President Eliot Fourth of July Orator

President Eliot has accepted the invitation of Mayor Fitzgerald to deliver the annual Fourth of July oration in Boston this summer. The custom of delivering an annual civic oration commemorating a national event was started March 5, 1783, the anniversary of the Boston massacre, when James Lovell was the speaker. Later the occasion was changed to July 4 to commemorate in addition the signing of the Declaration of Independence.