Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (1944)

141

June 12, 1944

Washington – (Sunday)
Friday at the request of Mrs. David E. Finley of the Red Cross, I went to visit the hospital at Fort Belvoir and saw something of the camp as well. There are several thousand men out there training to be engineers, and, of course, with that number of men in camp, there is always a goodly number of men in the hospital. I had a chance to talk to those who could come in to the Red Cross room. Then I went through a number of wards, visited the nurses’ quarters and finally saw the barracks occupied by the WACs.

The WACs are decorating their own day room; doing their own painting and the furniture ordered will, I hope, make it a very attractive place. At the back there is a beauty parlor, and the officers said to me rather apologetically that since the men had to have a barber shop, they thought it was only fair that the women should have a beauty parlor. I heartily agreed, but it amused me that they thought there was a need to justify anything different allowed the women.

In one of the wards, a boy who had progressed from being a patient in the hospital to the reconditioning period, was playing the piano and the boys joined in heartily in some well known songs.

I was shown the outdoor amphitheater which seats several thousand people and stopped for a few minutes to talk to the men who are being reconditioned. They hike and drill and take special exercises so as to get back into shape for their regular service. I was glad to find that they also have orientation courses and an educational program. They assured me that in the orientation course there is a lot of discussion, and that is a healthy sign which means better citizenship in the future.

I saw a teacher back from a mission in western China today, and he spoke with the greatest admiration of Madame Sun Yat-sen whom he and his wife had seen before leaving. He said she seemed weary, and I wonder if any of us in this country can have the faintest understanding of the strain and the physical hardships which living today in a country like China entails for everyone. Inflation has reached such a point that even for those who have plenty of money, it is difficult to supply the bare necessities of life. I am told that civilians find it hard to obtain foodstuffs and materials of all kinds; textiles and leather are practically impossible to acquire. We have long been told that Chinese and Japanese soldiers are trained to fight on a handful of rice a day, but I doubt if we really think much about what that would mean to us as applied to the whole population. As I sat and looked at the gentleman, I thought how far away China seems, even now when she is our ally and so hard pressed by her enemy.

142

June 13, 1944

Washington – (Monday)
The more I observe human nature, the more I feel we are all of us perverse! When it does not rain, we want it to rain. When it is cool, we wish it were warm, and when it is warm, we wish it were cooler! When we are the center of observation, we wish we could divert attention from ourselves to something else, and when we are completely overlooked, we feel rather deflated. This is observable at our earliest age.

At the moment, we have a two-month-old baby staying with us in the White House – my niece, Mrs. Edward Elliott’s little boy. He is a very good baby and wonderfully trained to eat and sleep, and to cry a little. He already shows signs of the strength which someday will be his.

My daughter took her five-year-old son in to look at the youthful addition to the household, and she warned him to be very quiet and not to disturb the baby. He heeded her warning until he was about to leave the room, and then he gave a good hard stamp to see what this minute object would do. He was much disappointed when the baby continued to sleep peacefully. Perverse at five!

I am much interested in Mr. Willkie’s series of articles. The first one which I read this morning, seems to prove that the objectives of the present administration should be the objectives of the Republican Party, but that administratively, they should be carried out with greater efficiency and that the Republican Party, if led by the proper people who believe in the same objectives, would undoubtedly prove more efficient in administration.

This is a question which we will have to study historically. In the past, the Republicans have been in control for more years than have the Democrats. The last period of control led us from the end of World War I to 1932. By that time, the pattern of World War II was already laid.

Any group would profit by the study of history and would learn what brings about poor administration – the hates and jealousies among people who should be interested primarily in the achievement of certain results, but who rarely can separate their objectives from their own personal ambitions. This is not peculiar to any party but seems to be an attribute of human nature. Someday we may be able to wipe it out and make all administration more efficient. The influence of personal ambition creates differences and jealousies. It prevents people from giving the best they can to any program, and, in the end, it defeats their own ambition.

143

June 14, 1944

New York – (Tuesday)
I imagine that everyone, day by day, is reading the papers and trying to visualize what our men in every branch of the services are going through in Europe. Ernie Pyle’s column yesterday gave me as realistic a picture as anything I have read. Sometimes I have thought it would be harder to be a paratrooper, landing Heaven knows where, each man trying to find his buddies, but knowing that at once he must be a small army in himself – prepared to take on the enemy single handed. But when I read that description of landing on the beach, I realized that when all is said and done, the brunt of the war is carried by the infantry. It is the least picturesque of the services, perhaps, because it is the oldest. The air force is glamorous and dangerous enough, Heaven knows, and all of its work is needed in preparation both before and during an attack, but final victory is won by the infantry and final occupation of a country must be made by the infantry.

To bring this home to us, we are asked to celebrate “Infantry Day” on June 15. This day will be the 169th anniversary of the selection of Gen. George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of our Revolutionary Army, which, by the way, was composed almost entirely of infantry units. How different the fighting was in those days! It is hard to realize that in 1775 the rifleman was not looked upon as a very serious factor in waging war. Benjamin Franklin, progressive as he was for his day, insisted that a good man with a bow and arrow was a more useful fighter!

So, from the days of our bow and arrow on, way back in the history of every country of the world, there have been infantrymen who have fought in all wars whether they were Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks or Romans – and they carried every variety of weapon. In the old days, it was fierce hand-to-hand fighting, as it is occasionally today, but for the most part the introduction of firearms has changed the character of the infantryman’s war.

So let us join as a nation in celebrating “Infantry Day” by buying a bond for some particular infantryman, even if our own personal interest happens to be in someone who is in some other branch of the services.

Last night I attended the graduation exercises of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science at the New School for Social Research. Dr. Alvin Johnson, director of the New School, spoke on the problems of the returning soldier. Mr. Louis Weiss, chairman of the board, welcomed me and a young Chinese graduate spoke in the most perfect English as the representative of the whole graduating group.

144

June 15, 1944

Washington – (Wednesday)
I have just finished reading Mr. David Lilienthal’s book, TVA Democracy On The March. I like particularly the way it points up the development of a river and the area surrounding it as a whole. All of the resources are developed in unison for the benefit of all the people in the region. The river provides power but not at the expense of navigation or flood control.

I saw with my own eyes, over a period of years, the change that came about through the control of soil erosion and the improvement of the productivity of the soil, in the actual wellbeing of the people. Their homes which I had seen unpainted and the clothing which I had seen reduced to a minimum, were beginning to improve as the soil improved. I am quite sure that this same pattern can be followed in other regions throughout our nation in the days to come, and may be made useful to the people of India, China, Africa, and South and Central America.

To follow the whole pattern may require a change in our thinking. Instead of thinking narrowly about one specific objective, we must think about the people of a whole region and with that goal in mind, we will do a bigger job which will affect more people; then, we really will see democracy on the march.

I often think that Senator Norris, in looking back over his long and useful life, must feel that in backing this pattern of development he has made a contribution to the wellbeing of the world. He will stand out in future history as one of our statesmen, not only with vision and imagination, but with great humanitarian achievements to his credit.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of entertaining at tea a number of high naval officers from the New York area who came to talk over with Mr. John Golden the prizes which he has offered for plays written by Navy personnel. The Army plays for which he gave prizes were a great success, and I gather that he is also very proud and much interested in the plays which he has received in the current contest.

In the evening, we went to see Carmen Jones which we all enjoyed very much, and Miss Thompson and I took the midnight train back to Washington. Today is a very busy day here as some two hundred representatives of various women’s organizations are meeting at the call of Miss Charl Williams, of the National Education Association; Dr. Minnie L. Maffett, of the Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs; Dr. Kathryn McHale of the American Association of University Women; and Mrs. La Fell Dickinson of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, to consider how women can make themselves more useful in the field of government.

145

June 16, 1944

Washington – (Wednesday)
The all-day meeting which was held here yesterday, I felt accomplished its objective. The organizations represented agreed that they would build up a roster of available women in various fields and this roster would be made obtainable to government officials. They decided to appoint national and international committees which will now, and in the future, present and consider postwar problems. This ought to be of real value and the byproduct may be a greater interest on the part of women in other women who may be qualified either as experts in some particular line, or as policy-making people because of the breadth of their general interest and knowledge.

Last evening, I went to the Women’s National Press Club dinner where Mrs. Elizabeth May Craig turned over the presidency of the club for the coming year to Miss Edith Gaylord.

There is a nice little ceremony which takes place at these annual dinners when the president, who has enjoyed the use of a lovely silver bowl which was given to the club some years ago by Cora Rigby, turns the bowl over to the incoming president and receives in its place a copy which she herself retains. This year, owing to the war, it was impossible to give a duplicate of the bowl, but another old silver piece was found and will remain one of Mrs. Craig’s most treasured possessions, I am sure.

The speaker of the evening was Mr. George E. Sterling of the Federal Communications Commission in charge of what might be called the FBI Service of the Air, who gave us an interesting and instructive talk. I realized again that every occupation has its own vocabulary. And I hope that other people were more familiar with some of the words which Mr. Sterling used than I was.

Today I had some people lunch with me and some more people are coming in for tea and dinner. Tonight, I am off for a long weekend in the country.

I find that in praising “The Twin City Homemakers Section of the American Home Economics Association,” I only mentioned their interest in the extension of the Price Control Act to check inflation, and I did not mention one thing which they feel is most important and which I am glad to add, because I think a great many women are also interested in it. These homemakers want to see quality of all goods tied to the price by a thorough program of grade labeling and standardization. They have carried on a great deal of discussion in their group on this subject, and they are convinced that now is the time for the OPA to educate people along these lines as without this provision they do not feel one hundred percent effectiveness can be obtained. I entirely agree that there should be honest labeling and standardizing of all goods on the market, but I think perhaps at the present time we have so many things to think about, that it would be difficult to get a thorough study and understanding of this question.

146

June 17, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
Last night I attended the graduation exercises of the Capitol Page Boys School. I do hope that before long Congress will put through a plan for a dormitory where these boys can live. I think it would benefit their health and education, and for the younger ones at least, it would make the whole period spent in Washington of more value.

I reached Hyde Park around noon, and this afternoon I have to speak to some of our local clubs gathered together in Red Hook. I will tell you more about them tomorrow.

My old friend, Mrs. Arthur Terry, has written me again begging that I include a mention of her service, “New Eyes For The Needy.” Readers of my column may remember that Mrs. Terry, of the Junior League of Short Hills, New Jersey, receives cast-off spectacles. The gold content is sent to a large refining company in Newark which returns 97% of the actual value. The shell frames are carefully sorted, old lenses removed, and sent to the Seaman’s Institute in New York where they have a resident optician. The only exception is that old-age glasses are sent to the Kentucky Frontier Nursing Service. The frames of shell are fitted to new lenses to suit the people who apply to Mrs. Terry under the doctor’s prescription. No one is paid any salaries and so this is rather a unique service.

One of the Fort Dix camp papers was sent me the other day and I am very much interested in an article about Lt. Col. Colin D. Macrae, who is commanding officer of both the 1229th Reception Center and the 1273rd Separation Center. This is the first such organization set up in the continental United States. In 1942, this officer was assigned to the reception center and has amassed a goodly amount of experience with the men coming in to the service from that time on. Now he says “the transition of men back into civilian life is as important and as far reaching as any problem when we first started to make soldiers out of civilians. Each officer and enlisted man, up for reclassification or separation from the service, is entitled to individual consideration, study and counsel.”

If that plan is followed, this will indeed be a center which can be studied and copied by other separation centers throughout the country. Something like a million men have already come back into civilian life from the armed services, and so this is not an academic problem but a very real one which must be dealt with well, or the Army’s job is really not complete. It took men and turned them into soldiers, and so it has a responsibility to turn them back into good citizens – not unhappy and disillusioned human beings.

147

June 19, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
The country looks very lovely, but we went so long without rain that I am afraid the strawberries throughout our vicinity are a very poor crop this year. Everything looks nice in the garden, however, and we have now had several showers. Having quite a number of children here over the weekend is keeping us all very busy.

I still find myself thinking of that extraordinary feat performed by our air force when it again bombed Japan. When I read about Superfortresses and new weapons such as the Germans are now using, I find myself taking it for granted and fully expecting every day to hear of some new and horrible discovery for the destruction of human beings. If, however, they hasten the end of the war, I shall rejoice and then I hope we turn them all to constructive peacetime uses.

Friday afternoon I went up to Mrs. Herbert E. Saulpaugh’s home in upper Red Hook, New York, for a meeting of the members of the Germantown and Red Hook Garden Clubs and the Red Hook Historical Society. The rooms were crowded and I was worried when I arrived because I thought I was late.

Fortunately, my hostess informed us she had asked her guests to come early so as to have them seated before I came. Most of the women present had sons or husbands or brothers in the war somewhere. One woman said, “I am going home now that I have heard about the Southwest Pacific and I will write to my Marine son who is still down in the Solomons.” Another one said, “My son has been two years and a half in New Guinea, but we are expecting him home any minute.” I could see that it was hard to wait for that moment to arrive.

As soon as I got home I went to the station to meet some guests who were coming for the weekend, and on the station platform I saw three marines. I asked them if they were back from overseas. One boy, who looked well now, told me he had been on Guadalcanal and had had twenty-two attacks of malaria. We talked and he suddenly asked, “Have you been to Guadalcanal?” I said, “Yes, I was there last summer.” He replied, “I didn’t think there had ever been any women there and I used to say I would give a tea party when one arrived.” I told him that Miss Coletta Ryan and I had both been there and that now there was an American Red Cross Club there with women in charge. I was sorry when the train came in because I had begun to feel that we were old friends and that we had many more things which we could talk about.

148

June 20, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
Ever since I answered in a magazine a question about the rights of the families of conscientious objectors, I have been getting innumerable letters from the conscientious objectors themselves and their friends and relatives. I think there should be a clearer understanding of their point of view and what has been done by the government as I understand it.

At the beginning of Selective Service, the federal government took cognizance of the rights of these men and I am now quoting from a document which some of the religious groups have sent me:

On May 15, 1944, the United States completed its third year of moral and legal recognition of the right of drafted men to register conscientious objection to war and to perform, in lieu of military service, designated work of national importance. During these three years, this wartime minority of less than 8,000 drafted men has worked without pay to render to our country more than $25,000,000 in public service. Except for the cost of transportation and technical supervision, this work was done without cost to the federal government. In most cases, the men themselves, their families and their churches pay for their living costs, which amounts to nearly $2,000,000 a year.

The “work of national importance” which Selective Service assigns these conscientious objectors (classified 4-E under the draft law) to perform, consists of helping to protect and conserve our home front resources – both our natural and human resources. To this end, Civilian Public Service camps and units have been set up across the country in areas where conservation needs are great and the war effort has seriously reduced the supply of essential personnel. For instance, 2,800 men in 35 camps are engaged in fighting forest fires, draining swamps, building dams, maintaining national parks, and wildlife resources, and in reclaiming submarginal land. Nearly an equal number of men are performing essential work in 120 small special units throughout the country. They serve as attendants in state hospitals, as dairy men on farms, as “teachers” in state training schools, as farm hands and technicians at state agriculture stations, as human “guinea pigs” in medical research experiments, and as “sanitation engineers” in rural public health projects.

This is certainly a good record of work and it is work which is of national importance. It is, however, not the work which the country really requires of these young men. They would not have been drafted had they previously been working in jobs which the Selective Service Board considered important to the war effort. Many of them feel that in doing the work assigned to them, they are not using their capacities to the limit and that they could be more useful in other ways. However, the work in which they could be more useful is work in which their conscientious objection prevents their taking part.

I will continue the discussion of this in an ensuing column.

149

June 21, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Tuesday)
Conscientious objectors feel that Great Britain has become “more enlightened” than the United States, since many of them over there have been able to pursue their own vocations, or do the work which they themselves have chosen to do for the nation during the war period. The British conscientious objectors feel that they have been more useful and that they are treated with greater intelligence by their government and this opinion is shared by conscientious objectors here.

I cannot help feeling very sorry for honest conscientious objectors, for I am quite sure many a young man must find it bitter to let other young men of his own age die and fight and give up time in occupations they care little about.

It is only because of these young men, however, who are willing to fight that anyone can indulge himself in a personal viewpoint. Someday, perhaps, the world will be the kind of civilized place in which we can all live in safety according to our own lights. But it isn’t that kind of a place today, and so you and I are defended in our peaceful lives at home by those who will do what their government asks of them, no matter what that task may be.

It is true that conscientious objectors have earned and saved much money for the government. It is true that they have made the lives of patients in state hospitals more bearable than they have ever been before. It is true that those who are willing to work in factories or military medical establishments, and some of them actually in danger zones or in the field of battle, have done heroic deeds and are fine people. But they are doing what they want to do. They are not the same kind of citizens as are the men in the armed services. For this reason, Congress has not appropriated money to pay them or to help their dependents on the same basis as the men drafted into the armed services.

It is hard on the families, but that is the price of doing what one believes in. Some men go to prison and will not do anything during the period of war and that again is the price of doing what you believe in. When the day arrives when war is no more, these men may feel that they have hastened it. In the meantime, however, as the world is constituted today they might not be alive or they might be slaves to other more warlike people if some of their brothers were not willing to defend them against other warlike peoples.

150

June 22, 1944

New York – (Wednesday)
Yesterday morning as I read the news, I could not but be encouraged by Mr. Churchill’s suggestion of hope for a more rapid ending of the war than had seemed possible in the past. There is no one who will not pray for the war to come to an end soon. In the meantime, we rejoice that we have been victorious and that our men have fought so gallantly.

I cannot help having a heavy heart, however, for I know that even though the casualties are lighter than the war command expected, whatever man has lost his life is the one important person to some family, and many men, women and children are going to feel that life is hardly worth living when the person they love best is gone.

In these dark hours which must be lived through by so many people, I think there is only one thing which can remain a fixed point in the darkness – namely, the determination that the sacrifices of youth in this generation shall not be in vain.

As individuals we feel sometimes we can do very little, but in a democracy, each individual has to fully live up to the obligations of his citizenship. Unless he expresses himself, those obligations may go unfulfilled. So, each of us has the obligation to know how to make our citizenship count. We have to make up our minds on the big and little questions of national and local policies and on the people whom we choose to represent us and to carry responsibility in our government. In that way, if we are wise, we will keep true to the ideals of the men who fight the war, and by continuing to carry our full responsibility in peacetime we may feel that those who died are really living on.

I came down from the country yesterday morning and attended a lunch given by the New York City Federation of Women’s Clubs, Manhattan division, to start off their Bond Drive. They hope to sell enough bonds to buy three hospital planes. This is a great goal – $375,000 worth, but the odds are that it can be achieved, and I wish the women of the NYC Federation of Women’s Clubs an overwhelming success.

In the afternoon I attended a meeting at the Cosmopolitan Club called by the directors of the Vocational Foundation to consider the possibility of establishing a shelter for girls in New York City. The courts are finding it difficult to know where to place girls for a few days either before a court decision is made in each case, or when the girls return from a correctional institution. I am no longer on the board of directors of the Vocational Foundation, but I was glad to be able to arrange for the meeting to be held at the club and, because of that very minor service, I was made the guest of honor for the occasion!

151

June 23, 1944

Syracuse, New York – (Thursday)
On Wednesday morning I worked for a little while in preparation for a program on the War Bond Drive in which I will take part next week if all goes well. Then I visited the Red Cross Prisoners of War Packaging Center at 39 Chambers Street at the invitation of Mrs. T. H. Roulston, captain of the chapter. The wives and relatives of prisoners of war work here very faithfully and through their efforts many things go overseas to our men who would otherwise suffer even more than they do.

At five o’clock, Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr., Mrs. Gladys Tillett. Mrs. Trude Pratt, Miss Josephine Schain, Miss Betty Goodwin and I took the train for Syracuse where Miss Doris Byrne, vice chairman of the Democratic State Committee, invited us to attend a meeting of the Democratic Women of New York State, today. It is a long time since I have been to a meeting of this kind in New York State. And it is a great pleasure to see some old friends and meet the new people who carry on the work of the Democratic Party in the state.

Being here has also given me the opportunity of seeing Mr. Leo Casey, an old friend, who always manages to come and meet me when I am in this area. I also have been able to visit the USO, the bond-selling booth at the Merchants Bank, and the Women’s Victory Center. After the meeting of Democratic women was over, we had a delightful social hour and indulged in conversation – which many gentlemen think is our only occupation, but which truly takes up a small part of our time. The Girl Scouts have been on hand and I have had an opportunity to greet them.

I have before me a letter from Mr. James Gerrard, president of the Servicemen’s Breakfast Club of San Bernardino, California. He enclosed a story from the newspapers but sadly says that they need a little more publicity to get people to make regular contributions so that the club may continue bringing in servicemen and giving them a really good Sunday morning breakfast, consisting of “eggs, ham or bacon, coffee, jams and jelly and homemade hot biscuits.” He says that all the work is voluntary and the only expense is food, but people just don’t seem to remember that food has to be bought every time there is a breakfast, and when the breakfast is over – particularly where servicemen are concerned – there is no food left.

Mr. Gerrard adds that occasionally the boys are broke, and they have to provide them with a little financial help. Every mother and father will smile at this. The whole idea seems to me a very praiseworthy Sunday morning occupation and I am sure that more men go out to church after having been fed than would otherwise have done so. This seems to be a purely local affair, but I wish wherever there are a good many camps in a neighborhood, similar things could be done by the people of a nearby town. I am sure they would be much appreciated.

152

June 24, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
Last evening in Syracuse, the committee of Russian War Relief, Inc., held a meeting which seemed to me to be a great success. The patriotic societies and some of the churches participated and I was glad to have the opportunity to urge people to do all they can to help the Russian people when they need it so badly.

Judging by Mr. Eric Johnston, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and its report of his talks in Moscow, the Russians in the future are planning to buy as much from us and more than we will be able to sell them, and Mr. Johnston seems to think that we can mutually benefit each other. The importance of helping out now is that for the future we want to forge friendly bonds with each other and this can best be done by giving help when help is really needed.

Early this morning, we left by train and arrived in Poughkeepsie only in time to have a brief lunch and then go to Rhinebeck where I had promised to speak to the League of Women Voters. This afternoon, some people are coming to spend the weekend, and so our very quiet country life seems to be rather busy. I look forward, however, to three nights in the country and the peace and quiet of the countryside.

I have been asked to bring to my readers’ attention the fact that there is a National Odd-Shoe Exchange in St. Louis, Missouri. I do not know if this will seem to you as novel an idea as it did to me at first, yet I now see how useful and necessary it is. In writing to me about it, the director, Miss Ruth C. Rubin says:

This organization is for persons, who, through disease or injury wear shoes of different sizes and persons who, because of amputation wear just one shoe.

Many of these individuals must buy two pairs of shoes in order to get one properly fitting pair. Not only does this involve a double expense, but presents another problem – what to do with the other pair of mismates in order to keep them from going to waste.

I know that there are a number of odd shoe exchanges scattered throughout the country. But they have been poorly publicized and are not known by those who really need them.

Many things are going to be needed in the future that were not needed in the past and each time I find something which is a surprise to me, I realize that it is because there are new needs in the world and therefore, I pass them on to you.

Just lately, I have had a great many letters from boys overseas and in my next column I want to tell you about one of them because it is about a subject which is very important to all of us just now.

153

June 26, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Sunday)
Here is the letter from a young man overseas which I promised you because it carries a message to all of us at home:

There is one great fear in the heart of every serviceman and it is not that he will be killed or maimed, but that when he is finally allowed to go home and piece together what he can of life, he will be made to feel that he was a “sucker” for the sacrifice that he has made. I am telling you this because I think it is important that you should know it.

Since beginning this letter I have had dinner at our officers’ mess. There were four of us at the table, all total strangers to each other, three officers and one woman reporter. It was not long before we began discussing just what I have written to you, and oddly enough I heard my own fears voiced by my two fellow officers, one a major and the other a second lieutenant.

They both agreed that they wished people at home would stop being fed “glamorous headlines,” and holding “hysterical prayer meetings for D-Day” and sit down and think of the endless tedium which is war, and which the aftermath of war will surely be. No newspaperman will cover himself with glory or get himself a pay increase by reporting “ETO exiles want home front reassurance” instead of “I was under fire at Tarawa,” but it might be a boon to all concerned.

The meaning is clear. The men who do the fighting are wondering if we at home realize that they have given up months and years of their lives which they never can recover; they want to be sure that we at home are using this time in a way which will be of value to them. Will we see that they have a better job, a better chance when they come home, for health, education, working conditions, professional standards and above all, for a peaceful world in the future?

This requires of us thinking through a great many problems but it is the only way we can keep faith with those who fight and die or come back to live when the war is over.

Yesterday was a nice day in spite of the fact that clouds covered the sky off and on until late afternoon. We had some nice guests who swam with us in the morning and then we had a picnic lunch.

In the afternoon, I went to the Anderson school, halfway between Hyde Park and Staatsburgh. I remembered the place when it belonged to the Landons, but the trees are even lovelier and it has lost none of its charm. These are some 130 young people in the school and I was glad of the opportunity to give their commencement address and to wish them good luck in their next step into an adventurous world.

154

June 27, 1944

New York – (Monday)
Over the air there came yesterday the news of the tremendous gains of the Russians. Marshal Stalin is quoted as prophesying the collapse of Germany at almost any moment!

Of course, none of us can tell when that collapse will actually take place, but when it does take place, the months of planning which have been going on, first under the military authorities covering their period of responsibility and then under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Committee, will bear fruit.

I could not help thinking again, however, of the steps which must follow. Do you remember an article which came out in the New York Sunday Times of August 15, 1943, written by Mr. Upton Sinclair, entitled “To Solve the German Problem – A Free State?” I mentioned it at the time but have since reread it. He reminded us that, on entering Europe, we would find that Germany had wiped out, during the war, the lines of competition among the different countries, had centralized all industry, thus doing away with tariff walls, customs, etc., for the whole of Europe.

In his article, Mr. Sinclair made the suggestion that, wherever Germany had concentrated this economic empire, we create a free state and set up a corporation made up of representatives of all the United Nations, to run these industries and manage this free state for the whole of Europe. It would be a non-profit undertaking planned along the lines of a great cooperative. This would be the most rapid way of providing people of Europe with the things they must have to become self-sustaining, Mr. Sinclair thought. He listed, as the immediate needs, farm machinery, textiles, processing plants, canning factories, railroad rolling stock, automobiles. In fact, everything which people need to start again a peacetime economy would have to be created from scratch.

Whether Mr. Sinclair’s idea of a free state and a non-profit corporation or cooperative organization is a good one or not, I cannot tell. However, I am glad that, as much as a year ago, he threw out this challenge, for I am sure it must have started many competent people to work on the problem of how the people of Europe are to be provided with these necessities as rapidly as possible. It is obvious that it will take a long time to unscramble everything the Nazis have done. Therefore, if we can use what they have set up to the advantage of the whole of Europe, it is worth considering.

Perhaps these plans have already been made, but I am sure the people of the world are anxious to know about them, for uncertainty on all of these problems must weigh heavily on men and women all over Europe, and we too will be greatly affected by whatever is undertaken.

155

June 28, 1944

New York – (Tuesday)
Yesterday I went out to spend the day in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, New Jersey, with my cousin, Mrs. Henry Parish. I never enter the park gates without thinking that this was the place where Thomas Alva Edison lived for so many years; and the peace and quiet of this sheltered spot seems well adapted to the creative work which he accomplished.

I think it is important for all of us to realize that in the modern world, where we live so much in crowds, with constant noise and activity around us, all human beings need periods of peace and quiet. It is not only necessary physically, but it is even more necessary mentally and spiritually. No creative work, it seems to me, can be accomplished unless people sometimes have quiet and peace around them. It is hard to find such peace in this war period. In industrial centers all over the country, people have been herded together in such great numbers that privacy and quiet are almost forgotten blessings.

One of the great drawbacks of extreme poverty is the necessity for herding people together in limited space. One of the blessings of life in the rural areas is the fact that any child or adult can escape and be alone with nature at a moment’s notice.

I notice that in Chicago, where the Republicans are proceeding about the business of nominating a candidate for the presidency, there seems to be some agitation shown in a plea for unity within the party. That has rarely been necessary in the Republican Party in the past, and yet today it seems to be necessary in both political parties. Does this indicate a greater independence of thought, or a need in both parties to redefine the things for which we stand?

Someone sent me a story the other day about a newsletter which Mr. Lee Hill now sends out to thousands of our servicemen all over the world. The samples of this letter are amusing. Primarily it is about sports, but there are always a few additional stories or comments thrown in. Mr. Hill feels, and I think he is probably right, that this letter is a real contribution to the men in the services, and he is willing to send it to any man whose name and address is sent to him.

All one has to do is to send the names and addresses to Roger L. Treat, Sports Editor, Washington Daily News, 1013-13th Street NW, Washington DC. He will pass the list on to Mr. Hill. So, if your man in the service cares about sports, take advantage of Mr. Hill’s generous offer.

156

June 29, 1944

New York – (Wednesday)
Yesterday afternoon, a fine woman named Mrs. Rusk joined Mrs. Morgenthau and myself in a broadcast which had as its objective the awakening of interest among women to do their full part in the War Bond Drive and in war work. Mrs. Rusk confided to me that the boy in the service for whom she was buying bonds out of her weekly earnings is her only child, now overseas. It must be terrible to know that the dearest person you have in the world is fighting in Normandy, and not to be able to get any word from him for weeks on end.

When we were talking, I realized how hard it is to have only one person in whom all your love is centered. If you have more children you may have more concern since at all times some of them are apt to be in danger, but you do not have the sense of being totally vulnerable to one blow of fate.

The answer probably is that there is no way to compare degrees of worry or suffering. All you can do is to try to do your part in achieving the great objectives for which we fight, so that there always remains a sense of having something which you must do to keep faith with those you love.

I have spent a considerable amount of time listening to the radio during the Republican Convention. I heard Governor Warren, Rep. Martin, ex-President Hoover and Mrs. Luce. A little later on, those of us who listen to both sides will hear different interpretations of certain occurences and a recital of some of the facts which are always omitted according to the interests of the speakers.

Mrs. Ray Clapper, in her radio comments on Mrs. Luce’s speech, said she spoke with evident emotion, and there was no question but that Mrs. Clapper was moved when she made her comments. Mrs. Luce used very cleverly the appeal to all of us of “G.I. Joe” and “G.I. Jim.” But I wondered, if we stood with these men before St. Peter, what any of us, Republicans or Democrats, could say with complete certainty of the future.

Just what conditions will we face at the end of the war? Just what will those conditions require of us as individuals and as a nation? One thing seems so often to be forgotten – plans and promises may all be honest and the administration of them my be remarkably well thought out, but we deal with all kinds of human beings – those who are motivated by greed and lust and hate, as well as those motivated by love and unselfishness and a desire to benefit others besides themselves.

The only thing we know with absolute certainty is that, in the future which lies before us, the one important thing is the kind of human beings who will predominate in our country and in the other countries of the world.

157

June 30, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Thursday)
In his column the other day, Ernie Pyle said that he was writing a collection of “Items,” and I have a feeling that I should do the same, for I have so many unrelated things that I want to talk about. I’ll have to take them one at a time, however.

First of all, I have had a number of letters from women who feel resentful because in the reports of overseas actions, so often those who write in newspapers or talk over the air minimize our losses. In reporting a bombing mission, for instance, they will say: “Only six bombers failed to return.” That little word “Only,” when it is read by a woman whose son or whose husband was on one of those lost bombers, creates a sense of deep bitterness. The Nazis have minimized the value of human life, and these women ask: “Have we become so contaminated by fighting against them that we do not treasure every individual?”

One woman picks out a report written on the Normandy beachhead: “Opposition was only a nuisance; German snipers killed quite a few men.” I realize that in comparison to the estimates which must be made before any attack, of the possible loss of human life, the actual loss seems small and these reporters express relief. Ernie Pyle, however, seems to have the greatest understanding of the feelings of the people at home, and he rarely makes such mistakes. So he often brings healing to hurt souls instead of adding sorrow.

A friend of mine in England, who has two boys fighting in Burma, sent me a poem which should make many of us who are fortunate enough not to have lost any loved ones so far in this war, more alive to the feelings of others. The poem is entitled “We Who Have Husbands at Home.”

We who have husbands at home should be very quiet
For we do not know
The meaning of days, nor yet do we understand
The hush of houses where in shadow go
The unheard footsteps, the invisible faces of men.
Let us not speak
Too loudly of war restrictions and rationing and in the black-out
For there are eyes that seek
Empty horizons, skies and deserts and sad gray seas,
And a sign from God.
While we who have husbands at home look in the shops
For wool perhaps, or cod
Let us remember, when we complain of the winters cold
There are others here
Who have held in the moonless dark of a thousand nights
The hand of fear,
And have walked for years in desolate barren valleys
Where no flowers grow
We who have husbands at home should be very quiet,
For we do not know.

158

July 1, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Friday)
I took my first bicycle ride of this season yesterday morning, through the woods to the big house, and found the mosquitoes very active and unpleasant companions. The woods looked very beautiful, however, and are a joy to go through. When my husband did so much tree cutting last year, I was in despair, and thought that the scars would never be covered over, but nature heals quickly, and now one would hardly know that any of the big trees had been cut down.

Mrs. Max Ascoli, Mrs. Trude Pratt and I went to the graduation exercises at the Wiltwyck School yesterday afternoon. I can think of no more rewarding work than teaching and caring for these little boys. They have had so little in their short lives that they bloom under affectionate care. They conducted their own exercises and gave a play depicting scenes in their school life which was extremely clever. They invited their director, Dr. Cooper, to address them, and he told them how proud they made him by their achievements.

Many of these little boys are problem children because of their former environments. Some of them will require a great deal of patience and training before their problems are worked out, but if the staff is successful, it will be even more gratifying than success with a child whose life has always run smoothly.

By six-thirty I had picked up Miss Marion Dickerman and her mother, and my sister-in-law, Mrs. J. R. Roosevelt, and we went to the Methodist Church in the village for the Democratic Women’s Club meeting, at which Miss Dickerman spoke. She took the Republican convention as her topic, and I thought she gave the women present some very good material with which to work.

At the dinner I had a chance to talk to many of the women who have boys in faraway places. One of them told me that her boy is a Marine and has been in the Pacific for nearly two years. These long stretches of duty, without any fixed rotation policy, give people so little to which they can look forward. I hope that before long it will be possible to tell men more definitely that at the end of certain periods of service in far distant places, they may be able to get home for a given length of time.

Now for a “second” item. Mrs. Arthur Terry asks me to please add to what I said the other day about her work. Everybody getting eyeglasses through her charity gets an examination by a competent eye man, and new lenses are provided. No money is spent on overhead, so this can be done out of what is paid for the old gold.

159

July 3, 1944

Poughkeepsie, New York – (Sunday)
I want to mention a special election issue which I received in June from the New York League of Women Voters. It is their Monthly News sheet, and it gives a great deal of information which is valuable to the people of New York State in an election year. I imagine that nationally, the league is giving similar information to its members in every state.

With my little monthly news came a single sheet in which the essentials for the political party platforms on foreign policy were printed, and while these are very general, they embody the minimum of what we should expect in our foreign policy planks. Finally, a sheet was enclosed with cartoons depicting the importance of taking part in the nominating primaries, because so often we find ourselves faced with the fact that we do not like the nominees of either party. But because we have taken no interest before election day, we decide that bad as the choice may be, we will vote with our traditional party. That seems to me to be the best way of getting an unrepresentative form of government.

Next, I want to speak of something which has been done in Kansas. They have made a survey recently of their areas where libraries are lacking, and then they sent a travelling book exhibit around. In one county they circulated books to the various rural schools for a long time, but this travelling exhibit created excitement everywhere in cities and rural areas.

This book exhibit is designed to arouse the interest of children in reading, to introduce them to “good books, new books, recent books.” As a result, the children expressed the wish that some of these books could be either in their homes, or at least in the public library. They are preaching more libraries and more books in Kansas, but they are also trying to stimulate the young people to enjoy reading. There never was a time when there were more interesting and attractive books for young people, so there is no excuse if we fail to awaken in our children a real desire to learn through reading.

I wonder how many of you who have children also know about the William T. Hornaday Foundation. Dr. Hornaday always wanted to “open wide to youth all gateways to nature,” so in his memory, this foundation is trying to establish children’s museums both in crowded urban areas and in rural areas. I have seen how much the children enjoy these museums planned for their benefit, and I am sure that this is one of the ways in which we can promote a development of a very healthy interest in nature.

160

July 4, 1944

Hyde Park, New York – (Monday)
This column will come out on the Fourth of July. That day was devoted to the setting off of firecrackers in my childhood. We started by putting the biggest bunch we were allowed to have under a tin can, lighting the fuse, and waiting with baited breath until the big noise would shatter the peace of the summer morning and awaken my grandmother. We saved our pocket money for weeks beforehand, and begged all we could from our elders, but at best our firecrackers never lasted beyond breakfast time.

The day was a joy to us and a discomfort to our elders, but it was the dogs who suffered most. They crawled under the beds and sofas and stayed there until our supply of firecrackers was exhausted. When evening came our elders set off some firecrackers for us, and we were allowed to hold the Roman candles, which we did with considerable trepidation. That was the climax of a perfect day.

In those days I am afraid I thought very little about why we celebrated this day, but today when firecrackers are out of the question, children and their elders are much more apt to think of the real things which make July 4 an important date to all of us.

The fathers of our country were young men when they wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence – it was a young man’s document and it expressed the faith and hope and ideals of youth. Ex-President Hoover, in his speech the other night, said that the Republican Party recognized that this was a time when youth would take over. Comparatively few states have made it really easy to be in the armed services, still assurance was given to both the men and the women in the services that they would be consulted and have a voice in our policies for the future. This is in line with our tradition – good, sound, old American doctrine.

People in the older nations of Europe must have laughed at the young upstarts who thought they could put into words anything which would so inspire a people that a new country would be founded and shape its policies in accord with their declaration. The amusement did them no harm, and neither will it hurt the young people of today if they speak out their convictions and write from their hearts.

Many of the things which were said in the original declaration I think the youth of today will reaffirm. It would be hard to improve on: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” These are brave words, and the men who wrote them meant them, for they ended thus: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” That is what the youth of today is carrying out. God grant their elders help them.