Eleanor Roosevelt -- My Day (1943)

261

October 23, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
Yesterday morning, I left my New York City apartment fairly early and went up to the colored orphan asylum in Riverdale, with some members of the board and interested friends. The school is run by the New York City school system, and it seems to me they are doing a very good job in adapting the regular curriculum to the needs of the children.

These children come, in great part, from broken homes where they have not always had every opportunity for health and proper medical care. There are far more boys than girls. They live in cottages grouped in a circle separated from the administration building which houses the school and infirmary and has an auditorium on the third floor.

The view of the Hudson River and the Palisades is very beautiful and must have a beneficial effect on these poor, frightened youngsters who find themselves in such beautiful surroundings. The children had worked and earned money to buy a War Bond, the third one I believe, and it was presented to one of the masters in my presence.

One little girl gave me a poem which she had written about the President. When I admired a painting done by one of the boys, he promptly gave it to me with characteristic generosity of children. They all sang James Weldon Johnson’s beautiful song, which I always love to hear.

The board of managers of this institution not only cares for the children here at the Riverdale home, but places many more children in foster homes. This, of course, is in many ways a much more satisfactory existence for them, especially for the little children, since they get more personal attention than even a good institution can ordinarily provide.

From October 25 through the 31st, has been designated as “Better Parenthood Week,” and during this time, with the support of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, many civic organizations, parent teacher associations, parent education and welfare groups, will work together to canvass the child care needs and decide on the methods of meeting these needs as adequately as possible in this country.

At the present time, work for our children is particularly important because of the rise in juvenile delinquency. One of the aims of Better Parenthood Week in 1943 is to:

Lend active support to all efforts in behalf of maternal and child health, improved nutrition, better schools and vocational training, friendlier relations between different origins and beliefs.

If the above can be accomplished, we shall have gone far to solve many of the community problems throughout our nation.

262

October 25, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
Friday morning, I came up here, and at noon I went to one of the battalions of the military police school to talk about what training I had seen going on in the Southwest Pacific. In the late afternoon, I went to Vassar College to speak to the members of the Political Association. It was interesting to have dinner with them because Vassar is now being run on a cooperative basis, and a great part of the work is being done by the girls themselves.

Late yesterday afternoon, two men from Washington came up to see me to discuss some activities going on outside the government, which may be helpful in the whole food situation.

I have heard that many people worry that we, in this country, may actually reach a point where we shall be short of necessary food. While I do not think that this is likely to happen, there are many angles to this situation which I wish more of us knew something about, for food is a real weapon both for war and for peace. The way in which we organize for full protection in this country, where we have such great advantages in mechanical equipment, may be a factor in the establishment of peace in the future, as well as a great factor in keeping a stable situation at home in the days immediately following the war.

The farmers of our nation have a great responsibility to understand the world problems. By farmers I do not mean only those who own great tracts of land and run a big business type of farm. I mean the men and women who look upon farming as a way of life, who are content to live on their farms and to make a good living and to educate their children. They are concerned with education, health and agricultural problems throughout the world, because, in the whole world, just as here at home, that way of life is basic and the foundation on which everything else in the nation must rest.

On Monday the 25th of this month, the National Women’s Council of the Navy League of the United States will open an exhibition called “WAVES At War,” which will run for two weeks. It will be at the International Building, Rockefeller Center, New York City. Two phases of WAVES’ work will be stressed.

In one, ten WAVES and a male pharmacist’s mate are actually at work, showing the operating room, dentistry, x-ray, and the use of blood plasma. Another part of the work is shown depicting blind flying and radio direction. This exhibition should be interesting to many girls and their families who may be considering the kind of work they would like to do to aid in the war effort.

I hope that many people will attend this exhibition. Even if they do not go into the WAVES, it will give them a better understanding of the way in which girls in this service are supplementing the work of the men and are freeing many who want to serve overseas.

263

October 26, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
I have a letter from a woman in Michigan, the mother of a son who is now serving on foreign soil, and another boy already in the service. She asks that I draw her suggestion to the attention of my readers and I am very glad to do so.

Mrs. Johnson of Ironwood, Michigan, feels, that in planning for peace, mothers of boys in our services and German mothers and Russian mothers could sit down and discuss certain broad phases of the promotion of goodwill among nations in the future, perhaps more easily and more realistically than the diplomats and economists who are usually in evidence when such plans are being formulated.

I do not know that I would limit it only to mothers. I think I would say many women with sons, husbands and friends serving overseas, have a deep interest in this question of preventing wars in the future. Mrs. Johnson suggests that the diplomatic and economic questions should not be a part of the women’s discussion, but I feel that, perhaps the women should set themselves to studying all the questions that must form a basis for peace.

Merely generating goodwill, which will make women willing to work together, is not going to be enough. We shall have to know how nations will be fed and built up again into self-supporting units which can help to build up and support the other nations in the world. We are a family of nations and need each other to live well. We shall have to be able to understand the economic questions underlying all diplomatic understandings, for goodwill can never exist unless it is built on a firm foundation of cooperative wellbeing.

A gesture of goodwill from a group of women in Great Britain came to me in a cable the other day. I am reprinting it here because I think it is an example of something which might be done by many organizations. This particular group happens to be a British trade union group.

The conference representing 300,000 women members of the British Transport and General Workers Union employed in war industries sends fraternal greetings to women of America and congratulates them on the magnificent stand they are making in the fight for freedom and democracy.

ARTHUR DEAKIN
Acting General Secretary

That is recognition by a group of organized women in Great Britain of the way our women have shouldered their responsibilities in the war effort. Many groups in this country should congratulate their sisters in other nations of the world who are fighting in industry, the military services, on farms and in the homes. Without their work the armies in the field would be ill supported and could not long continue their victorious way.

264

October 27, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
A paper company has written an editorial which they doubtless sent to many people. It was inspired by a little item in a magazine, headed “Memo To Santa,” which stated that the first Christmas wish of the members of our fighting forces was “cheerful” letters from home.

In the editorial sent me, we are reminded that not only the men, but the Army and Navy nurses and the other women in the military services and the Red Cross workers will want to hear from home. But the heart of the editorial is its careful analysis of the kind of letters which should go out from here. Every boy should be made to feel that on this Christmas Day there will be no home where his presence is not longed for, and that the thought of him will be part of every activity which takes place at this season.

I think the letters should also carry the message that an effort will be made in our home to do the things this Christmas which are symbolic of what the boys are fighting for. If we can shed a little more happiness around us, if we can draw some lonely people into a home circle for the day, the boys will know that the spirit which they are fighting to preserve still exists in our country.

Someone has suggested to me that if in some way there could be a public celebration, carried by short wave to all our various fighting men in which every family took part, it would mean a great deal to lonely boys in faraway places. There is a difficulty because of differences in time and the great distances involved, but perhaps something can be worked out. If it is worked out, I hope that every family will join in the spirit of the idea, for it will draw us closer together. Every boy who can possibly be within sound of the radio, will feel he is joining with those at home in this part of the Christmas celebration.

In any case, our letters should tell of happy things, of hope for the future, of our newly developed ingenuity in meeting war situations and, above all, of our willingness to do all we possibly can, if by so doing the war can be shortened by one day and the return of our boys to those they love can come about a little sooner.

We had to begin thinking of Christmas so early this year that I have actually done a good part of my Christmas shopping. There are a few things still coming up which I keep forgetting, but I hope by the middle of November to have fully covered even the many arrangements for the White House!

I reached Washington yesterday afternoon and found my husband very much better. I was greeted by Fala with great enthusiasm. He resumed his habit this morning of visiting me first at breakfast. After he begs all he can from me, he then goes to the President when his breakfast tray is brought and acts as though he had had nothing to eat.

265

October 28, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
Yesterday was the first time this autumn that the ladies of the Cabinet had gathered together at luncheon here. Unfortunately, several of them were away, two of them have husbands overseas but are still in this country, two others were not well enough to come and one had a previous engagement.

There is little in the way of social dates to be settled these days since there is no official entertaining. We had a very pleasant time talking together and then went down to look at a five-minute reel, which the Army newspaper Yank had taken while I was on Guadalcanal. It is in color and quite interesting.

In the late afternoon, I went over to Baltimore, Maryland, to speak at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where they have an exhibition of original paintings by American artists for posters. The collection is very interesting and many of them are very familiar because they have been used in the campaigns for the sale of war bonds.

I hope that people all over the country are preparing to celebrate the week of December 12 to 18th, which has been designated as “Bill of Rights Week.” We need to reread the Bill of Rights at frequent intervals, especially during wartime. All wars curtail the rights of the individual, but in our country, we give up these rights voluntarily because we see the need for doing so while a war is on. However, we retain the one great right of a free and secret ballot, which insures the return of these rights at the end of the war.

This war is being fought for Four great Freedoms – Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom of Expression; in the press, by assembly, and in any way that information reaches the people. They know that different types of information will be given the people and it will require education on their part to decide what they believe in and what they wish to uphold. The study of our own Bill of Rights will help us to help the world to attain these basic freedoms, and it will help us also jealously to guard the expression of our will through a secret ballot.

266

October 29, 1943

Washington – (Thursday)
I was discussing federal aid the other day and I began to wonder whether we citizens of this country really know that we have had federal aid for education for a long time. It began first under the Morrill Act of 1862, which gave grants of land to the states and started our first land-grant colleges.

The second act was also a Morrill Act in 1890. This granted funds to the colleges and was supplemented by additional funds authorized by the Nelson Amendment of 1907 and the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935. Under these acts, the Office of Education gives $5,030,000 annually to the land-grant colleges of the nation.

Vocational education was first aided by the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which gives $7,000,000 annually for this purpose. This act was later supplemented on a permanent basis by the George-Reed Act of 1936, which gave an additional $14,200,000, making a total of $21,200,000 annually.

Of course, these are not very large sums, but they do affect a great many states. Yet I have never heard the slightest complaint that they were used to force unwelcome restrictions or changes in programs on the various colleges.

Many states, particularly the poorer ones, spend a very much greater proportion of their incomes on education that do our richer states, and yet, per capita, less is spent on the education of young people. Population trends shows us that we move about more and more in this country, and a child educated in one place may spend his working life in another part of the country.

Poor education received in one place does not, of necessity, affect the place where the child is born and educated it affects the wellbeing of the entire nation. Then our nation as a whole should be interested in equalizing educational opportunity through our whole country.

Yesterday I spoke at the lunch of the Soroptimists Club. The national president, Mrs. Harriet Tyler, was there, as well as the delegates from eight clubs in this area.

Afterwards, I went to the Capitol Park Hotel, which has been taken over by Recreation Services, Inc., as the United Nations Service Center, where men and women of the armed forces and their families may obtain accommodations for a few hours, or for a few nights. This hotel has certain unique features, such as a nursery for young children, so if a young couple is ordered to Washington and has to find a place to live, the mother can check her child while she goes house hunting.

There is also a room where children who are ill can be kept in bed under supervision, if the mother has to go out. There are very pleasant lounges and small rooms in which little groups may meet. There are cafeterias and recreation rooms and I think everything has been thought of which will add to the comfort of both officers and men.

267

October 30, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
In the last two days, at tea and lunch, I have talked before the Women’s National Press Club, the American Newspaper Women’s Club, and the Women’s Advisory Committee of the War Manpower Commission.

Yesterday morning, I spent at Silver Spring, Maryland, where the ambulatory patients go from Walter Reed Hospital. This was formerly a girls’ school and it is quite surprising how well it has been rearranged to fit the needs of convalescent soldiers. It does not seem like a hospital, which I think is a great advantage when you are getting well.

This morning, I spent some time going through some of the wards at Walter Reed Hospital. One is impressed by the fact that automobiles and ordinary accidents at home are responsible for the presence of quite a few of the patients. Those who are back from overseas are, of course, suffering from more permanent disabilities. They are facing those handicaps with remarkable courage and cheerfulness.

I think one great advantage of being with other men similarly injured is the reassurance it gives that any man can learn to do as well. One boy this morning was longing to get back to his farm and he wondered whether a leg off above the knee was going to make his work impossible. I am quite sure that after a little while he will be able to do everything he did before, but the thing which will make him sure will be to see somebody walk in who has learned to get around with both legs off. Another boy drove a truck before the war, and he is quite sure he will be able to go back and to manage his own truck.

Such fine spirit makes you proud of young America and it makes you hope that the families at home and the people in their communities will meet them halfway and help them to be the normal people they want to be, on whom others can depend just as they always have.

Col. Koch, a Dutch plastic surgeon who is over here both to teach and to learn, came to lunch today. He told me about the advances made in England since the war in the hospital where he worked, both in the treatment of burns and in the use of plastic surgery. It is horrible that it takes a war to make us progress, nevertheless it is true that we have progressed by leaps and bounds among many lines.

I am just about to order some grapefruit, which I get every year from the Rio Grande Valley. Whenever I do get it, I think there must be something very queer about a situation, where you pay more freight on a shipment than you do for the grapefruit! I can send a package of equal weight from here to my daughter-in-law in Texas and pay less freight than she pays in sending me an identical package. I puzzle about this every year, and it never seems quite right. I wonder who is to blame?

268

November 1, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
On October 26, an award was made which I meant to mention before in my column. The Parents’ Magazine Medal for outstanding service to children was awarded this year to Mr. James T. Nicholson, vice-chairman in charge of the American Junior Red Cross.

I have long wanted to tell my readers what a remarkable increase there has been in the enrollment of the Junior Red Cross. Since Mr. Nicholson took over the direction in 1939, they have taken in nearly ten million new members. Today the skills and energies of nearly 17 million boys and girls of school age are available for many needed services and they make a great contribution to our war effort.

They could not do this, of course, without the guidance and encouragement of the adult Red Cross leaders, both parents and teachers. Nevertheless, it shows that our youngsters of school age can understand the needs of the times in which they live and can respond with enthusiasm.

I well remember greeting them once on the White House lawn. With a lump in my throat, I think many of those boys who waved to me that day were thinking primarily of what they could do for other young people in war-torn countries and are today experiencing the dangers and hardships of war themselves.

From California has come a letter telling me of a group of women who are trying to encourage an organization which can spring up in any town, village or city. They call themselves “Mothers In Mufti.” They ask that any mother who, because of her own children must stay at home, give what spare time she has to caring for some extra child, or to working with a group of children.

The idea is to encourage children to engage in some useful activity and to make them feel that these activities are worthwhile and interesting. It is suggested that women might arrange for a group of children to spend an hour or more in their homes occasionally and, if the hostess has some special skill, she can make that skill attractive and teach the children to enjoy it.

They could arrange little parties now and then for the children, whose mothers are too busy to give them the little attentions they ordinarily bestow upon them. They have taken as their motto:

Children busy today will build a better tomorrow. All children are our children.

I am not sure whether this motto extended to children throughout the world might not start all of us on some good international thinking.

269

November 2, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
The weather is cold up here, but after a week of rain we are rewarded by an atmosphere which is clear and invigorating, with a sky so blue that the stars at night shine out brilliantly the way they sometimes do in the real winter months.

The little crescent moon, two nights ago, reminded me to look over my left shoulder and make a wish. My wish, I am sure, is the same that every other woman in the United States has made. We pray that before too many moons pass, the young people whom we love will be able to celebrate the coming of peace.

In this connection, I have a note from the United Service Organization, stating that they are receiving inquiries from men overseas as to why the USO clubs do not follow them outside the Western Hemisphere. The USO says that the decision as to where they shall operate lies with the Army and Navy. They operate on the government’s request, just the way the Red Cross does.

The Red Cross has been asked to take over all the work in the European area, the Southwest Pacific, India, China and the Near East. The USO functions in the United States, Alaska, the Canal Zone, the Caribbean area, the east coast of South America, Bermuda, Newfoundland and Hawaii.

USO camp shows, however, operate in all areas where service men are stationed. This, of course, is again at the request of the armed forces, because, important as that entertainment is, priorities have to be decided on by military necessity. Sometimes, guns, ammunition and food may be more necessary than entertainment.

I am receiving a number of inquiries in my mail about prisoners both in German and Japanese hands. It is possible for the Red Cross to find out certain things about prisoners in Germany, but so far it has been almost impossible to get any information from Japan. The Japanese themselves do not seem very much interested in what happens to their own people.

They apparently have never considered the possibility that any might be taken prisoner, or that the treatment of prisoners is something which is governed by agreements entered into in times of peace. We can only hope that the Red Cross negotiations being carried on will eventually make it possible for us to know more about our people who, unfortunately, have fallen into Japanese hands.

270

November 3, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
This is Election Day. One year ago, I was in Great Britain and tried very hard to get an absentee voter’s ballot. However, with one delay and another it reached me on just about the date I should have been home, and so Miss Thompson and I both failed in our civic duty last year.

This year we are right on hand and I must say that we are much more comfortable from the material point of view than we were a year ago. It rained almost incessantly in Great Britain. The houses were cold, for the allowance of heating fuel had been cut down for every household. Whether you were inside or outside, it seemed as though the chill went right through to the marrow of your bones.

The wartime diet over there is not half so liberal as ours, and the blackout, which made the streets and the countryside completely without a twinkle of light, added to the general gloom. Our boys in camps there felt it keenly. Never having known the English summer climate, which can be very beautiful, they were not favorably impressed with Great Britain’s climate.

I often wondered how the men and women who had to go to work in the dark and then come home in the dark, could stand up under it. Now they are starting in on another winter. While one hears that they have some of the same difficulties that we have with absenteeism and a general letdown in morale, still their production does keep up, just as ours does. By and large, the country as a whole, like our own, must be doing a good job.

It makes one proud to find so much character and courage in a period such as this. Even in our blackest moment, we have to acknowledge that there is something very fine in human beings.

Several people have asked me to explain why I am opposed to the sales tax. The reason is that I believe an income tax will bring in more revenue and will be, on the whole, a more clear-cut and far-reaching way of making us all realize the need for a contribution. It will not affect the lowest income group, which can barely meet the daily necessities of living.

A sales tax, unless placed on all the necessities of life, does not bring in enough revenue to meet our present needs. It is a sugarcoated tax and you do not always realize why a given thing you buy is costing more.

271

November 4, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Wednesday)
I was told a curious story yesterday. A Congressional official, on being asked by a farmer in his audience what he was going to do to obtain feed for his chickens, replied that he did not know there was any trouble in obtaining feed and demanded to know why he was not informed of this difficulty.

If the story is true, the gentleman must have been burying his head in the sand! There will be no excuse for anyone not to understand the whole food situation if he reads the complete text of the message on food, sent to the Congress of the United States by the President and reprinted in our papers of November 2.

In the first place, the message shows the difference between the achievements in food production during this war and during the last war. In addition, it shows how many things outside the farmer’s direct interests are involved in food production. There is the question of machinery, of labor, of producing the right things in the right place and distributing them after production in the proper manner.

There is the effect of the cost of living on the whole life of the nation with all its ramifications. One thing stands out – one of the great increases in consumption is among a group of people many of whom have had most inadequate diets in the past. The statement, that while we may have to change some of our food habits, on the whole, the nation will not be hungry, is one that I think any sensible person will agree to and stop worrying about.

I am particularly glad of the part in the message which points out that there are great numbers of our people whose wages or incomes have not risen in this period. The message says:

Obviously, too, the millions of people with incomes fixed long before the war – salaried white-collar workers, clergymen, school teachers, other state and county and city officials, policemen, firemen, clerks, old age pensioners, those living on insurance policies, dependents of men at the front – all had to be protected against the rise in the cost of living which was eating steadily into the buying power of their unchanged incomes.

We need to remember this when people talk as though all our population was receiving greatly increased wages.

The danger of inflation is also pointed out and I think made extremely clear. I hope this message will be read by every citizen, since it seems to me a clear statement of facts which we all need to understand.

272

November 5, 1943

New York – (Thursday)
We left the country fairly early yesterday morning, and I went on from New York City to Philadelphia. There I attended the luncheon of the CIO women’s auxiliaries and spoke. Afterwards I spent a short time with the whole convention. It seemed to me a very alive and enthusiastic group of people. The air seemed to tingle and I am sure that out of their meetings will come not only talk, but action.

In the course of the last few days, I have had the time to read a few books. One is Ernie Pyle’s Here Is Your War. I like his writing better as I read it day by day in his column, because one gets each little incident and it stands out by itself as a little bit of human life which one cannot forget. Put together in a book, there are moments when I feel that, because there is no one continuous story, I will surely lose some of the incidents and I don’t want to forget any of them.

The people he paints are our boys with all their aspirations and longings, hardships and dangers. When he describes his landing in Africa, you can almost feel the way the boys felt.

We marched at first gaily, and finally with great weariness, but always with a feeling that at last we were beginning the final series of marches that would lead us home again… Home, the only really profound goal which obsesses every American marching on foreign soil.

He writes this in Africa. I felt it in Australia and New Zealand and in every island I visited in the Southwest Pacific. Because they are so far away, home has become idealized and it is the goal for which all our boys live.

On his last page, Ernie Pyle tells the truth about his book. He says:

On the day of final peace, the last stroke of what we call “The Big Picture” will be drawn. I haven’t written anything about that big picture because I do not know anything about it.

He has told a story of our Army as it is, of its life, day by day. It will give a vivid picture to anyone who has never been near a front. In the future, it will be one of the books to which historians will turn to explain the kind of men who fought this war.

The other book I read will not be out until January, and so I am not going to tell you much about it now. The authoress, Martha Gellhorn, who is the wife of Ernest Hemingway, has written several books in the past, but usually collections of short stories.

This is the first long novel of hers I have read. Its setting is an island on the Caribbean. I think it is beautifully written and stands out like a painting. One can see the scenes and I am sure people will enjoy it, but I shall wait till later to tell you more about it.

273

November 6, 1943

New York – (Friday)
Yesterday was a long and busy day. It started out by going to a radio party for the benefit of servicemen. Everyone who came to the theatre, where I answered questions in a broadcast on Bessie Beatty’s hour, brought a present, which was to be given to servicemen in the hospitals here. Flowers were donated in great quantities by the metropolitan florists and taken out to the hospitals by the Gray Ladies of the Red Cross Chapters here.

After answering questions on the air, I did a little more Christmas shopping, one or two errands, visited a friend who is ill, and finally reached 99 Park Ave. at about a quarter past five. A party here was in honor of the people who provide amusement in New York City and give tickets for their various entertainments to the servicemen.

On this occasion, I gave out the five millionth ticket given free to servicemen. In addition, many more tickets are sold at half price to officers in the junior grades. I often marvel at the generosity of these people in New York City, who set aside some of their best seats to be given to these boys.

The most exciting part of the whole day was the opportunity a friend of mine provided. He gave me six seats to see Paul Robeson in Othello. It is a tense and moving play and is most beautifully acted and produced. As a character, Othello has never seemed to me completely convincing, even with Shakespeare’s wonderful understanding of human nature.

I have never felt that a man who must have understood men so well, could have been so easily fooled by Iago as Othello is supposed to have been. Perhaps I do not fully comprehend the strength of jealousy, and how it can blind and warp ordinarily sane human beings. I have seen it make people petty, small and cruel, but the complete overthrow of a man’s judgment, which it apparently accomplished in the story of Othello, has always been somewhat unconvincing to me.

May I be forgiven for lese majesty in criticizing the greatest master of delineation of human character. Perhaps, however, Shakespeare’s greatness is shown by the fact that one still wants to treat his play as though the people were people one might meet today, not people who have been dead hundreds of years.

This morning I went out early to do a recording and various other errands before taking the train back to Washington.

274

November 8, 1943

Washington – (Sunday)
Friday night in Washington I met with the civilian employees of the Adjutant General’s office. They have organized a series of “sings,” at which they get a chance to meet each other and sing together. Judging by what I heard in the few minutes I was waiting to go on the platform, they are going to sing very well.

I am sure it must be hard for many of the men and women who work here in Washington under very uncomfortable conditions and at rather low Government salaries, to realize that they are making a real contribution to the war effort and are closely tied to the actual soldiers at the front.

Of course, to us who look on, it is plain that without the smooth functioning of the offices in Washington the whole machine of war would go to pieces. Take just one little thing. If the families were not notified when their boys were in hospitals, if the records were not kept so that when the boys are transferred from one hospital to another and families notified of the boy’s whereabouts, people all over this country would be deeply disturbed.

I am conscious of this because in certain cases where things do go wrong, people write to try to remedy the difficulty. Sometimes a boy has been moved to a new hospital and his records haven’t followed him. Therefore, he is not being paid, or his family has lost track of him and he isn’t getting his mail.

The government employees here in Washington who keep these files going and make up these endless lists, and wonder whether anything they do is of any importance in the war should really know that the sacrifices they make in order to do their jobs here have a direct bearing on the way the war is being carried on.

Yesterday morning I went to American University, which has been taken over by the Red Cross for its volunteer services educational program. It was interesting to go over the school and to listen for a few minutes to their various classes and then to see all the students and to realize how eagerly these men and women are looking forward to their service in the country and overseas.

The afternoon was filled with appointments, at half hour intervals. In the evening Governor and Mrs. Stainback, who are here from Honolulu, dined with me, and I took them to see Sons o’ Fun. This is rather a rowdy show, but it certainly provides the audience with plenty of amusement. Everyone around me seemed to be in gales of laughter and almost everyone is benefited by a good laugh these days.

275

November 9, 1943

Washington – (Monday)
Yesterday was a quiet day. I enjoyed very much my luncheon guests – nine veterans back from the war, who are studying at George Washington University here. Four of them brought their wives and I know that one, at least, had a six-month-old baby at home. These men are getting a chance for an education which we hope will fit them to take a useful place in the world of the future.

I was interested to find that two with whom I talked – one taking a law course, the other a course in public administration – are doing so because they wish to take part later in some field of government activity. One, in particular, hopes to run for office someday and told me he wanted to have a hand in making the world the kind of world for which they fought. I hope that is going to be the attitude of a great many men.

The other day, I was sent by Judge William Denman, of San Francisco, a poem which was published in the San Francisco Call-Bulletin. I have permission to reprint it here:

A Blood Donor’s Prayer

Grant me no lesser favor, God, than this
That by my giving
Some war-spent but courageous eager son
May keep on living.

Grant that the faithful rhythm of my veins
And my heart’ singing
May bring an urgent quickening, and stay
His soul’s far winging.

Because I have no stalwart lad by birth
To call me mother,
I ask this small maternal share in one,
Dear to another.

Then I shall walk a quiet but exalted way
Glad in the knowing
I fed the flame – and for some unknown son
Life is still glowing.

The author is not a well-known poetess, but perhaps we may hear more in the future of Mrs. Nell Griffith Wilson of Kenwood, Sonoma County, California. In any case, I think there is many a woman who feels, whether she has a son of her own or not on the fighting front, that she is grateful to have a share in saving other mothers’ sons.

276

November 10, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
Today in the East Room of the White House we witnessed a very memorable occasion. The representatives of 44 nations sat around a long table with the President of the United States. Behind them were their flags, brilliantly lit by the lights of the crystal chandeliers and the photographers’ and news reels’ lamps.

I watched each man go up to represent his country and thought how interesting it was that, before the end of the war, we have the vision this time to realize that there is much work to do and preparation by the peoples of the United Nations is necessary.

Some of us had slipped into the East Room to look at the pageant of colors before any delegates arrived. One of the White House guards remarked:

This is wonderful. I only hope that we will stay together this time after the war and not repeat what we did before.

I think the mere fact that this meeting is being held, is a promise that we shall not repeat our past mistakes. It also shows clearly that the governments of the nations know that this must be a joint undertaking. There, in that room, 80% of the population of the world was represented but I could not help thinking that the people who are really going to make the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agreement a success or a failure, will soon have to be brought into the picture.

Every nation which has not suffered to the point of destitution during the war, must set itself to work now to save to lay up huge stocks of food, clothing and machinery for the future. This means that innumerable people will have to conserve food, materials and machinery. It will have to be done by people as individuals in every nation, but particularly by those nations where bombs have never fallen.

Almost always it is women who are the members of the family who have to start to make these savings possible. They have to remind their men of the extra care that has to be taken of this and that.

In this country we have never been very careful of our machinery. The life of many a machine could be lengthened on the farm, in the home and in the factory. The time has come for us to think a bit, because this saving can not begin when the war ends.

It must begin immediately, because the results of the savings must be in the hands of UNRRA as each new area is liberated by our united military effort. This is really a call and challenge to the women in the fortunate countries, from their unfortunate sisters who have suffered so much in the past few years. In this country we can only answer for ourselves, but I hope our answer will be generous.

277

November 11, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
Today is the 168th anniversary of the Marine Corps. The day cannot pass without a word of praise from every good American, because the Marine Corps is one of our groups of fighting men which every one of us must admire.

Down in the Southwest Pacific they say that only the Seabees land ahead of the Marines, and that must be qualified, for in many places the Seabees are nowhere around when the Marines have to go in.

Our papers this morning are proof enough that when a difficult job has to be done, the Marines are on hand. I am sure that every one of us is saying a prayer in our hearts today for the boys who are living up to the Marine tradition by clinging to our bridgehead on that faraway island of Bougainville. God bless them all, and may the future give them opportunities for carrying on their tradition in time of peace as well as they carry it on in time of war.

It seems appropriate, also, today to speak of the fact that tomorrow will be Armistice Day. For a brief moment this morning, we shall stop to say a prayer not for the dead, but for the living who are not being spared their present sacrifices because of those that were made in that hope in the last war.

May all of us pledge ourselves this year on Armistice Day to study unremittingly the causes of past failures and to keep constant watch over ourselves and our actions as citizens so that our country may avoid the pitfalls of the past. We can allow ourselves, in the future, neither the luxury of hate and prejudice, nor of soft sentimentality.

We know that those who brought about this war must be punished. We know that nations which allowed themselves to be ruled by Fascist leaders, must prove their ability to rule themselves and to act democratically before they again earn our complete trust. We know that among the Allies there must be trust and understanding and that we must not allow such prejudices as have prevented us in the past from cooperating fully with other people, to stand in the way of real understanding and real cooperation.

We know that a continuing peace means great economic adjustments, probably certain temporary sacrifices. But if we are looking for a peaceful world and more prosperity in the long run, we must study economic questions and make such adjustments as are necessary for better world cooperation.

To all those who like myself have people whom they love fighting in far distant places, this Armistice Day must bring the hope that before long there will be another one.

278

November 12, 1943

Washington – (Thursday)
The other evening, I attended the annual meeting of the District of Columbia Graduate Nurses Association. It was my first meeting with the head of the Student Cadet Corps, which is at present attracting a great many young people to the nursing service. At the end of the meeting, I presented the Student Reserve pins and the awards to the schools of nursing which have 100% enrollment in the Student Reserve.

There were more than 300 nurses in the procession which entered the hall at the beginning of the evening. Recognition was given to the Nurses Aide Corps, which is now becoming such an important factor in the care of civilians, and even in military hospitals in the United States. I noticed Nurses Aides at the Walter Reed Hospital the other day, and the doctors praised their work very highly.

Both the Cadet Corps Nurses and the Nurses Aides, while they may not intend to make nursing their profession, will find themselves better able to cope with illnesses which arise in their own homes in the future. They will be much more valuable as citizens in a community, because they will understand the great variety of health questions which come up in every community and will bring their weight to bear in creating public opinion.

At noon yesterday I went to speak at Miner Teachers College in Howard University. This is a four-year teacher’s training course and was established by Mr. Miner as a two-year normal school course for teachers. The standards have gradually been raised until now the girls and men attending this college take a four-year course.

This year, of course, there are comparatively few men students, most of them being in the Army. I was a guest of the Beta Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The dean of the college greeted me on arrival and they had an hour’s assembly, during which I spoke and there was some very good singing. Then there was a short reception at which the various heads of activities which are carried on in the college spoke explaining the work of their groups.

There is nothing more important to the colored people at the present time than the caliber of the teachers who will go out to the rural schools and into the city schools of our country. There is, of course, a greater responsibility on the teachers to enter into the community life. They will help to change the pattern in food habits and in child care. Even in the city there is a great deal that a teacher can do in her contacts with parents as well as with children. This holds good, I think, whether you teach in a school for white children or for colored children.

279

November 13, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
I went to my first Christmas sale for the benefit of French War Relief yesterday afternoon. The French residents in Washington certainly carried out the reputation which all French people have for using their needles and their fingers in making attractive gifts. I bought a number of things which I know will please someone at Christmas time.

Later in the afternoon, I received the members of the War Hospitality Committee at tea. This Committee has done a very remarkable job. The District of Columbia is a mecca for nearby servicemen, who want to see their nation’s Capitol when they have a furlough. There are all kinds of military organizations here, outside of the military people who actually work in the departments.

The result is a constantly shifting population of servicemen and women who do not know the city and who may be looking for temporary or permanent places in which to live. They may be here for just a few hours and want to see as much as possible. Whatever they want, this committee tries to see that it is provided and, by and large, I think they succeed.

We have another difficulty here. Civilian war workers in offices have to be considered on nearly the same basis as the service people, since many of them come from other towns and are strangers here and need help and advice on arrival.

I notice in the papers today that some of the results of the ballot taken by the United Council of Church Women yesterday are beginning to come in. The questions asked were interesting. One:

Would you be willing to instruct your Senator and Representative in Washington to vote for a bill which will authorize the United States to join a world organization for the purpose of insuring a just and durable peace and share in its expense and all other responsibilities involved?

Any who answer that in the affirmative will be accepting wholeheartedly their world responsibilities.

Two:

Would you be willing to continue for a period after the war, such war time regulations as the rationing of food, gasoline and restrictions of travel, etc., if such are necessary to relieve distress and restore order and help other nations to recover from their war damage?

This is pretty specific. It tells very clearly what may lie before you if you vote in the affirmative.

The vote coming in is largely in the affirmative on both questions so far. The ballots were taken in many states in the Union, so it should give us a clear indication of the feeling of women on this subject.

280

November 15, 1943

New York – (Sunday)
On Friday evening I spoke for the National Geographic Society in Washington and showed the short film, which has now been released by the War Department, of pictures taken by various photographers on the Southwest Pacific trip. I hope someday to have more, but these will help to give people some idea of the type of country their boys are living, fighting and working in. I am very glad to be able to show them.

I left Washington very early Saturday morning to attend the trustees’ meeting of the Rosenwald Fund in Philadelphia. These meetings last all day.

I continued on to New York City and today I am having a very pleasant and peaceful time with some young friends who are lunching with me. I try to follow a custom with my young friends, which was inaugurated when we were children, by my Grandmother Roosevelt’s half-sister, Mrs. James King Gracie.

She used to invite all the first cousins in New York City to spend the day with her on Saturdays and, in turn, each of us were allowed to order our favorite dishes for the noonday meal. We planned and looked forward to those meals, week by week. Since I cannot spend every Saturday with my young acquaintances, I try to let each one choose something for the same meal, so that each one will look forward to some special thing to eat.

With rationing, this is rather a difficult problem, but it is a good thing to focus children’s interest on what they can have in wartime. I find they rather enjoy adding up points and trying to find something unrationed which meets their desires.

I have to confess that it takes perhaps a little more time and thought than of old. Still, even in my little apartment in New York City, where points are scarce, for we are there so rarely, I have never really found it impossible to invite what friends I wanted to a simple meal.

I think one has to be sure, however, that the friends come for the pleasure of being together and will not be critical of what they will have to eat. Now and then, I enjoy going to a restaurant in New York, but I find that it is hard to get away from the habit of my childhood and early married days, when I rarely ate outside of my own home because I could not afford it.

This afternoon, I leave for Connecticut, where I am to speak tonight for a forum group on questions which face us in the post-war period. I shall be back in New York City tomorrow to speak at the Madison Square Garden evening meeting for the Community War Fund.