Eleanor Roosevelt -- My Day (1943)

121

May 14, 1943

New York – (Thursday)
We had a two-hour meeting yesterday morning of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. Miss Honeybun, who has come over from Great Britain to see the children who are here, gave a most interesting talk, explaining some of the difficulties of adjustment of a British child to an American home. This is particularly true of the older children. She also told us of the difficulties which exist in the homes of Great Britain as well, where the life over here is not well understood.

The older boys are rapidly going home now and she feels it would be well for many of the girls, who reach the age of 17 or 18, to do the same. Miss Honeybun is a most sympathetic person with a real sense of humor. It is easy to see how she succeeds in making her contacts with the groups of British children, and what a joy it must be to them when she can tell them she has met their parents in Great Britain.

Lately the Committee has been successful in bringing over several groups of refugee children from other parts of the European Continent. These children present a different problem, for many of them will never see their parents again, since they have been left behind in concentration camps in various European countries.

In the afternoon I went to the Textile Workers Union of America convention in Carnegie Hall. I had a rather amusing experience between lunch and this meeting. My time was somewhat short and I thought I could pick up a taxi, but it was raining and every one of them passed me with a passenger already ensconced within. Though I held something over my head, my dress gradually completely soaked. The little fur piece I had around my neck looked like a drowned rat!

I remembered an experience I once had in Rochester, Minnesota, when my skirt, being soaked through, began gradually to shrink, until I thought I was going to be left with only a ruffle around my knees. I looked apprehensively at my skirt yesterday, but fortunately it showed no such propensities. At last I went on the platform at Carnegie Hall in a distinctly damp condition, but still looking comparatively normal.

In the evening I went to see a play called Tomorrow The World. I found it very interesting. Some of the critics have said that the change in the little Nazi boy, around whom the problems of the family center, is too sudden, but it did not seem so to me. I found it an absorbing play dealing with the problem which must be faced in the future, not only by one family, but by the nations of the world.

It was a little exhausting, however, and don’t go if all you want is an amusing evening, because you will find yourself lying awake thinking about if for many hours afterwards. It is very well acted and I thought every part was well taken and the whole performance exceptionally good.

122

May 15, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
Yesterday I went to Briarcliff Junior College in Westchester County, New York. Mrs. William H. Good, and Mr. and Mrs. Norman Cousins went out with me on the train, and we had a very pleasant trip and reached our destination all too quickly. On the platform with a group of attractive girls, were Mrs. Ordway Tead, the president of the college, and the representatives of various groups, such as the Red Cross. The meeting was attended by the students of the Briarcliff Junior College, representatives from high schools in neighboring towns and villages, and individuals from various organizations.

The blossoms were out and the country looked most beautifully green. There is no doubt about its being a late spring, however, and I can well imagine that what the papers say about crops being way behind, at least three or four weeks later than usual, is truthful as far as New York State goes. The sun was warm, however, and after the meeting we walked to Mrs. Tead’s house.

I shook hands with all the guests and then had a cup of tea while the girls sat around on the floor, and I told them more of my experiences in Great Britain than I had been able to cover in the 25-minute speech. Then we went back to the train, and again we had a pleasant conversation to the New York City station. I had a friend dine with and then we spent a quite evening together. This morning Miss Thompson and I return to Washington.

I have a letter from two ladies, Miss Elizabeth Bryan and Miss Katherine Bonnell, who tell me that they have been looking into possibilities for training open to women at the present time, who want to take war jobs in the strict sense of the word. They have written two articles in a weekly magazine.

One of them describes a two-week course, given in the Northern New Jersey area, for women desiring to go into aircraft factories. The secret, of course, for the rapidity of this training, is that the woman is trained for just one operation. A real mechanic or skilled machinist, can probably do all the different operations involved on any type of machine in the shop where he works. For the moment we are interested in mass production, and this can be more quickly accomplished by teaching each individual only one operation.

These writers also investigated training for farm work and described that as being most successful in one of the New England states. We shall shortly discover what the British discovered – that setting up enough training schools insures obtaining people who can do an acceptable job, even when they are women!

123

May 17, 1943

Washington – (Sunday)
Friday night my daughter and I went off a little distance into the country with four very busy gentlemen. We stayed for dinner with them and left them all telling stories, and apparently relaxing sufficiently to shed the cares of the world from their shoulders for a brief time.

Yesterday morning I went over to do a recording for the Office of War Information. Then I talked to a gentleman who is writing a life of the President and, apparently, wishes to include not only his life, but information about many of the rest of us. Another appointment, then guests at luncheon, after which I tried to go to the benefit exhibition for Netherlands War Relief, but it was closed.

I had a quick view of the Jefferson portraits on exhibition at the National Gallery. They have been on loan since the dedication of the Jefferson Memorial and the exhibition closed today. As usual, I waited until the last minute before finding time to go down to see them. One very interesting portrait belongs to some old friends of ours, who had particularly told me about it, because it was lent anonymously.

There were a number of people to see in the afternoon, and I was especially pleased to have a call from the wife of the President of Ecuador and later from the President of Czechoslovakia, Mr. Benes. Last evening, I went to the War Workers Canteen, which was held in the South Interior Building auditorium.

It is interesting to find that a number of coal mining companies feel that I have been unjust to the company stores. They have written me and say I do not realize how well off the miners are today. One man actually sent me figures of earnings. He tells me, for instance, that a coal loader worked full time (the six-day week) in the month of February and earned $338.46, and in March $468.24.

He adds that a mining machine operator, during February earned $505.54, and in March $519.49. I am delighted to hear this, and I am sure that the bill at the company store is gradually being paid off. These stores kindly give credit in case of illness and even at times when the men cannot obtain work, or are absent from work for other justifiable or unjustifiable reasons.

I wonder if the same mines looked over their books for the last ten years would they find a different story of the earnings of the miners? Surely there would be no time-and-a-half for that sixth day a week, and surely there would be weeks when there was no work at all, or only a day or two now and then.

It is true, as I said in my former column, the companies during this time carried overhead charges and are now probably paying them off so I doubt if all they make today is looked upon as “velvet,” and the miners’ earnings probably are not either. All of this does not make the principle of the company store a good one, even if the men today are able to pay their bills. The whole principle of company stores and company houses is a bad one, and I hope someday we will get rid of them.

124

May 18, 1943

Washington – (Monday)
The papers report today that a Japanese dispatch accuses our forces in landing at Attu, of using poison gas. This is probably to be used as an excuse, should they decide themselves to resort to the use of poison gas. Such tactics have been known before, and we may be quite sure that our troops would not use this kind of weapon unless they did so in retaliation. We will never be the first offenders. That, I think we can all take for granted.

Yesterday afternoon I saw our daughter off on her journey back to Seattle with her youngest child. Her husband has gone and she will now return to her home and her two older children, who will welcome her with open arms. They have been very lonely these past few weeks, even though school and their usual activities must have filled up most of their time.

Seeing one’s husband off to the wars is not easy for anyone, but our daughter has added responsibilities in her job and this is a good thing, since all of us need to be busy these days. We cannot help thinking about those we love who are far away, often in dangerous surroundings. Therefore, the busier we are, the less we have to worry, and the more we dwell on our happy memories, the better it will be for us all.

I had an early meeting this morning with Mr. Bruno and Miss Gay Shepperson, from Community War Services, on the subject of the West Coast plans for the care of children whose parents are at work. Then I had a press conference and a very brief chat with a woman from Kentucky. At 12:30, I reached the YWCA to attend the luncheon forum of the Washington Youth Serving Agencies.

It proved to be a very interesting forum and brought up many questions and suggestions as to what might be done to prepare young people in small towns and rural areas of our country, before they go to work in any of the big centers of war industry. Then they took up specifically what might be done here in Washington for those who find themselves in government work in this overcrowded city.

A plan is on foot to gather together the material for a directory, which will contain information on what the government agencies and all the local and national organizations have to offer young people coming here to work. This will be of great value, but I think it is important to bring this whole question down to smaller groups. There should be someone responsible in almost every office for the personnel of that particular office, and no one person should have more than one hundred people with whom to keep in touch.

125

May 19, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
Yesterday afternoon, at 4:00, the ladies of the Cabinet and I gave our first party for a group of Congressional ladies. We had a short movie and then went out on the lawn for some very light refreshments. The air was delicious, neither too cold nor too warm. I only hope that every one of the parties planned for the garden will be as pleasant as this one was.

We were shown another in a series of films in the evening, prepared by the Special Services Division of the Army, to be shown in the camps. It is one of the best chronologies of the development of the war that I have seen and I hope that, like Prelude To Victory, it will be released to the general public, as well as to the soldiers in the camps.

For the benefit of the Greek War Relief, the radio stations will have on sale, for the price of $1.00, an atlas of World War II, which was arranged as a program for the Greek War Relief benefit. It shows geographically the entire progress of the war, and I can think of no better gift for the boys in the Army, who after they have seen the film we saw last night, will want something actually in hand to remind them of the history of this war.

Many people all over this country must be reading the casualty lists with great anxiety these days. There is one thing which impresses me each time I go through them. I have always known it, but it is something good to bear in mind. There are the names of the men who have given all they had to give for the country in which you and I live, and the names – why they are Russian, British, German, French, Dutch, Jewish, Czech, Hungarian, Chinese, Italian, Irish, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, and from all the rest of the nations of the world!

As you read the stories of heroic deeds, you find again that whether it is Meyer Levin or Jimmy Doolittle, the name, the race, the religion does not seem to make any difference. Courage belongs to no one race or no one religion, but it does seem to be in all our boys, for where one is recognized a hundred go unnoticed. We can take pride in all these young Americans, and if any of us ever had any prejudices we can beat them down and hide them away, shamed by the mute testimony of the names on our casualty lists.

At 5:00 this afternoon I start visiting housing projects. So far as I can now tell, I won’t get through much before 9:00 tonight, so I shall have to forego dining with our very delightful guests.

126

May 20, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
It was most interesting to see the defense housing yesterday at Arlington Farms, Virginia. These are temporary buildings but they are made out of a new material, “Cemesto,” which is waterproof, fireproof and moderately soundproof. It is less than two inches thick and made from waste material of sugar cane. The girls told me that if they kept their radios on very loud or made much noise in their rooms, their neighbors heard them, but for ordinary daily existence, this building material is very successful for inside and outside use.

At the end of every corridor there is a bricked-in stairway as a fire safeguard, and the girls told me that they hold regular fire drills. They have an infirmary where they can be treated for minor ailments, and care of this infirmary is included in the rent which they pay. The bedrooms looked very attractive.

For a single room the cost is $24.50 a month, but the double room can bring that cost down to as low as $16.50 a month, though, for the choice ones, it goes up to the same price as the single rooms. The cafeteria is quite a little walk from the finished dormitory, “Idaho Hall,” which I saw yesterday. Most of the girls tell me that they get breakfast and lunch where they work and the cafeteria is only used for evening meals.

After leaving there, I saw another defense housing project for colored girls, called “Langston Hall.” Here there will be two buildings, called “Midway” and “Wake.” The plan is exactly the same as in Arlington and the building material used is the same. It was built by a colored contractor, Mr. Plato, who has built many post offices and government buildings in the past.

He confided in me that one difficulty had been the foundation, but that he had so far found only one crack. There will be, in connection with these buildings, an infirmary, a social center, a recreation building, and a cafeteria, which is a duplicate of the setup in Arlington.

I also visited two permanent hotels, one for men and one for women, built by the government to meet the shortage in housing for colored government workers. It was encouraging to see them, because they are not only well built and tastefully decorated, but extremely well run.

I returned home a little later than I had expected, but this household takes on some of the attributes of the Prime Minister’s day while he is here, and he seems to find working at night far more profitable than working in the daytime.

127

May 21, 1943

Washington – (Thursday)
Yesterday the Cabinet ladies and I had the pleasure of giving our annual picnic lunch for the ladies of the Senate. It turned out that rationing provided us with a rather more nutritive lunch, if not such a varied and attractive one as we formerly had.

Tomorrow, May 21, is the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the American Red Cross. How grateful the world is for the good which this organization has been able to accomplish in alleviating suffering. It receives from us all our wholehearted support and cooperation, and will continue to do so as long as there is pity for human suffering and determination on the part of human beings to help each other.

I want to share with you today two letters which I have received. One, because it shows the spirit of our own boys and must bring happiness to the people who run the Greer School, near Hyde Park, in which I have long been interested. This is an institution where youngsters, who have had a hard time, receive some real training. It has sent some 107 boys and girls into the armed forces and the letters come back from all over the world. I want to quote from one:

While it may not be an easy life I have now, it is a good one because I hope and think I am doing my part, though it is small, to keep places like Greer School going in the American way. I may not get back, but that is incidental… for through my small sacrifice, I give others life and freedom.

Eugene “Bosco” O’Rourke

The second letter comes to me from Great Britain and also shows the spirit of our boys. I quote it in part:

The voyage had been a hazardous one, and it sometimes seems to me as if men try to drown remembrance of peril and hardship by indulgence in many grave temptations which beset them when they reach port. But this American crew had one common impulse, to worship God Easter Sunday.

When speaking of this experience, my son said that among the strange and wonderful happenings he had seen, and of which he had heard in his work, this was the most wonderful. Not only did they ask for directions, but as many as could, accepted it, some of them going to the missions chapel, other farther afield.

128

May 22, 1943

Washington – (Friday)
Yesterday I spoke at City College and then lunched with some of the faculty. Afterwards I visited the ordnance exhibition at the Chrysler Building. This exhibition has attracted crowds of people, every day. I was especially interested in comparing captured material of Japanese, German and Italian make, with what we have produced and which seemed so much better. In the evening I gave a broadcast for a small group of colleges under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, and then took the night train back to Washington.

I find considerable agitation in New York City over the possible withdrawal of federal aid for penny milk and school lunches. From July 1941 to June 30, 1942, 20 million quarts of milk were sold to school children under this program, and 65,000 school lunches were served per day.

I have only seen people from New York, but I am sure there must be people all over the country who are equally agitated and feel that the withdrawal of this support by the Federal Government will mean the abandonment of projects which have greatly increased the health of the children. It is true that there is less unemployment and that, perhaps, the children of some people who could afford to pay a little more will get this milk, but from the educational standpoint alone, it seems to me vital to continue teaching children and parents that milk is something no child should go without.

More attention should also be focused on developing school activities for older children outside of school hours. Our duty as regards the children of women war workers is not accomplished when we establish a nursery to look after little children while their mothers go to work. Our high rate of juvenile delinquency, which is increasing in many places, shows quite well that not enough attention is being paid to the older children.

Communities are evidently slower in sensing this situation and in preparing to do something about it, because the applications coming into the Federal Works Agency for Lanham Act Funds are far larger in number for day nursery care than they are for extra school activities.

I have just received a plan which has been put in operation in the White Plains, New York, Hospital. It is called the “Volunteer Orderly Corps,” and, for short, they call themselves, “VOCs.” This group is composed of older men who volunteer for duty in the hospital for three hours each week. They may volunteer for longer if they wish, since it does not interfere with any other work they are doing. With a little training they apparently become very acceptable aids to the professional orderlies and have considerably relieved the shortage of men.

129

May 24, 1943

Washington – (Sunday)
I was back in Washington Friday morning and spent the day seeing people, some of them for purely social reasons, and some of them on business. It always surprises me how one can fill a day with appointments fifteen minutes to a half hour in length, and apparently never see all those who wish to see you.

Last night we saw the picture Mission To Moscow, which has excited so much comment among various people. It is interesting to me primarily because of the journey which Ambassador Davies took to the various parts of Russia. That journey explains to me the ability of the Russians to stand up against the Germans.

They were far more developed along many lines of industry than I had realized. Nor had I sensed the fact that they were so conscious of the danger of the war that they had prepared themselves to move machinery and men in their war industries to other locations, if the fortunes of war made it necessary.

Today the page boys at the Capitol, who were my guests earlier in the winter, are coming for a picnic lunch in the White House garden. I am very happy to have these boys because I do not think their lives are particularly easy. It is a great opportunity for them to serve the government and to come in contact with outstanding figures in the country. On the other hand, it is not entirely a normal existence for their age, and I do not think all of them find it an easy adjustment.

The other night, when I attended the War Workers’ Canteen, a song was sung called “I Am On My Way,” written by Mrs. Stuart C. Godfrey. General and Mrs. Godfrey have written and published a song called “The U.S. Engineers Fight Song.” Mrs. Godfrey is the founder of an organization called Music For The Services, which has really done a great deal of work.

The object is to supply army camp and navy base recreation rooms with instruments, records and sheet music. Among the contributions already made are 60 pianos, 60 phonographs, 4,600 records, 8,000 items of sheet music and many instruments. Music is essential and one of the greatest morale-building forces in the services, and I hope Mrs. Godfrey will have the support of many music-loving people in her work.

130

May 25, 1943

Washington – (Monday)
I flew up to New York City yesterday afternoon to attend the meeting last night which opened the second annual Harlem Week. The committee has been working for a year in order to bring to New York City a better understanding of the problems, not only in Harlem itself, but in some of the other “Harlems” scattered around the city.

They have made some real advances, but they feel that this coming year must be directed toward bringing up the school standards in that area, and much more done for recreation and organized play for the children in the neighborhood. This will be an effort to counteract juvenile delinquency.

It was the first time I had met some of the assemblymen now serving in the New York State Legislature from that district. I was glad to find them so interested in eliminating the roots of troubles, rather than waiting to remedy results, which if tackled earlier might have been less serious.

On the way up in the plane, a very nice sailor boy who sat behind me, suddenly squatted down in the aisle beside me and said:

I have just been transferred from the… destroyer. I was sorry to leave your son. I liked him very much as an officer.

Then, today, on the way down, a young Marine flier sent a card back to me asking:

May I come to talk to you? I am Ambassador Phillip’s nephew.

We chatted a few minutes and I wished him good luck in his future assignment. Now I must look for his uncle and tell him of my chance meeting with his nephew.

The world is a very small place, for, as I waited for the plane, which was late in starting, a very pretty young girl came up to say:

I am Florence Ketchum’s niece, and I am going for my first plane trip.

Florence Ketchum was one of the early workers for the New York State Democratic Committee, Women’s Division. She still edits a paper in her county and is an active citizen. The niece is a lucky young lady, because her first trip was a bumpy one and she stood it like a veteran.

I have just been sent an account of a new type of service which has been inaugurated in New York City. It is a consultation clinic for human problems. The people who started it are very wise. They know that in times of stress, to have someone with whom you can talk over your troubles is a great relief. It clears the atmosphere and will keep people balanced who otherwise might do foolish things.

131

May 26, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
I had a visitor this morning who came to talk on a subject which must be troubling a great many people. This woman said she knew many people, particularly women, who had lost their sons in this war, and who felt that they must have something to say about the kind of peace which will be made at the end of it.

She felt sure that the people as a whole understood quite well that during the war, meetings of the leaders had to be held where no publicity was allowed at the time. People were only told afterwards what had happened. But, the vast majority of people had such a sense of personal responsibility, that they could not be satisfied unless they felt that their leaders would give them the benefit of such facts as had a bearing on the afterwar period. Then they could allow the people to register their feelings, so that the preliminaries for peace would really be shaped in conjunction with the people.

This is no easy thing to work out, and yet there is a germ of something here that needs to be studied. A democracy can never succeed unless each individual takes responsibility for his nation, its policies and the representatives he elects. Yet, many citizens feel helpless to understand those policies and to register their desires while they are being formulated and before they are fixed. Some of the machinery for doing this in the all-important days ahead should be built up. I write this so that you may think about it, just as this woman’s visit started me thinking.

I have a letter from someone who really has faced a difficult problem, which may face a great many other “Victory Gardeners.” This family obtained permission to plant a vacant lot adjoining their home. The owner was not using it and evidently had no objection to giving his permission, but something must have come up to change his mind. Just as everything was beginning to grow, he decided that he wished to use the lot.

Our poor gardeners were not only disappointed in their visions of future produce, but lost the opportunity of finding another plot, in addition to the money and the time they had put into this garden. The owner had agreed to let them plant the garden without paying any rent, but when he decided that he needed the land, he told them that if they paid $25 a month, he would not plow up their garden. Needless to say, the price was too high. It seems to me this little tale points to the need for some regulation to protect both parties.

132

May 27, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
Yesterday afternoon, I took a streetcar to get to the Social Security Building, where I was to speak at a forum at 4:00. I had barely seated myself in the car when a rather breathless voice behind me said, “You are Mrs. Roosevelt, aren’t you?”

Turning around, I saw a very pretty young girl and, after I admitted that I was myself, she told me she was on her way to see her brother at a southern camp and had stopped off for the day in Washington. She had wanted to see the White House, but unfortunately it was closed. She found many changes since her visit of a year ago. It was harder to get into government buildings and many places were closed, she said. Nevertheless, she seemed to think that her stopover had been worthwhile.

Then the boy beside me shyly exhibited a pin. I realized it was something to be proud of, but I could not recognize what it stood for and he finally had to explain that it was given to blood donors, and he added:

I would have gone long ago, but I thought it would be a very terrifying experience. I found it quite easy, however, and I won’t be at all worried to go again. Besides, they give you a cup of coffee free and when you have been there three times, you get a silver pin.

I told him I had not had time to wait for the cup of coffee, but I was quite able to endorse the fact that it was quite an easy and painless way to do one’s bit for the war, and an extra little bit which almost anyone can do in addition to his regular job.

After the forum, I started to take a streetcar back, but a taxi with three passengers already in it, hailed me and they asked me if I did not want to ride with them. I accepted gratefully and had a nice talk with my fellow passengers. One girl had been at the forum, and so I suppose she had kindly suggested they pick me up. I was dropped at the Treasury and walked home.

Our old friend, Mrs. Lewis Thompson, spent the night and this morning. She brought in two very interesting people to discuss employment problems. I feel sure that the work they are doing will be of great value in the future.

Miss Bertha Swindell, of Baltimore, Maryland, brought me a portrait which she painted of the President, the other day. It was done entirely from photographs, because she only had an opportunity of observing the President one day at lunch. I think it is really a very good portrait.

I find, however, that this question of photographs and portraits is a very difficult one, for what satisfies one person is anathema to another. It is difficult to reproduce all the varying moods of any human being so the reproduction will be to everybody the person they have known.

133

May 28, 1943

Arthurdale, West Virginia – (Thursday)
Yesterday afternoon, the President of Liberia, Mr. Edwin Barclay, and the President-elect, Mr. W. V. S. Tubman, arrived at the White House at 5:00. There had been a slight uncertainty as to whether they would be able to get here.

They came in on time, however, and were received as usual, on the lawn with the appropriate military honors. The Cabinet was present to greet the heads of this small nation, in which we in this country have a special interest since we helped found it.

I found myself deeply interested in my conversation at tea, and I wish I knew more about the whole African Continent, the knowledge of which, so far as I am concerned, represents the usual maps and nothing more. Perhaps, someday, travel will be so quick and easy that every country will represent people to us, people whom we know and understand.

After I had taken the President of Liberia, and the President-elect, to their rooms, I retired, for the usual stag dinner was given in the evening, and I was obliged to leave by the night train to get to Arthurdale, West Virginia, this morning.

Have you happened to come across a little book of drawings entitled “The Lonely Ones”? The artist, William Steig, has appeared principally in magazines and you doubtless are familiar with his work. The drawings in this book are impressions of people.

They are very individual people and I think you will be amused by them. The expression of the gentleman whose picture is captioned “I do not believe in misleading people,” is really wonderful. The whole attitude of the figure captioned “If you are too good-natured people step all over you,” will remind you not to be too good-natured for quite a while to come.

There is another book which came into my hands yesterday, entitled The Gremlins, from the Walt Disney production, and it is a Royal Air Force story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl. It is enchanting and when you have read it, you can pass it along to the younger members of the family. Though they may not get as much out of the text as you do, they will love the pictures even more. It is the first time I have met a “Finella” and she certainly is entrancing. I should think that she would make much more trouble for the “Boos” than the Gremlins have.

134

May 29, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
Yesterday was a busy day. After an early breakfast, we made a rather hurried trip through the new factories at Arthurdale, West Virginia. The Hoosier Aircraft Corporation has taken over all of the factory buildings, and the Silman Manufacturing Company has moved to one of the school buildings. I hope they are going to be successful, because they will mean much to the community, not only now, but in the future.

At 10:30 the commencement exercises were held in the school. This is the only commencement I have attended this year, but it has come to be almost a habit to come here and I would regret missing the opportunity to see the community and its people.

I find it hard to look at these young people, however, and to talk to them about the future, for I know, in all probability, before the war is over, all the boys who are physically fit will have to serve in the armed forces and many of the girls will have to do something in the war effort.

There was a time, which we older people must not forget, when we faced young people leaving school or college and found it hard to explain to them that a world of opportunity did not await them. That is not the case today. It is a world in which young people are very much needed.

But they will have a right to remind us in the future, that if you are needed to go out and die, then that for which you are willing to die, must also offer you something for which to live. No matter what it means in changes in the future, a world in which young people have no place and no opportunity must never again exist anywhere.

After the exercises were over, there was a brief luncheon, and we drove over to Scotts Run and the Pursglove Mine. Here the ceremonies were held for the presentation of Carnegie Hero Fund Medals. At the time of the disaster, you may remember my writing before the two awards were made, one to a man’s family for his heroic death, and one to a man who came through alive.

It was very thrilling to be able to take part in these ceremonies. I was glad of the opportunity too, to ask about the work at the little community house in the Run, and about the summer camp for the children from this area. The camp has gradually grown to be quite a permanent institution, with stone buildings instead of the tents with which it started.

It will be difficult to get volunteer workers this summer, but I hope this camp can be carried on, because it has meant a great deal to the children in this area, who do not have many advantages at the best of times.

We caught the late afternoon train at Newburg, West Virginia, and I had breakfast in New York City this morning. For the first time in many months, I am back in Hyde Park again and it is really exciting to open my cottage again, which I closed last autumn to save fuel oil.

135

May 31, 1943

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
Spring is very late here. To the gardeners and farmers who are trying so hard to produce more this summer than they ever have before, it has been a most disheartening time. However, now the days couldn’t be more perfect. Our lilac is still in bloom and my bed of lilies-of-the-valley is flourishing, and there is even dogwood in flower on top of the hill.

First of all, on Friday, I went over to the big house and saw the people who have been doing the spring cleaning. I made sure that everything was ready for the horses, which arrived that afternoon. Then I began unpacking at the cottage, found all the things which had been put away, paid great compliments to the little maid who had done so much cleaning and to the man who, in spite of all difficulties, had managed to get the garden planted.

The shrubs all look as though they had grown a foot, and so do the little evergreen trees with their light green tips. By late afternoon, three children arrived, and so yesterday we had a merry day. We even had a dip in the swimming pool, which, however, proved to be slightly chilly.

Late Saturday afternoon, we climbed to the top of the hill and had tea on the porch of my husband’s cottage, which looks out over the lovely calm valley below us. From there, it is hard to believe there can be war, murder and sudden death in so many parts of the world.

I kept thinking of how many of the family and our close friends there were, for whom the desert, or the cold of high altitude, or the death of men they had been with just a day or two ago, were, for the moment, the normal type of existence. I wonder if ever again this placid, quiet, uneventful daily living will seem normal to them. Perhaps it will be even more precious. Perhaps they will harden us in our determination to see that never again does war become a normal type of existence.

The papers say there has been just as much travelling over Memorial Day as usual. But I must say, as far as cars are concerned, there seem to be practically none on the road.

I can well understand that people want to honor the dead of former wars more particularly today, because so many have already lost people whom they love in this war, while others are anxiously waiting to hear whether boys reported wounded or missing are coming back to them.

We have always thought of Memorial Day as a day not only to honor the heroes of our armed forces, but also as a day which should remind us of the need to live in a peaceful world. Yet, so far, we have not been able to cooperate sufficiently with the rest of the world to accomplish this.

136

June 1, 1943

Washington – (Monday)
Miss Thompson and I left Hyde Park right after lunch on Sunday and felt rather aggrieved at having to leave the country when it was so lovely. However, I had promised to be at the Women’s Service Club, 451 Madison Ave., New York City, at 5:00, and it was a pleasant duty. Luckily, our train was exactly on time and I reached the club a little early. I was able to go through it and see how the rooms were arranged before it was time to go on the air.

It has only been open a short time and yet some sixty girls slept there last night. I was told the tea dances on Saturdays are always crowded and that there is always, even during the week, a good quota of women from the different services. They use it in their free time, or when they come to town for a few leisure hours, or pass through to other places.

I remember the house very well when Mrs. Whitelaw Reid lived there and her daughter, Jean, who is about my age, drew many of us within its hospitable portals. Now Jean is Lady Ward and is working hard in Great Britain. Her country house was occupied by Col. Raff and his officers when I went to see them last November. You will remember that they were the first paratroops to land in North Africa.

Lady Ward also gave her London house as a distribution center for British War Relief. How little any of us know what the years will bring, either to the surroundings we happen to live in, or to us.

The alley near our apartment house is gay with paintings and I hope that today, before I leave, I shall have time to have a look at them. I cannot buy any more pictures, because my walls are already filled, unless, of course, I eliminate some I have and hang others in their places.

That, I find desperately hard to do. I grow fond of pictures, furniture and bric-a-brac just because I live with them and they bring to mind memories of things which have happened in that particular room. To get rid of such furnishings is like getting rid of an old friend, very difficult to do and something to be infinitely regretted.

Did you read Drew Middleton’s article yesterday? That composite picture he painted of the boys who fought and died in Tunisia, and for whom someone will grieve on Memorial Days of the future, was, to me, a very fine piece of writing. I am sure nobody read it without being deeply touched with pride and sorrow.

137

June 2, 1943

Washington – (Tuesday)
I was back in Washington early yesterday afternoon. The house seems strangely quiet after the departure of all our guests.

We had tea for a few guests, and dinner on the porch yesterday. I think just now, the south porch of the White House is a wonderfully pleasant place to sit. The honeysuckle on the steps leading to the garden below is in full bloom, and a big magnolia tree, planted by Andrew Jackson, which shades the porch on the west, is just bursting into flower.

They are the most enormous cups of white fragrance I have ever seen. I love this tree, and every year wait for its flowering with keen anticipation, and it never disappoints me. To the people who live in the South, it is probably a commonplace occurrence, but to me these great, white, cuplike flowers are one of the events of my year.

My press conference today, which was moved to the lower floor in the movie room during the Prime Minister’s visit, returned to the Monroe Room on the second floor. That is just an indication of our return to times far less interesting than the past few weeks have been.

I introduced the two leading women welders of the country to the ladies of the press this morning. The champion is Miss Vera Anderson, and the runner-up is Mrs. Hermina Strmiska. The contest took place in Pascagoula, Mississippi. They met in competition, rules for the welding contest were carefully carried out, based on time and quality.

The champion is an employee of the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and the runner-up is an employee of the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation of Portland, Oregon. This is a new occupation for women, and that is why this competition was staged, I imagine. They probably need more women welders and so this should spur the ladies on.

People evidently like to know what the soldiers are writing home, for whenever I quote a letter in my column more come in. The following was written by a boy of Italian birth, though long since an American citizen, to his parents-in-law in California.

Well, here I am in Africa, feeling like a million dollars. We are well taken care of, eat well and sleep well, in houses. We do a nice day’s work, then have recreation. This evening we played softball, then played some records. Am getting along just fine and believe me, I’m mighty grateful that I am an American. I know more than ever now what we have to fight for. I only wish everyone felt as I do about it. I wouldn’t give one tiny point of our stars for all the world except America. I miss you and your wonderful dinners. Will make up for them when I get home, but not until this is all over. We intend to do a good job, without tears. God bless America.

138

June 3, 1943

Washington – (Wednesday)
Most of us have heavy hearts about the coal strike these days. Perhaps many of us have a share in the blame. Basically, however, one undeniable fact is plain. In wartime a promise was given not to strike and, at that time, the War Labor Board was set up as the final court after conciliation had failed. Like it or not, all sides, it seems to me, must accept its decision.

One thing keeps coming up before me. Sons of the men who work in mines are flying planes, or shooting guns or driving tanks, in far off places. We may have hardships here, but they do not equal what these boys face when there are no airplanes to protect them overhead as they make their attack; when they are short of guns and tanks. Coal is vital to the production of war weapons.

When everything else is said and done, this is the question that the parents of these boys will ask themselves as they sit idly day by day – “Are we making it harder for our boys?” They trust you, Mr. John L. Lewis, are you letting them down? Mr. Operators, how will your sons feel?

I keep repeating the fact, that we in this country, are a nation of many racial origins bound together by our common love of freedom and belief in a democratic form of government. A good illustration of the truth of this was given at the Cleveland, Ohio, Airport, last Saturday, May 29. The Slovak League of America presented to the War Department on that date, three trainer planes to be used in the training of Army Air Corps Cadets.

These planes were bought with funds raised through a drive by two newspapers – Slovenská Obrana, of Scranton, and Osadné Hlasy, of Chicago. The Slovak Fund, as it is called, came in from all over the country in small sums of money. 16,040 persons living in 30 states, made individual contributions. To be exact, 8,230, sent in at least one dollar. 2,543 sent in two dollars, and almost 1500 contributed five dollars each.

Letters that show what I mean by the idea which binds us together, came with these contributions. Here is one of them:

Such freedom as we immigrants have here in America, you will not find in the old country. Fellow Slovaks, let us all unite to help our President and our soldiers in this war, so that dictators’ tyranny will be abolished forever and democracy reign supreme.

There speaks the spirit which is the United States of America.

139

June 4, 1943

New York – (Thursday)
I left Washington yesterday afternoon to attend the meeting of the board of the Wiltwyck School for Boys, Inc., in New York City. This is a non-sectarian school for colored and white boys, brought into the Children’s Court, either because of their parent’s delinquency, or because of some shortcomings of their own.

The Citizens Committee of Harlem has succeeded in having written into the law of New York City, a provision that no childcare institution shall discriminate in the future, either because of race or religion in the free care offered for unfortunate children. This will be a great help in the rehabilitation of many of these youngsters.

It always seems to me more hopeful to work with youths than to wait until they are actually criminals and in prison, where it is far more difficult to accomplish good results.

From the Buxton Country Day School in Short Hills, New Jersey, a letter has been sent me written by one of their boys. I want to quote it here, because it shows what a great influence the things we do here at home may have in the formation of a youngster’s character, and what some of our soldiers expect of us in the future.

You have a big job to do – home there. The things you do every day at Buxton, talking freely about current affairs, arguing pros and cons of war tactics, learning how a democracy can function, its faults and virtues; these are all a part of what must be kept alive in our nation. Far too many governments and peoples have left that flame to die. For it is you people who have not felt the hate nor seen the destruction of the enemy, it is you who must keep our heads cool at the conclusion of this conflict.

Talk freely, but with thought, act quickly but with clear minds, do your part, take the responsibility that a democracy needs to survive, and the ultimate victory will be ours.

I am looking forward to the time when the conflict will cease and the real problems of the world can be met by thought and brains.

I wonder if this boy’s confidence will be justified and if we can keep ourselves from hate, and act with cool heads but warm hearts, both with our allies and with our enemies at the close of the war.

140

June 5, 1943

New York – (Friday)
Early this morning I went up to the hospital and lost my third wisdom tooth. I shall be glad when all four are finally removed, though I shall probably feel rather ashamed, since one of my husband’s aides said rather pointedly the other morning, when I said I was to have a wisdom tooth removed, “Did you say wisdom?”

At 3:00, a very remarkable Argentinian woman, Miss Maria Rosa Oliver, came to see me. She has been working with the Coordinator’s Office and I enjoyed my visit with her very much. It was her courageous spirit which impressed me most. She did not seem to realize with what gallantry she was doing her work, and such worthwhile work, in spite of the fact that she cannot go about by herself, because of an injury which makes walking alone impossible.

After that I paid two visits and had to dress very hurriedly to reach Mrs. William H. Good’s home in Brooklyn, in time for dinner with her before attending the Student Nurses’ Forum at the Kings County Hospital.

They told me that 39 schools of nursing were represented. There must have been 600 student nurses in the auditorium. They have recruited a chorus from the various Brooklyn nurses training schools, which a very able leader has welded together so that they have been able to sing during the drive for nurse recruits in high schools and department stores.

They sang delightfully and I could well understand their great success, which has attracted a great deal of attention to the nursing profession.

There is such a shortage of nurses that the Red Cross is constantly asking for more really trained and experienced nurses to go abroad. We must also have at least a few left at home to do the directing of the less experienced nurses and of the nurses’ aides. We must not neglect telling our girls of the possibilities of this service, which, perhaps, will bring them more satisfaction than any other if they are anxiously waiting for someone to come back from the wars, because it is so absorbing and so exacting.

In addition, this training will serve them well in their own homes and will be of value to any community in which they may live in the future.