endowed with the traditions of our country's beginning. The names of Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler, Verplanck, Roosevelt, and Chancellor Kent are great names in the history of our country and of our community.
At the same time, this city and county are representative of the amalgam of peoples which has given this nation extraordinary growth and world power within a century. Both have in them descendants of immigrants of English, Scotch, and Irish extraction, or of German, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Czech and Balkan ancestry.
I am proud of the fact that in this town the sons and daughters of these immigrants went to school together, played games together with children of older origins without thought of bigotry, bias or prejudice. There were and probably still are the jealousies and animosities which are part of the normal complexity of human relationships. But broadly speaking, the individual of this community, whether a descendant of Dutch patroons, of the English colonials or the recently arrived immigrant, stood on his own feet and was judged as an individual on his own merits and character.
That is the Beacon in which boys of our generation grew up and I suspect it is still the Beacon of today... There were Cornishmen like Henry Corney, Scotchmen like William Graham, Irishmen like John Mara, Jews like Samuel Beskin and David Alper, and men like my father and Edward St. John, all of whom had a deep sense of community responsibility and did their best to discharge it...
The flag you have won today and the emblems that you will be entitled to wear have come to have as deep a significance as the old Navy "E" for excellence in gunnery which was the most prized possession of the ship that won that distinction. It is sought after zealously by many thousands of companies throughout the land who are making mu*****ns of war. It is a testimony to the sincerity of both management and labor and to their ability to cooperate with each other in the American way....
That is why I am glad to be here today to join in this award. I shall not over-praise you nor make this an occasion of greater significance than it is. You have performed your duty; you can report to your kinfolk overseas that you have earned this symbol of good and rapid production, that the Navy has been able to say to you, "Well done."
COPYRIGHT
Beacon Historical Society Newsletter February 2008
By Robert J. Murphy
Are you enjoying our posts? Are you following our page? Are you a member? For just $25 a year, you’ll receive a monthly newsletter with stories like this one, invitations to meetings/lectures/special events …. And the satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping to raise awareness and appreciation for Beacon’s history. Click the support tab on our website BeaconHistorical.org.
