On this spot on the first day of November One Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty One, during the Third Convention of the American Legion, in the presence of Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France; Armando Diaz, General of the Army of Italy; Earl Beatty, Admiral of the British Fleet; Baron Jacques, Lieutenant General of Belgium; John J. Pershing, General of the Armies of the United States American Expeditionary Forces; Calvin Coolidge, Vice President of the United States; Arthur M. Hyde, Governor of Missouri; sixteen governors of other states; and a vast multitude, the site of the Liberty Memorial was dedicated in commemoration of the service and sacrifice of American soldiers, sailors, and citizens in the Great War, with Woodrow Wilson declaring that the glory of America goes deeper than all the tinsel, deeper than the sound of guns and the clash of sabers, to the foundation of the things that have made the spirit of man free, happy, and content, and with John J. Pershing urging that in dedication of this memorial lives be pledged to God and Country so that the devotion of those who answered the call of duty in the supreme crisis of war would remain an abiding inspiration to loyalty and high endeavor.
