My soul is thrilled and my heart is filled with gratitude as I
contemplate--looking back upon six decades of eventful American Baha'i
history--the chain of magnificent achievements which, from the dawn of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah in the West until the present day, have signalized
the birth, marked the rise and distinguished the unfoldment of the
glorious mission of the American Baha'i Community. Of all Baha'i
communities in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, with the sole
exception of its venerable sister community in Baha'u'llah's native land,
it alone may well claim to have released forces, and set in motion events,
which stand unparalleled in the annals of the Faith; while in the course
of the last fifty years, comprising the concluding years of the Heroic and
the opening epochs of the Formative Age of the Baha'i Dispensation, it can
confidently boast of a record of stewardship which, for its scope,
effectiveness and splendor, is unmatched by that of any other community in
the entire Baha'i world.
The first to awaken to the call of the New Day in the western world; the
first to spontaneously arise to befittingly erect the Mother Temple of the
West; the first to grasp the implications, evolve the pattern and lay the
basis of the structure of the Baha'i Administrative Order in the entire
Baha'i world; the first to openly and systematically proclaim the
fundamental principles of the Faith, to adopt effectual measures for its
defense, to invite the attention of royalty to its teachings, to devise an
adequate machinery for the translation, the publication and the
dissemination of its literature and to provide the means for the creation
of its subsidiary institutions; the first to champion the cause of the
oppressed and to generously contribute to the alleviation of the
sufferings of the needy and persecuted among the followers of Baha'u'llah;
the first to inaugurate collective enterprises for the propagation of His
Cause; the first to assert its independence in the West; the first to lay
an unassailable foundation for the erection of auxiliary institutions
designed to multiply its financial resources; and, more recently, the
first to achieve, as befits its primacy, the initial task devolving upon
it in pursuance of the newly launched World Spiritual Crusade, this
community has abundantly merited, by the quality of its deeds and the
magnitude of its exploits, the distinctive titles of the cradle of the
World Order of Baha'u'llah, of the vanguard of His world-conquering host,
of the standard-bearers of the oneness of mankind, of the chief trustees
of the Plan devised by the Center of the Covenant and of the torch-bearers
of an as yet unborn world civilization.