Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (1945)

21

January 24, 1945

New York – (Tuesday)
Yesterday was chiefly taken up with short visits from a variety of people. One lady came to ask me to come to a meeting in the Midwest, which unfortunately I could not arrange to do, and another one to tell me of recent activities of the group interested in Union Now.

At 5 o’clock my husband and I received some distinguished guests from overseas. Among other things, we were distressed to hear that the Nazis have imposed a particularly cruel regime on the Dutch people. The Dutch have some ships that can carry needed supplies to their country, and as soon as it is possible, I hope the War Fund and other interested agencies will send whatever they can to the aid of these courageous Dutchmen.

Last evening my husband’s aunt, Mrs. Price Collier, stayed with us, as did Mrs. Peter Cochrane, and after dinner we saw the movie called Meet Me in St. Louis, which was charming and gave us all a pleasant evening. I found myself, however, hurriedly finishing up the mail after saying goodnight to everybody, and then Miss Thompson and I finally got off to the train about midnight.

New York this morning looked gray and gloomy, its streets fairly filled with snow which is now pretty dirty. From the windows of our apartment, Washington Square still gives some illusion of cleanliness, and the bare trees are graceful against the sky.

This will be a busy day. First, at Judge Jonah J. Goldstein’s invitation, I am going to sit in his court for an hour this morning to observe the new methods used in handling youthful offenders. Then I am going to a luncheon given by a group of organizations comprising the American Education Fellowship, the Child Study Association of America, the Editors of the Survey Publications, the National Child Labor Committee, the National Committee on Housing, the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Council on Parent Education and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The subject is the future of the American family, since all these groups are concerned about keeping the American family strong.

The changes have been so great in our way of living in the last few years that sometimes I wonder if people stop to think what they mean when they talk about the American way of life. It meant something quite different three generations ago than it does today. I think most of us, when we use the phrase, think of the way of life which Whittier described, and not at all of the way of life we face in 1945. It was largely a rural life, with very small towns and cities, when the phrase “the American way of life” first came into being. Certain fundamentals have not changed, but conditions under which we have to strive for those fundamental things would hardly be recognized by our ancestors.

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January 25, 1945

New York – (Wednesday)
I must say just a word or two more to you about the handling of youthful offenders in the court which I visited yesterday morning. Judge Goldstein treated the boys and girls with dignity and solemnity, and I felt that his attitude must have made a real impression upon them.

As you read their records, however, you realized that it was not the boys themselves who were entirely to blame for their crimes. Part of the blame must lie in the environment in which they lived, the economic situation which their families had faced and the weaknesses of their parents. Over and over again you would read: “Lives in a squalid tenement,” or “Father alcoholic” or “Both parents alcoholic.” How could you blame the boy not yet 18, working in an industry where he sometimes earned 83 or 87 cents an hour, if he used the money to get a drink. After he starts drinking, many things are sure to go wrong.

Surely the Lord must wonder sometimes whether we will ever learn to be our brother’s keeper, in the right sense of that phrase. This court is a step in the right direction. Unless, however, we work on better housing for the nation; on better economic conditions; on better health programs; on better education; and, in spite of having spent billions of dollars on the war, unless we learn to spend some portion in the same way on building for peace, our civilization stands little chance of meeting the test which religion imposes upon us all. If Christ’s life is the pattern by which we must live before we attain salvation and peace, certainly the people that I saw in court yesterday have had few evidences in their lives that that is the real objective to which the people around them aspire.

It seems sometimes as though many of the men whose names are prominent among us, and who carry heavy responsibility, thought more of the security of their money than of the security of human beings, and that they judged men more by their ability to handle money with wisdom and acumen than by their ability to use money for the benefit of human beings.

In the afternoon I spoke briefly for the graduating class of the Central High School of Needle Trades. This school not only has a high school course, but gives the girls and boys a chance for two years of college work which trains them for better positions in the garment trades industry.

Last evening, I attended a dinner given by the Refugee Relief Fund of the Coat and Suit Industry. They have raised a fund, through their label system, which is divided among various organizations, such as the National War Fund, the Greater New York Fund and the refugee agency. They raise a separate fund for the Red Cross, and in addition, of course, carry on many individual gifts; and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union gives large sums also to refugees and for other purposes.

I enjoyed my evening, but was glad to get home before midnight, since this morning I had to be up to catch a 9:20 train to Poughkeepsie to visit the Wiltwyck School.

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January 26, 1945

WASHINGTON, Thursday – Every time I take people to the Wiltwyck School at Esopus, New York, I am impressed by the fact that, by contact with the boys and with the faculty, they come away having acquired an appreciation of the work being done and an understanding of the atmosphere which Dr. Cooper and his staff create – an atmosphere which cannot be put into words. There is no sense of institutionalism in the school. They boys are free and happy, just in the way they would be at any other school. Entirely forgotten is the fact that they were sent there because they were considered too difficult to handle at other institutions. You simply think of them as normal, happy children being given an opportunity for development in a sensible, pleasant environment.

Our train was late going up to Poughkeepsie, and so we did not reach our own house at Hyde Park for lunch until 2:30; and in a half hour we started again for the station. Luckily, we caught a belated express train and reached New York City around 6 o’clock. I took the subway from Grand Central to 14th Street, and then got out and walked, to discover for the first time how the wind had come up and how cold it was. There is something about beating against the wind which is exhilarating, however, and then the contrast on reaching home gives one such a warm and sheltered feeling.

Miss Thompson, Mrs. Lash and I had a rather leisurely dinner, and then I went to a meeting of the United Veterans of the Second World War, Inc. When I arrived, a speaker was explaining the loan system under the G.I. Bill of Rights, and after my talk we had a long discussion period. The questions ranged over a great number of subjects, from the fear of Russia to the shortcomings of the Veterans’ Administration.

I have been asked to draw attention to the fact that, in addition to the nurses needed for our military hospitals, there are women needed in the armed services proper to become laboratory technicians, nurses’ aides, and in every way to supplement the work of the registered nurses. If a girl feels that she wants to work in the hospitals, but still does not want to take a nurse’s training, there are many possibilities open in the armed services for being of help to the boys. You must take basic training and then have whatever additional technical training is needed, but it is not as long an ordeal as becoming a nurse.

The other day I was sent a copy of a very delightful letter written by a father who is serving as an officer in our army in Italy, after he had received a membership card in the National Parent-Teachers Association. The letter shows great appreciation of what the mothers are doing at home – running their houses, caring for their children, and carrying the full burden by themselves in addition to the constant anxiety about their husbands. I hope many a woman, when she feels somewhat cast down, will remember how much her job means to a man far away.

24

January 27, 1945

WASHINGTON, Friday – In the past two days I spent a longer time on reading the newspapers than I usually spend, and that is because I have done what I hope every other interested person is doing. I have read the full statements made by Jesse H. Jones and Henry Wallace, and as much of the questioning as was reported in the papers. The reason I hope that other citizens throughout this nation have taken the time to do this same thing is that I think they will find the two statements, with the questions and answers, a great help in clarifying their own thinking.

Mr. Jones has been for years a gentleman well known in business circles. Mr. Wallace was primarily a farmer, and the one business he was engaged in grew out of his scientific farming knowledge.

We are frequently told that farming is not an occupation where people accumulate vast incomes, but that we are a nation where a great many people still go in for farming because they like it as a way of life. Mr. Wallace has been, in his chosen field, successful; but much of his time has been given to government work, and some of his most successful experience in business has come through government work. Directing the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Farm Security Administration, the Farm Credit Administration and the Rural Electrification Administration, and making some $6,000,000,000 worth of loans is proof of vast experience, however.

What stands out, as you read – at least, for me – is that one man is looking backwards and the other man is looking forward. We are at a period, it seems to me, where this attitude of mind is not something which you can judge by physical age. Some old men, like Albert Einstein, are always looking forward.

I do not think it is time wasted to read carefully what these two men have to say and to decide where one stands oneself, because it is a fundamental decision which is going to face many of us, and not just in any one field. Who is to be the Secretary of Commerce and who is to have the powers of the RFC are perhaps the immediate questions before Congress, and the rest of the country is deeply interested; but the interest of the rest of the country is even deeper than this particular decision. We know, we people in the United States, that the world is facing new and unpredictable conditions. We know that to meet these conditions we will have to have realists leading us who face what the conditions are. At the same time, we know that adherence to old and outmoded answers may lead to destruction.

I have always had complete faith in the power of the American people to make up their minds as to what they wanted, and to be wise in their decisions, if they had at hand the facts on which to base their judgments. In this particular moment of our history, I think the statements made by Mr. Jones and Mr. Wallace are essential facts which the American people need to have in making their decisions for the future.

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January 29, 1945

WASHINGTON, Sunday – Friday I talked for a while with a representative of the East and West Association, and was interested to hear of the plans for their meetings here in Washington. The effort to acquaint us with Oriental people and to change our rather narrow conception of them is a good preparation for what we all hope will be better cooperation in the future.

A few friends came to lunch that day, among them Miss Marcia Dalrymple of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, who has just visited nine of the Latin American countries. She was most enthusiastic about her trip and spoke especially of the work which the women are doing in the various countries to improve the standard of living among the people.

There is, of course, a great deal to be done from the point of view of health and nutrition and education, and many of those countries are beginning today on things which have long been accomplished in the United States. Therefore, we can be of real assistance. The head of the Department of Education in Nicaragua is at present studying in this country and came to see me not long ago. Miss Dalyrymple feels, as I do, that the exchange of students and teachers, and the visits privately arranged among men representing different professions or business occupations, will be of great value both to us and to our Central and South American neighbors.

Much of the prosperity of the next few years lies in the development of untapped resources in these countries to the south of us. One young veteran, at the meeting of veterans which I attended in New York the other night, asked me where jobs are going to be found and how we expected to have full employment after the war. I pointed out to him that it was the development of resources in other countries, and the buying of their goods, which will enable us to sell them ours, and that our jobs depend on better conditions for them.

In the afternoon I attended a meeting called by John McGarraghy, chairman of the Recreation Services, Inc, at the United Nations Service Center, to discuss the possibility of meeting the recreation needs of government girl workers more adequately than is now being done. It seemed to be the consensus of opinion that more recreational opportunities were not needed, but that getting the information of what is now available to the girls is not being successfully done. In addition, it was felt that because many of them live far away from the places where they work, and often do not want to go home between the end of work and the time for a dinner engagement or a movie, some kind of downtown center might be of real value. Whether this can be accomplished or not will have to be explored.

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January 30, 1945

WASHINGTON, Monday – Saturday morning I took four youngsters to the Smithsonian Institute. We looked at President Theodore Roosevelt’s African animals, at the various Indian tribe exhibits which are so well arranged in cases and which give such a good idea of the way of life of the various tribes, and also at their arts, which we try so hard now to revive. Finally, the children had a good look at the dinosaur, and decided it was not a very attractive skeleton.

In the afternoon a little ten-year old infantile paralysis victim, Master Bobby Riggio, came to present me with a bag of dimes which came in as a result of his broadcast over the Blue Network. We had a photograph taken among all the bags of dimes that are constantly reaching the White House these days, and that show what a nation can do when it works on a cooperative basis!

At 4 p.m. a government worker who is a victim of spastic paralysis was brought by one of the other workers in her department to see me. There is a growing agitation throughout the country about these victims, who suffer because of some injury at birth. Their minds are not usually impaired, but they need special care and special training to accomplish the maximum of which they are capable. Unfortunately, very few states have adequate hospitals and schools for these young victims. Judging from the number of letters which I am receiving on the subject, it is one of the neglected aspects of public health, and a great many people with afflicted children feel very strongly about it.

Some friends of ours brought their children in late Saturday afternoon. The youngsters all enjoyed a movie and we had supper together rather early, which left all the elders a full evening for work.

On Sunday we had the pleasure of entertaining Lt. Gen. Sir William Dobbie and Lady Dobbie, the British Ambassador and Lady Halifax, and the Honorable Richard Wood. Gen. Dobbie is the hero of Malta and is here on a speaking tour, I was delighted to have this opportunity of meeting him and Lady Dobbie.

Last night we went to the command performance for the infantile paralysis campaign, and enjoyed very much the delightful and very amusing play, Dear Ruth. It was well acted and gave us a most entertaining evening. I had enjoyed meeting the members of the cast at tea in the White House in the afternoon, and was glad to have that opportunity to thank them for their generosity.

This morning, I am going to New York City to attend the dinner which is being given tonight in honor of Henry Wallace.

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January 31, 1945

WASHINGTON, Tuesday – This is a busy day. I got in early this morning, having taken the midnight train down from New York City after the dinner to Henry Wallace, which was an outstanding success. Mrs. John Roosevelt and I had breakfast on the sun porch with the children, a very cheerful way to begin the day.

At 10 o’clock I had to dress for the evening and give a preview of the President’s broadcast for the benefit of our newsreel friends. I don’t know why one feels so foolish putting on one’s best bib and tucker and the accompanying ornaments in the light of day, but I certainly did feel foolish!

A press conference at 11, at which Lt. Col. Katherine Goodwin of the WACs came to speak of the need for medical WACs to help in the various military hospitals in this country. The drive will begin on February 1, and they hope to recruit some 8,000 women.

At one o’clock Basil O’Connor is bringing some of the trustees of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, together with the movie stars who have been kind enough to come and do the rounds of the birthday balls tonight, for an informal buffet luncheon. I wish I could offer them more formal entertainment, but unfortunately it is not possible to get either the food or the service which we have had in former years.

This afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Leland Harrison are coming to tea with me and our old friends, Judge and Mrs. William H. Denman of California, who will have early dinner with us before I start on my rounds of birthday balls.

At 11:40 p.m. I will be back at the White House to read the President’s broadcast, which he is not able to do this year owing to war conditions. Then I will return to the Statler Hotel to cut the birthday cake at midnight.

So, you see this is a lengthy celebration. Yet the results in dimes and dollars accomplish so much that we all feel repaid for whatever we have been able to do!

In speaking of the play, Dear Ruth, yesterday, I forgot to mention that it was directed by Moss Hart, and that he came down with the cast, much to my pleasure. When he appeared at the door, however, he was a bearded gentleman in a USO uniform, and for a minute I did not recognize him. Then it dawned upon me who he was, and he explained that he was just back from a trip on a flattop. In fact, for five months Mr. Hart has been entertaining troops in different parts of the world, and now he is about to start for another war area to play in The Man Who Came to Dinner.

I am filled with admiration for what these artists do. Trips such as they take are exhausting and dangerous. But their reward lies in the best audiences any artists have ever had, and that seems to be sufficient recompense.

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February 1, 1945

WASHINGTON, Wednesday – I was very much impressed last night, as I went from birthday ball to birthday ball, by the number of men in uniform who were taking part in these celebrations. Of course, it is obvious that men who are free to do anything of this kind and who are in Washington are the men who are busy all day in various offices.

Still, I think it also shows that the appeal of a home front battle is strong for the man who has to fight our battles overseas. Perhaps if you are fighting for your country in faraway places, when you come home you are more conscious that you want your country to be the best possible place to live in, both for yourself and your children. This, I hope, augurs more responsible citizenship from our returned service men.

This morning, I went out to Walter Reed Hospital to one of the forums which are going on there from day to day. We were a panel of women – Miss Freda Miller, head of the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor; Miss Mary Switzer, executive assistant to Paul V. McNutt in the War Manpower Commission; and Miss Malvina Lindsay, columnist of the Washington Post. I was to act as discussion leader and moderator, though since we were not debating with each other there was very little to moderate. The subject was “Women in the Post-War World.” You can well imagine that we covered a great deal of territory, since women enter into every phase of modern life!

The last group of our visiting grandchildren leaves us this afternoon, and the house will indeed seem quiet with only one small boy of five to remind us that the world is a world of children.

Do you belong to the Consumers’ League in your state? For many years I have been a member in New York State, and the organization has just published a report in pamphlet form, called: “The Joads in New York.” It is the story of the migrant workers in New York State farm camps. The same story could probably be written of every state, from Florida to northern New York, from Texas to Minnesota. I hope everybody reads this little pamphlet. John Steinbeck, in The Grapes of Wrath, told the story of the migratory workers who left farms on which they could no longer make a living and traveled to unspeakable conditions in various other states. People’s consciences were aroused to that particular problem, but here is one we have with us all the time, every year.

It is such a big problem that if we don’t know about it, it may do a great deal of harm. To our shame, the imported workers from the Bahamas and Jamaica live under better conditions, because they are protected by international contract, than do our own citizens. Tomorrow, I will tell you a little more about this report, but you can get it from the Consumers’ League of New York, and you will find it interesting.

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February 2, 1945

WASHINGTON, Thursday – At 12:30 today I attend a luncheon of the Washington Junior Board of Commerce, and at 2:30 I go to the celebration held by the Forestry Service to commemorate their fortieth anniversary. When we think what the Forestry Service has accomplished in the last 40 years, we should all be celebrating, because their work is helping to preserve one of our great national assets. We do not begin to reforest sufficiently anywhere in our country, but year by year we are learning more about trees, their care and their value, and eventually we may discover that each one of us owning any land has a responsibility to the nation to keep some of it in trees.

Perhaps I am particularly conscious of this because so much of my husband’s land at Hyde Park is tree land. One has to look far ahead when one cultivates trees, but it certainly provides one with a great deal of interest and the few trees about my own small cottage are cared for yearly very meticulously.

I promised yesterday to tell you a little bit more about the “Joads in New York.” Among these migratory workers, the group which interests me most is, of course, the children. There are just a few facts about them which I think the general public should realize, because they can be duplicated in practically every state where migratory workers are used in rural areas.

“Most children over six are pickers as well as their parents,” says the Consumers’ League report, “and spend long hours in the fields – rarely less than 10, not infrequently 12 and occasionally 13 or 14 hours a day.” We are concerned about child labor, I am told, but apparently not about child pay, for the report continues:

The young children are not listed on the payroll, since payment is usually on a piece work basis. The more they can pick the greater the family income will be.

The report also states:

At one New York camp sixty school-age children were working in the field on school days long after the school term had begun. Little or no effort seems to be made in most local communities to enforce school attendance laws for these migrant children.

In other words, we are bringing up the illiterates of the future. The living conditions are very undesirable, sanitation is poor, medical care very difficult to obtain. I wonder if we ever will learn that prevention is better than cure. Here we have a perfect setup for recruiting inmates for our state institutions, such as prisons, insane asylums and tuberculosis hospitals. Once there, they cost every taxpayer far more per year than it would have cost to provide the environment necessary to make them self-supporting, healthy and educated citizens.

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February 3, 1945

NEW YORK, Friday – Yesterday afternoon I had a chance to talk for a few minutes with Clarence Pickett, of the American Friends Service Committee, who is just back from England and France. Somehow, the Friends seem to get closer to the people than the average visitor who lands on foreign shores. Traditionally they have gone to help, and so those who need help gravitate to them naturally.

Mr. Pickett told me what I already knew must be true – that the people of Great Britain are tired. Materials with which they clothe themselves are shoddy materials. Their food is uninteresting. It preserves life but gives little energy. Their rest has been a broken rest for a long time. Their shelter has been uncertain.

Mr. Pickett’s picture of France is not that of someone who recently reported that in Paris the children seen playing in the parks looked strong and healthy and well cared for. He has seen the areas which we have had to destroy; and whether your home is destroyed in order to liberate you, or in order to enslave you, the fact that it is destroyed is first and foremost in your thoughts. The children whom he saw were hungry, and in the south of France he reported that 50 percent of the children have tuberculosis. That would fill our hearts with terror if it were true in our own country in any one locality. The children are the hope of the future, for in many cases their fathers will come back from enforced labor and prison camps broken in health and in spirit.

What problems these countries face, and how patient we should be of any shortcomings which show up in their attitudes! I am hoping very much that, when the war is over, the liberators who have had to bring destruction will adopt some of these destroyed villages and towns and try to rebuild and start the people off again on a self-supporting basis.

After the last war, the people of the United States did this, and I hope they will do it again. We must not neglect what needs to be done in our own country – and, believe me, there is plenty to do – but what we do outside of our country will bring us a rich reward, I think, in the future.

Miss Thompson and I came up to New York City last night, and it is remarkable what work one can accomplish in four hours on a train with no telephone and no visitors to distract one. Many things which I have wanted to dictate for weeks past were done last evening, and I am counting on doing a great many more during the few days here without official engagements.

Today the executive secretary of the International Council of Nurses is coming to lunch with me. This afternoon, after doing a recording, I shall see a number of people and then have a quiet evening for work.

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February 5, 1945

NEW YORK, Sunday – You may have noticed in the papers that Henry Kaiser is heading up the greatest drive for used clothing we have had in this country. I want to remind everyone that this does not mean that we should give less where we usually have given at home. If we have given wisely in the past, what we gave is still needed. We should be sure, however, that what is given here is really going to fill needs that are vital. Everything else that we can spare should go to this drive for countries where without question the need is greater than anything we know over here.

The distribution in foreign countries will, of course, be made through UNRRA, which assures us of transportation and the best possible supervision.

In connection with this question of clothing, I have received, through a friend, a revealing letter from Great Britain. I think it gives an insight into their needs which no words of mine could possibly give. The whole letter is most interesting, but I can give only a part of it today and will finish it at another time.

It reads:

In June of 1942, I think it was. Ted assisted me in writing you a letter from Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard – do you remember it? Well! Today he helps me again to write a similar letter at the end of the fifth full year of war, and in the sixth of its progression. I am not any less a Mother Hubbard some two years and a half afterwards, and I am the more a Polly Flinders, because cinders are precious commodities to us here.

It is no official secret that the weather has been vile these past four months. Rain has been perpetual, and in the month of November, with but 30 days, we were gifted with 28 days of real, typically English wet weather. I asked one of your American soldiers who was at our home the 9th of November: “What do you think of England?”, to which he replied: “Oh, England is very much like my own Michigan, excepting the weather. The weather is the absolute limit.” He, of course, spoke in these terms with no anxieties of mind regarding the effects it has upon a home, because he, as with our own servicemen, was better clothed than the ordinary civilian, better warmed and without doubt (and rightly so) better fed, although he said he had seen only two shell eggs in seven months.

Yet to a mother of any family, the weather is in these days an insidious enemy, in that it has to be beaten with all the inferiorities that war brings. One fights it with dull-edged tools, like food which fills but does not sustain long enough; clothes which, although the best “utility,” never knew the quality of even our inferior pre-wartime materials; and last but not least, with footwear which never was meant to stay damp and wet, and keep children’s toes free and snug from snow, chills and frosts.

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February 6, 1945

NEW YORK, Monday – To give you a more complete picture of current shortages in Great Britain, here are some additional extracts from the letter I quoted yesterday:

One lady that I heard of recently bought a pair of boots (in England, boots mean heavy-wearing footwear) for her boy. In seven days they were done, and the heel completely off one of them.

…After five years of war, households also need sweeping replenishments. I should say all households, rich or poor, are in this state. Yet it is estimated that the present quota for such goods makes it possible for but one household in ten to have a pair of new bed-sheets a year, and one household in five a pair of bed blankets. Long ago we had to split all sheets and blankets down the center and join outsides to the middle so that the unworn parts would be over the bed. Two years ago I unpicked the best two pairs of lined curtains I had, making the green lining into covers for our shabby chairs. Two weeks ago I unpicked three nightdress cases (you know, the envelope type with, usually, an embroidered flag). I cut a piece of the plain material right off, and hemming it, made a serviette; with what remained I made a chairback cover for a bit of new Christmas brightness. A very lovely but too large brocade coat, which once belonged to my mother, I cut up and made into two cushion cases, also for Christmastide. And so, with all other British women, I make and mend, ever trying to keep a once bright interior.

Towels are couponed and therefore precious, for one cannot afford clothing coupons for towels. Curtaining of net and cretonne, too, are couponed, as are, of course, bedsheets. The unworn parts of towels make excellent facecloths for the bathroom. In earlier days, when I was yet the possessor of spare summer frocks, I found that these, at a pinch, made quite efficient nighties. Nobody saw me in them anyhow, because we saved light by having no illumination in bedrooms at all; and saving light, managed without blackout curtains in bedrooms, too. It is amazing how methodical one could get even in the dark, when placing clothing that one took off.

Hardware today, like pans, etc., is difficult to get. Annually, one person in three can have a new pan or a kettle; one in seven can have a new knife, fork or spoon; whilst one in four can have a new jug or teapot.

There are still no carpets made, and threadbare secondhand ones take prohibitive prices. I wouldn’t attempt to buy one; in fact, I couldn’t afford to – for Ted, although a policeman, does not receive the wages of war workers.

Girls in their ‘teens’ very often earn double a man’s pre-war wage, if they are in war work. I know of some who start at six pounds a week, which is about $30. Ted’s pre-war wage was 90 shillings, or $22.50, and this has recently been increased by its last war allowance to 100 shillings.

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February 7, 1945

NEW YORK, Tuesday – Yesterday as I walked along Washington Square, I saw the children sliding down an almost imperceptible hill, yet they seemed to be having as good a time as any child on a real hill of white snow in the country.

Once we learn the very simple lesson of being content with whatever we have, we may find there seem always to be compensations! Nevertheless, when spring comes and the bare trees in Washington Square begin to burgeon forth, I shall be glad whenever I can get to the country, much as I like the feeling of spring even in the streets of New York!

Someone was talking to me about the beauties of Washington as a capital city, and there is no question that everyone who comes there now recognizes the fact that it is becoming one of the most beautiful capitals in the world. As in most capitals, there are a number of charming and interesting people who have gone there to make it their home. With the exception of those actually engaged in government, however, they are usually people whose years of active, creative work are drawing to a close.

I think the atmosphere of other cities with more divergent interests is usually more stimulating. Perhaps because I was born in New York City and lived there the early years of my life, I have always had an especially soft spot in my heart for this great city. I know it is crowded and dirty and that misery rubs elbows with ostentation; but it is alive and teeming with ideas, and I like it.

Yesterday I lunched at the old Hotel Lafayette with two gentlemen who had ideas they wished to impart. It was a long while since I had been to this old restaurant, but it always has charm and it is quiet enough for conversation.

A small group of friends came to tea, and tea almost collided with dinner, but by 10 o’clock we were alone again and I was reading a little book that Lt. Gen. Sir William Dobbie gave me for the President.

Gen. Dobbie calls his book A Very Present Help, and subtitles it “A Tribute to the Faithfulness of God.” In it there are some very extraordinary personal experiences, and this brave defender of the island of Malta says:

Some things were very evident. Our weakness, the enemy’s strength, the impossibility of outside help for the time being, and not least, the vital importance to our country’s cause of our holding on to Malta.

He notes the fact that in his mind was the story of Elisha at Dothan:

We were in the position of the servant who saw the enemy’s hosts around the City: “Alas, my Master, how shall we do?” Elisha’s answer means much to all who turn to God in their difficulties: “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”

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February 8, 1945

NEW YORK, Wednesday – Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr., Miss Thompson and I went last night to see one of the most delightful plays in New York – The Hasty Heart, by John Patrick. There is only one stage setting: the convalescent ward of a British general hospital in the rear of the Assam-Burma front.

The cast is all-male except for “Sister Margaret,” who was certainly a lovely Sister, even though one might expect the eyes of wounded men far away from home to look upon any woman with pleasure! There is all the tragedy of life and war in this play, but also all the humor that youth creates and that probably keeps our soldiers going on all the fronts in the world.

I will not tell you the story, but you will find your heart lifted by the sheer goodness and kindness of human beings. That’s what saved the dour young Scot, and that after all is the only thing that makes living and struggling in this rather tragic world an exciting adventure.

I don’t know whether you ever see the newsletter sent out by Tide, the news magazine of advertising and marketing. On the back page they are running a service of classified ads which should be known by every war veteran. To discharged servicemen interested in advertising and marketing they offer an opportunity to run classified ads (40 words maximum) in these newsletters free of charge. The offer is limited to discharged servicemen with experience in advertising and marketing because Tide primarily reaches only people in those fields. But their gesture is a very generous one and might be followed by trade papers in many other fields.

The rapid and orderly reemployment of men and women coming out of the armed services is certainly one of our main objectives today. These young men often have private handicaps to overcome and difficulties which no one can help them to face. Only their own determination and character can make them victorious over those personal handicaps. We can, however, see that they know where the right job which they want is available, and that those who want to help them know how to get in touch with them. It seems to me that a great deal could be accomplished if other trade papers gave a service similar to the one offered by Tide.

I was waiting for a bus on the street corner yesterday when a woman jumped out of her own car and asked me if she could take me wherever I wanted to go. Such little acts of kindness are somewhat surprising in a big city like New York, where you usually feel that everyone hurries about his business completely absorbed in his own interests. It is proof again, however, of the essential kindness and neighborliness of the people of the United States.

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February 9, 1945

NEW YORK, Thursday – Yesterday was a day of pure relaxation. I lunched with some old friends and enjoyed it very much. I spent an hour with our old friend, Major Henry S. Hooker, who is gradually going through his period of convalescence at home. In the evening Mrs. Morgenthau, who had spent the day trying to get things for her new apartment in Washington, Miss Thompson, who had been busy going through mail which she hoped someday I would work on, and I went to the play. This was a second evening of pure joy – a salute to American folk and popular music called “Sing Out, Sweet Land!”

Alfred Drake, Burl Ives and the whole cast, in fact, are very good, and the music takes an old-timer like myself back through the years. We three are all old enough to enjoy every minute of it, and we are still young enough to like the modern things as well; so the whole evening was a grand success.

Tonight I have a speech to make for the Knights of Pythias, and the weather is anything but propitious. At the moment it is snowing hard, but I have a feeling that I shall enjoy being out in the snow this afternoon.

We have been seeing so much in the papers lately of our need for nurses, and sometimes I imagine the nurses have thought we sounded rather critical of them. A few days ago I received a letter from a mother whose daughter is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps and who has spent her third Christmas in “some cold camp in Europe.” At home she made $50 a week and her food. But her brother went into the army, and so in ‘42 she went in, too, accepting the munificent salary of $80 a month. That has gone up a bit, but she has worked for it! She started in England, went to Africa and Sicily, and since last October has been in France.

Her mother writes:

Their unit always arrives first, when they must live in ice-cold tents or barracks, wash out of their helmets and wade through the mud. Last January she nearly died of pneumonia. This time, when reaching France, she was again in the hospital with a severe cold. When they reached France the enemy had put cement in all water pipes and heating facilities, so it took some time to get organized. But the nurses worked and froze. Now she works 15 hours a day, walks 20 minutes to the hospital in slush and cold.

She was offered a leave to come home, but once in France she hoped to see her brother and so refused, saying she wanted to stay until the last gun was fired! “She never complains, she is the life of the party.”

Her mother has painted a picture of a very fine young woman, a widow, 38 years old, and I think her mother is right in feeling very proud of her. I only hope that some day these women who look like angels to the wounded men will get not only the praise which is their due, but recognition, promotion and decorations in addition to esteem from their fellow citizens at home.

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February 10, 1945

WASHINGTON, Friday – We left New York City this morning to return to Washington, and almost immediately on arrival I had a meeting in the East Room of the members of the United Service Organizations Women’s Committee and the personnel directors of the various government bureaus to discuss the whole question of program and services available to government girls. The rest of the afternoon will be filled with appointments through until dinner time, when I have some very pleasant guests coming to talk about their work.

For the first time in 12 years I have spent a full week in New York City, and I have enjoyed it more than I can possibly tell you. I like my little apartment, with the familiar things which came from my mother-in-law’s house as well as ours, and the simplicity of keeping house there is a real joy.

I know quite well that I would not be happy unless I had some regular work to do every day, and I imagine that I will always feel that way no matter how old I am, unless I become completely bedridden. Even then I will probably want to use my mind as long as I retain it! That is probably because I happen to be blessed with good health!

When I come across certain clippings in which the writers worry about the effect that may be had upon an American family who find themselves living in the White House for many years, I always want to suggest to them that some things are a great honor, some things are very beautiful: you admire them and you appreciate the opportunities which they offer you. Never for a moment, however, no matter how long you enjoy them, do they give you the comfort and pleasure of your own home, your own things and your own personal life with which no one has a right to interfere.

A rather wonderful suggestion was made by a woman in a letter which came to me the other day and which she also sent to her newspaper at home. Her idea tunes in very well with Lt. Gen. Sir William Dobbie’s idea in his little book, A Very Present Help. This woman wants all of us in this country to pray and build up a “prayer bank” for the President, that he may be kept safe from all harm, that he may have wisdom to deal with the questions before him, that he may be guided in his policies and in his decisions.

There is no American family that does not pray for its men at the front many times a day, and I am sure those prayers are wafted across the oceans and give strength in the hours of trial. Why should not the same thing be true if a nation prays not only for its President, but for all its men in authority? They are bearing heavy burdens, subject to the temptations of all human beings. They are asked to rise above those temptations and do a better job for the people than the average man or woman is capable of doing alone. We owe them our help and our prayers.

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February 12, 1945

WASHINGTON, Sunday – The meeting of the United Service Organizations Women’s Committee on Friday brought out the fact that on the whole we really know very little about what the civilian men and young girls who come to Washington to work in different government agencies really need to make life here more worthwhile. The agencies say the turnover compares very favorably with the turnover in the average large industry. Nevertheless they would like to cut it down. The jobs are important. If the work doesn’t get done here, the results are far-reaching.

Certain difficulties encountered during this period by those who work for the government are obvious. Housing is a problem. Salaries which may seem large before they come to Washington dwindle after they get here. Everyone is busy and has little time for new acquaintances. Everything the stranger does is more or less difficult, whether it is shopping or eating, attending movies or getting one’s hair done.

The main reason for giving up their work is poor health. Poor health can cover a multitude of things. When one lady finally suggested that what we needed was more people in every department who really gave newcomers a feeling that they were interested in them as individuals and that they were ready to listen to anything they had to say, I could not help thinking that she had probably hit the nail on the head. Such people are hard to find, however!

On Saturday I went to the Children’s hospital to go through the polio ward, where 34 children are recovering from last summer’s epidemic. Then I went to a reception and meeting at the club house belonging to the Negro Women’s Council.

In the evening the Disabled American Veterans service officer students of the American University class came to talk over veterans’ rehabilitation.

Today is a fairly quiet day, though we have a few people lunching with us and a fairly large group from various military hospitals coming in this afternoon. Among the group will be 25 members of the First Combat Infantry band, composed of wounded servicemen returned from overseas who are making a tour of the United States to play for bond sale performances and military hospitals. Many of them have the Purple Heart.

Mrs. O. P. Barnett of Winslow, Indiana, has sent in an idea that I think may be rather useful. She could not think what to do with old handbags or large purses which were still usable though no longer looking their best. She decided to give them to Greek relief, but filling each one with things that any woman would find useful – soap, thread, needles, absorbent cotton, small bottles of vaseline, wash cloths, handkerchiefs, stockings and any other little things which she could find. She says that they were accepted with great joy and went over with the stacks of clothing which were collected.

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February 13, 1945

WASHINGTON, Monday – This is Lincoln’s birthday, a day which for all of us has a special significance, I think. As the years go by Lincoln’s stature grows, and today, when we face problems which would come close to his heart, I think the knowledge of his firm belief in the dignity of the human being is something from which many of us draw strength and inspiration.

I went last night for an hour to the first birthday party held at the Industrial canteen, and was happy to see how it has grown and how enthusiastic everyone was at the party.

Today I have a press conference at which I will have a visitor from the University of Brazil as guest – Senora Vera Pacheco Jordao. She is an expert on American literature at the university, and has come here to do some lectures and to attend a special course at Harvard.

Some of the cabinet ladies will lunch with me, and in the afternoon I am visiting the public library at K and 8th Streets, to see the work done there for children.

From February 11 to 18, Negro History Week is being celebrated. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History has a very active branch in New York, and they plan to end the week on February 18 with an interesting annual breakfast, at which Prince Orizu, author of Without Bitterness, will discuss the vital topic of “What the African People Expect From a Just Peace.” Dr. M. F. Ashley-Montague, eminent anthropologist of the Universities of Pennsylvania and Harvard, will discuss “The Racial Myth After Hitler.”

The knowledge of the background and history of a race and its gradual development is always of vital interest not only to the people of that race, but to all the other races with whom they associate.

An interesting letter has come to my notice from one of our young men stationed in Paris. It is typical of the way many of our boys feel, and so I quote a little of it here for you:

I’m convinced that whether I should leave for the States tomorrow or next year, this junket has been good for me. It has taught me how to appreciate home. I mean that seriously. The little things that one becomes accustomed to “over there” where you are – the insignificant comforts and freedoms of life – and then the whole composite goodness and richness of being an American – I am aware of the preciousness of all these things as I’ve never been before. And I’m certain that the fellows who’ve been away from home for many months (and some even for years, now) – the boys who have really been fighting this war – are even more acutely aware of our country than I am.

What a responsibility we at home have to make sure that no disappointment comes to these boys!

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February 14, 1945

WASHINGTON, Tuesday – I am sure that all of us this morning got up with one first thought in mind. We wanted to know what agreements had been reached by the Big Three. I think the one outstanding thing which makes everybody heave a sigh of relief is the fact that agreement could be reached on so many subjects and that friendly cooperation could continue not only to win the war, but to win the first steps for the organization of peace.

All Americans must look forward with tremendous interest to the first United Nations meeting to be held here in San Francisco on April 25. The inclusion of the government of China and the provisional government of France, who will be immediately consulted and invited to sponsor invitations to the conference jointly with the governments of the United States, Great Britain and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is an encouraging sign for the broadening of international cooperation.

Step by step, we seem to be moving to the laying of a firm foundation on which to build peace in the future. This cannot be done, however, unless the people of the nations involved see to it that at home they build the kind of atmosphere in which economic and political freedom is possible. This will require scrutiny of our domestic acts and a careful choice of our leaders, who must put clearly before the people all that is involved in creating an atmosphere for peace. Religious and racial prejudices are clearly no sound foundation for better understanding and unity at home or abroad. An economic policy which does not consider the well-being of all will not serve the purposes of peace and the growth of well-being among the people of all nations.

In much of the world, great masses of people have lost everything and must begin to build up again from the bottom. As you read accounts of destruction in cities where thousands of people once lived, but where today only six houses are left standing or where only the walls of certain buildings attest to the fact that once there was civilization and beauty and apparent permanence, you realize that these people may have more courage than we have. The mere fact of being alive and having a chance to work in a land where there is much work to be done, will seem a miracle and give them added strength.

Out of our good fortune we must build the courage that comes from a realization of the gratitude we owe for our safety, and a recognition that that gratitude can only be shown in a high quality of leadership which will build here at home the kind of spiritual atmosphere which leads to broader vision and better political and economic cooperation in a world at peace.

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February 15, 1945

NEW YORK, Wednesday – This is St. Valentine’s Day, and even in the midst of war the saint, who is both very old and very young, must be remembered. So let us pay a tribute to love which springs eternally in the hearts of men, and salute today all lovers who make the world more beautiful.

It seems only appropriate that I bring to your attention today an appeal for used musical instruments which is being made, I am told, by Special Service officers overseas and by the hospitals in this country. The instruments may either be given or sold to the armed forces. Apparently, new ones cannot be produced in sufficient quantity, and so the musical public is being asked if they have any excess instruments, from “piccolos to pianos,” in their homes. Donors need only call their local music merchants and ask them to place the instruments in the proper hands.

In the District of Columbia, we are again beginning the yearly drive for the support of the National Symphony Orchestra. This orchestra has gradually been built up by Hans Kindler until it ranks among the major orchestras of the country. The great soloists who have played with the National Symphony Orchestra say fine things in praise of it. For instance, Myra Hess has written: “I wish I could tour the country playing Mozart with this orchestra,” and Artur Rubinstein says: “I came in tired to this rehearsal after a hard train trip, and find myself instantly refreshed playing with this keen orchestra and Hans Kindler.”

The National Symphony Orchestra has been a pioneer in Sunday concerts and in the outdoor Watergate concerts in summer. It gives children’s concerts and – most important of all, I think – it has set its prices within the reach of the great floating population of the District of Columbia. The fund raised yearly by the sponsors must have support from those who can give some large sums. But I am most anxious to see it supported by many small contributions coming from the thousands of people, living in Washington temporarily, who have enjoyed and been benefited and comforted by Hans Kindler and his orchestra.

Music in wartime is especially important. There are no barriers of language, race or creed. Music speaks to the souls of men. Many people today are going through anxiety, sorrow and suffering. Anything which can take them out of themselves into the realm of beauty deserves support from all of us. The capital of the United States should lead in every field, and this is one field in which it now leads and should continue to do so.