Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (1942)

103

April 29, 1942

New York – (Tuesday)
This morning I went over to the Naval Hospital and returned in time to meet Mrs. Myron Taylor, who came to see me about the USO campaign. She also spoke to me of several other charities, the School for Applied Design, The Purple Box (where crippled workers have for many years been doing the daintiest kind of sewing) and the New York Association for the Blind. These charities are either giving up in despair, or curtailing their programs, because it is so difficult to raise money for anything but war work.

Our National Symphony Orchestra in Washington has had this same experience. The big gifts have come in, but it is largely supported by small gifts, and this year these gifts seem to be flowing into defense bonds or war charities. I think it is time we consider what we really intend to do about the type of cultural community service rendered by a symphony orchestra.

The School for Applied Design has trained many women for commercial art. The Purple Box has trained cripples so that they have been able to support themselves. It is possible that women now being trained in the School for Applied Design might go into munition factories for the duration of the war. Perhaps it is one of the organizations which can be shut down, but it will be hard to build up again once disbanded.

Certainly, there is no place in industry for the cripples in the workrooms of the Purple Box. There is comparatively little opportunity for those who are trained by the New York Association for the Blind to get work of any kind until trained.

My own feeling is that we need cultural things like music and painting during these times even more than in peace. Those who give small contributions should keep on giving them. Where charities are concerned, we should weigh very carefully the public responsibility as against private effort.

Defense bonds and stamps should be bought, if possible, out of money saved from our actual needs, since we can do without many things without affecting the cultural standards of our community or reducing our standard of living alarmingly.

104

April 30, 1942

Washington – (Wednesday)
Yesterday evening, in New York City, I sat on a panel which inaugurated a series of forum discussions to be carried on through the spring for the benefit of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. I was delighted to find my cousin, Mrs. Joseph Alsop, as well as a number of pleasant acquaintances, on the panel. The subject was women’s work in the war and an effort was made to cover as many outside activities outside of actual industrial work.

The President’s speech was heard over the loudspeaker at the hotel where we assembled and everyone listened eagerly. I think his closing stories about the heroism of some of our men fitted in particularly well with an appeal which one of the speakers made for the USO. She had mentioned the fact that some people wrongly think that the services rendered outside the camps to men of the Armed Forces are apt to make them “sissies.” Somehow, that seems to me a poor word to apply to the average boy in our services. If we needed corroboration on her stand, the President’s speech gave it.

These stories are illustrative of hundreds of thousands of equally heroic deeds which are being performed every day in the line of duty. Some of them will never be reported. Others will receive recognition in time. One need never worry about the heroism of the youth of America.

Almost any day, any newspaper can supply you with innumerable acts in civilian life, which require courage, initiative and quick thinking and are the background for heroic deeds.

Miss Thompson and I took the plane back to Washington this morning, and I was here for my press conference at 11:00. Miss Katharine Lenroot attended to talk about the Pan-American Child Congress, which will open on May 2. I was particularly pleased to hear her say that the advances made since this congress first met were really notable.

Now, at its eighth session, we can fix our minds primarily on the needs of the children in the war. We still can feel that well-established social legislation will carry forward the program and improve the agencies now set up in the different countries on this continent, so that the children will be cared for in peacetime as well as during the war period.

I am sure that everyone has the same feeling that I have, a sense of relief that we are going to be told what we should do in this war period in our homes. It will surely reach down into our lives. Some of us may find some adjustments difficult, but, after all, the adjustment of the boy who leaves his job and goes into the armed services is a far more drastic one.

105

May 1, 1942

Washington – (Thursday)
For the first time in many months the President saw a movie, Reap The Wild Wind. It was certainly exciting enough to take his mind off everything that had been happening during the day. Mr. John Bergen, who is in charge of the Hollywood Caravan, was with us and also Col. Zanuck, so the picture certainly had a critical audience and everyone found it absorbing.

This morning I met a gentleman who has a plan for obtaining the latest books in many fields for our men in the armed forces. I have been struck by the fact that the books one sees on the tables in some of the “dayrooms” which I have visited in various camps, are largely not of the most modern vintage. I think this gentleman’s idea will permit us to send for a very small sum, twenty-five cents in fact, new publications to boys we know in the services. This will be something they will enjoy and which will give many of us a feeling of giving a little pleasure to a friend.

I lunched with Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. picked some of the first lilies of the valley in her garden and admired the dogwood which is now out everywhere. Just because it is wartime, I think our senses are sharpened to beauty in our surroundings as they never are in ordinary times, when we do not count our blessings day by day.

This afternoon, some hundred people connected with the Navy Relief entertainment, which is being given tonight by the Hollywood Caravan, are coming to a small, formal reception in the garden, which I hope will be pleasant for them.

I am distressed to find that $18,000,000 was cut out of the District of Columbia housing appropriation for war workers. This sum was intended for the building of family units. The National Housing Agency officials are said not to have been prepared to present the need sufficiently well to have convinced the congressional committee that it really exists.

I hope they can do so in the near future; I doubt that the suggestion that workers coming here be told to leave their families at home and consider it their war contribution, will have the desired results. Our objective today is to get the greatest amount of work out of every individual. Moving men or women to Washington and making them support their families in another place is not good economy, nor is it good psychology.

106

May 2, 1942

New York – (Friday)
It was a great pleasure last night to attend the show given for the benefit of Navy Relief. I am sure that wherever this group plays, the audience will find itself well repaid for their generosity in attending.

This morning I left Washington for New York early, visited Franklin Jr. at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, and then attended the luncheon given by the National Council on Naturalization and Citizenship at the Hotel Astor.

I have just received the following statement sent me by Mrs. Upton Sinclair and am reprinting it here because it states better than I can things I feel very deeply at the present time.

Please hurry, Neighbor
No army ever did so much with so little (Douglas MacArthur)

But the armies of the United Nations should not have to do with so little! It is up to the folks at home to see that it does not happen again. Every soldier of the United Nations stands between you and the bombs of enemy raiders. But soldiers cannot stand unless they have guns and ammunition. One dime invested in defense stamps is enough to supply five cartridges which may save a soldier’s life! Save dimes and invest in defense stamps to save yourself from enemy bombs. Save dollars and invest in defense bonds and save our soldier’s lives!

Please hurry, neighbor —
I am a soldier’s wife
Do something neighbor,
To save a soldier’s life!

Give something, neighbor,
To make that boy a gun;
He may give his life for us,
The boy who is our son.

Save a dime, neighbor,
The least that you can do:
Save those dimes and dollars
For him – and me and you!

We are all neighbors in this great country and most of us now have someone we care about, actively defending us somewhere in the world. Surely, we would not want to feel that anything we could do was left undone in giving him all the tools and services he needs.

107

May 4, 1942

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
Yesterday in New York City started bright and early, for at 9:15 I was due at 120 East 86th Street to meet with a group of Girl Scouts. The owner of an empty store has donated its use to them and they are busy gathering salvage of many kinds.

Where they can make useful articles, they are setting up work tables and doing so. The other things they are turning over to the proper salvage agencies. They gave me a charming May basket, which one of the little girls kindly offered to take down to my apartment, since I could not quite see how I could manage the rest of the morning carrying a basket of flowers.

At 10:00, I faced an audience of high school and young college students at the Ethical Culture Society. It was the last of a series of lectures during which these young people had considered the obligations of democracy from many aspects.

On leaving there, I had time to run into Holland House to see Hendrik Willem Van Loon’s original drawings for the new edition of Erasmus’ book The Praise of Folly. I enjoyed them, but liked particularly the painting of Mr. Van Loon himself. If no one had been looking I might have walked away with it.

Then I did a recording for the use of the Children’s Bureau and reached home in time to have a few guests for lunch. Late in the afternoon, Miss Thompson and I reached Hyde Park by train.

I see by the paper this morning that shortly we are not going to be allowed to indulge ourselves by having comfortable accommodations on the train, such as private rooms at night and lounge cars in the daytime. I shall certainly miss the private rooms at night, but I imagine that I can adjust quite easily. As far as the daytime goes, I have always found the coach really more comfortable than the parlor car, so that won’t bother me.

We spent most of last evening unpacking and trying to put away various things which we had sent up from New York to the cottage. Now, in a few minutes, I am going over to the big house to make a beginning on the unpacking of the various things which I have sent up there.

The country is unbelievably lovely. All the fruit blossoms are out and the dogwood is beginning to bloom. The foliage still has the bright green of spring and the fairylike, feathery look which trees have before their leaves are completely out. The moon shone on my sleeping porch in full glory last night.

We need rain badly. Even though the sky is gray and hazy this morning, I do not feel that it is sure to come. We shall just have to go on praying for it.

108

May 5, 1942

New York – (Monday)
We left the country after an early supper last night because I have another full day here. It began at 10:30 with the opening of the campaign for selling war savings stamps in retail stores. The campaign is to encourage careful buying and to induce customers to take part of their change in Defense Stamps.

After that was over, I went to the annual meeting of the board of directors of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. This lasted a long while. One or two people came to lunch. In the afternoon I attended a meeting of the Committee of the Washington Bureau of the International Student Service.

Connecticut’s voluntary registration of women to fill its labor needs in the agricultural and industrial fields, is beginning today. They were a little troubled because they thought the decision not to hold a compulsory registration of women at the present time, might make women feel their work was not needed. As a matter of fact, it is because localities have met their needs through such voluntary participation as this, that a national compulsory registration is at present postponed.

The decision was made by the various bureaus concerned with the Federal Security Agency. I was interested to find they felt that if the need arose, compulsory registration of woman power could be put through very quickly. Classification of skills and of needs for the various parts of the country could be accomplished within three weeks. This speaks well for the efficiency which has been developed in the employment service and in the Bureau of Women in Industry.

I wonder if, in some of our more crowded industrial areas, we have not been a little slow in developing communal feeding kitchens where the workers and their families may obtain good meals at reasonable prices. We have talked a good deal about the development of day nurseries, nursery schools and recreational facilities for older children, but I do not know how far this has been actually accomplished throughout the country.

Probably this information will be coming to us shortly in reports from the Office of Civilian Defense. I hope that where exceptionally good jobs are being done, they will be written up in some detail for the benefit of other parts of the country.

Unemployment still seems to exist, particularly among older men and women. I am sorry to say that our minority groups are still finding that they are not always given jobs according to their abilities. Sometimes the employer is afraid to be impartial, sometimes the workers are prejudiced. The people who could do a great deal to bring about a change in attitude are the buying public, and they seem apathetic.

109

May 6, 1942

Washington – (Tuesday)
Last night, in New York City, Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. and I went to see The Moon Is Down. I had, of course, heard that the criticisms of this play were poor. Some people thought it put the Germans in too favorable a light. Many people apparently thought it was just not a good play. I am no judge, but I found the evening a very interesting one.

The type of resistance which the Norwegians put up became more real to me in action on the stage than it had been in the book. I felt that, on the whole, the play was well cast. The lines that I remembered from the book came out on the stage more clearly and with greater emphasis. I think this play is a valuable contribution at this time and I hope a great many people will go to see it.

We left New York City this morning and I was here in time for my press conference. A few people are coming to lunch and to tea today. With a few other appointments this makes up what will be perforce a day spent catching up on mail.

I have a notice from Mr. Myron W. Myron W. Whitney, of the Washington Choral Society, in which he tells me not only of the pleasure which the society gives to its audiences, but of the opportunity it affords to newcomers here who have qualifications for voice and ear and a desire to join with other people of like interests. At present, people are being shifted to other places, men are going into the services and this constantly changing scene makes a greater opportunity for new people to participate.

I am not mentioning this just because it is something that is being done in Washington, but because I feel so strongly that singing is one of the things which is of the greatest value to people’s morale in times of stress. When groups get together it stimulates the writing of songs. I am a great believer in the expression of all the arts which come from the people themselves.

A committee has been formed among certain members of the Phi Delta Kappa to eliminate racial discrimination. I am very happy to find that my own feelings that racial discrimination should be removed from an organization of this kind, is shared by such people as Mr. Raymond A. Kent, President of the University of Louisville; Mr. John Dale Russell, Secretary of the Department of Education of the University of Chicago; Mr. George S. Counts, of Columbia University, and many others of equally fine standing. In educational circles, I hope this marks a real effort to do something at home to face a situation we must face all over the world if we expect a foundation for the more lasting peace to come out of this war.

110

May 7, 1942

Washington – (Wednesday)
Due to the fact that the President of Peru’s plane was delayed in Panama, he probably will not arrive here until tomorrow, so the household has been very busy switching all of Thursday’s engagements to Wednesday and vice versa. The dinner for the President of Peru, given by my husband for the officials of the government, will take place tomorrow night. The reception here for the delegates to the Pan-American Child Congress will take place tonight.

I go today to a luncheon given for the delegates to this congress. The afternoon is very full of appointments to see various people who are trying to do something useful at present, but who for one reason or another find themselves faced with difficulties.

I am very much troubled by the fact that in the reorganization of the National Youth Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, everything has been cut except such training for industry as will enable these young people to be more quickly available for work in war industry plants.

No aid is being given to young people going to college or to high school. The high school aid is less necessary at this time, since more and more people are now employed and can give their children the little that is needed to make a high school education possible. To have college aid given up, however, seems to me rather tragic.

I had hoped that this part of NYA was just the beginning of a real democratization of education in this country. There is no reason why good students who should become professional people should be denied the opportunity to enter these fields simply because they cannot afford to go to college. They will amply repay the country for their education.

Young people who have received NYA assistance in college have nearly always stood among the first ten of their class. All over the country the vast majority of college presidents are distressed at having this opportunity for education and usefulness taken away from young people just because they cannot pay for it. It is a shortsighted move and a present economy which will cost us dear in the future.

It is true that administration leaders and members of Congress cannot do things which their constituents do not wish done. I cannot believe, however, that the majority of the people in this country really want this comparatively small expenditure, which meant so much to so many young people, cut out at the present time.

111

May 8, 1942

Washington – (Thursday)
I walked into the White House from the hairdressers a few minutes ago and noticed a group of bags in the Lincoln Room. My curiosity got the better of me and I looked further. Lo and behold, there was our son Elliott and a civilian friend, who had come with him from Africa.

I had been asking the President every day if there had been any news of when Elliott might turn up. Not later than last night, my husband assured me he had heard nothing, so this was a very joyous surprise. My only regret is that Elliott’s wife isn’t here and will have to fly up from Texas. Apparently even the President of the United States isn’t told these military secrets beforehand!

I am afraid that Elliott is in for a spell in the hospital, because he seems to have picked up some sort of germ. But, let’s hope it won’t last long. It is wonderful to have him home after the long months of anxiety without news.

The meeting last night of the Pan-American Child Congress here in the White House, was extremely interesting. I was very proud of Miss Katharine Lenroot and Mr. Adolph Berle, Assistant Secretary of State, for the fluent way in which they gave their speeches in Spanish. I was the only person who had to say a few words in the English language. I felt much ashamed of myself and hope that someday I shall find an opportunity to master at least enough Spanish to say the few sentences necessary for welcoming a group.

Our hearts have been heavy ever since we heard of the final surrender in the Philippines. These men have made such magnificent history, that one can only feel that Secretary of State Hull has well expressed it in saying the present reverses are a prelude to future victory. However, that does not make anyone feel happier about the men, nurses and few civilians; all now prisoners.

Above everything else, I am proud of Gen. Wainwright’s decision to stay with his men and share their fate. I know what every member of a family, who has anyone in this area is going through – uncertainty, apprehension and sorrow. We can only pray together and hope that our mounting strength will soon bring us the victory which will put an end to all this suffering.

I still hear every now and then that some people are asking:

Why do we have to fight in all parts of the world? Why can we not stay here and defend our own shores?

I should like to have an opportunity to ask the people who murmur thus, how they would like to have our shores turned into a Corregidor?

112

May 9, 1942

Washington – (Friday)
Yesterday afternoon the President went to the airport to meet the President of Peru, Dr. Manuel Prado. Even in wartime, certain honors may be paid to the heads of governments. They reached the White House together about 5:00. The President of Peru’s son, who is in his last year at Harvard as a student, met him. We had tea on the porch with the rest of the party.

Our new Ambassador to Spain, Professor Hayes, joined us. It was very pleasant as we sat there and the troubles of the world seemed far away for a short time. But the talk soon centered on the things we all had to do to win the war and to be able to return to normal development in the days of peace to come.

Dr. Prado brought thirty pieces of old Indian pottery, dating as far back as the 4th century. We were greatly impressed by the beauty of shape and design. I was interested to find that it reminded me of work done in both Persia and Egypt. I was told the Indians no longer do this work today, but have guarded the secret and, perhaps, someday will be at work again. Dr. Prado also gave me a hand-wrought silver tray from Senora Prado. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of work I have ever seen. I hope we can put all of these things on exhibition somewhere, so that they may be seen and enjoyed by many people.

The President had an official stag dinner last night in honor of the President of Peru. I slipped in to say goodnight to them at 11:00, after returning from the radio station where I had joined in a 15-minute broadcast which summed up some of the proceedings of the Pan-American Child Congress.

I had another delightful surprise today when I was called on the telephone to talk to a gentleman who had just flown in from distant parts and brought me a message from our son, Jimmy. This gentleman is starting back shortly and I am going to be able to send Jimmy a letter by him. This is really very exciting, because mail takes endless days to reach the places where our boys now are. To know that your boy is hard at work, happy and well, starts you off in a rosy-colored world.

On May 10, the Writer’s War Committee is going to remind us of the fact that nine years ago the Nazis burned some world-famous works and immortal books. Thereby, they offended the whole free world. On this anniversary, the democracies everywhere will reaffirm their belief that good books are a necessary part of civilization.

113

May 11, 1942

New York – (Sunday)
The concert given by the Greenwich House Music School on Friday night in New York City, was delightful. Mr. Frank Gullino, who has just signed a contract with the Philharmonic Orchestra and is one of the pupils of the school, played his violin in a masterly fashion.

Another young pupil composer, Mr. Gettel, an Army sergeant, was given leave from camp to conduct his own composition, so there was a touch of the war brought close to this entertainment.

In a large part yesterday, I did personal things, but I talked for a little while with Miss Viola Ilma, of the Young Men’s Vocational Foundation. First we discussed the growing difficulty of raising funds to help boys coming out of reform schools to get jobs. Then we talked over the difficulties of their adjustment to the wartime atmosphere. Finally, we went over the fact that those who go into the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are happy and entirely content, missing only one thing – mail and packages from home.

So many reform school boys originally go wrong because of broken homes, or the death of parents, so it is not surprising to find that one boy in the Army writes to Miss Ilma:

I don’t get any mail, but sometimes the other boys let me read theirs, and that feels good.

These boys with records cannot get into war industries. The records come up time after time when they are looking for jobs. Yet the only way to keep them from going back to the lives which put them into reform schools originally, is to get them jobs and keep them in them.

I have just been reading of an effort which is being made by a small group of Swedish-Americans to help raise funds for “Wings Over Norway, Inc.” For years the Scandinavian countries have been admired so much here because of their accomplishments in science, art and social reform.

These countries – Finland, Norway, Denmark – are now under the heel of the conqueror. The Scandinavians in this country want to join together to assist their compatriots here who are still fighting for the United Nations.

Under Title 2 of the Second War Powers Act, the secretary of the treasury may receive gifts for certain purposes, and so he has given permission to this group to raise funds to be turned over to him as a gift to the United States, earmarked to the Lend-Lease Administration, through which planes may be obtained and delivered to “Camp Little Norway” and other camps in Canada where Norwegians are in training.

114

May 12, 1942

New York – (Monday)
I heard four young American artists last night, Mr. Maurice Wilk, violinist; Miss Virginia Lewis, mezzo-soprano, Mr. Emanuel Vardi, viola; and Miss Vivian Rivkin, pianist; in a concert at Town Hall, arranged and conducted by Mr. Dean Dixon with the New York Chamber Orchestra.

All the artists were excellent and the program was delightful. We should be thankful that, in our country, we can still give young artists an opportunity to be heard. The arts are the one avenue not blocked by the hate which comes with war. I think we should give every art expression our support whenever we possibly can.

The weather the last two days has been perfectly delightful. The voices of the children playing in Washington Square float in our windows to add a pleasant background to our thoughts.

Yesterday was pleasant for many reasons besides the weather. Elliott and his wife, and Franklin, Jr., spent many hours of the day with me and we were able to catch up on months of separation.

We listened to Mr. Winston Churchill’s speech. One hopes that his solemn warning to the Germans against the use of gas in Russia will have an effect, for to add this horror to the horrors that aerial warfare has already brought, would be sad indeed.

To enter and leave our ports today is a dangerous proceeding. We citizens along the seacoasts should be deeply grateful for the safety which the air patrols bring us. The blimps and the small patrol planes sight many a submarine. One by one, as they pick them off, it is safer for the ships to go in and out and there is less likelihood that our coast towns will wake up to find themselves being shelled.

This morning I looked at the photograph of the new air raid warden’s coverall, as shown in the newspapers, and it certainly seems practical and easy to identify. I still pray that we shall not be put to the test of a severe air raid, and yet I am sure that if the day comes, we shall take it calmly.

I have two appointments here this morning and must do one or two errands. Then I speak at the forum on “The Future World Order.” My belief in forums grows stronger every day. I think they should be carried on whenever even a few people can get together regularly to discuss questions which weigh on their minds.

115

May 13, 1942

New York – (Tuesday)
I went to a pleasant dinner last night with my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Myron Taylor and met some interesting people. Present were Madame Wellington Koo, Mr. Lattimore, the financial adviser of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek; Miss Bonney, who has been able to take such remarkable photographs in France since the war, and who told me of the children in the concentration camps.

I cannot bear to think of children behind barbed wire looking out at a free world – only, of course, the world they live in is not free. We can only hope that out of this period of chaos will come again a free world where children will not starve or be confined against their will.

I evidently made a mistake the other day in not explaining that the New York School for Applied Design is an industrial and a commercial art school with an endowment, and not a charitable institution. I have received a letter of protest and hasten to correct a false impression. I did not intend to convey the idea that I was only speaking of charitable institutions, because civic and educational institutions are finding it just as difficult to get contributions for special needs at the present time.

Only yesterday afternoon a group of people gathered here to discuss the whole question of better racial understanding in the world, both now and at the end of the war. In this connection, a number of institutions, doing various kinds of work and needing financial support, came up for discussion.

Bethune-Cookman College, for instance, in Daytona, Florida, finds that it must increase its standards of training if it is to provide acceptable teachers for the South and send out colored workers to other parts of the country. They must have fine training so they can be of real help to their own people and to the cause of better understanding between this minority group and other groups in our own country.

The running expenses will be higher and an endowment fund must be raised so we hope to acquire new friends, because we feel that this institution is training people who will help us prevent some of the things with which organizations now have to cope. There is the Young Men’s Vocational Foundation, for instance, and the Wiltwyck School, where colored and white children who come into Children’s Court may find intelligent training which will keep them out of a state reform school.

116

May 14, 1942

Buffalo, New York – (Wednesday)
I left New York City yesterday on a noon plane for Boston, Massachusetts, and spoke last night at the League of Women Voters dinner. At its national convention this year, the League agreed on a war service plan in line with the work it has always done, but on a broader scale. They hope to spread knowledge about important government issues to great numbers of people outside the League membership.

In the past they emphasized the education of their own members, now they realize that education for good citizenship must reach a wider field. They will translate their knowledge into action by participation in the primaries and at the polls. Their third objective is to make their local governments meet wartime demands.

I held a press conference soon after arrival and found there was great interest in the outstanding program which is to be given June 14 in the Boston Garden at the United Nations War Relief Rally. Getting together for relief is a good precedent which we hope points the way to future cooperation in days of peace.

At 5:00, I spoke on the Harvard Crimson network on the present and future role of American youth in this war. Youth seems to have such a great role to play these days and its responsibilities seem so heavy that, as a member of the older generation, I find myself growing humbler every day. Our debt to the youth of this generation is piling up so fast it is hard to see how any of us will ever repay it.

I left Boston on the night train for Buffalo, New York, and am having a busy time here. The Buffalo Federation of Labor invited me to see their housing project. Anything that has to do with housing is always of deep interest to me. Tomorrow I shall tell you more about my afternoon here.

I keep learning day by day of interesting organizations in my Washington Square neighborhood in New York City. The last thing to come before me is an organization called the People’s Symphony Concerts which for the price of one dollar provide a member with six outstanding concerts. You may choose what type of concerts you want to hear.

They provide several series and have pianists, dancers and string quartettes. The best in practically every line may be had at a cost of less than ten dollars. This seems very important, for it brings an opportunity for really worthwhile entertainment to people who have not much margin to spend on pleasure.

117

May 15, 1942

Washington – (Thursday)
From the time I reached Buffalo, New York, yesterday at 1:00 until I left at 9:45, I had very little time to waste. I lunched with the ladies of the various unions, and then we started to look at the housing site. The Grand Island Homes Cooperative Association, Inc., is a cooperative organization which has bought a tract of land on Grand Island and is going to build homes for workers. The sites will be about a half an acre each, so there will be plenty of room for a good garden. The down payment is reasonable and the monthly payments are well within the proper budgetary allowance for rents.

Since it is a cooperative scheme, they have guarded against the possibility of a man having to move, by making it possible for the cooperative to take back the site and reimburse the individual for what he has put in. There is another insurance phase which interests me particularly. Under this insurance arrangement, in case of death of the wage earner, the widow receives $5,000, which is the maximum amount put into the building. Any cooperative piece of work requires education but it is certainly possible for it to do a great deal more than any one individual. I shall watch the development of this particular undertaking with the greatest of interest.

On our return to Buffalo, we attended the induction ceremony where boys were taken into all branches of the service – Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Flying Cadets. Their families joined them in the recreation room which is provided by patriotic organizations for the use of men at the time of their induction.

The WPA band played and the oath was administered to each group with due formality and solemnity. The Mayor of Buffalo spoke and I was asked to say a few words. I always find it difficult to face these young people so eager and willing to give themselves. It is a most moving experience and one which makes one feel the weight of the civilian’s responsibility at home to the boy who goes out to fight.

Before leaving in the evening, I had various meetings and ended with a dinner and a speech to the members of the various unions. I was fortunate enough to see the President of Peru again, who came to the dinner for a few minutes. It was most interesting to hear the impressions of his last few days’ trip. I told my husband this morning that President Prado was pleased with his reception everywhere and felt that wherever he had seen our production efforts, they were wonderfully successful.

118

May 16, 1942

Miami Beach, Florida – (Friday)
The night train from Buffalo, New York, to Washington, DC, is not always an easy trip, but I slept well Wednesday night and woke Thursday morning to have breakfast on the train before reaching Washington. I was pleased to find myself sitting at table with three people interested in airplane designing.

I find that men who design anything – boats, engines, airplanes – are always completely devoted to their occupation, and these gentlemen were no exception to the rule. They wanted to build their own designs and see them fly.

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Bell, of the Bell Aircraft Corporation, were on the train and came to see me a few minutes before we reached Washington. I was glad to be able to see them again at 5:00 at the White House.

Soon after reaching home, I had the pleasure of meeting President Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippines. He was very ill while in Corregidor and still needs care. I was interested in hearing all the adventures which he and his family had been through. He praised his two daughters and 14-year-old son for the spirit in which they had taken the vicissitudes of war.

President Quezon said that for himself and his wife, who had lived fairly long lives, it would not have been so hard to face death, but he could not bear it for the young people. They never gave a sign, however, of being in any way troubled, nor did they ever complain of discomforts on any part of the trip.

I was interested also to hear President Quezon talk about certain reforms which he has instituted and which are already bearing fruit in improving the condition of the people. Then he spoke with some bitterness:

But the Japs have stopped all that, at least temporarily.

Luncheon was an entirely official party. In spite of that fact, I thought there was a warm feeling among all the guests. So many of them had known President and Madame Quezon in the Philippines and real friendship existed between them. Now there was added admiration for their courage and for that of the whole people who fought so valiantly with our own men to preserve their freedom and, for all we know, are still fighting in little bands here and there.

After lunch we said goodbye to our guests. In the afternoon I had a meeting and a number of people came to call. I received the Ambassador of Panama and Senora de Jaen Guardia on their official visit. In the evening I spoke at a dinner in the interests of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, and 11:00 took a plane for Miami, Florida, where we arrived this morning.

119

May 18, 1942

Miami Beach, Florida – (Sunday)
It is very good to be back in Miami Beach, for I have looked upon it in the past few winters as a very pleasant place to rest. This year I have taken no holiday during the winter. I can hardly call these three days a complete period of rest, but they certainly have been both interesting and enjoyable.

I have seen a number of people I was glad to see again. The technical school, which has just been established here, is one of the most interesting of the Army Air Force training centers. General Wooten was most kind and showed me all the various things they are doing. Colonel Horace Smith, who was a White House aide, did everything possible to make us comfortable and happy while we were here.

The representatives of the Farm Security Administration took us to see the various improvements which have been made in the camps for migratory workers since I was here last. I was glad to have another opportunity to see the change that has come about in the living conditions of these workers, whose efficiency is so important to our food production in this war period.

We leave tonight for Washington by plane. I know I shall feel I have hardly been away, for these days have been so full of interest. I have just been notified of a new idea which is being sponsored by the Victory Book Campaign, and which I hope will be very successful. A number of college presidents and a small student group have formed a committee to urge that, at commencements, students throughout the country bring a book with a personal autograph to some member of the Armed Forces. This ought to bring in a great many books and I hope will be a widely observed custom.

The Navy Relief Society is joining with the Army Emergency Relief Fund in undertaking more work than has ever been done before for the families of the men in service. Up to this time, the Navy has always taken care of its own people. For the first time, through a series of special events, they are asking the general public to join with them in raising their funds. I am sure there is going to be a very warm response.

From these funds the Navy will lend money to the families of men who find themselves temporarily in need of assistance. Where allotments, Social Security and Red Cross gifts do not completely take care of any home situation, the Navy Relief will be able to help the three branches of its service – the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. These are wartime appeals I am sure we shall be anxious to meet, so that no community will have difficulty in raising its quota.

120

May 19, 1942

Washington – (Monday)
I stepped out of the plane this morning to find the most beautiful weather, which seemed really cool in comparison to Florida. As I think it over, the most interesting thing being done by the Air Corps at the technical training school in Miami, Florida, was the effort to classify men by examination and interview. As the man in charge told me, they are really trying to find round pegs and put them in round holes.

The other thing which impressed me was the speed of organization. It is barely two months since this setup was started, and yet everything is running smoothly. Taking over the hotels has probably saved many people from loss of their property. It has certainly made it possible to house far more soldiers far more rapidly than could have been done otherwise. It gives me a feeling of satisfaction to realize the efficiency with which the Air Corps has acted in this mobilization.

The nation as a whole seems to be mobilizing very rapidly too. Everyone I saw commented on the change of traffic yesterday, and price ceilings go into effect today.

The war news from Russia seems encouraging. I hope that the magnificent effort which the Russians are making will spur all the organizations throughout this country to do all they can for Russian Relief. I was sorry not to be able to attend a meeting for this purpose in Miami or Los Angeles, for both places asked me. However, I am quite sure that my presence was not needed in either place to make their drives a complete success. We owe so much to Russia and China today and we can only express our gratitude by sending them all we can in relief funds.

At the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives’ dinner the other night, I was presented with a little pair of “tiger shoes,” made for a little American boy by his Chinese nurse. These shoes are placed on Chinese babies’ feet in the hope that the fearless strength and courage of the tiger will develop in the child. The Chinese women making then today must think with gratitude of our “American Flying Tigers,” who have written an epic in the sky over China.

There is a most interesting magazine article by Paul Gallico on Joe Louis. This famous prize fighter, who has now become a fighter in the armies of the United States, is to many of his people the symbol of their patriotism. I think that all of us are happy that Mr. Gallico wrote this article.

121

May 20, 1942

Washington – (Tuesday)
I had an interesting morning visiting. First, I went to the school which Diana Hopkins has attended this winter – St. Agnes Episcopal School in Alexandria, Virginia, of which Mrs. Helen Macan is principal. The school is situated on Bishop Lloyd’s old family estate. There are only a small number of boarders so that there can be a feeling of real home life. The additional number of day scholars allows for rubbing up against more varieties of human beings, which I think is very good for young people.

The staff seems to me very remarkable, for we went into no classroom where there did not seem to be absorbed attention on the part of the students. They go from kindergarten to high school and the school has just won a much-coveted standing in the state both in Latin and French. Something which seems to me almost as important as the educational side of the school, is the evident realization by the students that their student government belongs to them and, having made the rules, they must abide by them. In study hall, there was no teacher, but I never saw a quieter and more orderly study period.

From the school, I went to the headquarters of the Army Personnel Classification System. Dr. Walter V. Bingham, Maj. Gen. James A. Ulio and Col. Madison Pearson showed me around. From this particular group, go all the rules and policies which govern the classification centers in outlying places throughout the country. Tests of every kind are being made out there. They are discovering the ways of training men and the best way of selecting them, matters which require careful analysis.

I was happy to see that while there are a great many experts who have evidently had long experience in the line in which they are working, they are also using a great many young people who have graduated from college recently and studied in some special field and won high honors. One young lady was introduced to me as a Mt. Holyoke graduate and a wizard at mathematics.

I was a little late in getting back to the White House, so my friend Mrs. Adolph Miller and I are going to be a little late at lunch. We are going to a very old friend, Mrs. Franklin K. Lane, who is staying here with her son and daughter-in-law. She arrived here some days ago from New Mexico and I have been trying to see her ever since.

She is not very strong and could not come to see me, so this is my first chance to be with her. I shall make her tell me all she knows about conditions as they now are around Santa Fe and New Mexico, for I find new things are happening at present everywhere in our country.

122

May 21, 1942

Washington – (Wednesday)
Mrs. Franklin K. Lane told me yesterday of a most interesting thing which a group of women is doing in New Mexico. They have taken the proper training and are now being used in all clinics and hospitals throughout the State. Because of the increased load which is being carried by health officials everywhere and the decrease in the number of trained nurses and doctors available, this work could not be done without this group of volunteers.

Ever since I mentioned slacks in my press conference the other day, I have been receiving offers from various firms to send me slacks which are becoming to the middle age, dumpy figure which some of us past middle life have to endure. I am much impressed by everybody’s kindness, but I really have never found the need for these garments; though one picture of a kind of double, divided skirt does seem to me rather practical and cool. It is short and when you are walking would look very much like a simple skirt with two pleats front and back.

There seems to be a great deal of discussion on the subject of taxes, which is reflected in my mail. Some people seem to labor under the impression that the President in talking about a new maximum personal income of $25,000 a year, was not considering the deductions allowed in the past that amounted to fifteen percent of the gross income for charitable and educational gifts.

I think the wording of the President’s statement rather clearly indicated that he spoke of net income after deductions of all taxes and this would include gifts. Of course, the final decision regarding this must rest with the Congress which is now writing the bill. They will have to decide whether undertakings which are now carried on as private charities or educational or civic institutions, should become a charge on the community as a whole, or remain dependent on voluntary support from private individuals.

We will undoubtedly go through much discussion in the next few years on subjects such as this, just as there is much discussion on whether people should be allowed to deduct excessive doctor’s bills and the cost of higher education for young people. To my mind, both charges seem a reasonable deduction and of more importance to those of moderate incomes than to those touching the $25,000 income group.

What we must realize is that suggestions may be made by individuals and by the administration, but the final decision rests with the Congress of the United States representing the people of the nation.