Unlike the II and III Congresses, the IV Congress saw the return of US government officials paying attention to the organized Ukrainian diaspora, beginning with the first Presidential greeting sent to a Ukraine Congress, from newly re-elected President Harry S. Truman. Senator H. Alexander Smith told the 368 delegates, representing some 472 different organizations, that it was the great privilege and responsibility of the United States to lead and assist in Ukraine's efforts to "throw off the shackles of imperialism," and hailed the "grim determination of courageous individuals to secure their freedom rather than yield to the tempting allurements of fascist-nazism or communist-marxism." Also addressing the delegates, was Under Secretary of State Herbert A. Fierst, as well as Edward J. Shaughnessy, director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, New York, who urged Ukrainians to share the truth about life outside the Iron Curtain with their friends and family who remained in Europe.