Eleanor Roosevelt -- My Day (1943)

281

November 16, 1943

New York – (Monday)
I have an appeal in the mail asking me to remind people that on this Thanksgiving Day, though we can really feel thankful since the war news looks better, we must not forget that, until we have actually won the war, we cannot be neglectful of even the smallest service we can render.

The Fat Salvage Committee is afraid that Thanksgiving Day will be one of the days when the housewife will feel she does not have to perform this unglamorous task of saving fat. When you think of all the people in the country who will perhaps be having a little better dinner than usual on this day, we realize it is one of the most important days on which to save. Therefore, I add my reminder to that of many other people who will probably be helping in this campaign.

Last night I spoke at a forum held in a church in Essex, Connecticut. This is a serious group which is inaugurating a series of talks on postwar problems. postwar problems are so closely tied to present day problems, however, it is difficult sometimes to disentangle them. What we do today on the control of the cost of living will affect how we live in the postwar world.

A woman wrote me the other day that she is starting a movement in her community to make people save and buy only what they need. She feels that this will control inflation. That sounds very simple and it is one way to help, but no one way controls anything as complicated as inflation.

I find that many people do not even understand the first principles. They do not realize to what a great extent our economy has changed during the war. Instead of making the ordinary things which you and I buy every day of our lives, the majority of producers have changed their machinery and their products.

They are making things for the use of the military services, or for the use of other people who are fighting with us. They also must have not only the materials with which to fight, but a minimum amount of civilian goods on which to live. Therefore, with a reduced amount of civilian goods at home, and a high percentage of employment, so that people have more money to use than usual, there is less to buy.

If they do buy, the competition forces up the price of the article, unless there is a limit put on prices. Unless all of us do without anything which we do not absolutely need and save our money for the day when all this production for war can be turned back into production to meet civilian needs, we shall develop black markets and contribute to inflation.

282

November 17, 1943

New York – (Tuesday)
I find there is a very wide misunderstanding of the meaning of the word “subsidy.” There must be a great many people who do not look up words in the dictionary, because here is the definition in Funk and Wagnalls’ Dictionary:

Subsidy – pecuniary aid directly granted by a government to an individual or commercial enterprise… Money furnished by one nation to another to aid in war against a third.

We have been using subsidies in this country in one way or another for many years. For instance, we subsidized our railroads when we granted them rights of way through different parts of our country. The tariff which many of us have approved for many years, is nothing more nor less than a subsidy, a subsidy to industry which all of us pay.

A farm subsidy is now proposed to prevent a rise in farm prices. The big farm organizations for the most part, seem to disapprove of a subsidy and demand a rise in the farm prices to cover what they claim are higher costs for them. If this should happen, the public would pay increased prices, not just for farm products, but for all the products in which farm products are used.

For example, the price of meat would go up because the price of feed went up. If these prices went up, it would be natural for people who worked for wages to ask for higher wages, because their money would not buy as much as it bought in the past. Then all manufactured articles in which labor is involved would go up and the farmer would be paying a higher price for the things he bought. Therefore, he would really be no better off than he was before he was paid more for his own products.

The people who would suffer most would be the people who are not covered by any organization which could negotiate a change in wages. This group includes many white-collar workers, government employees, firemen, policemen, teachers and people living on small fixed incomes derived from annuities or insurance policies.

But the worst feature of this policy of allowing prices to be increased is that there is no limit once you begin. If prices can be raised twenty cents, why not 50¢? A subsidy is proposed, therefore, to be given the farmers in order that they may still sell at the regular price, which is now stable, and still make a fair profit. A subsidy is paid for by all the people, but in the end it costs us far less than runaway prices, which pile up indefinitely and cause a state of inflation.

The subsidy keeps all prices at a stable level. A grant from us all to keep farm prices down, is a subsidy to the farmer. In the long run it will pay the whole nation many times over not to allow all costs to go up.

283

November 18, 1943

New York – (Wednesday)
Yesterday noon I succeeded in going in to the annual Christmas Sale for the benefit of Hope Farm. It is one of the charities in which I have been interested for a long while, since it takes neglected children from New York City up to a farm in our home county of Dutchess.

If children have to leave their parents and go to an institution, I think this is one of the most successful I know. I always reserve a few Christmas presents to be bought at their sale, just as I always keep certain things to buy at the Sale for the Blind, which comes a little later on.

Among other things in the afternoon, I attended the Herald-Tribune Forum at the Waldorf-Astoria. The ballroom and galleries were filled. I am sure that Mrs. Ogden Reid must feel amply repaid for the hard work which she puts in yearly in obtaining speakers and running this forum. It was the first time that she had no counsel from Mrs. William Brown Meloney, who for so many years was the moving spirit in this undertaking.

I am sure that Mrs. Reid felt that she was holding the forum this year in Mrs. Meloney’s memory and that everyone attending over a period of years, thought of Mrs. Meloney and missed her vivid and compelling personality. She was so frail for many years that it is her spirit which you remember. I think it will never die for those who worked with her.

Last evening I spoke for a few minutes on The Report to the Nation program in commemoration of November 17, International Students Day. I was particularly glad to have the opportunity to meet Lt. Cdr. Hutchins of the destroyer Borie, whose ship was the subject of one of their dramatic presentations.

I shall go back to Washington tomorrow. I wish there were more hours in every day, for I have been forced to refuse a number of invitations which I would like to accept. On Friday they will hold the last report meeting of the Community War Fund in Metropolitan Washington. When last I heard, the fund was still 10 percent short of its goal, but I am sure that many have not yet contributed and will do so even after the campaign closes.

No one would want to feel that this fund, which combines so many things that we have subscribed to before at different times, is not going to be completely and fully successful. In the city of Washington the USO and foreign relief agencies certainly deserve our full hearted support, as well as the usual long time community services. I would like to congratulate the campaign workers for their magnificent and untiring efforts and to tell them that I feel sure that the citizens of Washington, DC, are not going to let them down.

284

November 20, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
I have a very interesting memorandum from Mrs. Shepherd Krech, who is President of the Maternity Center Association in New York City. She points out that Hitler, knowing the value of family life, has gone about destroying it in every country in Europe. We should realize, she says, that what he tries to destroy is worth our preserving.

In these years, when family life is threatened because of the absence of our men and war industry’s need for increased production, we are not giving enough attention to the care of mothers and children and the home under the stress of war. If we are to win the war in reality, this is one of the most vital needs. We should not forget for a minute to continue our support of agencies which make a contribution to family life in our country.

There are many ways to contribute to the protection of the home and the children of the country. Proper working conditions for women and the organization of the community to increase the protection that can be given to the children during the day, will help bring us through this period with our homes intact. Hot meals in factories, hot school lunches, cheap but good restaurants from which hot food can be taken home in containers, the organization of counseling services, shopping and laundry services, are all essential. These services will protect the home and still allow us to meet the demands of the war situation.

It seems that we still intend to say that we exempt pre-Pearl Harbor fathers from serving in the armed forces because they are fathers, instead of saying that we exempt pre-Pearl Harbor fathers, or any other men who are needed to support their families. The latter approach would seem more realistic to the fathers already in the front line, as well as to their families.

Next Monday, the 22nd, there will begin a national collection of discarded clothing and rags under Mr. Herbert M. Faust, Director of the Salvage Division of the War Production Board. The drive will last through December 4.

Many of our textile mills that would normally produce new clothes are now engaged in weaving materials for the war. There is no shortage, however, for our own use. But if we are to meet emergency demands for the rehabilitation of liberated people abroad and for relief purpose here at home, our old clothes must be reconditioned and put to use. Nothing that you can wear is wanted. But anything you are discarding should be given.

285

November 22, 1943

Washington – (Sunday)
On Friday night I went to the West Potomac Government Housing Project for Civilian Girl Employees. I found that over 500 WAVES are housed there also, and soon there will be over a thousand.

The meeting at which I spoke, was held in the recreation hall and was sponsored by the Current Events Club of Barton Hall. There were so many girls who could not get in, that I visited three of the residence halls just to have a chance to say a few words to the various groups who could not be present at the regular meeting. They have a glee club and a band made up of government girls. When they read off the list of their activities, I decided that the girls are keeping themselves fairly busy outside of their working hours.

This is a good thing to do, for Washington or any other big city, can be a lonely place for young people. That is true especially now when there are so many girls who come from small places where they have practically known everybody in town.

This city offers great opportunities to these girls to go sightseeing. They can become familiar with historic buildings and see wonderful art collections, which they might never otherwise have seen, but everything loses interest if you feel you are alone in the world and nobody cares what you do. So I was happy to see a real spirit of friendly comradeship in every one of the groups I met with Friday night.

Yesterday, after lunch, I went to a Christmas sale in the parish house of St. Thomas’ Church. From there I went to a little shop and factory, where a woman has started what she calls “specialities.” She wrote me about her Virginia Dare doll and asked if I would come to see it. I went partly because I thought giving a Virginia Dare doll to one of our grandchildren would make the child look up the story of Virginia Dare, who was the first white child born in the “Lost Colony” on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

Some years ago I went to a pageant there, which told the story of this lost colony. I thought it was one of the most charming and interesting evenings I had ever spent. I think I shall probably become a permanent customer for Mrs. Walter P. Gray’s shop, which has many interesting novelties.

As always happens in Washington, most of my days have been given up to seeing people. You only have to live in the White House to become acquainted with the wide range of interests which occupy your fellow citizens.

286

November 23, 1943

New York – (Monday)
I want to say a little more to you about subsidies, because I firmly believe that the average housewife in this country has never quite understood what removing subsidies is going to mean in her daily shopping.

For a great many people the cost of living is measured by the cost of food. When people are making a general study, they take all kinds of items into consideration. If food goes up, people with small incomes are going to be very conscious of the increase in their cost of living. Here goes for some figures on items many of us buy daily.

If the subsidy program is destroyed in January:

  • Pork chops will go up 4½¢, from 38¢ to 42¢ per lb.
  • Chuck roast will go up 3½¢, from 29¢ to 32½¢ per lb.
  • Hamburger will go up 4¢, from 28½¢ to 32½¢ per lb.
  • Salt pork will go up 3¢ from 23¢ to 26¢ per lb.
  • Butter will go up 10¢ per lb.
  • Cheese will go up 8¢ per lb.
  • Milk will go up 1¢ per quart.
  • Bread will go up 1¢ per loaf.
  • Family flour will go up 7½¢ for every 10 lb. sack.

Many canned vegetables will go up too. Number two cans of corn, peas and green beans will go up from 14¢ and 15¢, which they now cost, to 16½¢.

This is only the beginning. If we could stop it here it would be simple, but taken all together, this will boost your food cost seven percent, and the whole cost of living about three percent; so wages will have to go up. That will increase the cost of production, and this round will go on and on and the inflation spiral will be well on its way.

I lived through the last war and the cost of living doubled. It happened once and it can happen again. Look at China today and remember Germany after the last war. Once inflation starts, money depreciates in value until it buys less and less.

If prices are doubled then pork chops will cost 76¢ a pound, instead of 38¢.

Milk will cost 30¢ a quart.

Butter will cost $1.00 a pound.

Bread will cost 18¢ a loaf.

The rest of the additions you can do for yourself.

Don’t you think it is worthwhile telling your Representatives in Congress how you feel about this? I understand they think the householders are not interested.

287

November 24, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
Yesterday I went to New York City for the dedication of our old houses, which were bought by the Hillel Foundation for Hunter College to be used as an interfaith house by the girl students. We lived in one of these houses off and on for a number of years, but my mother-in-law lived in hers steadily for many years. My husband is particularly glad that something, which he feels she would have approved, is going to be carried on in her house.

My mother-in-law had travelled a great deal all of her life, beginning with her trip to China when she was a very small child, so she had a liking for many different countries and their people. Though she had been brought up as a Unitarian and became an Episcopalian after her marriage, she was very tolerant of all other religions. I think she would have been interested in having work go on in these houses which will bring about greater understanding and tolerance in young people.

I use the word “tolerance” with some hesitation, since hearing Dr. Frank Kingdon in the closing speech at those exercises yesterday. Dr. Kingdon remarked with great force that he did not wish to be “tolerated” or to “tolerate” other people. He wished to get on with them and to enjoy them.

That is, of course, what we ought to mean when we say we are tolerant. Tolerance ought only to be the preliminary step which allows us to get to know other people, and which prevents us from setting up bars, just because they may be of a different race or religion. The real value of any relationship is the fact that we learn to like people in spite of our differences.

Dr. Kingdon also emphasized that it was from people who are “different” that we all gain something. If everyone agreed with us, all our conversation would come to an end, and much of the stimulation which comes from meeting new people would be lost.

Last night I attended, at the Mosque Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, the musical revue directed by Philip Loeb and sponsored by the National CIO War Relief Committee. Since it was a first night performance, there were still many rough spots to be ironed out. It was longer than it will be in the future, I am sure, but there are songs which I know will become familiar in every home.

There is much amusement and real interest to be derived from an evening at this performance. The cast is good, Beatrice Kay, Norman Lloyd and Jack Marshall do a good job, and they couldn’t ask for better support.

288

November 25, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
This is our second Thanksgiving Day since this war started. A year ago, we were still going through the days of preparation. Today I think we can be thankful for real achievements. Our production may not be at its maximum, but it is accomplishing great results. Our men are either already trained or in training and the military forces we have already sent out to various parts of the world, are giving a better and better account of themselves daily due, of course, to better training, better equipment and greater experience.

There are some on this Thanksgiving Day who will feel that everything for which they might be thankful is overshadowed by the loss of some young life, either in the process of training or in the actual fighting. But even to those who are sad, there is reason for thankfulness in the thought that the cause for which their loved ones died is triumphing.

We can be thankful that in the whole length and breadth of the nation we have been saved so far from enemy bombing and enemy attack.

We can be thankful that our transportation system still allows us greater comfort and less sacrifice of our usual mode of living than any other transportation system in the world.

We can be thankful that though we may have had to change our food habits somewhat, we still have plenty to eat.

We can be thankful that there is still laughter and humor and gaiety in many homes in the United States.

We can be thankful that even our soldiers in faraway places who haven’t seen their children have the assurance that these children are growing up to carry on the traditions for which they are fighting.

We can be thankful that there is a growing sense of responsibility on the part of our citizens, and that they realize more day by day the importance of preserving their freedom through active participation in their government.

We can be thankful that we ourselves have health and strength; that there are people left at home with whom we can share our love, our joys and our sorrows.

We can be thankful that we live in the United States of America with its traditions which accept the perpetual striving for freedom and justice for all.

We can be thankful for our ability to work for the blessing of God on our country, which is a promise of happier days to come.

Above all, as individuals we can be thankful if no bad news has come knocking at our door, and if our loved ones are still well and able to do their part in civilian or military life in this great period of history.

289

November 26, 1943

Washington – (Thursday)
On Tuesday in Washington, on their first birthday, I reviewed the SPARS, from the Ellipse back of the White House. As Adm. Russell R. Wasche and I stood watching them go by, I had a great pride in what these girls are achieving. They looked smart and are doing a good job. I keep meeting the boys from the Coast Guard schools also, and I must say their spirit is perfectly grand.

A number of wives of officers who are overseas came to lunch with me, as well as some of my old friends. In the evening I went for the second time to Walter Reed Hospital, this time to show my South Pacific film and to talk to the patients.

I passed the day yesterday in Boston with our youngest son. Like every other mother, I imagine, when the day for shoving off comes nearer, one values the few hours which can be passed together.

It seemed very queer last Monday, when all the newspapers in New York City were asking me if I had heard that one of our boys was shot down in Germany and taken prisoner, not to know any more than they knew. Later, of course, the papers discovered that it was only a Swiss rumor, probably Nazi inspired, which had grown from something picked up in an Italian paper. It certainly is a roundabout way of getting news of one’s children and, at that, probably untrue news. But, like all other mothers in the United States, I had to say I had no official information.

I have had two things suggested to me on this whole subsidy question, which I think ought to be cleared up in people’s minds. One is that the sum of money, $500,000,000, which is asked to continue the subsidy program, is so large that it worries people. It wouldn’t if they realized that inflation will cost several billion dollars, instead of several million.

The other is that a number of people feel that any subsidy is tantamount to WPA. In other words, a charitable handout – and they feel that WPA was wastefully administered. In the first place, I should like to say that WPA was an out and out gift, in no way a subsidy, but a gift to people who had been hurt by an economic system over which they had no control.

That system in the “‘20s” was run by the very group of people who are now opposed to subsidies, and who want to return to the “good old days.” WPA was necessary, but it was not a subsidy. Anything done to meet an emergency on the scale of the WPA can never be perfectly run. But by and large the main purposes of the relief program in this country were met and met certainly at a far lower cost than starvation would have brought to our people as a whole.

1 Like
290

November 27, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
Someone, who knows my great interest in the entertainment of service men and women in faraway places, which is being carried on by USO camp shows and other groups, has sent me the story of one of these shows, which he happened to see. The setting is at Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, just before Attu was attacked.

Picture a huge ship, sides rusty and peeling, tied to a dock. The wind is blowing cold off Mt. Ballyhoo. The harbor is flecked with white capped, restless waves. It will soon be time to sail and, in the meanwhile, no one is permitted off the ship. The decks are crowded with soldiers who have made the long voyage up from the States. They have had no recreation, there has been nothing to break the monotony of the trip. Now they stand around idly, waiting for something to happen. It does!

By happy coincidence, there are two travelling units of the USO in Dutch Harbor at that moment. One of them is an all-girl unit, the other is made up of two men and three girls. And, since the men cannot come ashore to a show, then the show will come to the men. In almost less time than it takes to tell it, an improvised stage is erected on the dock immediately in front of the ship, a loudspeaker is hooked up to a microphone and the show is on!

Suddenly an officer comes up to one of the men, there is a quick exchange of conversation, and then the USO man announces:

I have just been told that your ship is to shove off right now. But with your permission we’ll carry on the show as long as you’re within sight and hearing. Okay?

The roar of approval that went up from the ship left him in no doubt whatsoever…They finished their number and the girl with the accordion took the microphone. Tugs were bustling around the ship and were nudging it out into the stream. Her nose was already turning. The girl at the mike sang song after song. Then she began, softly and warmly to sing “Aloha.” The voices of the men joined with hers, drifted back across Dutch Harbor. The ship had already turned, only her stern showed to us ashore. But we could hear the men singing as they sailed to Attu.

The wind nipped across the dock. The girls in their thin stage costumes, were red with cold. The men bundled them into coats. Another show was done. They would say, “It’s all in the day’s work. We’re glad to do it.”

But I, who had stood by and seen that show, knew it was more than that. A transport of men had been made happy by the USO as they sailed away to war.

291

November 29, 1943

New York – (Sunday)
The United Seamen’s Service has started on a rather interesting venture. They are trying to put a game chest aboard every Merchant Marine vessel. The Liberty Ships, the oil tankers, the transport ships, would each have one of these chests, containing decks of cards, cribbage boards, chess and checker sets, dominoes, puzzles, quiz books and many other entertaining games.

These seamen are aboard ship sometimes for months on end, frequently they make port in out of the way places where they are not even allowed to go ashore. You can well understand that these game chests will be in constant use. They are made more interesting to the men by the fact that the public is providing them. Men with home workshops are being asked to make the chests; men, women and children everywhere are being requested to provide what goes inside them.

It has been suggested that communities all over this country participate in this project. If they want full directions they can write to United Seamen’s Service, 437 Market St., San Francisco, California, and get the details. If, by chance, there should be more chests than there are ships at any time, they will be put aboard outgoing vessels with instructions to leave them with soldiers, sailors and Marines defending faraway outposts which are rarely in the news.

I think it would be rather thrilling if a village or town put together a chest and then wrote a letter to the men who would finally use it. It should be inside the top so that it would not be lost, and should tell stories about the people who had given or made the enclosed games. The letter might relate how the chest had been packed, who made it, and any little interesting items, such as whether any men from the neighborhood had gone into the Merchant Marine.

Village or town officials could sign the letter. Then, in some distant port or on some long voyage, seamen might occasionally be moved to write a line in return. This could be published in the local paper.

The Merchant Marine is not as glamorous as the Navy or the Coast Guard. It is higher paid but less secure. Without it, this war could not have been fought successfully, and, so, all over the world, there are people today who owe a debt of gratitude to the men of the Merchant Marine.

292

November 30, 1943

New York – (Monday)
At the present time we are all concerned with the questions of juvenile delinquency. It is interesting to have a report of one of the national agencies which can greatly contribute to the solution of this question.

Boys Clubs of America, Inc., has been for more than fifty years one of the leading agencies working with boys and now has 250 clubs throughout the United States, which have a membership of over a quarter of a million boy members. Ex-President Hoover is president of the board of directors. Mr. J. Edgar Hoover has recently become a member of the board, and Mr. David Armstrong is executive director.

Recognizing their responsibility since the war, they have inaugurated a new five-point program.

  1. To increase their boy membership and to establish new clubs in crowded areas.
  2. To include more activities in the regular program so as to offer a wide variety of interest to boys from six to eighteen.
  3. To increase the guidance offered to individual boys.

Points four and five deal with increasing the interest and support of the public, so that the above objectives may be achieved and that there may be more cooperation with all other agencies working along the same lines. They stress particularly the home, the church, the school and the other social agencies. This is a program, of course, which aims to prevent delinquency so that we shall not need to reform young criminals.

They are planning to keep their clubs open during the afterschool and evening hours and there are no membership restrictions of age, race, creed or nationality. In industrial areas, club buildings will be opened for young workers coming off the graveyard shift. Activities for older boys, such as dances and teenage canteens, which will include the girls, are being increased. I wish that these last activities would spread to all of our school buildings as well.

Yesterday’s papers noted that a number of young girls from rural areas are drifting into New York City and that nothing is being done to look after them. A program where they could go with other young workers for decent entertainment would be a help.

I believe that, if one could find the right women as hostesses in these clubs and schools, much could be done. Someone in whom young people would confide easily and who has a sympathetic understanding of the problems facing youth today, might save many a youngster from hard and devastating experiences.

293

December 1, 1943

New York – (Tuesday)
Yesterday I lunched with Mr. John Golden at Sardi’s, which was a very pleasant interlude in an otherwise busy day. Mr. Golden always gives me the most delicious chicken dish, which one could not eat very often, however, without losing one’s figure. He took me afterwards to meet the cast of Susan and God, who were beginning their rehearsals for the opening of the new City Center.

This Center is to be a municipal theatre and I am glad that Mr. Golden has been asked to open it with such a delightful play as Susan and God, with Miss Gertrude Lawrence acting again in what I remember as one of her most enchanting roles.

It is quite thrilling for New York City to be starting a civic theatre. Many of us believe that the arts must have government support to develop new talent. To have New York City accept this responsibility gives one a sense of pride.

From there I went to the Sale For the Blind. If the crowd that was there yesterday is any criterion of the interest people take in this cause, there will be no lack of sales. I confess, however, that such a crowd makes it difficult to buy, since it was all you could do to get to the tables on which the goods were displayed without knocking people down.

Then I went to the Sara Delano Roosevelt Interfaith House. It was interesting to go through it and to see how it had been adapted to its new uses. There have been very few structural changes, but those which have been made certainly increase its availability for its present purpose.

There were girls in all of the rooms, and I am sure that this is going to be a successful and useful experiment. The willingness of young people of different religious faiths to live and to work under the same roof is sure to bring about helpful discussion and better understanding among them.

On leaving 65th St., I went to Professor Chamberlain’s house for a meeting of the Institute of Pacific Relations. I was very happy to hear Mr. Edward Carter give a report on his trip to China and the Union of Soviet Republics last summer. He never mentioned the fact that he went at what must have been an extremely hot and uncomfortable season of the year, but he did mention the difficult questions which the Generalissimo asked him.

I am sure he answered them well, but I could not help wondering if there really were answers to some of them. They would require a great deal more thought on the part of the American people than I think we have given the conditions in China and India. I spoke for a short time on a few incidents of my Southwest Pacific trip. Then I had to dash for a last engagement at 5:30 before returning home to greet some friends at dinner.

294

December 2, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
We came down on The Congressional from New York City yesterday afternoon. I have a keen appreciation of comfortable trains and in this country we certainly do a remarkable job. I think, from a luxury standpoint, the public is inordinately spoiled. When you go on a long Western trip, you are, perhaps, a little more spoiled than in the East, so far as physical comfort goes.

Nevertheless, for certain occupations, I do not recommend our best and fastest trains. If you are trying to take shorthand dictation, you would prefer a slightly slower train. I watched Miss Thompson across the table yesterday as she tried to take the answers to several rather difficult letters, and finally I dictated an article. I cannot help wondering what will come out of the typewriter today. Unless she remembers word for word what I said, I am sure the little hooks and symbols will not resemble anything she has ever seen before.

This morning I showed my press conference the film of the Southwest Pacific trip and attended a lunch of the Federal Bar Association, where I spoke about the trip. I confess that talking to a large group of government lawyers, plus a number of judges, was rather terrifying, but they were more than kind. Many of them came up later to tell me that they have a special interest in that part of the world just now, and that I had given them a picture which made them feel they could write and say:

Now we know more about what you are doing and what your surroundings are like.

Last night I read Assignment: U.S.A. by Selden Menefee. To get an idea of the thinking going on in this nation, he traveled 15,000 miles and visited 41 states. I think it would be a help to every one of us to read his report. The bit on Washington, DC, renewed the sense of discouragement which I often have about this District in which the national government has its home.

People cannot vote here because, originally, there was a fear that government employees might be controlled and in turn control the people of the country. Now they are but a drop in the bucket of voters and the fact that here is a big city in which people are disenfranchised, means that its government is not really responsive to the citizens. The Commissioners have limits set to their powers.

The District Appropriations Committee in the House, and the House and Senate District Committees have constituents in other parts of the country. They are very busy men and whatever happens it is so easy to shift responsibility from one person to another, or from one group to another, that many things are neglected or never taken up. The results can be found in reports such as the one in this book, and I commend it to the consideration of the people of the country.

295

December 3, 1943

Washington – (Thursday)
On two occasions lately, when I showed my film and talked about the trip to the Southwest Pacific, I was interested to have someone ask me if the servicemen wanted to vote. This happened yesterday when I showed the film at my press conference. It seems a curious question, for I would think it fairly obvious that any citizen in a democracy would want to use his vote.

As a matter of fact, it is a question which I never asked of any serviceman. However, I remember that in a number of groups, occasionally a boy would say after the first and inevitable questions on “How are things at home?”; “Will we get a chance for a job and education when we come back?” that some did ask, “Do you think we will be able to vote?”

I am afraid that late last summer, I was rather discouraging, for I knew few states had taken action. I explained that every state regulated its own voters, and the things we did state by state in this country were usually rather slow. I had not thought very seriously about the idea of something being done on a national scale by Congress. Now, of course, the soldier vote is being discussed in Congress and I suppose more people in this country are interested.

I am quite sure that the boys I talked to, when not actually engaged in fighting, which gives you little time to think of anything except the importance of staying alive, would want to vote. The proportion of men in the services belonging to the different political parties, is similar to what you would find in this country, I imagine. It seems to me that their actual participation in the war must make them want to express themselves through their ballots. At home, our sense of responsibility as citizens must be heightened by the war. We also must want these men, who make such great sacrifices for democracy, to have every possible opportunity for information on the issues facing their nation, both domestic and foreign, and to vote on them if possible.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to a meeting of the American Women’s Hospital Reserve Corps and spoke. Then I went to the United War Relief Christmas Bazaar. There were so many nations represented that I found I had not brought enough money to buy something characteristic from each one. Finally, I had to ask if I could not defer payment until this morning.

Last night I went out to Walter Reed Hospital, showed my film and spoke to the convalescent patients. I took with me Mrs. Luther B. Bewley, whose husband is still in Manila. He was there in a business capacity when the Japanese came in. Three young women, two of them working down here in the WAVES and one in a government office, also came along.

296

December 4, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
From the point of view of general interest, I am afraid that yesterday was a dull day. I saw a good many people, among them Mrs. Ellen Woodward and Mrs. Elizabeth Conkey, the two women who were among our delegates to the UNRRA conference in Atlantic City. They were both much impressed by the people from other nations with whom they worked, as well as by the work of our own committee, which met every morning to consider what the attitude of the United States representatives would be on the questions coming up for discussion in the various committees.

Last evening, Secretary and Mrs. Morgenthau, Mr. Frederic Delano, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lawrence Houghteling and Mrs. Warren Robbins, dined with me. We had the pleasure of seeing one of the series of films made by the Army for use in our camps. This one is in two parts and is entitled The Battle of Russia.

It reviews the history of Russia and shows the magnificent way in which Russians over and over again have defended their land. The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics covers a very large area of the world’s surface and 100 different languages are spoken by its 190,000,000 people.

In our country, people have a variety of intonations and peculiarities of expression, but we do speak one language. The fact that the Russians can show such unity and strength, and still speak 100 different languages, has shaken my faith a little in the efficacy of teaching all the peoples of the world one language in the interests of peace.

The Treasury Department has started a new campaign. At least it is a new one in this country, though I believe some of its phases have already been tried out in Great Britain. This campaign exploits a gentleman called “The Squander Bug.” He is a money-eating figure who eats up your dollars, instead of letting you put them into War Bonds and Stamps.

He is the enemy of the pocketbook. He is used to buying useless things now which you could go without. Every time you buy anything that isn’t really useful or that you don’t need, you are making scarce goods even scarcer. You are not saving the money which, at the end of the war, would make it possible for you to have the things which you need and want.

You are not planning for full employment and prevention of the disastrous spiral that can be brought about when we should be expanding the production of goods, but have no money with which to buy them. I suppose we had better ask the Treasury Department to give us all the reminders they can through “The Squander Bug,” so that he will constantly be kept before us and we shall be saved from ourselves.

297

December 6, 1943

Washington – (Sunday)
I spent an hour Friday morning going over housing conditions in the District of Columbia’s section for poorer people, among whom are large numbers of our colored population. I must say I was appalled by some of the things I learned. The population of the District has greatly increased and the colored group has increased along with the white. In fact, more colored people have come.

The number of houses available to the poorer people has been so curtailed by the condemnation of land in the poorer sections for the erection of public buildings or military roads, that there are actually fewer housing units and rooms available than there were before the increase in population began.

Real-estate interests are making a very definite effort, I am told, to curtail the activities of government housing. Yet it is impossible for commercial real-estate operators to build adequate housing for people of very low incomes. It seems a rather dog-in-the-manger attitude.

If the interests of a few selfish people prevail against the interests of a great many people, we are going to have slum conditions and inadequate housing all over this country. These lead to health conditions that are a menace, not only to the poorer people, but to all the people of the community.

At 1:30 on Friday, I went to a mothers and daughters meeting held by the student council of the Phillips-Wormly School. The children did extremely well in explaining the objectives of the council and in reciting their creed.

In the late afternoon I received the members of the Home Hospitality Committee, of which Mrs. Martin Vogel is chairman. They have done very good work in the District for the entertainment of servicemen, and I was glad of an opportunity to tell them of my admiration.

Yesterday I saw quite a number of people in the course of the day. At 6:00, I went to the USO Club to speak at a buffet supper and dance, which was being given by the Filipino Women’s Club in honor of the Filipinos serving in the United States Armed Forces.

From there I went to a banquet of the George Washington University Women’s Athletic Association, where I spoke on, “The Place of Recreation in War and Peace.” This brings me to a note sent by one of the soldiers who occupied our box for the recent concert given here by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.

Two of the boys wrote me how much they enjoyed the concert. One of them said he often noticed empty seats when he was fortunate enough to get to places of entertainment. He wondered why people, when they could not use their seats, did not send the tickets to a central place so that servicemen might obtain them.

In many big cities, all places of entertainment send to distributing centers a quota of tickets for use by servicemen on furlough. I should think that practice might be organized and carried out in smaller places as well, so that everyone would know where to send their unused tickets.

298

December 7, 1943

Washington – (Monday)
Yesterday afternoon, accompanied by my entire family, including a four-year-old, we went over to the Corcoran Gallery to see the exhibition of paintings done by the Merchant Marine Sailors of the United Nations. They were interesting, though many of them showed an entire lack of training. Nevertheless, they indicated an appreciation of color and atmosphere and must give a great deal of pleasure to those sailing the seven seas.

There were pictures of ships, fish and men of the sea; also harbors and towns all over the world. All of us enjoyed the hour spent looking these paintings over.

Afterwards, I went to the USO Service Women’s Lounge, at 1911 H Street. It was crowded, but had a pleasant, homelike atmosphere. It occupies an old church, now abandoned for another site. This old building seems to adapt itself very well to its present purposes.

They have put a new floor down in what was once, I imagine, the parish hall. It is a good-sized room with a balcony, where they carry on craft work. In the hall, table tennis and dancing share the ample floor space. There is a little library downstairs. Like every activity of its kind, they need more books, papers and magazines for it. A snack bar was in one corner of the large lounge room and produced a really extraordinary quantity of refreshments.

Today I am to have the pleasure of seeing Mr. Samuel Hopkins Adams, who is writing a biography of Mr. Alexander Woollcott. I did not come to know Mr. Woollcott, very well, until we were living in Washington. I have always been grateful for the opportunity. He was a delightful guest and a warm and generous friend.

“Bundles For America” writes me that yesterday they celebrated their second anniversary by holding services in churches all over the country. This organization has furnished and equipped many day rooms and recreation huts for all branches of the service. It distributes kits to our fighting men and outfits our honorably discharged veterans with civilian clothes, which is often a help to them in finding a job.

The members also reclaim used garments, which are then distributed to wives and children of servicemen. They make layettes for babies, whose mothers might find it hard to obtain all that they need at the present time.

299

December 8, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
Yesterday afternoon, my granddaughter, Eleanor, and I went to the National Gallery of Art to see an exhibition of naval aviation paintings. They are instructive and delightful as drawings and are also colorful reminders of the different parts of the world in which our men train and fight.

Cdr. Murray’s portrait of my husband at his desk in the Executive Office, is exhibited at one end of the first galleries. I think it is a very interesting painting. Though the President is rather incidental to the room, it is an excellent likeness. On the whole, I almost prefer paintings of this kind, where an individual is subordinate to his surroundings.

Afterwards, we stopped at the National Museum to see the watercolors of Mexico, done by Mr. Walter Buckingham Swan. His architectural pictures are beautiful in detail. I like many of his landscapes, though the effect is less brilliant and colorful than I would have expected in a semi-tropical environment. The whole collection, however, makes a very charming group. It gives a picture of Mexican rural and urban life which many of us will want to see for ourselves.

Day by day news comes in of the meetings that have been taking place overseas. I think that one of the things which will interest the people in this country greatly is the pledge that the United States, China and Great Britain have entered into, which guarantees the ultimate freedom of Korea. The Koreans are not a belligerent people and they have been under the Japanese yoke, which has been a heavy one, for a great many years.

It is to be hoped that the future holds for them an opportunity to develop their own civilization and culture and to live in peace and quiet. With the promise that the Japanese will ultimately be defeated and their gradual expansion territorially curtailed in the Pacific, the nations there face new responsibilities. They must see to it that economic and agricultural development of all these countries provides decent living standards for the people as a whole.

Many people have been hungry in Japan and China, as well as in India, during the past centuries. Today it is possible so to control the forces of nature that the disastrous floods may be brought to an end. There can be sufficient production of foodstuffs to feed the people generously. This is one of the first objectives in the post-war world.

300

December 9, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
The night before last I had the first of a series of three gatherings for the soldiers who are immediately responsible for guarding this part of our capital city. They must know the outside of the White House by heart, but many of them have not seen the inside, and so this afforded them an opportunity to see the lower floors. Their captain had asked that they be shown the film of my Southwest Pacific trip and that I tell them a little about it. After some very light refreshments, we then had a chance to talk together for a short time.

Last evening, Mr. Walter Wanger brought his film Gung-Ho to show me. It is the story of the Marine Raiders 2nd Battalion in training and their first trial by fire on Makin Island, which paved the way for the recent victories in the Gilbert group. It is a remarkable picture and I am sure that audiences all over this country will be interested.

In the first place, it shows very clearly the value of training. I think many of the boys themselves and their parents need to understand that the harder the training, the better chance a boy has for life when he goes through the actual fighting for the first time. It is horrible, of course, but it brought out one thing, that in this kind of fighting every individual has a responsibility and every man uses his own head. Some of them, like the “No-Good Kid” died having “made very good” indeed.

We also saw a short film on housing, the first in a series of films called What We Are Fighting For. I think it concentrates the story of the past and the purposes of modern housing into a very few minutes. It is certainly interesting to have it pointed out that our ancestors built the gracious towns of New England and Virginia and, today, in our modern planning, are trying to return to the same type of building which they sought for and, as far as possible, to the same kind of living.

This morning I attended the sale at the French wives bazaar, and, as usual, they had the most enchanting things on sale. Afterwards, I went to the luncheon of the officers, incorporators and chapter delegates of the Red Cross. It was a very pleasant get-together.

This annual meeting brings people from all over the country and their speeches go on throughout the meeting, so it was not necessary to have any at lunch, which gave us an opportunity to talk to our neighbors. I enjoyed both Mr. Cornelius Bliss and Mr. Gustavus Pope of Detroit. They had reports on the work in all the different theatres of the war and I think they are justifiably proud of the record of Red Cross workers everywhere.