OCTOBER 5/TISHREI 20

1887:  

Birthday of Rene Cassin, French statesman and jurist who served as France's delegate to the League of Nations from 1924-38. In 1946 he was appointed president of the U.N.'s Commission of Human Rights, where together with Eleanor Roosevelt he initiated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1968 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his activities in the area of human rights, and donated the money to the establishment of the Human Rights Institute in Strasbourg.