Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (1945)

41

February 16, 1945

NEW YORK, Thursday – On Tuesday afternoon I took the train to Baltimore, where I spoke to 400 cadet nurses on some of the phases of overseas work. They were a wonderfully attractive group of girls, and many of those who were graduating were headed for overseas service.

They have a number of foreign students there too, being trained as nurses. I talked to a nice girl from Puerto Rico who intends to use her knowledge to improve the health of the people on her home island. She belongs to a family of twelve and has several brothers in the service, so she wanted to do her share. There was a girl from Trinidad, one from Brazil, and one from Guatemala, and I imagine most of them will go back and teach in some home hospital in the future.

One amusing little incident was a telegram which came to me from the medical students saying they had wanted to attend the meeting, but that the nurses had ruled them out. This was one occasion on which the ladies had something which they evidently wanted to keep all to themselves. But I did see two or three young men on the outskirts of the group as I made my way out, so some girlish hearts must have relented at the last minute!

It was nearly one o’clock before I reached New York City.

Yesterday morning Mrs. Dorothy Bellanca came to see me, and then I spent from about 11 to 3 o’clock at the meeting and luncheon given annually for the United Jewish Appeal. It is very remarkable what the Jewish community is trying to do for the unfortunates all over the world, and I came away with a sense of gratitude and inspiration. There are not many of us who give so generously that we make an actual sacrifice and perhaps even have to ask the family as a whole to share in that sacrifice.

After the meeting I strolled around for a little while to get some air before attending another meeting on Wiltwyck School, and finally I paid a visit to a member of my family who has been ill. I got home just in time to have a few guests for early supper, and then dropped in to see some other friends staying nearby, who are leaving shortly for England.

Today I have a number of appointments and will attend a luncheon given by The Tuition Plan to consider the future of education. This is certainly a broad subject and one in which I am deeply interested, but I have begun to think that education can hardly be considered by itself alone. That is to say, one can hardly consider institutions and curricula as being the sum total of education, and when you draw together all the different factors affecting the education of a child you have to cover a pretty wide field.

42

February 17, 1945

NEW YORK, Friday – Having gone to The Tuition Plan luncheon yesterday without knowledge as to what the organization represented, I found that the plan meant an easier way to pay month by month for the education of our children. The Tuition Plan accumulates funds and pays the schools and colleges when they desire payment, and charges a small extra percentage on monthly payments.

The speeches were extremely interesting, but as so often happens, they left me with an unsatisfied feeling. I would like to sit down and discuss many of the points raised at greater length afterwards, and bring up the many subjects which seem to me to bear upon the hopes and plans all of us have for the future.

I reached home in time to spend an hour with a very old friend of mine whom I had not seen for a long time. Later, other friends came in for tea and dinner, and finally we went in the evening to see The Late George Apley. I think Max Gordon in presenting this play has done a service to those of us who remember the past and enjoy watching the pageant of the years unroll. He may have done an even greater service to the youth of today in giving them an insight into their grandparents!

Of course, there are few places in the United States that can quite equal Boston as the perfect setting for humorous situations, and the scene between George Apley of Boston and Julian Dole of Kansas City and Worcester, is something priceless.

The Thanksgiving dinner of that day has, I hope, gone into the limbo of the past forever. We have certainly learned not to stuff ourselves to the extent that our grandparents did. But whether we have learned that even in our families the object of reunions is to have a good time, is something I’m not quite so sure about. Certainly in the case of our large family there is never any dearth of conversation! I am not sure that it is always pleasant, but at least it is always stimulating, and that is better than the stuffed silence of the Apley family.

Mrs. William L. Kell of Darlington, Indiana, has written me about a plan of hers which she thinks might bring in a few extra dollars for any good cause. She suggests that at any party one is planning to have, one could invite one’s guests to come to a “sacrificial” party where they would put into an envelope the amount of money that might otherwise have been spent on refreshments for those present, and send it to the Red Cross. This is a good idea if those present have enough ability to create a party spirit merely by being together! It will take some of those qualities that I was just thinking about in connection with the family Thanksgiving gathering. There will have to be good talk and real interest in the people present, or the food will be sadly missed!

43

February 19, 1945

WASHINGTON, Sunday – I spent all day Friday in my apartment but it didn’t mean I was idle, for the first visitors came in at ten o’clock. They were very purposeful guests, very anxious to got something done to awaken the public interest in an international educational organization which should be of great help in establishing the proper atmosphere for peace in the future.

All good educators realize, I think that no matter what arrangements we make, they will not meet permanently the needs of future developments. Therefore, we must grow in understanding and change our plans to meet the situations. Only by continuous education will this be possible.

Some guests for luncheon and for tea kept us more or less busy all day. Finally, in the evening, I went to the meeting at the New York Times hall where some returned veterans of this war – a boy still in uniform and two young ladies not long out of college; in fact, I think one may still have been in college – talked over the future of the world. The young man, who spoke primarily as a member of the American Legion, made some rather strangely conflicting statements. But then, he was rather dramatic and it is hard to be both consistent and dramatic.

On Saturday I went to the meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters. The women broadcasters have a very great opportunity to accomplish an educational job for the country, which no other group could possibly do. As Miss Dorothy Lewis, chairman of Saturday’s meeting, pointed out, they speak to millions of women every day. No one else has that close contact. Theirs is the friendly voice which women come to know and trust – a visitor in the home telling us something of the outside world.

It is a great responsibility to have this power, but I felt very proud that women seem willing to accept the responsibility and planned to do a really fine job promoting international understanding.

I was very much touched and deeply honored at being presented with their first award. I know quite well, of course, that nothing that I do could be looked upon as a personal achievement, since I simply happen to be in a position where great opportunities are offered me and where circumstances make it possible for what I do to be helpful.

As I looked at the long table filled with representative women from other countries, and below us at the very wonderful women who head up our national women’s organizations, I realized that no one woman in this country could consider that she had accomplished anything of which she could be individually proud. The women of the United States as a whole make it possible for women to have great opportunities and to achieve greater things as women for women as the years roll by.

44

February 20, 1945

WASHINGTON, Monday – Saturday evening we came back to Washington and Sunday was a quiet day, with only a few friends coming in, until I went at five o’clock to a meeting at the John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church sponsored by the adult education group of the Parent-Teacher Associations. They have been holding discussions on the problems of children, particularly such problems as the war has high-lighted. It was a very full meeting and I thought it showed a commendable interest on the part of both parents and teachers.

After supper, with our son-in-law and our grandson, I went out again to a mass youth meeting at the National City Christian Church . This church seems to be doing a very active work among young people. They have apparently a very varied program and the young people really participate – which is, after all, the secret of all good work. The meeting was crowded and I was happy to meet with some of them personally at the close of the meeting.

A few days ago a kind gentleman sent me a copy of Munsey’s Magazine for November, 1908. I am sure you will be interested, as I was, in the fact that this copy contains an article entitled “Washington, Our Beautiful Capital – its seamy side.” As I read it, I realized that very little had changed. Time had passed, but the same things which were being said about our very lovely capital in 1908 could be said today.

We can be proud of our buildings, since they make our city one of the most beautiful in the world, but we cannot be proud of many of the things which do not make it a good place to live in. Our institutions are not model institutions, such as we might hope for in the national capital, and it is really discouraging to see that what was written in 1908 could be written with so very little variation today.

On March 1 the drive will begin for the Red Cross War Fund. This, like all the other funds being sought today, is larger than any collected in the past.

Philadelphia has an idea I think is very good. They are selling “shares” in the War Fund for $5.00 each. On the back of the “bond” which they give you, twelve dividends are marked out for your monthly inspection. They are good dividends and I think that everyone will feel that any money invested brings them in very high returns.

I held a press conference this morning. There is already great interest in hearing from my daughter of her experiences when she returns. All I could do was to promise that I would transmit the invitations, as I have not the slightest idea of whether she intends to divulge anything that she may have seen or heard.

45

February 21, 1945

WASHINGTON, Tuesday – Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of welcoming the new Canadian Ambassador, Mr. L. B. Pearson, and Mrs. Pearson at tea. At luncheon we had a chance to discuss some of Miss Katherine Lenroot’s concerns, and today she is off to join the others attending the conference in Mexico City.

This should prove a most interesting and important conference for all of us who are anxious to see the nations in this hemisphere walk hand in hand toward greater development and understanding.

There is shortly going to be held in Washington, under the auspices of the National Education Association, a conference on veterans’ education. So I have been seeking some information which would help me to attend this conference, when I am able to do so, with greater knowledge. I find that the less education a boy now in service has had in the past, the less he plans to obtain in the future.

From surveys which have been made, the boys who have had some college are the ones planning in the greatest numbers to go on. The fact that stands out is that we must prepare, first of all, to give great numbers of these boys the incentive to take advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights in order to upgrade themselves on leaving the service. Next we must prepare to educate them on the grammar and high school levels in far greater numbers than on the college level.

This is an important fact for any group to bear in mind in planning to offer educational facilities to returning veterans.

This teaching, which must be done in many cases, is far more closely allied to adult education than to the usual education offered to young people, since these young men will be mature in many ways. They will have carried responsibility – some of them will have had authority over other men – yet their tools for acquiring knowledge must be obtained at the level where they left off going to school and, frequently, at a younger level, since they have probably forgotten many things in the academic field. They will have the power, however, to learn far more quickly and on a much more mature level.

Special teachers will be needed for this work and should be preparing themselves. Here we come up against one of our very serious problems today, already felt, which is the lack of teachers, particularly in the rural schools of the country. This is partly a question of salary, but many other factors enter into it.

More honor is due in every community to the teachers to whom we entrust so many hours of our children’s companionship every day. The dictum on which I was brought up should have a place in the choosing of teaching as a vocation – namely, “Teachers are born, not made.” They must love their work.

46

February 22, 1945

WASHINGTON, Wednesday – Yesterday I had a buffet luncheon at which were included some of the Democratic Congresswomen, the wives of new Representatives and Senators, the wives of officials in the government and in the military services.

Many of you have probably been asked, as I have been, by various organizations to which you belong and which are interested in world peace, whether you can do anything to spread information on the Dumbarton Oaks proposals prior to the San Francisco meeting in April.

I had the amusing experience in talking to people about these proposals to find that the name seems to have caused some confusion. People seem to think the proposals have something to do with trees, or perhaps have their origin in some foreign country!

The League of Women Voters and the churches are undertaking educational programs, and so I asked the women’s division of the Democratic National Committee if they would put on a panel on the subject right after our luncheon yesterday.

It is a completely nonpartisan subject and one in which all of us should be interested. Mrs. Charles W. Tillett, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had on her panel Miss Fannie Hurst, the author; Mrs. William H. Davis, wife of the chairman of the National War Labor Board; the Hon. Emily Taft Douglas, member of Congress from Illinois, and Mrs. Joseph Lash, who is working for Miss Doris Byrne, vice chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee.

With the chart they put up, one can see very graphically what the proposals are for a world organization. I think everybody must have gone away with a better understanding of the proposals.

In the evening some friends who were staying in the house and Senator and Mrs. Fulbright went with me to the concert given by the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was a delightful evening and I particularly enjoyed the Brahms Symphony No. 4 and the suite of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.

I left the house this morning at nine o’clock, spent two hours at Forest Glen, which is the convalescent part of Walter Reed hospital, and stopped for a few minutes at Walter Reed on the way back. I reached the Chamber of Commerce building, where they were having a report luncheon on the drive for the National Symphony Orchestra fund, by 12:30. The luncheon was a very minor part of the meeting, since everyone had a box luncheon, but I enjoyed my sandwiches and coffee very much and was delighted to learn how well the drive was going and I enjoyed Dr. Kindler’s speech.

They are very anxious to get a building for the orchestra, which will make it possible to reduce one of their big items of expense. It seems to me that the government may very well consider building a hall to house the National Symphony, as they have built the National Gallery. In so doing they could also foster some of the other arts which are as important as our collections of paintings and books.

47

February 23, 1945

WASHINGTON, Thursday – Yesterday afternoon about thirty men from the naval hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, came to visit the White House. Afterwards I had some people interested in veterans’ education, and a gentleman who is shortly going back to Paris, in for tea.

Early this morning I left for New York City where I am going to speak at the children’s unity festival at the Horace Mann School.

Last night and tonight I have been free – that is to say, I have been able to do my mail and catch up on personal letters and even do a little reading, so that I hope, in the course of the next few days, to be able to tell you about two books which I have enjoyed in my leisure time.

Every now and then I am reminded that even though the need for being a feminist is gradually disappearing in this country, we haven’t quite reached the millenium.

A woman who went down to testify before one of the Congressional committees, the other day, wrote me an interesting fact on the manpower situation. It appears that the Civil Service Commission has a number of women who could be filling higher positions in the government if the requisitions from government agencies did not usually specify “men only.” Perhaps this is another hurdle which we must jump in this period when women are really needed to replace men. We must accept qualified women for positions which in the past have been offered to men, even through civil service.

It looks to me also as though some special consideration should be given to women with husbands in military service, particularly to those whose husbands are missing. It is, of course, not necessary to give them any special preference – they should be capable of doing the jobs which they hold. But they need the jobs very badly, and where they could be appointed without lowering the standards of the Civil Service for those jobs, it seems they might be given some extra consideration.

It is interesting to find so often the little ways in which women are discriminated against, but with the passage of the years one does find a great improvement. One must not let this improvement, however, lull one to complete oblivion, for when the war is over there will be new situations to meet and they must be met with open minds and with fairness to both men and women.

Even the children will have to come in for consideration, so we will have to keep a broad and tolerant attitude and be willing to discuss new situations and reach conclusions which will be beneficial to all those involved.

48

February 24, 1945

NEW YORK, Friday – I must tell you a little bit more about the children’s unity festival which I attended yesterday. I arrived just as a wonderful brown bear was being led on the stage, and the children had the most marvelous time watching him go through his tricks. I was a little nervous at first, but the bear seemed accustomed to flash bulbs, enthusiastic applause and hoots and yells. Finally, three little boys even rode on his back.

If audience participation is a sign of a successful performance, these children participated with an abandon which you rarely see in an adult audience. I was a little sorry when they had to listen to speeches, but they bore with us who had to make a few serious remarks.

I left with a feeling that it would be a memorable day in the lives of these children and that the unity pledge which they had taken would be more meaningful because of the remembrance they would have of the day on which they took it. I am printing that pledge because I think it is one which might also be taken by grown-ups.

We now join hands with the children of the world. It matters not whether they are black or white, or where they were born, or if they are Jew or Gentile. We do not ask where or how they worship. We ask only that they love freedom and their neighbors. Together we will make an ever-widening circle around a tired, war-torn world, so that our parents may see our friendship and peace and follow our example. For did not the Prophet say: “A little child shall lead them”?

The meeting was sponsored by the Citizens Committee of the Upper West Side and I wish similar meetings could be held everywhere throughout this country.

Last night I finished a most charming story called The Little Prince. It was written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint Exupery, and though you may think it is a child’s book, you will find that much of it can be appreciated only by the very mature adult who has never forgotten what it is like to be a child.

Perhaps the wisest saying in the whole book is: “I made him my friend and now he is unique in all the world.”

It will not take you long to read, but I think it will give you food for thought and for dreams which may fill empty hours.

49

February 26, 1945

WASHINGTON, Sunday – I took two friends on Friday evening to see Frank Fay in Harvey, and I must say I enjoyed seeing it a second time just as much as I did the first. It is an evening of delightful escape from the problems of the moment. Without Mr. Fay and Miss Hull it would probably not be as delightful, but with them the play is a joy for which I think we can all be grateful.

I had a number of guests for tea Friday afternoon. Yesterday morning I went to the leadership school which the Maritime Union has started, and then to the National Democratic Club for their forum luncheon and broadcast. Very late in the afternoon we took the train back to Washington.

There is a little book called Your Key to Youth Problems, by Harold M. Sherman, which I think many people will find valuable reading. It is full of common sense, and if we stopped to think, we would realize much that he tells us for ourselves. The very beginning of the book is something which many of us should keep constantly in mind, not only with our children, but as regards many of our contacts in life. Instead of taking refuge in the belief that other people are at fault, as we so often do, we might find the reasons for our difficulties very often in ourselves. It is always easier to straighten yourself out than to straighten anyone else out.

I want to mention here two fine women who have died and whose passing is going to leave sorrow in the hearts of many, coupled with a determination to continue the work which they began. On Friday the papers carried the news that Dr. Josephine Baker had gone, and I remembered at once what her life had meant to the children of New York City. I remember the first time I saw her in a clinic – how interested and gentle she was. The work which she started has gone ahead at surprising speed. It must be an encouragement to any young woman to look at the record of these women who accomplished so much by simply giving themselves wholeheartedly to the phase of work which they felt qualified to do. We, in New York City, can be grateful for the life of Dr. Josephine Baker.

The other woman, Miss Henrietta Szold, was the founder and honorary president of Hadassah. She died in Palestine on February 13. Many people in this country loved and admired her, and through her leadership in these past few years 12,000 Jewish children have been rescued in Europe and given an asylum in Palestine.

Both of these women made great contributions to the children of their time, and therefore their names will live long into the future.

50

February 27, 1945

WASHINGTON, Monday – Yesterday afternoon I had an opportunity to see the newsreel pictures taken of the Yalta conference and of the visit to the President on an American warship made by King Farouk of Egypt, Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, and King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia.

I finished a book last night by Albert Maltz, called The Cross and the Arrow. It is, I think, one of the most horrifying pictures of 1942 in Germany that I have read. I felt that human beings were caught in a horrible trap like rats, with no way out. It is well written, but if you want to sleep do not read it in the evening hours. I kept waking up all night with cold shivers.

I went out early this morning to attend the opening general session of the work conference on educational programs for veterans, with special reference to non-collegiate education. This is being held during the next three days under the auspices of the National Education Association, and I hope it will have some very tangible results.

On February 14, I received from Dr. Louis I. Dublin, of the American Red Cross, some rather interesting figures which you, who are interested in the nursing situation in our armed services, will want to know. According to this report, the “number of applications received by the American Red Cross throughout the country since the President’s message is well over 12,000. During this same period, the number of nurses certified to the Army by us was 5,307. Some of these nurses applied prior to January, and so far in February they have placed orders on approximately 1,000 more. The exact figure has not yet been released. Approximately 22 percent of all applications received by us are for service in the Navy Nurse Corps, and Navy figures are in addition to the above.”

I have received several letters lately from nurses in the Cadet Corps and I feel these young women deserve our warm appreciation. Many of those graduating are now offering their services for overseas work; but even if they are only in training, they are doing a great deal to relieve the shortage of nurses in our civilian hospitals.

There is a volunteer group of men in New York City, and I think in many other cities also, that has been working at various hospital occupations, not requiring training, in the hours after their regular jobs end. Many of these men are older men, and some of them hold executive positions during the day; and probably for many years, they have not done the kind of menial jobs which they accept in these evening hours. They, too, are doing something for purely patriotic reasons and should receive commendation and admiration from us.

51

February 28, 1945

WASHINGTON, Tuesday – Yesterday the second buffet lunch was held here and the panel on the Dumbarton Oaks proposals was again presented under Mrs. Charles Tillett’s auspices. All the ladies taking part yesterday – Mrs. Irving Berlin, Mrs. Raymond Clapper, the Hon. Emily Taft Douglas and Mrs. Joseph Lash – did an excellent piece of work.

Mrs. Tillett had succeeded in getting them all together and shortening the time which the whole explanation took, and after they had finished speaking there were a number of questions which I think clarified in many people’s minds certain points at issue.

One of the things which I think should be emphasized is the fact that these are proposals on broad agreements. They may be changed. They do not enter into the procedure which shall be followed within each nation on the method of choosing delegates or the members of committees. These details will be settled by the nations themselves, and do not need agreement from other nations.

At 4 o’clock I stopped in for a few minutes at the tea given by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society of Denver. I returned to the White House in time to hold a conference with the newly elected officers of my press conference association.

In the evening I went out to American University, where a small group of Navy Department civilian employees – about 34 girls from 22 states, ranging in age from 18 to 40 – are working on a college course. They do a full day’s work, six days a week, and then they do seven hours of college work in the evenings. They live at American University in one of the buildings formerly occupied by boys who have gone off to the war.

President Douglass of American University told me that their grades were remarkably high. I gather that most of them would have found it difficult to go to college under other circumstances, and they feel this is a great opportunity to do something for the war and still acquire a college education. It will take them six years to get a degree; but should their war work terminate before that, they could probably finish their course in a much shorter period by devoting all of their time to it.

I attended one of the English classes and then went back and had a very nice time talking with the girls.

When I left them, I stopped in for a few minutes to watch a scene in a play which has been written and produced by a group of veterans who are studying at American University. Their objective is to tell us at home what the war is like in Italy. It was a very realistic and painful scene which I watched.

52

March 1, 1945

WASHINGTON, Wednesday – Like so many things in life, the President’s homecoming this morning was a mixture of light and shadow. It was naturally a joy to have the President and Anna back again, but our happiness is greatly dimmed by the loss of such a loyal, warm friend as Maj. Gen. Edwin M. Watson has been over the past years.

Gen. Watson had been with the President, first as military aide and then as both senior military aide and secretary, during many of the years that we have been here. I know that his loyalty and kindliness meant a great deal in cementing a deep friendship between them. For the general himself, I am sure that death in line of duty, while taking this most important trip, was probably a fitting climax to his life. For Mrs. Watson, however, the shock must have been terrible and added greatly to the tragedy of her loss.

As one grows older one realizes that these separations must come where people are as old or older than oneself, but nevertheless the loss of companionship and the readjustment is always difficult. So what would naturally be a happy homecoming has been a time of sorrow.

At noon we went to Arlington for Gen. Watson’s funeral services. The rest of the day was spent very quietly.

Tuesday night I attended a meeting held by the Potomac Cooperative Federation for the benefit of the Freedom Fund. This is a fund which the cooperatives of this country are raising to help rebuild cooperatives in the liberated areas. This is one of the most important steps to be taken in places where people must get together or their progress will be extraordinarily slow, so this fund is one of the valuable contributions which can be made by this country.

March 1 marks the 26th anniversary of the declaration of Korean independence. On that day a nationwide revolt against Japan took place, but it was put down by force of arms and the people were cruelly tortured and humiliated. A provisional government has existed and moved from place to place, however, and it still exists today in Chungking through the goodwill of the Chinese officials.

Some people in America who have long been interested in the Korean people have now established the American Foundation for Korean Education. The sole aim of the foundation is to aid young Koreans and Americans of Korean ancestry to obtain training in the technical and social sciences, thus enabling them to aid in the rehabilitation and development of a free Korea. Let us hope that the people of America will continue their sympathetic understanding and support of this long oppressed people.

53

March 2, 1945

WASHINGTON, Thursday – Early this morning Adm. and Mrs. Wilson Brown and I attended the memorial service at St. Matthews’ Cathedral for the late Gen. Watson.

At noon we all went up to the Capitol to hear the President deliver his report to Congress and to the American people over the radio.

I almost forgot it was going over the radio, because the President seemed to be talking so informally to the men immediately around him. A good deal of the time he did not even look at his manuscript, so it was quite evident that he was thinking as he went along and using his own impressions and recollections to point up the more careful wording of the written manuscript.

There is nothing in the message, as far as I can see, that will bring any comfort to the enemy, because from beginning to end it breathes a spirit of unity and of determination to keep that spirit alive. If only the peoples of the world can have the same feeling that these leaders have had, and that their staffs have evidently succeeded in carrying out in their work together, much can be accomplished, I feel sure, in the future.

There is one place where people who wish to render a steady day by day war service might find a useful job, I am told. The Veterans Administration is very short of clerical workers. Their personnel division places the shortage in Washington, D.C., alone, at 1,000 employees. I realize that everybody cannot act as a stenographer or a clerk. But perhaps if you went to the Veterans Administration offices in various cities they might find something you could do which would free someone else who had the qualifications they needed and who could therefore give more time in essential work.

They must need help pretty badly, because when I telephoned to ask if people who applied had to have civil service status they told me “No,” adding that the Veterans Administration would help applicants to attain this status if necessary. They feel that all their work has been slowed down and that this is going to affect the families of disabled men, as well as the men themselves. I know that this is true, for I have come across several cases myself where the records are not coming through in the usual period of time, which at best was none too rapid. Incidentally, if shortage exists now, the day by day load carried by the Veterans Administration is going to go up, so things will be worse and not better.

Yesterday afternoon I had a call from quite a large delegation. This delegation came from Minneapolis and St. Paul, the twin cities of Minnesota, and they were here to give as much support as they could to the passage of a strong Fair Employment Practices Act. They asked to see me and they stated very clearly the reasons why they felt that now during the war, as our men were coming home, as well as after the war, this legislation was essential to the well-being of our minorities.

54

March 3, 1945

WASHINGTON, Friday – Last evening Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt and I, after having a few people in for tea, went by train to Baltimore, to see one of the first performances of a new play by Rachel Crothers, called Bill Comes Back. It is always interesting to see a play before it reaches its final form and then to see it afterwards. This play deals with a subject in which we are all interested – the returning serviceman – and may come to New York City in the course of the next few weeks.

John Golden came back to the White House with us. The train coming back was late, and so we caught the train ahead of the one we expected to take. Instead of being weary, we found ourselves still talking for some time after we reached home.

The paper said that March had come in like a lamb, since the temperature in Washington went as high as 50 yesterday! I think we have already begun to have our April showers, because it is raining again. But spring is in the air, and that must be an encouragement even in parts of the country where snow still lies pretty heavily on the ground.

The National Conference of Christians and Jews, with offices at 203 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago, has just sent me its “Reading For Democracy, III.” I like the opening paragraph, which sets out the reasons for publishing these lists of books:

Democracy is a venture of faith in the ability of people to guide their own destinies. The faith is justified when the people consider carefully where they are going, the problems with which they are faced, and seek a way of working together toward common goals. The books here presented are discussions bearing on these great problems of democracy. Their authors are our leaders in pointing out paths we may choose to travel.

Though it was not published soon enough to be included in this list, I am quite sure that the book which was announced yesterday for joint publication by Simon and Schuster and Reynal and Hitchcock, Sixty Million Jobs, by Henry Wallace, should be read by all of us. Mr. Wallace was confirmed as Secretary of Commerce yesterday by the Senate, and so his views as set forth in his book are important to the people of this country.

I have an amusing letter from someone taking me to task for saying that the education of returning veterans must be considered on a grade and high school level as well as on the college level. My correspondent seems to think that by choice I am insisting that those who wish to go through college shall be kept down! The point is that over 60 percent of the men in the services have not finished grade school or high school, and therefore before they have any other opportunity they will have to have this type of school training.

55

March 5, 1945

WASHINGTON, Sunday – We spent yesterday evening looking over some of the things which the President and our daughter brought home with them from their recent trip.

King Ibn Saud had brought some very beautiful native garments when he came to visit the President. The headdresses worn by the men are of such fine wool material that they would make wonderful shawls. If it were not for the embroidery, the soft material would go through a lady’s ring – and that, I was taught in my youth, was the test of a really good shawl of that particular variety. The ladies’ embroidered silks have very wonderful gold and colored embroidery, and are a gorgeous combination of colors. The gold bracelet sent me by Emperor Haile Selassie is as soft and pliable as any material, and he gave my daughter a very beautiful string of gold beads.

It was very pleasant earlier in the day to see Dr. Levering Tyson again, president of Muhlenberg College, who brought his son here for luncheon. The latter is on his way to the Columbia Midshipman’s School, and I am sure he is going to find the sea a congenial atmosphere.

In the early afternoon I visited the Red Cross B’nai B’rith surgical dressing unit at the Walsh Club House, where every room was filled with busy workers. They told me that they began the project at the start of the war and have never let up, nor had there been the least difficulty in keeping their workers on duty. That is quite a record. This unit also does the stretching and cutting of the gauze for other workers besides their own group.

At 4 o’clock the 40 boys and girls who are attending the five-day Science Talent Institute in Washington came to see the White House, and I had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with them. They represent the top young high school scientists, having been chosen from among 15,000 high school students.

In between times I saw a number of other people and had a few guests at tea.

Since writing the other day about what Tide was doing for returning servicemen in the advertising field, Advertising Age has sent me a copy of a “pony” edition which they are sending free to servicemen interested in keeping up with the news in the advertising and marketing fields. They sent out more than 8,000 copies in December. Some of the difficulties which Advertising Age told me they had in reaching discharged servicemen, it seems to me, might be met by a little more cooperation on the part of the government. Perhaps when these problems are better understood, by the Veterans Administration and by the various businesses involved, new ways may be devised to reach and help the discharged servicemen.

56

March 6, 1945

NEW YORK, Monday – Today I am in New York City to attend one or two meetings.

This is the beginning of the week in which the 4-H Clubs are being honored, and I should like to add my own word of congratulation to the young people in rural areas. The President has written them a letter, but I think everyone should realize the extent of the contribution made by rural boys and girls in the production of food actually used on the farm and in the home community. In addition, they have in many cases furnished much of the work which full-time farm hands accomplished in the past. Two high school boys, for example, work for our farmer in Hyde Park after school and in the holidays. They evidently are happy in doing so, and he is certainly happy to have them.

Readers of my column have probably realized that I am deeply concerned about the lack of provisions, in a great many states, for the treatment and education of spastic children.

I am very happy to hear from the Crippled Children’s Commission in the state of New Jersey that since the commission was formed in 1926, all cases of crippled or deformed children must be reported by the doctor. As a result, they now have a complete register not only of children, but also of crippled men and women, and they provide professional treatment and vocational training wherever needed.

Dr. W. M. Phelps of Johns Hopkins, who is regarded as the greatest authority on cerebral paralysis and spastic palsy, holds clinics in New Jersey, and the schools, hospitals and therapists carry out his instructions. New Jersey has pre-school age treatment, clinics and out-treatment. This is certainly encouraging, for when one state goes forward the other states are apt to become conscious of their deficiencies and move forward also.

I have just heard again from Raymond Baird of River Falls, Wisconsin, who is 26 years old and confined to a wheelchair. He wrote me last year about their Easter sale of seals which supports Camp Wawbeek at Wisconsin Dells. For six years Mr. Baird has sat in his chair; but he is the publicity director for this crippled children’s camp, a sports writer, and also has a column which is published in several Midwestern weekly papers. Two of his brothers are overseas and he writes to a number of servicemen. With all these activities, he can’t have much time for self-pity.

His interest in this camp has made me feel that perhaps similar camps might be valuable in other parts of the country. He tells me that the money from the sale of Easter seals operates the camp, where handicapped children often find they can develop a skill and take part in activities in which they never before imagined they could be interested. The Wisconsin Association for the Disabled uses any additional money to help with the education and vocational training of handicapped people. Afterwards, the association finds them a job and purchases orthopedic appliances, in this way helping them to become self-supporting members of society, instead of remaining as dependents.

57

March 7, 1945

NEW YORK, Tuesday – It seems unbelievable that the Canadian and American armies have now joined forces and that our troops are now on the Rhine. The day of doom is drawing closer, and one cannot help wishing that the German army and the German people will accept the inevitable and save both their own young people and others from the bloodshed of battle, not to speak of the sufferings of civilian populations which are being subjected to heavier and heavier daily bombings.

How trivial our daily round seems and yet our ordinary lives must go on, in spite of anxiety or fear!

Monday evening we went to see Snafu, and we certainly enjoyed Ronald Stevens as acted by Billy Redfield. He seemed completely natural, and as lines of boys and girls in Army and Navy uniforms came down to get their programs signed between acts, I looked at the boys from overseas and thought that quite a few of them might have gone through some of Ronald’s experiences. I hope, however, that most families are behaving – both in anticipation of their son’s return and at the time when he actually arrives – with a little more calm and naturalness than was achieved by Mr. and Mrs. Stevens.

This morning I went to Miss Selma Burke’s studio to look at a head she has done of the President. Then a visit to the dentist and a lunch engagement with a small group of people.

In the afternoon I went to a meeting and tea at Mrs. Lash’s house for the Wiltwyck School. This school needs more friends if, in the course of the next few years, it is going to lay a real pattern for the treatment of young delinquents. Since we are becoming more and more conscious of our obligation to the young people of our communities, I think if we can prove in one school that a child from bad surroundings – given the proper care – may be saved from real delinquency, we will have done something of value to the nation as a whole. Therefore, this school, which is entirely non-sectarian, has an interest, I think, not only for people in New York City but for people in other parts of the country who are interested in saving children from the need of spending years of their lives in reformatories and only too often, later, in prisons.

In the evening I am attending a dinner and returning to Washington by the midnight train.

58

March 8, 1945

WASHINGTON, Wednesday – It was most interesting at the dinner last night of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare to hear Dr. Homer P. Rainey, former president of the University of Texas, speak.

Various academic organizations have been deeply troubled over the action taken by the trustees of the University of Texas. It is difficult, when you hear Dr. Rainey speak, to understand what is the basis of this whole agitation, because it must go beyond the mere question of academic subjects and administration. In any case, having known Dr. Rainey ever since he did such a very interesting piece of work in the American Youth Commission – where he was associated not only with academic people but with people in the business world and of many varied interests – I was happy to see him again and to find him unchanged and still a dynamic and interesting person.

I have had one or two letters from people whose relatives are prisoners in Germany and who have been confused by having what seemed to them contradictory directions for communication with our prisoners. Having now obtained the proper directions, I am going to give them here in the hope that they will be of assistance to others who are anxious to reach their men who are prisoners of war as quickly as possible.

When the regular blanks are used, the post office will take the letter without stamps.

When the regular blanks are not used, the writer must send the letter to Washington to be mailed, as so many people were using stationery that had advertising and propaganda on it – such as “Buy War Bonds,” etc. – which the German government would not accept.

A label from the provost-marshal’s office is issued to the next of kin. Instructions are given on this as to how to mail and address the package, and it allows one 11-pound package to be mailed every 60 days. Sometimes labels come directly from the prisoner; he might get some French prisoner of war labels and send them, thinking they could be used. So be sure your labels are those used by the United States.

When a person has been notified that a man is a prisoner of war, but there is still no address as to what camp he is in, the mail must be sent to Geneva, in care of the Red Cross, for delivery.

I arrived back in Washington almost an hour late this morning, but had no engagements until my press conference at 11 o’clock. That was attended by three members of the League of Women Voters, who wished to tell the press about their efforts to interest women in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals. We also had as guests two women correspondents from the French press.

59

March 9, 1945

WASHINGTON, Thursday – In talking to my press conference yesterday, the women seemed very much interested in the gifts which had been presented to me in the course of the last few years. This seems to me very natural, since I have always been interested in gifts which were presented to the wives and children of our former Presidents. In describing the interesting gift of an old jeweled crown which the President brought back to me after his trip to Casablanca, I was unable to give the exact title of the gentleman who presented it to my husband. He is His Sherifian Majesty, Sidi Mohammed, the Sultan of Morocco.

I have always felt a little sorry for any lady who had to wear a crown, but the one who wore this one would carry a very heavy weight on her head as well as in her heart. It is a beautiful and interesting piece of decorative work, however, and always attracts a great deal of attention when young people visit the library at Hyde Park. The ladies of the press asked if someday we would show some of the costumes, and I will try to do so.

At noon yesterday Mrs. Hugh Butler’s two public speaking classes came in to demonstrate what they are going to do in speaking for the Dumbarton Oaks proposals. There are a number of wives of Congressmen and Army and Navy officers, as well as a good many members of the League of Women Voters among them.

I think it is grand of these young women to take the time for these courses in order to do a constructive piece of work, and I was much impressed by the very effective way in which they spoke. If they are any sample of the young women of the present day, our ladies are going to be a great addition in the world of public speakers.

In the afternoon Miss Ruth Winchell came in to play her accordion for a group of men from the Naval Hospital, and we had a very pleasant time together.

At 5 o’clock I went to the broadcasting station to speak to the women of the Soviet Union in honor of International Women’s Day, and then I attended the reception given by Mrs. Joseph Davies at her home. The other speakers were Lady Sansom, wife of Sir George Sansom, attached to the British Embassy; Mme. Bonnet, wife of the French Ambassador, and Mme. Gromyko, wife of the Ambassador from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

I am always filled with admiration when I find foreign women speaking our language so well, and doing what to me would be impossible in their language.

60

March 10, 1945

WASHINGTON, Friday – I have been thinking about the efforts which the State Department and so many other groups are making to interest all of our people throughout the country in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals. I hope we are really going to be able to reach a great many people, and that by the time the United Nations meet in San Francisco on April 25 there will be very few people in this country who do not understand the basis for the proposals which will be put before that meeting.

I think, however, that we ought to emphasize the fact that these are just proposals, that even here at home there will be objections made to certain details. The conference in San Francisco will have to take these proposals and all the objections – such as France, for instance, will present, or even some of our own leaders – and after considering and going very fully into all the different points of view, will have to reach a compromise.

Compromises are never fully satisfying to anyone, but wherever you do things where a great many people are involved you are bound to accomplish them on a basis of compromise!

Living in the world at all means compromise. If our ultimate objective is the setting up of some machinery where the nations of the world can meet and discuss their problems, and the public opinion of the world can become informed, then we must accept compromise. I notice that many people say that it will be quite all right to compromise on unimportant matters, but that we must never compromise on principles. Sometimes I wonder whether even principles won’t bear compromise for a great objective, since what appears to you to be a principle may not appear in the same light to somebody else.

We are dealing with a great many different peoples when we attempt to set up some machinery for world organization. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that many nations are going to change their points of view as the years go on and as fear of aggression and of want is less prevalent. If we think a principle is important, we can work to prove it to them once we have established some world organization; and the only thing which we must be sure to have is flexibility in the original plan so that changes may be possible.

Yesterday morning I saw a group of gentlemen representing the American Legion, department of Ohio. They have some very interesting plans for the care of orphans and veterans in their area, after this war.