Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (1944)

181

July 28, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Thursday)
When I was at San Diego, California, I had a chance to see some of the training going on, and again I was impressed by the extraordinary increase in our efficiency and the thoroughness with which we are now doing everything.

The papers the other day said we are calling for a number of new men for the Navy, in order to increase the speed of the war in the Pacific. I hope the response will be immediate, because I know in almost all branches of the services men have been out in that area for many long months. I think it would be a great lift to the spirit of all the men in that part of the world if the Army and Navy could today see its way clear, in spite of the problems of personnel and transportation and equipment, to a definite rotation policy which will relieve these men who have been so long without seeing their home shores.

Aside from the actual fighting, the climate is one which, after a long period of time, is hard on any individual. I admired very much the spirit of one boy who wrote his mother that in spite of the length of time he had been in the tropics, he had made up his mind, because he was responsible for a group of men, to increase his weight and keep himself in good physical condition. That was the only way in which he could keep his spirits up and help the men under him. A wise youngster – but it is not always so easy to accomplish the ends that he apparently achieved. I have known some boys who could not gain weight no matter how hard they tried. Nevertheless, the effort is worthwhile!

I had the pleasure, while on the West Coast, of seeing my friend, Miss Mayris Chaney, who is dancing in a little theatre in Hollywood. Mr. Earl Robinson, whose “Ballad for Americans” I like so much, came to see me with his wife, and brought me a couple of new records which we are going to enjoy. I saw other friends as well, and felt that my short stay had been a happy one for me.

The Democratic Convention was on in Chicago as we flew back, and while walking up and down at the airport to get a breath of fresh air, after the night on the plane, who should greet me but ex-Senator Sherman Minton. I had not recognized him because my mind was far away from politics and from Washington acquaintances. So, I was a little surprised to see him; but his mind was not on politics either, I soon found. He was there to meet his son, back from Saipan for a short leave after months in the service, and I could understand the way Mr. Minton felt.

182

July 29, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
Now that I am back at Hyde Park, I should like to add some of the details of my visit to Lake Junaluska, which is not very far from Asheville, in North Carolina.

Anyone familiar with that country knows that it is very beautiful and the climate delightful, but it is the atmosphere of the whole colony which pleased me. The first thing you see, on a high spot in the grounds, is a great cross which at night is illuminated. They told me that originally, when the cross had been built, the intention was to light it up only during the summer when the conferences were in session. But the railroad men, who can see it as they pass in the night, grew so fond of it that when it was turned off, they sent a petition to the board asking that it be lit every night, for it gave them food for thought and inspiration as they drove their engines into the dark.

Of course, I saw more of Mrs. M. E. Tilly, and the various women who are secretaries of the various departments, than of any other people. I liked everyone I met and was grateful to all for their kindness.

I reached Asheville about 9:30 in the morning of July 25. I went at once to the recruiting center for the WACs, and from there for an interview at the local radio station. I enjoyed every minute of the beautiful drive to Lake Junaluska, and the first glimpse of the lake as we came along the mountain road is a sight long to be remembered.

I had time to change for lunch with Mr. and Mrs. William F. Quillian. Afterwards some 30 or 40 women were invited in, and I answered some questions which Mrs. Maud M. Turpin, the public relations secretary, had prepared for this particular group. After another short rest, we started out to see all the points of interest. At the colored center I said a few words, and they sang for me. The Woman’s Club also was holding a meeting, where we were welcomed and then taken for a short boat ride on the lake. Dr. Lamberth insisted that we must at least have ten minutes on the water, and during those minutes, the children who had crowded aboard were busy having their autograph books signed. Then supper and the big evening meeting in the auditorium.

At a quarter before 8:00, the following morning, we went over to Waynesboro, where the Chamber of Commerce gave a most delightful breakfast at the country club. Mrs. Charles Tillett, our chairman of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee, came over with her daughter and attended most of these meetings. She looked as charming and as fresh as though she had not just returned from attending the national convention. After the breakfast, several of the seminars joined together in a forum at which I spoke. I had time to pack and dress, attend a last luncheon and say a few words of goodbye to all of the kind ladies who made my visit so enjoyable.

183

July 31, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
On the afternoon of the 26th, after leaving Lake Junaluska, we drove to Moore General Hospital, a military hospital where there are nearly a thousand patients. Many of them are able to be up and about for at least part of the time, so these were gathered in the Red Cross recreation hall, where I had a chance to talk with them.

The policy of getting our wounded into hospitals as near home as possible is well exemplified here. I found only one boy whose home was in California. All the others lived within a radius of a few hundred miles, and some were very near to their families. The boys here are back from all the different fronts, and I think it must be a great joy to them to find themselves in this delightful climate after the many months spent on the Anzio beachhead, in the mountains of Italy or on the islands of the Pacific.

I was able to go through only three wards where there were bed patients, but at the end of one of these wards I came upon four wounded German prisoners. The German type is not very different from some of our own men, and these four had begun to lose the gauntness and drawn expression which characterize fighting men when they first come out of battle zones. Their wounds were being treated, and one boy, who had tuberculosis of the spine, was in bed. I am sure that in every way we live up to the Geneva Convention, and I only hope our enemies will do the same for our men.

Dr. Guy Snavely, who has a summer cottage at Lake Junaluska, traveled back on the train with me and helped to find my grandson, who joined me at Greensboro, North Carolina. The train was late and made only a brief stop at the station, so that all of us were rather breathless when, after hasty farewells to the kind people who had brought him down, we finally got my grandson aboard for the last lap of our journey.

I did not have time, while in Waynesboro, to stop at the little gift shop which had sent over some lovely hooked rugs and brightly-colored Indian woven baskets as decorations for one of the rooms in the hotel. I can never resist baskets, so perhaps it was just as well I could not stop. Otherwise, I should probably have found myself traveling home burdened down with more of them, when I already have samples from many parts of the world which I rarely use.

As usual, we have a succession of guests. This is the nicest part of living in the country – people can drop in on you. I have almost caught up with the mail which accumulated while I was gone, and by next week I will be back, feeling really leisurely again.

184

August 1, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
On Saturday the Poughkeepsie Women’s Club had a meeting at Mr. Moses Smith’s farm, right across the road from us, and I went to speak. Just as I got up, after listening to a young girl from Vassar sing charmingly, I noticed that the sky was beginning to look very black. I had been introduced, as usual, as “the First Lady,” and so began by telling them about an incident at Lake Junaluska, where a mother had told her little girl of 6 that the First Lady, Mrs. Roosevelt, was coming to luncheon.

“Oh, that can’t be so, Mother,” the little girl responded, “because the first lady was Eve.”

Everyone laughed, and then as I began to be a little more serious, thunder drowned out my words. I realized that the rain was going to fall and that I had left the top on my car down. Then and there, I stopped my speech and ran to put the top up. I came back and began again, only to be stopped by a torrent of rain. I decided nature was against my making a speech that day. But the committee still felt that we should be patient, and so the hall and the porch of the farm house were packed with human beings more or less wet to the skin. When the rain let up, I was asked to finish my much-interrupted speech!

Under the circumstances, I thought a very few words would be all the poor people could bear. Afterward, a lady with a lovely voice sang one more song to close the meeting, and I finally fled to my car!

In the evening I went to Lake Mahopac to speak at a National War Fund meeting. Here we were more fortunate, the thunderstorm taking place only during the trip down. Mr. Samuel Barlow, of New York City, made an excellent speech and conducted the money-raising part of the meeting in marvelous fashion. We did not get home until nearly midnight, but I felt the meeting had been a great success.

In spite of the fact that thunderstorms have played quite a part in our existence the last few days, we are very grateful for them, for we did need the rain and our gardens are flourishing.

This morning some very sad news reached us. Miss Marguerite LeHand, who for so many years was my husband’s devoted personal secretary, passed away very suddenly last night. I am sure that for her, after her long illness, death will be a release. But those who loved her, particularly her nieces who lived with her, will feel her loss deeply. She was a member of our family for a good many years, and gave the kind of service to the President which is never paid for, but for which he and all those around him have always been extremely grateful.

185

August 2, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
I think sometimes we are prone to forget, in the excitement of watching the fighting fronts, that much of great importance to the future, is being done in other theaters of war. Men are going through and have been going through great hardships, sometimes just to protect an area whose fall into enemy hands otherwise would make our position hazardous. This is true, of late, in the whole Caribbean area, and in Greenland, Iceland and Newfoundland.

Sometimes they are not only protecting an area, after having fought hard to acquire it, but are also doing development work which is important from the transportation standpoint during the war, and may be important to our economic development in the future. In this category I think we can put the Aleutians and Alaska.

Someone kindly sent me a letter, written by a boy long ago, when the Alcan Highway was being built. The difficulties which the civilian workers and the soldiers encountered were not merely difficulties of terrain. The cold and the loneliness must have been trying experiences. The men must have felt, in addition, that they would get little or no glory for all the hardships and dangers which they went through. We should be, as a nation, deeply grateful to these men, and so I am going to give you a few excerpts from this really remarkable letter.

…Leaving Washington, Dec. 11, 1942, and travelling via train through the good old United States and part of Canada and then by government freight trucks over the highway, I arrived here the day before Christmas. It wouldn’t pay to dwell too long on the subject of Christmas and my first week or so after I arrived, for reasons not necessary to explain. As time goes on, however, one gets used to the many changes from civilian to army life and grows accustomed to it. My days are completely full from morning until night… I really feel that I have been very fortunate in experiencing the trip over the new Alaskan highway while it is yet in its primitive stages. The road is broken through extending from the United States into Alaska, and transportation over the route is now moving; however, the fact remains that the road is yet to be improved, revised and advanced to an extent beyond our own thoughts.

The Alcan Highway, so named by combining Alaska and Canada into one word, is truly a joint effort of American and Canadian people. The greater part of the highway is in the Dominion of Canada. Of its 1,600-mile length, approximately 1,200 miles wind through the immense forests and up and down the mountains of our sister country. Canadians and Americans have worked together, lived together and borne the same hardships side by side… I sound like a salesman trying to sell my goods, but I guess I’m like all other soldiers, and am proud of the unit I’m in.

186

August 3, 1944

New York – (Wednesday)
One afternoon last week, I spent three hours at Vassar College. I have been down often during their Summer Institute. But this session was particularly interesting to me because a group of Chinese women, now in attendance, had charge of the afternoon program.

Five women recited some nursery rhymes, each one in her own particular Chinese dialect. A very interesting and artistic family had come up from New York City for the day. The young lady, who had danced with the Ballet Russe, combined some of the charm and grace of the Chinese with the expert toe-dancing of the Russian ballet, and we enjoyed her greatly. The boy, who is only 15, had a children’s book on sale, written by his mother and illustrated with the most delightful pictures, which all children will adore. Under our eyes, this boy did two drawings, one of which depicted three entrancing cherubs. You smiled when you looked at them, and I was delighted when he presented them to me as a gift for a grandchild.

Some of the older children at the Institute were allowed to watch and listen to the afternoon program. Afterwards tea and Chinese rice cakes were served to us all, and the children especially enjoyed this part of the entertainment!

In the Euthenics Institute, each participating individual or family group must learn a great deal about cooperation, and many of the things of value in a family group must also have a bearing on the family’s life in the community.

I see in the papers every day that here and there the sale of E bonds has lagged, and I wonder if more places in the states could not copy a plan which apparently has been very successful in New York City. The Mayor has just presented a $100 bond to four different people. These bonds are awards known as the Sachs E Bond Awards, and the four recipients are the champion “Big Four” E bond salesmen. Mrs. Anne Reben of the Bronx, came out tops, having sold $569,650 worth. She is a housewife. William S. Craven of Corona, New York, sold $471,450 worth. He is an insurance man, so I do not think he deserves as much credit as the lady. Next, we have a school boy and girl. Kevin O’Sullivan, aged 16, of Bayside, New York, sold $129,750 worth, and Isabella Jena, aged 15, of Brooklyn, New York, sold $25,068 worth.

I want to add my congratulations to the many which they have received, and I tell you about them here because the idea of rewarding the “Big Four” in various communities might be helpful. Buying bonds is an investment in which all of us want to share, not only because the bonds will be valuable to us in the future, but because it is one of the ways in which we can help our men overseas.

187

August 4, 1944

New York – (Thursday)
Yesterday morning I arrived in Boston and went a little early to the church to attend Miss LeHand’s funeral.

Anyone who has led a busy life in which he has been indispensable to other people who are equally busy, comes to realize – when stricken with an illness – that it is not one’s activities which are really important in this life. When you lay down the things you do, day by day, someone else always takes them up. The really important thing is what you are as a person, what your character and your presence have meant to those you lived with, and what influence you have had on the atmosphere of your home or your environment – regardless of whether this was a restricted one, or a broad one which touched many lives and large numbers of people. That is what lives afterwards in the memories and in the hearts of those who knew and loved you. As you influenced these people, so your influence will spread, through their contacts and their activities.

Miss LeHand leaves a host of friends besides her family. Perhaps the way in which she bore the last few years of illness will have a greater influence on those around her than the many years in which she lived and worked in public life, when she did a valiant and important job.

I caught a plane back to New York City and was able to go in the afternoon to see the CIO War Relief office on Broadway. I will tell you more about this in another column.

In the late afternoon I met some of the staff and delegates back from the Chicago convention. They were full of things they wished to tell me and I only hope I remember them all, for the value of an onlooker in politics lies in possessing a good memory, and in always being able to compare the present with the past when thinking of the future. One of the things that interested me in Charles Michelson’s book, The Ghost Talks, was his extraordinary memory even for small details of conversation. I recall that Louis Howe had that same kind of memory.

Mr. Michelson’s book, by the way, seems to me a very good book for college students of government and political science. The young are apt to be so full of ideals that they forget how advances are made, and what are the practical steps that must be taken no matter what one is trying to accomplish. Compromises must be made, and men of different views often have to be reconciled before any gain is made.

188

August 5, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
I have so much to write about I scarcely know how to begin, but I cannot let this day pass without a word of congratulation to the Coast Guard on their 154th anniversary.

In its early years, the Coast Guard was not considered a part of the fighting forces. But from 1915 on, it was officially called “The Coast Guard” in an act of Congress which specified:

The Coast Guard, which shall constitute a part of the military forces of the United States… shall operate… as part of the Navy in time of war or when the President shall so direct.

In World War I, the Coast Guard suffered a higher percentage of men killed than any other service. In World War II, under the Navy Department, the Coast Guard has had ships and planes assigned to convoy duty and anti-submarine control; has manned invasion barges, troops and supply ships; and port security and marine inspections have been under their jurisdiction.

The men of the Coast Guard have been at all of our most historic landings – in the Solomons, at Tulagi, in Guadalcanal, at Algiers and Casablanca, at Salerno, in France and on Saipan. In fact, the pages of history are dotted with the Coast Guard’s achievements in the same proportion as they are with those of all our other Armed Forces. The SPARS, who are the women’s reserve of the Coast Guard, were organized in 1942 and are doing a splendid piece of work.

To these men of our combined services, we extend not only congratulations, but the very best wishes for good luck in the future; and may the war soon end, so the men can return to their loved ones.

In New York City, the other afternoon, I was much interested at the way in which the CIO has organized its war relief work. They raise their money and contribute to the regular war relief organizations – the Red Cross, the National War Fund, etc. – and by doing that, they make their members eligible in every community for their share of community care and benefits.

I think this is particularly valuable because the worker should not be separated from the citizens of the community. He is not just a man who toils in one particular industry every day or night of his life, but a man with responsibilities and privileges as a citizen of that community. The more he integrates himself into the community, the better his outlook on his responsibilities of citizenship will be. Equally important is the fact that the understanding will be better in the community as to the needs of the workers who live in their midst.

189

August 7, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
I still have to tell you about the morning I spent in New York City at the Horace Mann-Lincoln School, visiting the workshop which is one of some thirty that the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs sponsors in this country during the summer months.

First, I saw a class for junior high school students in which teachers were also observing. The regular teacher, Senhora Maria De Lourdes Sá Pereira of Brazil, had been taken ill, but her secretary, Señorita Ana Rodrigues from Puerto Rico, was doing an excellent job. The children sang for me in Portuguese and then got up and sang and danced the samba, quite evidently enjoying themselves.

They had a question-and-answer period, in which they talked about various subjects, designed to improve their vocabulary and to teach them something about Brazil. I went into the art room, where they are making maps, models of houses, and copying bits of weaving from different South and Central American countries – using art, in fact, as a medium for understanding the economics and cultures of various Central and South American nations.

One class of great interest to me, because it was composed of doctors, dentists, lawyers and engineers from Mexico, was being taught the English language by a Swiss. It was one of the most extraordinary teaching periods I have ever attended, because in the course of increasing the students’ vocabulary and of telling them about slang phrases and their meaning, they discussed contemporary political questions, sports, history and art. It was really superlative teaching and I take my hat off to Mr. Frederick Rex, the instructor.

We attended one other class, for youngsters who had visited various foreign communities within the city of New York. They were casually asked how many of them had parents and grandparents born in a foreign country. Hands went up, and the list written on the blackboard began to grow. Finally, in that group of some 20 children, we discovered that not only many European countries, but South and Central American countries and Far Eastern countries were represented. Who do you think was the only child present who had ancestors born in this country as far back as she could trace them? A little colored girl!

Finally, we had a luncheon, not only with the staff and teachers participating in the workshops sponsored by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, but also with the staff members of the intercultural program run by Columbia University.

I enjoyed this opportunity very much and wish I could see whether the same type of thing, done in other parts of this country, stimulates the students as much as it seems to do here.

190

August 8, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
I got up at 4:30 this morning to meet a train, and found myself going out in a downpour of rain and a sudden drop in temperature. I rejoiced in the change of weather, and as the rain stopped and the light began to come, I wondered why we so rarely enjoy these fresh morning hours! Whenever I do get up, I love it.

In the station I found the newspaper stand open. The familiar face of the lady in charge looked so smiling and wide-awake that I almost hesitated to tell her that I was surprised to find her on hand and doing business at that hour. Her answer was: “I am always here from 5:00 a.m. to 11, and the other girl takes over then. I can go home and do my work, and I get to bed about 9; and I like getting up early.” I am sure she is a wise lady and more of us should follow her example.

When I was a little girl there was nothing that gave me greater joy than to get one of my young aunts to agree that she would get up before dawn, that we would walk down through the woods to the river, row ourselves the five miles to the village in Tivoli to get the mail, and row back before the family was at the breakfast table.

I must say that the row back, with the sun up, was sometimes very hot and very long. I still remember, however, the thrill of getting up in the dark, stealing into the pantry so as not to awaken anyone, buttering a large slice of bread and covering it with brown sugar, and pouring out a big glass of milk. No breakfast ever tasted better. Then, if fruit was in season when we got to the village, and my young aunt bought apples, or pears or peaches, or a basket of grapes, and we could rest on our oars now and then and eat some of the fruit on the way home, my cup of joy ran over!

Our sky is still gray this morning, but there are rifts where the sun shines through every now and then and I think by afternoon it may completely clear. In the meantime, one of my annual joys greets my eyes from the cottage windows and as I come down the road. We have more purple loosestrife than ever before, I think. At sunset time it is reflected in the water; but at all times, against the background of green, it is a most beautiful bit of color. It is almost at its height now, but I hope it will be with us a good part of this month.

One of our grandsons left us yesterday to go home. We shall miss him, but I am thankful every day that we live in this rather remote, quiet spot where children can do the natural things and enjoy simple country pleasures. Because of the infantile paralysis situation, my daughter has felt that the young ones should not go into the country town or be much in crowds. But I have heard no word of complaint from them, which means that life is sufficiently filled with occupations to leave no desire for other things.

191

August 9, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
Today, August 8, in Cleveland, Ohio, there will be a little ceremony to mark the presentation by Mrs. Ellen S. Woodward, member of the Social Security Board of the Federal Security Agency, of the millionth benefit check presented under the federal old-age and survivors insurance program. This check goes to Mrs. Mary Rex Thompson, recently widowed wife of a Cleveland war worker, and her two children, Dale Bernice, 4, and Gerald, 1.

On this day the program has been working for four years and seven months, and the total amount of monthly benefits is $18,300,000. The million beneficiaries are divided in the following way – 418,500 retired workers, aged 65 or over, and 122,000 wives of retired workers who are over 65; 109,000 widows with young children, and 288,000 children of retired or deceased workers. Aged widows of 65 or over number 58,000, and aged dependent parents of deceased workers who left no widow or child under 18, and who are 65 or over, number 4,500.

This program of federal family insurance prevents destitution and provides a basic minimum subsistence if the breadwinner dies or stops work because of old age. The benefits are paid regardless of other resources, such as life insurance or savings.

Benefits are based on wages, so one person may receive more than another, depending on the wage earned. The highest monthly wage on which these benefits are figured is $250. Claims have to be filed, since the board has no way of knowing when a worker retires or dies, leaving survivors eligible for benefits. It is therefore important for everyone to know about this program and to file claims immediately, because under the law payments can be made retroactive only for three months.

Someday I hope that all workers will be covered in this way. As you know, the cost is shared by the employees and their employers. The employee puts in one percent of his wages, and an equal percent is contributed by the employer. This increases gradually until each will be paying three percent in 1949. All these payments go into the old-age and survivors’ insurance trust fund in the United States Treasury. The workers not covered are mainly farm workers, those in domestic service in private homes, government workers in local, county, state and federal government, and those working in non-profit organizations, such as the Red Cross, the YMCA, and the church.

192

August 10, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Wednesday)
The newspapers make interesting reading these days. On all the war fronts, in spite of great sacrifices, advances are made, but when you begin to read domestic news, you are struck by the division of interests which seem to enter into all the questions that are under discussion.

If there are bills before Congress, one group, primarily interested in a particular thing, will tell you that “this” bill is perfect and “that” bill is no good. Organizations tear each other apart, people resign because they cannot agree and find a way out of their difficulties which will meet, in great part, everybody’s desires.

I have come to the conclusion that if we could set up one of two standards by which we measured our thinking today, it will be a tremendous help. This would be to take a bill as it came up, or a candidate, or an organization, and say: “We want material things to serve human beings, we will work for material ends which we believe will benefit human beings; but as between material profit and the profit that might accrue to human beings, there is only one choice – the interest of the people must be served.” Also: “We want men who think first of people, and only second of things.”

Business is desperately important to us now. It should be given every legitimate help because we want the business enterprises of the country to continue to function at top production. We do not want this primarily, however, so that unlimited profits can be made on investments. We want the jobs which full production will bring us. We have to have those jobs because, unless the people have them, their standard of living will go down and they will not be able to buy the goods which full production will produce.

Small businesses have always provided a great many jobs, and it seems to me that both big businesses and the public should be interested in seeing small businesses get a break. It will take planning, of course, to see that these businesses are really profitable and really do the things that they do better than big business, but it will pay us in the long run.

The armed services continue, of course, as long as the war lasts, to be primarily interested in the production of war goods. They have to turn to such organizations as produce these goods most quickly and most efficiently. In planning for the future, however, we must not allow one group or a few groups of people to take the place which the armed services have occupied during the war period. That would not advance the people’s interests though it might make the planning easier now.

193

August 11, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Thursday)
A rather interesting suggestion has been sent me which concerns the wives of servicemen going to visit their husbands in crowded areas. The person writing me says that too often people do not carry adequate identification with them, and this leads to many difficulties.

For instance, my correspondent says that wives of servicemen might be picked up by the police, and if they have no means of identification, they might find themselves in difficult situations. Besides, in cases of illness or accident or financial distress, or even if they were looking for a job, some form of identification must be produced.

One could carry a marriage certificate or a photostatic copy of it; letters indicating the receipt of allotments, or a dispensary card issued by the armed services could be carried. A Social Security card, a license containing a picture or fingerprints, ration books – anything, in fact, which will show that you are the person you claim to be, will sometimes save you a great deal of inconvenience and trouble.

It was a great pleasure the other day to take Miss Marian Anderson, Mrs. Robert L. Van of Pittsburgh, and Miss Agnes Lee, who is teaching at the Horace Mann-Lincoln School this summer, and one or two others over to the Wiltwyck School. That evening Miss Charl Williams came to spend the night and to discuss the White House arrangements for a rural education conference which several groups are planning to call in the early autumn. I am much interested in the good that may come from bringing together, at the present time, a conference of this kind.

Yesterday we had our annual picnic for the Hudson Shore Labor School, and some 37 people came over, arriving by bus and taxi. Transportation in these days requires more and more planning, but I was glad they did not have to give up the party, because it has become one of the things I count on every summer. I enjoy the opportunity to talk with the girls who are trying to train themselves to be better leaders in their respective industries.

I have just learned of a committee formed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to advocate that Sidney Lanier have a place in the Hall of Fame in New York City. I read of it in the Southern Literary Messenger, and I hope for the success of this effort, since Sidney Lanier has always seemed to me one of the outstanding literary figures in our history. He labored under great difficulties and was not only one of our finest poets, but the greatest American flute player of his day, and a man of almost Christ-like character.

194

August 12, 1944

New York – (Friday)
I spent a good part of yesterday in New York City, leaving Hyde Park before my guests, who had come on Wednesday evening to entertain the soldiers at the Hyde Park canteen. I greatly enjoy having the entertainers, and Carlo Carrelli’s singing gave me as much pleasure as it did the boys. They showed their enthusiasm so much that I thought they would refuse to let him stop, in spite of the fact that there was another show waiting to go on.

Miss Gypsy Markoff was also one of the entertainers. Miss Markoff, after two years of traveling to various camps, was a passenger on the ill-fated plane which crashed in Lisbon Harbor. She was laid up for months, and only because of her great courage and determination is she able to resume her work now. In spite of injured arms and hands, she has learned again to play the accordion; and during her illness, she took up singing. She made a charming picture Wednesday night as she sang some very amusing songs. I hope she will give much of her time to entertaining in hospitals, because she is an object lesson for all those who might have to make a fight to regain skill or ability lost as a result of some handicap suffered in the service.

The two accompanists, Mr. Winkler and Mr. Zimmerman, were excellent. After these entertainers had finished, we saw a USO circuit show and returned fairly late, but everyone was up early the next morning in order to visit the President’s library before leaving. Since I had to take an early train, and only our youngest grandson, aged 5, was left at home, he took charge of my guests, escorting them to the library and promising me that he would see them off at 10 o’clock to their train. I think he enjoyed his grown-up responsibility.

In her column a few days ago, Mrs. Walter Ferguson wrote of the joy of taking a little boy on his first train trip. I enjoyed her column, and I want to add that the first train trip is not the only thing which will bring you the experience she mentions of discovering, as an adult, that you are unable to answer the continuous questions which the insatiable curiosity of the youngster pours forth.

We have had three 5-year-olds around most of the summer, and I have spent my time discovering that none of my knowledge was really quite accurate or full enough to meet the demands of youth!

Yesterday in New York City, where I had come for a number of appointments, I had the good fortune to meet Quentin Reynolds, and it gave me a chance to tell him how much I enjoyed his speech at the Democratic National Convention.

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August 14, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
Friday night our Ambassador to Cuba, Mr. Spruille Braden, and Mrs. Braden spent the night with us, and that brought to my mind the terrible mistake I made, or which was made somewhere along the line, in my account of the morning spent at the Lincoln School.

I said I attended a class which was largely made up of “Mexican” students, and I meant to say a group of “Cuban” students. Both countries have always seemed to me so close to the United States and of so much interest and importance to us, that perhaps in my mind I was thinking of both of them. But it was a stupid mistake. I explained to Ambassador Braden how embarrassed I was when it confronted me the next day in my column.

Ambassador Braden has spent so many years in different parts of South and Central America, that I find him extremely interesting to talk with. He emphasizes the fact which we should all remember – namely, that every South and Central American country is quite different from any of its neighbors. Each country has its own individuality, its own customs, its own culture, and there is no more generalization possible about this part of the world than there would be about the different states of our own union.

Mr. M. Stanley McLean, who is not, I imagine, a writer by profession, has sent me a little story printed in pamphlet form of his experiences at sea – primarily of the thirteen days which he spent adrift after his ship was sunk. I do not know if it is possible to buy this pamphlet; but it makes interesting reading, and if you ever run across it I think you will realize better what being in the merchant marine, in the present war, has meant.

The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company has a rather interesting advertisement called “The National Debt and Your Post-War Job,” which has been sent me. There is just a little part of it which I would like to quote here:

A huge debt may so draw out the hidden powers of a people that it makes the nation wealthier rather than poorer, stronger rather than weaker.

Up to now, Americans have not met the test of a big public debt too well. Individuals have saved more in cash than in government bonds, and the country has shown little interest in avoiding the kind of taxes that reduce the demand for labor. These shortcomings, I am sure, stem largely from the fact that the American people never have had the problems of debt and taxation honestly and adequately explained to them. I have confidence in the American people.

I have confidence too, in the American people, for what we set ourselves to do we always accomplish, and just now our first concern is full employment.

196

August 15, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
The past few days have been so warm that the only comfortable spot for anyone is in the swimming pool. In weather like this I feel very sorry for people who can’t swim, because even though you can cool off in the bathtub, it is not quite as sociable as sitting around a pool.

I find, however, that even in weather such as this, if you keep busy you think about it less – and, willy-nilly, we had to be busy yesterday because the number of our daytime guests increased until we had a picnic lunch of 26 or thereabouts.

We chose the top of the hill as being the coolest place, and the one most likely to have a breeze. We sat in comparative comfort after eating our lunch, and listened to Miss Doris Fleeson, of the Woman’s Home Companion, tell us of her experiences in Normandy. She was there a week ago, looking at the devastation and talking to our men. She lived for days in a Frenchwoman’s house, she talked with French women and children, and in telling us about it she brought out very clearly the picture of day-by-day conditions.

This part of France was relatively fortunate. Transportation had been so disrupted that there was no market left outside of this rich farming area for its products, and the people have therefore suffered less from hunger. The Germans, too, have actually been less harsh, since they could have all the food they wanted for their garrisons and still leave enough for the people.

As we advance to other parts of France, the story will be different in regard to the physical condition of such people as are left in the communities. Miss Fleeson explained that no community is normal, for in addition to the men still absent as prisoners of war, the remaining men and women of working age have been removed to work in Germany. As a result, the towns and villages consist predominantly of children and older men and women.

Since this column has already acknowledged yesterday one of my previous errors, I should like to say that when I was in North Carolina the other day, it was the Piedmont Hotel at which we had breakfast in Waynesville. I thought it was a club, but it turns out that I was wrong.

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August 16, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
A young Norwegian flier who was with us the other day voiced a fear which some of our own soldiers have voiced in print.

He said the tendency of Americans whose land had not been devastated, and whose families have not been killed before their eyes, may be to treat the enemy more gently than the populations in the countries we are now freeing would want us to do. He hopes, therefore, that as soon as possible, the handling of local, civic and military affairs will be in the hands of the freed people themselves. Otherwise, there might be bitterness against the liberators, and a feeling that too much kindness was being shown to an enemy who had meted out such dire cruelty and suffering while in power.

This has been echoed in letters I have received from men overseas when they hear that civilians at home are worrying about the “brutalizing” effect of war on our men, and whether or not we will treat the Germans and Japanese kindly in their forthcoming defeat.

From all I hear and know of our men, even the war cannot brutalize those who were not brutalized beforehand. It is true that in our army there are criminal types, just as there are in any army. They were criminals before and will be criminals in civilian life in the future. The average soldier is the product of his life here in a free country. His instincts are to be kind even to his prisoners; and when it comes to seeing a child hungry, he will go without his own most cherished food and give it to the child, regardless of that child’s nationality.

This country has had higher standards of living than probably any other country in the world. To our men, therefore, conditions of poverty and disease and filth, even as they existed in some foreign countries before the war, would have been quite appalling. With war has come even greater hardships to the poor people of Europe. No matter how poor the background of some of our soldiers may be, it will not equal the sights that they will see as they progress into conquered territory. There will be an appeal to all their kindly instincts, and it will be the rare exception for one of our men to be cruel or even hard-hearted.

As a nation it is easy for us to think first about what we would like as the ideal procedure between nations throughout the world. War, however, is never a civilized proceeding. The thing I hope we will do is to try to prevent future wars by establishing some form of machinery which will bring just treatment to all nations, but quick dealing with any aggressors in the future. We, as a people, have been spared most of the horrors of war in our own nation, but we cannot expect the other people who have suffered those horrors to feel as we do.

198

August 17, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Wednesday)
I think all of us rejoice that the Senate has rescinded a very unfortunately worded provision of the Servicemen’s Voting Act. The provision, instead of giving soldiers who may have an opportunity to vote a chance for impartial information, resulted in keeping all but certain specified papers and materials from them.

The provision was very carefully worded, so I do not think Senator Taft’s statement that the War Department and the Morale Division of the Army can be blamed for their interpretation is entirely fair, especially considering the penalty attached to any violation. The motive behind the original action of Senator Taft and the Congress was, of course, an entirely correct one. No voters should be so restricted that they do not get all possible information before exercising their franchise, and the information certainly should be impartial.

There are two things which are especially interesting in Senator Taft’s statement. “The War Department,” one part of it reads, “has been so unreasonable that many persons have suggested to me that the course pursued by the War Department and its Morale Division is deliberately intended to discredit Congress in order to affect the election.” I had thought that Secretary Stimson’s long service to the nation would establish the certainty in everyone’s mind that the War Department, under him, would do nothing which was not strictly ethical and impartial.

The next paragraph is even more interesting.

This doubt about the War Department’s impartiality is not new. Its representatives cooperated 100 percent with the extreme New Dealers and the CIO Political Action Committee in support of a clearly unconstitutional federal ballot carrying no names except the candidate for President.

That ballot, of course, was only to be used, as I understand it, when state ballots were not available. Therefore, if you cannot vote on a state ballot, it is apparently preferable that you should not vote at all, even though it would seem that it might be fairly important to the people of this nation to have as many as possible vote on who shall head the nation during the next critical years.

I have no way of knowing what the nation wants, and I have no desire whatsoever except that the nation shall have as complete an opportunity as possible for expressing its desires. I am happy that the Senate has had the sense of humor as well as the wisdom to change a situation which must have given a chuckle to many people in this country, and in other countries as well.

Dr. and Mrs. David Levy and another friend spent last night with us, and we listened to Secretary Morgenthau’s speech. It sounded pretty grim to me, and as though the things he had seen had made so deep an impression on him that he could only think of our obligation to prevent any recurrence of the present world situation.

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August 18, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Thursday)
I sometimes think that through art we are going to draw nearer some of our Latin American neighbors and understand them better than we can through other contacts. I therefore was interested to hear that Contemporary Arts of New York is holding a joint exhibition of the work of Brazilian and American painters, first in the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, and later in Sao Paulo. Art speaks a language which is universally understood.

At a recent Grange meeting I was very much interested in some pictures shown by Mr. Williams, the county agent, dealing with soil erosion in Dutchess County. I am glad that all over this country we are becoming conscious of the danger of having topsoil washed away by heavy rains. Having gulleys created in the field, which make the full use of the land difficult, and removing the topsoil to a lower level may give a good crop on half a field, but the upper part of the field will bear poorly.

Mr. Williams also showed us that contour plowing as well as strip planting is beginning to be done, and that reforestation is gaining throughout the country. It is important to do this work in our eastern states, even though much of our thought so far has been centered on the southern and western states, where drought and floods have done so much damage in the last few years.

The master of a neighboring Grange spoke, and some letters were read from boys overseas who are members of the Grange. I was struck by the fact that the attendance was limited almost entirely to older men and women and girls. The master of the Fall-Kill Grange told us that he had been threshing, and that two men of 70 and two young boys were all he could muster for work which would ordinary be done by men in the prime of life.

I think too little has been said about the contribution to the war effort made by farmers. Very largely the young men have gone to war, and the older men are carrying on – increasing their work hours, and doing heavy labor.

There are great advantages to a life on a farm, provided you do not carry a mortgage. For one thing, you never face the complete starvation which confronts the city worker when he loses his job. But I realize very keenly the hazards and the gamble in a farmer’s life, and the hardship of working day in and day out for very low income. You must love the soil and the life you lead on it, or you could never have the satisfaction in it which I sense in talking to most of the men who choose farming as a career.

200

August 19, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
At last the men of the French Army and Navy who have been preparing themselves in Africa, are able really to fight for the liberation of their own soil.

It must be the greatest satisfaction, for these men, who escaped from France and joined with French leaders in England and Africa, have been anxiously waiting for the day when they could again fight on their own soil. Some of them have fought in Italy; but now they are home again, and one of the most touching pictures I have seen recently is that of a French soldier greeting his wife on the steps of his home in a reconquered town.

None of us in this country can possibly imagine what people have suffered who left their families for a long period of time in a war-torn country. They dreaded what might happen to the women; but even more terrifying must have been the thought that their children, whom they left at a tender age, might grow up and be inculcated with all the hated doctrines which they themselves were fighting against. In the case of all the conquered European peoples, they knew that as the boys and girls came to working age, they would be forced into some kind of labor, probably in Germany.

From the advances that are being made in both northern and southern France, in Italy and on the Russian front, it would seem utterly impossible for the Germans not to see the handwriting on the wall. It is therefore hard to understand why they continue sending robot bombs into England. One British comment which I read said they were the message of despair. They seem to me not a message of despair, but rather a message to insure the hardening of all hearts against them.

In traveling down along the Hudson River the other day, just after a thunderstorm, the sun came out of the clouds and began to disappear behind the Catskill Mountains. The path of gold upon the river stretched straight across from bank to bank, and the clouds were tinged with soft colors.

God has given us such beautiful countries. The number of places in different parts of the world where I have enjoyed that beauty comes to mind with each such moment as this Hudson River sunset. I could almost wish that God had not given weak human beings quite so much freedom, for we make of his beautiful world such a sorry place at times. I suppose we must trust to education to bring us finally to a wiser use of our freedom.