Eleanor Roosevelt -- My Day (1943)

241

September 30, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
I want to tell you about the day when we landed about noon on a small island. It has a very large lagoon in the center, and a narrow belt of land. In all, I suppose the area of land is not much over three square miles, but around the lagoon would be, perhaps, a 30-mile drive. There is a native village on the island and some of the natives wanted to know if I was Gen. MacArthur’s “woman.” They are very generous people and had gifts of shell necklaces and grass skirts for me and for those with me.

Our men here are very busy building the whole station, and have not been overseas quite as long as in some of the other islands. Therefore, there is not the strong desire to get home, which you find when men have been many months without a furlough.

Our navigator seemed to me nothing short of a miracle worker, for how he hit these little dots without any deviation in course I wouldn’t understand. Nothing but waves and small fleecy clouds would be in sight, and then someone would point and there would be the island.

On this island, the resident manager said something which made me realize again how small the world is. I asked what the natives did to earn a living, and his reply was:

When you ladies gave up wearing pearl buttons, you took away what was their traditional way of life.

Fortunately, for them, they need little and the islands produce most of their food. Now, in some places, they work for the Americans but in others they do no work except what is essential to their daily living.

On every island, our men have built an airport, defences, storage areas, and living quarters have gradually been improved. The adaptability and ingenuity of the men is astounding. The resident at the largest island we have yet visited, told me that the first troops arrived in the middle of the rainy season and he marvelled at their accomplishments. Native houses are built on posts high off the ground because of the rains. Our men had to live in tents, and one boy told me the rain washed their barrack bags out into a little stream and they had to run after them to rescue them. Nevertheless, the work was done and now mail comes every ten days; at first six weeks was the minimum. Life is fairly comfortable on a camping-out scale.

One evening we landed at an airfield just at sunset. To my surprise, there was no twilight in this part of the world. We had barely gone a short way by boat to a nearby and larger island, before it was night. Day came just as suddenly. The moon and the stars shone and it was night, and then, before you realize it, full daylight. We spent two nights on this island, and I began my day early by breakfast at 7:00, with some of the men.

They started an interesting talk, because one of them had heard a broadcast from home in which he said the speaker claimed, that if all the women and older men now at work were dismissed and returning soldiers got their jobs there would still be 500,000 soldiers without work. How any one arrived at these figures I don’t know, but such things are on the men’s minds. They want to know what we at home are planning for the future.

I visited Army and Navy forces all over this island. One unit, off by itself, over a road only the jeeps and trucks could negotiate, seemed to be enjoying its isolation. The young lieutenant in command came from Seattle, I think. At least, he knew Puget Sound well, and had a little sail boat which he said he tipped over regularly.

242

October 1, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Thursday)
I have a vivid recollection of my first big native dance and song competition. Three villages competed. One girl had evidently been chosen to honor me and danced in front of me constantly, once she came and shook hands, once she came and kissed me. I was glad, since she was an appealing and attractive young thing!

A fine Army band alternated with the native entertainment during the evening and all the soldiers and sailors who could get off were there and proved to be a most appreciative audience. I imagine that the men’s dancing is more difficult than the women’s, but I marveled at the suppleness of the girls. I was driven all day by Sgt. Martin, he was a wonderful driver, whether we were in a car or a jeep. He told me about his little girl, whom he had left in Johnstown, New York, with Miss Bessie Miller, the superintendent of schools.

We left at 6:20 a.m. with the moon and stars still out and I had breakfast with the boys at the aviation station. This was the biggest breakfast I have seen any group enjoy. It consisted of three or four enormous flapjacks, a large spoonful of marmalade on them, sausage, a sweet roll, butter and coffee. I couldn’t quite compete with their appetites, but that was just as well since it gave me time to talk and to listen to them and, finally, to sign “short snorters,” photographs, slips of paper and bills of denominations which did not indicate membership in the short snorters. If I expostulated, they said:

It’s one way of being sure we won’t spend it and we’ll have it after the war.

Money has little value out there, so I was told the men were buying bonds in very satisfactory amounts. In this post office they send about 50,000 dollars’ worth of money orders home every pay day. The finance officer, 1st Lt. Carlos DeLima of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was laid up with a broken arm so the pay checks had to wait a day or two, but no longer, for he was an old soldier who was making light of his injury and showed me how he could write if the doctor would let him. He gave me a mother-of-pearl pendant which I shall cherish, because I admired his spirit so much.

At about nine a.m. we reached a beautiful little island and some fairly high ground which we reached by a safe but very steep road. The view was beautiful and I was amused, for I think the Colonel expected me to refuse to be driven up. If I survived, he expected me to prefer walking down. He did not know my husband’s love for building roads, and for being his own engineer. This sometimes results in a road which only my husband’s car will climb when he, himself, is driving it!

We had coffee here with the manager and his wife from New Zealand. The natives are Māoris and the Colonel spoke well of their desire to help in the war effort in any way they could. The Red Cross representative here seemed to feel his program was going well and he was cooperating with the special services officer. Between them, they were meeting the men’s needs.

One of the most important services the Red Cross renders is consultation about home problems. To do this work well, the men in the field have to rely on the home chapters. I gather that they are rarely disappointed, and I would like to extend my congratulations to the workers at home. It is not a glamorous job to follow up on a family problem, but it makes a world of difference to the soldier so far away from home.

Colored and white troops are on this island. As they stood before me on the parade ground and, later, sat while I talked to them, they both looked like grand American soldiers, doing their job as well as it can be done in these faraway places.

243

October 2, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
On my way to Australia, I stayed at a post on an island where we have been for many years. War brought it many changes, but it is still garrisoned by the Navy, and Maj. Gen. Charles F. B. Price, USMC, was in command of the whole area. For the first time we had hot and cold water and really a comfortable mattress to sleep on! A Navy nurse, Lt. J. G. Edna R. Tilden, acted as hostess and spent the night at the guest house with me.

We each had a bedroom and a bathroom and there were two other bedrooms and a charming sitting room, so I wallowed in comfort. This very fact, however, made me notice the difference in the men’s quarters, where even combat crews of airplanes returning for rest have just cots and blankets, no mattress and no pillow.

The men are well fed and they get much fresh food, though from the prices which I heard quoted for eggs, New Zealand and the Islands have not done as well as we have at home in keeping prices down. Eggs, they say, have been as high as $1.75 a dozen. At one of the islands where our troops are stationed, the men pay about $4.00 a week for their wash if they have it done by a native woman. It is fortunate that the government provides the men with food and lodging, so there is not much for them to spend money on.

There was a great deal of construction going on everywhere; airfields were being built; quarters, roads, defenses of all kinds. The men were busy, not only with drill, but in changing the face of the landscape, and making it look by camouflage as much as though there were no changes as possible. If the men want a desk, a cupboard, a chair, they not only have to make it but they have to find scrap material, improvise hinges, hooks, etc. America is a nation of resourceful and inventive people, and our pioneering days are not too far behind us. We have learned a few things about sanitation even in the wilderness which are standing us in good stead now.

We saw two picturesque things. One was a native house, very elaborate with much carving on the posts, and simple painted decorations. All the supports and posts were tied together by string, where they were fitted or joined, and yards and yards were used. The whole thing is then shellacked. A bed stood at one end, woven mats covered the ground, one mattress was placed on the floor near the other bed, and extra bedding was neatly folded and placed off the ground.

The other interesting sight was a group of native Marines. They looked smart and stood inspection as well as any other battalion. Their skirts seem to be no impediment, and made them walk more gracefully. I saw the hospital here and it was well equipped and prepared. to take care of all kinds of illness and accident. This was one of the places where Capt. Rickenbacker and his party were cared for on their way home. They pointed out to me with great pride that they had about the only air-conditioned operating room in the islands, which the Rickenbacker party fully appreciated.

I have said little to you about the scenery on this trip because other things seem more important, but as you fly, if you are lucky in the weather, the ocean looks a deep blue below you. Fleecy white clouds sometimes float under you, sometimes beside you. Occasionally they close in and blot out everything and then suddenly you find them gone and an island lies below. These islands may be merely coral reefs with palms and coconut trees as the chief vegetation. In the lagoons and near the shore, the colors will be every shade of green and sometimes red. Other islands will be volcanic and mountainous and the scenery is striking and the vegetation more varied.

244

October 4, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
I am now concluding my recollections of my trip to the South Pacific. I am sorry I have not been able to identify all of the islands that I visited, many of them so very small that they look, even on a huge map, like pinpoints. The identity of these islands is kept secret for security reasons, but I tried to visit every spot where our soldiers were stationed.

My first impression of the Pacific Ocean was that it was a wonderful blue, with, near the shore, bits of water like a dark green emerald. The first islands I saw had fairly high mountains, green fields, and dazzling white beaches. Here and there the shores were rocky with water swirling over them and brown sea weed which reminded me of the coast of Maine. Little white clouds floated around us in our airplane, but did not obscure our view of the ocean.

The world is a small place or, at least, the USA is. One boy who was on our plane for a little while, told me he came from Oklahoma and remembered my coming to speak at a college near his home when he was in high school. Since then, he was a pilot for Braniff Airlines, until he joined the Army. He says he has seen a good bit of the world but not all of it. He evidently means to keep right on till he does.

Another youngster came from Yonkers, and went to Colgate, and said he had often passed through Hyde Park on his way back to school. Somehow, when you are away from home and meet someone who knows your part of the country, you feel you know them right off and talk flows easily.

On the first island visited, we ate breakfast under a thick green bower and I was struck with the brilliant color of the flowers. The houses seemed close to the ground and almost a part of the outdoors. Birds were plentiful and unafraid. I had never been given a whole pineapple before, and when the top was removed it was full of a variety of cut up fruits. I enjoyed it and felt very extravagant and could not help thinking what such a profusion of fruit would mean to anyone in Great Britain today, or for that matter in any of the northern or central countries of Europe.

When I first saw one of the islands which our men now occupy, I confess I felt that a fair-sized wave would wash over it with great ease. From the air it is impossible to realize what you will find on the ground. Once landed, I found that the island contained several lagoons of various size and color. Some are a deep green, some a lighter green, some red. The men may swim in the lagoons, but not outside, since there are treacherous ocean currents. There is much routine work for the men to do. For free time the most exciting sport is fishing, and this is real fishing for big fish, the kind my husband enjoys. They need more heavy fishing gear, so if you have any you are not using, get in touch with the Red Cross and let them have it for use out here. The men want most I was told:

A chance to go home on leave, letters from home, good movies, music, news, sports.

245

October 5, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
I begin again today to write you of happenings here in the United States. In a way, I am sorry that what I have been able to tell you daily of my trip has come to an end, because there is so much more that I should like you to understand about this war in the Southwest Pacific.

Sometimes I see criticism that we are concentrating on finishing the European war before we put the whole of our strength into the Pacific. That criticism is largely, I think, from people who have little understanding of the complications of this war. The more power we eventually put against the Japanese, the fewer the men we shall lose. It seems to me, as an uninitiated layman, that this power must be largely air and naval.

The actual taking of land must always be done by land forces, but the preparations and support must be given by the air and sea forces. The greater that support is, the less human lives it will cost us.

Gen. MacArthur has done and is doing a magnificent job. He is turning a defensive war into an offensive one. Adm. Halsey and Adm. Nimitz have done the same fine job in their areas of command, and these coordinated movements are making life very uncomfortable for the Japanese. I hope that we at home realize how much depends on our work in producing all the supplies possible, in producing the ships in which to transport those supplies, and in inventing new weapons to meet the new inventions made by our enemies.

This is a war of the people as a whole. We, at home, are just as much a part of it as the soldiers in the field. What we eat, save, give and do for each other at home, has an effect on the men in the field. No man should wonder whether his family is being cared for. He should know that their neighbors are concerned for them and will do whatever is necessary for them. No man should ask what our plans are for the demobilization period. The Australians and the New Zealanders have told their men. We should shortly do the same.

However, since this is a democracy, the people have to see that this is done. They must insist that plans be made, discussed and passed by Congress, and they must make their own acquiescence known to their representatives. We are a democracy and we cannot be indifferent to any move by our government today.

246

October 6, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
I have been here in Hyde Park the past few days and have written and sent off my report on American Red Cross activities in the Southwest Pacific to Mr. Norman Davis, Chairman of the American Red Cross. Of course, I could not see all the work which is being done. Still, in every place, I saw as many of the Red Cross workers as possible and all the different types of work which are being carried on, so that I have a very comprehensive picture of the whole field covered by Red Cross activities.

I have also written one article since I have been here. Even though I have had time to enjoy long walks and rides through the woods, it has not been a wholly free time, because the mail in itself is taking a good many hours daily.

Many people are hungry for even a scrap of news from the part of the world where those whom they love have spent many months, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity that has been mine to see conditions and activities which are of interest to so many individuals. Over and over again on this trip, I wished I could be the mother, wife or sweetheart whom the boy really longed to see. Since that was not possible, I hope that someone who came from home, who often knew and could remember something about the particular place that was home to him, brought the people and the country which he loves a little nearer.

The hospitality which many families in New Zealand and Australia have extended to our boys is something for which we women here are very grateful. I brought home some letters which a Red Cross worker in one of our hospitals in New Zealand gave me, because I knew families in this country would be glad to see how wholeheartedly their boys had been taken into the family life and what wonderful ambassadors they have proved to be. I quote from only one today, but I shall quote from several more in future columns.

May I say how much we enjoyed having your men? They were the finest “ambassadors” that America could have sent to any part of this country. Each hostess thought her boys the best, and we have adopted them into our families. We have never had greater joys in our Red Cross experience and feel that we have been highly honored in having these men.

247

October 7, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Wednesday)
I want to go back again to my letters about our soldiers in New Zealand. Many a mother here, when she was training her son to be of use at home, did not realize that some of the things she taught him would make him a very welcome guest, and sometimes even make him of real value to the Army.

For instance, one of the men, who has the reputation for being more responsible for the good spirits of his regiment than anyone else, was the head baker in a camp which I visited. He teaches the men under him to make good bread, cakes and pies, and he is popular. It is all because, so he told me, his mother taught him to do it at home.

Some of the boys in the cooks and bakers school do not feel they are an important part of the Army. As a matter of fact, some of the most distinguished soldiers in the world have said that an army marches on its stomach, and a well-fed army is always a satisfied army and, therefore, a good fighting force.

In New Zealand I heard our boys praised because they helped wash the dishes and ran errands for their hostesses, so you see how important a mother’s training is.

Here is a letter from Mrs. Ruby Tennent, from a small town in New Zealand:

I must tell you how much we enjoyed the visit of the two Marines you sent us. One was very young, only twenty-and-a-half, and the other a Marine of eight years’ service.

Their frank friendliness, ready wit and appreciation made them delightful guests. My two sons, in the Air Force, came home unexpectedly and were thrilled with the tales of Guadalcanal and of your wonderful country. I must say that your city lads from Boston and Brooklyn, New York, gave us quiet country folks something to think of. Three weeks effort was only a fraction of the debt we owe to those who spent many weeks enduring Guadalcanal. I should have liked to keep them longer, but then our very busy days are here, and my husband and I are each without help on the farm. As you said, the lads are so human and they fitted into our home life very easily. This small country should benefit very much by the contact with you and your kinsfolks.

248

October 8, 1943

New York – (Thursday)
Many of our men were taken straight from the hospitals into people’s homes in New Zealand. I have one letter which describes what happened to two boys who had a recurrence of malaria, when they were visiting Mr. J. Sutton of Hawera. I am giving you the whole letter since I think it shows, as nothing else can, with what real interest our boys are cared for. These boys had to stay over their original furlough because of their illness, which explains the first paragraph of the letter.

I received your kind letter last Saturday and was so delighted to know that the unpreventable delay in the arrival of our two guests was quite understood by you and also the hospital at Silverstream. Please do not feel it was any hardship to us whatever. Not only did we thoroughly love looking after both the lads, but it was just grand to feel that we could give them a little home life and little delicacies when they felt so wretched. I did feel those few extra days after discharge from the hospital here did help young Nelson back to strength. He left looking better and happier and we will never forget his smile as the train pulled out.

Mrs. Sutton has written and we do want you to feel that we do not worry about malaria in the house. It is not that. You see, my wife has had plenty of experience with the malady, because the family have, or I should say had, a plantation in the Solomons and one member of the family made visits frequently to Bougainville Island. As a result, he was subject to such attacks, and directly we saw Lloyd Nelson go off colour and the shivering starting, we just put him to bed with many hot water bottles, blankets and hot drinks. The temperature subsequently proved our diagnosis correct, so we called the doctor who brought a nurse to cope with the sponging, and so forth. Dr. Fogg, who has since visited Silverstream, was very good and was in contact with your hospital, and I also phoned the hospital.

May I thank you for sending us two such splendid fellows. I enclose one snap which speaks for itself. They were two lads who fitted into our home like our own family and were so thoughtful, considerate and respectful that it was a pleasure to make them happy. My wife has written asking you to send more lads from time to time.

249

October 9, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
Last night I went to speak at a bond rally sponsored by the American Federation of Negro College Students. I was impressed by the fact that this group had set out among their members throughout the country to raise the price of a Flying Fortress, which was to be the first Fortress manned by an interracial crew. I imagine, of course, this is to be a volunteer one.

More than $800,000 has already been raised, which means that the price of a Fortress is now in hand. This group of college students has a grave responsibility, because they are going to carry much of the work which must be done in the postwar world in cooperation with white citizens. The youth of all races today have difficult situations to solve.

I wonder if you were as much impressed as I was by a story which appeared in the paper recently. A reporter in Italy asked a Japanese-American soldier fighting in Italy with his group, many of them recruited in Honolulu, how they felt about being there. The boy is reputed to have said that he would have liked to take part in the war in the Pacific, but was glad to serve his country anywhere. Perhaps it was wise to have his group in Italy, because they bear such a resemblance to the Japanese that it might be confusing, but his attitude seems to me the perfect one.

You are an American whether your features are those of a Japanese, whether you have Italian or German ancestry, are born or bred in this country, or are naturalized. You are an American and you take pride in “the American Idea,” which claims you as its own when you subscribe to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We are Americans all, and it is well to bear this mind as we approach the postwar problems, because they are going to require our close adherence to these ideals.

There are still many green trees up here in the country and the last two days we seem to be returning almost to summer weather. I hope it will last for a while. I love to walk through the dead leaves, but always feel a little dreary when I see them swirling to the ground. To me, October is one of the nicest months of the year. The fruits of the earth still come to us from our gardens. In fact, I even had corn on the cob the other day. Apples, pears and grapes are at hand, and the problems of rationing seem very unimportant, at least as long as we are in the country. When we are back in the city, I shall be better able to sympathize.

250

October 11, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
On Monday, October 11, at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn, New York, Youth Aliyah, a young group working under Hadassah, will start a fund-raising campaign to help the young Jewish people of Europe. All of us know what the horrors of persecution have done to the Jewish people in the last few years throughout Europe, and I think it is well that young people of every faith and of every race, should join together to help save other people from suffering if they can.

There are many kinds of suffering which these young people have been through. It is obvious that years of starvation and hardship have taken a toll in physical health. We must try to learn about diets and provide the best possible food for these children in the years to come.

But there is also a scarring of the mind and of the spirit, and that is harder to heal in youth than physical defects. In the future, the results of this suffering will have to be met by understanding as young people meet throughout the world. This is a fundraising campaign which Youth Aliyah is starting, but we hope that it also be a campaign which will create greater understanding among youth for the future.

I have a postcard which asks me to advise some appropriate things to put in a Christmas box going to a young man in the Army in England. England can be a cold place through the winter months, and I think wool socks, handkerchiefs, chocolate candy, a hot water bag, (if you can find one, or have one to spare) small paper covered editions of books or recent small magazines, and writing paper, might be very acceptable.

I suppose the suggestion of a hot water bag sounds very “sissy” for a soldier, but I assure you he would find it pleasant. In any case, he can exchange it, or give it to anyone who has been kind to him in England, for one cannot buy a hot water bag there. When we were there a year ago, Miss Thompson and I each had one and left them behind for friends, by request.

It has turned cold up here. Yesterday, however was warm enough for an out-of-door picnic. The colors at this season and the whole countryside are still lovely. The sun, when it is out, is still warm enough to make sitting in it very pleasant and not too hot. Some friends were with us for our picnic, among them a young Marine, who was wounded in the early fighting on Guadalcanal. He is only a boy, nineteen-and-a-half, but he has many decorations and I think his family must be very proud of his record.

251

October 12, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
A young naval officer sent me a letter the other day, which I am going to quote to you. It is one of the most heartrending but courageous letters I have ever read. It probably tells the story, not of this one woman alone, but of many thousands of women in this country today, who are meeting similar situations. To know how this woman met her particular trial may be helpful to many others.

Approximately two weeks ago, my younger brother, a lieutenant in the Army, received multiple injuries that are rather horrible in detail. When mother received the news, she immediately entrained to be near him as soon as possible. While on board the train, she jotted down a few thoughts and mailed them to me. I wish to quote a few of the same verbatim, for it is within them I tell my story. I am sure that you will understand her state of mind while expressing her viewpoint.

Now I want you all to think with me, with all your heart and soul, that the loss of one hand and a thumb, etc., is not going to handicap in any way his success in life. The only way that I can fathom it out, and that gives me any comfort at all, is that it must have happened for a reason, and that reason is that he is going to be a much bigger and better man without that hand than he would have been with it. I am holding on with a vice-like grip to that thought and nothing will ever change – it is the thought I must get over to him. Certainly, there will be qualities developed in him that would never have existed as part of him before.

The boy who sends this letter to me is the brother of the young Army officer. The fact that he wrote to me about it, shows that he realized many women – mothers, wives and sweethearts – might need the help of his mother’s example. He wanted them to know that the boys recognize their courage, the courage that enables them to smile when they are left alone, and the courage that meets without flinching whatever fate holds in store.

252

October 13, 1943

New York – (Tuesday)
I read with interest this morning Mr. Sloan’s statement that one of our chief objectives at the present time should be the planning of postwar jobs, and this should not only be the obligation of industry, but also of government.

The inference is, that it is more important than the running of the war and the hastening of the war’s end. I disagree with this, but entirely agree that industry and the proper government agencies should be at work now.

My impressions from reading a number of remarks that have been made on the need for government economy, even on the part of our war agencies in preference to further taxation, is that in some quarters we begin to think the war is won. This is not true. It seems to me that suddenly a number of people have lost the realization that, unless we win this war and win it as soon as possible, we have wasted not only immense sums of money, but what is impossible to gauge in terms of money, human lives.

I do not like taxation any more than other people. I certainly do not like waste, either in human material or in any kind of of material we produce. Nevertheless, I would rather feel that men were giving their time in essential war agencies to getting things done quickly, even if it cost more money and required more personnel for the time being.

I would know that such a policy would, in the future, save me days and months of carrying the full cost of the war. This can be measured daily in material expenditures, but can never be measured in loss of human beings.

We, as individuals, might well be urged in our civilian lives to undertake many economies and sacrifices. But anything which concerns the winning of the war should be measured not by the standards of economy of personnel or of money, but by the standards of actual accomplishment. At present that seems satisfactory.

Of course, I think that it is vital for certain sections of our government to collaborate more closely with our leaders in industry and in labor who are planning postwar expansion. This should be pushed and those who are properly concerned with the future should be giving it their best efforts, but in no way should it interfere with the efforts now made to win the war.

First things come first, and we know that, until the war is won, no plans can be put into operation dealing with peace economy. We also know that every single life is a valuable asset to the future if we are planning on expanding our peace economy.

This is just the way one woman looks at a problem which may be considered out of a woman’s sphere, but I am quite sure that women are going to concern themselves about these economic and political problems in the future and make clear where they stand.

253

October 14, 1943

New York – (Wednesday)
Yesterday evening I spoke at a dinner which Mrs. Dwight Davis gave for the heads of the volunteer groups who are here for their American Red Cross annual meeting. They are such a devoted and active group, that it was a great pleasure to have this opportunity of seeing some of them.

Today I am on the way to Philadelphia to speak at a Democratic women’s luncheon. Then I go to Washington, where we are to have the opportunity this evening of seeing a film made is England of various women’s activities.

A few days ago, I received word from the Metropolitan Area Hospitals Service Committee, of a plan to supply our sick and wounded servicemen in this area with a plant for Christmas and a Christmas tree for each ward.

There is no question but what there must be a great many boys in our hospitals here, who will not be able to go home for Christmas, and we would want them to have as cheerful a day as they possibly can. All contributions are to be sent to Mr. John J. Mackey, Treasurer of the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn. For each dollar contribution, the senders name will be placed on a Christmas card attached to a plant.

I hope very much that, in doing this work for the military hospitals in the metropolitan area of New York City, we shall not forget the veterans’ hospitals in the state where we have patients both as a result of this war and former wars. Many of these men feel forgotten because they have been in hospitals for so long, and our present concern should include them.

I hope this same plan is being followed everywhere in the United States and wherever we have camps or hospitals. The civilians in the neighborhood should make it part of their Christmas celebration to include the soldiers who are far away from home.

Early this morning a lady appeared at my apartment. She had written me that she had designed a hat she felt would be a help to the war effort, because it would conserve material. She brought it in to show me how one hat could serve many occasions.

If you are a busy lady who cannot leave the office in time to change, all you have to do to have a new hat, is to turn this one inside out! Your fingers will have to be fairly capable, however, in order to pin the brim and the bows into place so that you look as though your hat had just come out of the bandbox.

I am not very clever at this sort of thing, but I watched her fascinated. I am sure that, for many women, this will satisfy a need and also an inclination to use their own ingenuity in making themselves look different.

254

October 15, 1943

Washington – (Thursday)
The film which we saw last night was the story of the British Women’s Military Auxiliary Services, and it was one of the most thrilling stories I have seen on the screen.

By and large, I am not sure the men of the United States are encouraging their wives and daughters to go into our auxiliary military services. I am not even sure our women are convinced they are needed in those services. They may wonder whether they really would free a man to do a job which they cannot do.

I realize, of course, that our WACs, WAVES, Marines and SPARS are not being trained for as great a variety of activities as the British women are. That makes the service less interesting. In addition, they probably resent the restrictions put upon them as to the places where they are to be allowed to work.

If I were young enough, I would rather be a nurse, for instance, in the Army or Navy, than anything else, for they are allowed to share more nearly the men’s existence. They know, therefore, that there will be no attitude on the part of the boys which says:

Oh yes, you have come in to wear a uniform, but you don’t really mean ever to do a job which will inconvenience you or change the ease we men are expected to provide for our women.

I sensed that attitude over and over again in some of the boys who heard anyone mention women in the auxiliary military services in the islands in the Southwest Pacific. The reason is easy to understand, because they have never seen a WAC, WAVE, SPAR or Marine girl and they do not know there are jobs these girls could do.

Life in the armed services is hard and uncomfortable, but I think women can stand up under that type of living just as well as men. It made me unhappy last night to see what the British women have done and are doing, and then to remember certain speeches I have read by gentlemen who oppose women’s full participation in the auxiliary military services, when there is so much they could do. Why should British, Australian and New Zealand women render services to and with our men, and we be barred?

255

October 16, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
I want to thank the many people who have so kindly remembered my birthday and sent me cards and messages of good wishes. One always hopes that each year one gains added wisdom, but, at least, if one gains an increasing number of friends, there is a satisfaction in piled-up years.

I have an appeal to remind my readers that it is their patriotic duty to save all waste paper. You should sell it to your junk dealer, or give it to your schools, churches, Boy Scouts, organized charities, or building superintendents.

Apparently, there are many things which are affected by the shortage of waste paper at the present time, so here is one more thing you can do as a housewife. They multiply day by day, and there must be times when the housewife feels there is no small gesture in her household which is not tied up with the war in some way. That is as it should be, for it is the preservation of our homes for which this war is being fought, so we are tied to the war effort by many strings.

Yesterday I went to the Indian Bureau of the Department of the Interior to look at some of the handwork done by different tribes throughout the country. It is really very exciting to see the old designs and skills being used for modern purposes. I found one rug in which the colors were so soft and exquisite that no modern artist could have blended anything lovelier.

Then I found some scrap baskets, which would have fitted into nothing except the most modern kind of room. They were white leather tied together by leather thongs, but the shape and color made them demand modern glass lighting and stylized modernistic furniture. It is curious how the old and new can come together.

In the afternoon I went to speak to the ladies of the Senate and House who belong to the Red Cross unit. They met in the auditorium of the Congressional Library and it was very pleasant to have this opportunity of seeing so many familiar faces again.

The curtailment of entertainment during the war means that many of us have fewer opportunities of meeting together. In some ways I think it is a disadvantage, for the war creates so many interests which are vital to women. If I knew of some way to create more opportunity for women to meet and to discuss the problems of the present and the future, I would do all I could to bring it about, for our responsibility to the next generation is very great.

256

October 18, 1943

Washington – (Sunday)
Friday night I attended the dedication of the recreation building at the Arlington Farms Housing Project for government workers. I had been out there to see the beginnings of the project when only a few dormitories were open. Now it is like a small city, with thousands of girls living there who are working in the War or Navy Departments. There are shops and community facilities of all kinds. The recreation building has a combination gymnasium and auditorium, with many other things which will make life pleasant for these young people.

The overcrowding which has come to many cities besides Washington has created new problems for men and women alike, but those who are in those government projects have, I think, as satisfactory quarters as could be asked for in wartime.

Saturday, I went to see the mother of one of the Red Cross workers whom I had seen very often in the Southwest Pacific area. Many older people at home are making a great sacrifice for the war effort in letting their young people go off to be of service at a time when they expected to find them largely devoted to home interests.

This is particularly the case where girls are concerned. Every family knows that in wartime the boys will be called, and there is greater acceptance of the role of men in war. But with girls it is a voluntary decision. Many older people, particularly widowed mothers and fathers, who have been left alone and depend upon their daughters for companionship, are making a very great sacrifice and I think they deserve our recognition and gratitude.

A lady came to tea with me on Saturday afternoon, who said that she never went anywhere without being mistaken for me. It is a curious feeling to see yourself in duplicate, but it happens to me very often, for many people tell me that they are frequently taken for me, so I am growing quite accustomed to this feeling of multiple twinship.

In the evening, a group of friends were here for dinner, and we saw Ernest Hemingway’s movie, For Whom The Bell Tolls. His wife, Martha Gellhorn Hemingway, who is hoping shortly to start on another assignment overseas, has been here for the weekend, and was insistent that I should see it.

I think it is a very fine and thrilling production. It seems to me that a good deal of circumlocution is used to prevent the actual using of the word “fascist.” Nevertheless, it emerges as an anti-fascist, deeply stirring drama, and I think will reach many people who may not have read the book.

257

October 19, 1943

Washington – (Monday)
Yesterday was a quiet day. For several hours I went through my Christmas closet to find out what I have accumulated during the year and what I must buy before Christmas appears on the horizon.

It is not the simple thing it used to be, when you found out what people wanted and tried to fulfill their wishes as far as your pocketbook allowed. Now I feel that only useful things, which are needed, should be bought. But in that category are included the things which satisfy the longing we all have today for beauty in our surroundings.

Artists’ work, much of which will interpret this period to the people of the future, craft work of all kinds, anything that does not need strategic materials and which will give pleasure and relaxation through its beauty is, from my point of view, a vital necessity, when so many people suffer from stress of spirit as well as body.

Someone asked me the other day what I felt about young people and their enjoyments. Should they be allowed to dance and to go to parties, when all over the world other young people are fighting and suffering and sometimes dying?

These same young people who are fighting all over the world crave for themselves, wherever they may be, a good time in any free time that is theirs. I have seen them dancing in northern Australia before leaving for the battle zone at two in the morning. I think they would feel, if youngsters at home were kept from a normal existence, that the very thing for which they are fighting was being lost.

Parties can be just as much fun when they are simple parties. Everyone will understand at a time like this that essential foods are rationed, that money must not be wasted, but getting together and having fun is almost essential to carrying on a long war and remaining a sane people.

There would be a far greater letdown in production, people would do less good work in meeting the stresses of their own homes and in the volunteer jobs which they undertake, if both young and old, were not allowed a reasonable amount of relaxation. Today it has to be planned more carefully than in the past, but it still should be a part of our lives.

Some of my guests at luncheon yesterday discovered that they were working in the same building and for the same department, but unless they happened to meet here, they probably would have remained strangers indefinitely. This can only happen in places which become metropolitan centers. It marks the transition in Washington from the almost villagelike existence of 30 years ago, to the present completely metropolitan atmosphere.

258

October 20, 1943

New York – (Tuesday)
Last July I wrote a column urging people to take a personal interest in how their representatives in Congress stood on certain questions that seemed to me important.

I did not think that my own Congressman would think that it was addressed to him and make any response, because my real intention was to stir the average citizen to the point where he would feel he had a job to do in finding out where his congressman stood before Election Day came around.

My congressman happens to be Mr. Hamilton Fish, and needless to say, he did not notice my column. But, in New York City, I happen to have an apartment in the district of Congressman Arthur G. Klein. Mr. Klein evidently feels that he has an obligation to try to answer questions his constituency might ask. Because I think his answers are remarkably honest and clear, and because all of them are pertinent to matters that are coming up today, I am printing some of them here and will give the rest tomorrow.

I assume that, when he answered me, he did so for the information of his whole constituency.

  1. I agree with your businessman acquaintance that “there is not only going to be work for everybody at the end of the war, but plenty of it.” However, to implement the continuing trend towards total employment and, if necessary, to cushion against the possible temporary decline in employment which may be occasioned by a sudden changeover from a wartime to a peacetime economy, I propose the following:
259

October 21, 1943

New York – (Wednesday)
Here is the continuation of Rep. Arthur G. Klein’s point of view of what should be our program in the near future. It seems to me that these things are vital to us all, and so everybody’s point of view should act as a stimulus to our thinking and should make us follow more closely the acts of our own representatives. What they do, may affect not only our own situation in the post-war period, but even the whole world.

  1. I favor the President’s recent proposal to further educate or give vocational training to returning members of the Armed Forces, and, in this connection, I would favor the continuance of the Army and Navy training schools, under federal grants for this purpose. The problem of civilian education is inherently a matter for determination by the individual states. However, I subscribe unqualifiedly to the principle that educational and vocational training should be made available to all citizens, whether by state or federal appropriations.

  2. So far as I can perceive, there is no conflict between the plans I have enumerated and the possible plans of other districts. Obviously, the immediate problems peculiar to rural districts will vary in detail from those of great centers of population, such as New York City. But, in principle, what is good for the majority of citizens of my constituency is equally good for the majority of citizens of a small rural community.

  3. To insure future world peace, I will urge and support any legislation or treaty which has for its purposes:

  4. Many plans have been and are being formulated in Congress for which I intend to work. Among these are:

260

October 22, 1943

New York – (Thursday)
The days that I have been in New York City have been fairly busy, but I should like to go back and say how interested I was by the luncheon given by the Advertising Women’s Club. Lt. Cdr. Stratton made her appeal for the women of the military forces, and Mrs. Lippmann made her appeal for the volunteers in the nursing services, and seemed to me to say what needs to be said over and over again.

When people do a piece of work, they do it better if they have a sense that others understand the difficulties of their job, look upon their work as essential, and feel admiration and respect for the effort they make. We women should be loyal and generous to each other. We cannot all do the same things, but we can admire other women when they do good work in the occupations which they feel they can undertake.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at Halloran Hospital on Staten Island, and was thrilled to have an opportunity to see what penicillin can do for our men. Dr. Lyons, who is in charge of this work there, and the nurses who have come with him from Massachusetts General Hospital, must all feel not only the excitement of a new adventure, but the satisfaction of extraordinary achievement.

I saw the Red Cross work, which seem to be going on very actively, particularly in the craft work in the wards and in the craft shop. I spoke for a few minutes with the ambulatory patients in the Red Cross building, and with some of the nurses and doctors at lunch.

Later, I attended a ceremony where one man in the medical service received a decoration for bravery in action. He rescued a man under fire on a battlefield in the European area. Three others received the Purple Heart. I had the great privilege, not only at this ceremony, but in the wards, of pinning on several of these decorations. I was only able to go through a very few wards, for this is a very big hospital, but I hope to go back again and see many more of the patients.

These past evenings in New York City I have gone to the theatre twice. The Two Mrs. Carrolls keeps one sitting on the edge of one’s chair, though one can almost guess the end of the story from the beginning. The amazing thing is Elisabeth Bergner’s acting. With Victor Jory, she makes the play and gives one an exciting evening.

Another Love Story, with Roland Young and Margaret Lindsay, is an amusing comedy. Roland Young is funny as usual, but though the play is well acted, I found it slightly confusing. Lines here and there are clever and amusing, and one has an evening without too much thought on serious subjects.