Eleanor Roosevelt: My Day (1946)

61

March 12, 1946

NEW YORK, Monday – I think one of the most important things for us to be concerned about at the present time is the emergency housing legislation before Congress. There seems to be little realization in Congress that the people of the country are really aroused about housing. I was, therefore, much interested in seeing the results of a public-opinion poll made under the supervision of one of our national magazines.

According to this poll, 81.3 percent of the people want rent ceilings maintained. 63.3 percent want ceiling prices kept on building materials. 75.6 percent want these materials channeled into the low-cost residential field by government action. 48.1 percent want the government to embark on a large-scale home-building program. 80 percent want government loans to individuals for low- and medium-priced houses.

The North Atlantic States and the Far West, according to this survey, are the regions where housing is most difficult to find. Therefore, more people in those areas seem to realize that, if the ceilings on rents and building materials were to be removed, there would be a skyrocketing of prices for living quarters.

We again would have building going on which could not justify the amount of money put into it. In the present period, when shelter is so difficult to find, people will, of course, throw all considerations of cost to the winds but, later on, they might not be able to pay the interest on the money borrowed for building and therefore might lose everything they had put into it.

The public attitude seems to be sound in wanting ceilings kept on rents and on building materials, but the public does not seem to be well enough organized to be able to impress on the members of Congress its desires for low- and medium-priced housing. I think the young veterans’ organizations have been fairly vocal, but even they do not seem to have made a real campaign on individual congressmen.

I think the original housing bill, which was greatly altered in the House, should be restored in the Senate, and a real effort should be made to meet the needs of the veterans. This bill would indirectly help all of our citizens. A shortage of housing for veterans creates a shortage of housing for all citizens and, in the big cities, this overcrowding is becoming a menace to health. Also, overcrowding disrupts family life and often leads to low moral standards.

We should have foreseen many of the needs which now face us. Having failed in preparation, however, we can at least do the right thing now and provide low-cost housing quickly!

62

March 13, 1946

NEW YORK, Tuesday – Yesterday I did one of the stupidest things of my more or less careless existence! I wrote down that I was to be at 49th Street and Broadway at 6 p.m. but failed to note the name of the place where I was expected, apparently forgetting that there are four corners at 49th and Broadway! When I arrived there, I saw soldiers’ buses lined up along the sidewalk and thought they probably had a bearing on my engagement, but I couldn’t decide which of the four corners I was expected to go to – and so I went back home.

About an hour later, a reporter called me to say that the party at which I was expected had begun. I started out again and went back to 49th and Broadway. This time, I found the right door and went into a really wonderful party being given for several hundred wounded veterans by the Jewish War Veterans Auxiliary.

The dinner was good and the entertainment was even better. Bill Robinson danced, and the orchestra was playing its best. They stopped long enough to let me say a few words, and then I came on home.

But somehow I can’t forget the men and women I saw there. They carry with them the marks of war. They know what war really costs and I think they are the people who should talk to us today.

As I was leaving, a young reporter from the United Press asked me several questions, among them: “Do you share the pessimism of the great majority of the press as to our foreign relations at the present time? Do you feel that the United Nations Organization is probably on the way to holding its last meeting? Do you feel that Mr. Churchill’s speech makes it impossible for the major powers to work together?”

The mere fact that a very fine reporter from a responsible news service was sent to ask me these questions points to a lack of realization on the part of a great many people as to the actual seriousness of another war. It isn’t just a question of another war in which hundreds of thousands of young people would lose their lives. It is a question of wiping out the civilization which now exists upon the earth.

If we go on taking it for granted that the organization which we have set up to try to prevent war is going to be ineffectual, and if we give up hope before we actually make any effort to succeed, then I think it shows a lack of imagination on the part of the leaders of thought in this country which brands us as being unrealistic in facing the future.

It is, of course, entirely possible to divide the world into armed camps and look at each other with suspicion. We can live in constant fear – and end by destroying each other. But if we take that path, we must do it with our eyes open and count the cost beforehand. Tomorrow I will discuss where this path will lead us.

63

March 14, 1946

NEW YORK, Wednesday – Yesterday I went to Hyde Park to meet Mr. and Mrs. Winston Churchill, their daughter Mrs. Oliver, Ambassador to Britain John G. Winant, and Colonel Frank Clarke, all of whom came up for a few hours. Mr. Churchill had told me before he came to this country that he wanted to lay a wreath on my husband’s grave.

My son Elliott and his wife and I met them at the gate of the big place. It was a beautiful day and, though it was still very wintry, I thought that peace and dignity reigned within the tall hedge, even though the garden had no flowers except those which had already been placed on the grave.

As Mr. Churchill placed his wreath and then stood there for a long while, I felt sure that he was thinking of the years when he and my husband had worked in such close cooperation to win the war. He seemed oblivious, for those few minutes at least, of the numerous cameramen standing along the path – taking pictures of one war leader, who must watch the struggles to establish peace, standing by the grave of another war leader, who has been spared the anxieties which would be his if he were here today.

I often wish he were here so that I might ask him what he thinks or feels in certain situations, but I am not quite sure that he would not suffer some disappointment as he looked at our world today. He hoped that we would build confidence and interdependence among men, and I am not sure how many of us are really striving towards that end.

I think it was a day of great emotion for Mr. Churchill. Besides the respect he had for my husband as a statesman, which made it possible for them to work together even when they differed, he also had a real affection for him as a human being, just as my husband had for him.

No matter how much any of us may differ at times with the ideas which Mr. Churchill may hold, none of us will ever cease to be grateful to him for the leadership which he gave during the war. He seemed to gather up the strength of a great people and to intensify it through his utterances and actions.

I was very happy to have an opportunity to see Mrs. Churchill and her daughter, and I was only sorry that our visit was so very short. They all lunched with me, and then Mr. Churchill was off to Albany to see Governor Dewey.

New York City will do them all honor during the next few days. Then they will return to Great Britain and the grim business of facing each situation as it arises in the world today – trying to deal with it not only as members of a political party, but as citizens of one of the great nations of the world!

64

March 15, 1946

WASHINGTON, Thursday – I greatly regret the resignation of former Governor Herbert H. Lehman as Director of UNRRA. I am particularly sorry that it has come because of ill health. Yet when we look back over the years during which Mr. Lehman has battled to make the various governments conscious of the need for UNRRA, and when we think of the trips he has taken under wartime conditions, one cannot be surprised that his health has suffered. These trips were necessarily arduous.

All men working in any official capacity through these past few years have been under a very great strain, and a man like Mr. Lehman, who is sensitive to human suffering and who has been so very close to it because of his post, must have endured a great deal. I have come to think that, for those who realize the weight of human suffering in the various parts of the world today, the mental and spiritual anguish is far greater than the physical strain.

We can only hope that, in retiring, Mr. Lehman will have the satisfaction of realizing that he has helped to alleviate the sorrows of the world as a whole, and that no man could have given himself to a worthier cause.

It looks now as though, with all the cooperation possible throughout the world, it will be difficult to avoid mass starvation in many areas. The Famine Emergency Committee which the President has formed has an extremely difficult task before it.

I am really sorry that its chairman, Mr. Herbert Hoover, with the vast experience which he acquired from his work after the first World War, is going abroad. I feel that he can do less good by taking a trip over there than he could by staying here.

He is a good business organizer, and I believe he would have more influence in promoting the things which must be done in this country and the cooperation which must be obtained from our Central and South American neighbors. In all probability, to increase their production of the needed foodstuffs will require a very careful surveying of their capacities and perhaps the allocation of farm machinery and the enlisting of personnel in this country to initiate new types of production in our sister countries in this hemisphere. For all of this, Mr. Hoover’s help would be invaluable.

It seems to me that the reports coming from Europe and the picture of the Asiatic situation which can be obtained from people already on the spot are sufficient.

65

March 16, 1946

NEW YORK, Friday – Unless we build a strong United Nations Organization, it is fairly obvious that the USSR, the United States and Great Britain, the three great Allies in the European war, are each going to become the center of a group of nations, each building up its individual power.

Unless the UNO controls the atomic bomb and other weapons of destruction, and it is arranged for all nations to share in scientific discoveries, whether along destructive or constructive lines, there is going to be conspiracy, spying and constant rivalry among these three nations and their satellites. No one of them will be entirely at peace, no matter how much they know, because they will never be sure that one of the others has not discovered something which will put that nation ahead either in the military or the economic field.

The armament race and rivalry in scientific research and in the economic field will mean that the cost of government in the various countries will mount steadily. Instead of having money for constructive purposes such as education, better health, better housing, and more social security for the average man and woman, they will have to pay the cost of the new fears that stalk the world.

That country which can exist on the lowest standard of living will be the country that can exact the most from its people, and therefore may survive the longest. Anyone who has seen the results of war in Europe knows what happens to people who live in constant fear and merely exist in the hope of finding shelter and food and warmth from day to day. That is the kind of existence which stares us in the face unless we learn to work together and live together – unless the world organization, which we all set up and which receives from us all a joint pool of knowledge and power, is successfully maintained and gives us all a sense of security.

I believe that all of us, Great Britain, Russia and the United States, want peace but the old way of counting on our own individual force seems still to have a strong hold on us. We have not worked together enough really to feel that we understand each other. We still question whether our different political and economic systems can exist side by side in the world. We still suspect each other when we belong to different racial and religious groups. We are still loath to give up the old power and attempt to build a new kind of power and security in the world.

I am convinced that this timidity is perhaps the greatest danger today.

66

March 18, 1946

EN ROUTE TO PHOENIX, Ariz., Sunday – Before I left New York, I had the great pleasure of seeing Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” with Gertrude Lawrence and Raymond Massey. It was a joy to see a play in which nearly every line was full of stimulating thought as well as amusement. It was beautifully done and I enjoyed above everything else seeing Miss Lawrence and Mr. Massey again.

On my brief visit to Washington the other day, I found that spring had arrived! The magnolias and the forsythia were out, and a Washington paper had a photograph of a girl with a branch of cherry blossoms in bloom. However, as I drove across the Potomac to see Secretary of War Patterson in the Pentagon Building, I looked in both directions but saw no cherry blossoms, so I think that branch must have flourished all by itself.

The White House gleams in its new coat of paint, but I had become so accustomed to its dingier look that I almost missed it. The grounds looked beautiful, as always, but I suddenly realized that the beautiful nearby Treasury Building, perhaps because the White House had been painted, was sadly in need of being scrubbed.

I attended a dinner given in my honor by the Women’s Joint Congressional Committee. This group represents 22 organizations and these organizations represent some 10 million women, so I felt it was a great responsibility to try to tell them something of my experience at the UNO conference and the impressions I brought back.

Senator Tom Connally of Texas introduced me and very kindly read the open letter which the women of the United Nations addressed to the Assembly and asked the papers in the various countries to publish. I am glad he did this, for I think we women often need to be reminded that, if our voice is to be heard in the international groups, we must be willing to take our place at home in national affairs so that we will make our mark and be chosen not just as women, but as people known to be capable of performing certain public tasks.

Both Senator Connally and Secretary of Commerce Wallace, by their praise, made me feel very humble. I am very conscious of the fact that if I am able to render any service to our country, or to the people of our country, it is because of the very unique opportunities which I have had throughout my life, and also because of the help other people have given me in the past as well as in London.

There our delegation worked as a team, and we had the advantage of the mature judgment and experience of men who had long been in public life or in the business or professional world. In addition, we had the State Department experts as our advisers and I, for one, will never forget that good service rendered under those circumstances is never an individual achievement, but the collective accomplishment of all those who worked together.

67

March 19, 1946

PHOENIX, Ariz., Monday – We arrived here by plane Sunday afternoon, were met by Mrs. Walter Dougins and went directly to her home. There is something marvelous about the quality of the air in this state and in New Mexico. Both states enjoy much of the same clear blue skies and a quality of atmosphere which makes you feel, as you look at the distant mountains, that you can almost touch them. As we wandered around the garden and looked at Camelback Mountain, I could not help thinking of the variety of climate and landscape that we enjoy in this country of ours within just a few hours of travel.

When we left New York City Saturday we were told that hotel rooms had been reserved for us in Chicago, in case we could not continue on the same plane to our destination. On reaching Chicago, we found that it was raining, but, nevertheless, when we ran into the airport terminal, we found that our plane had been cleared. The uncertainties of weather make it wise to allow a little extra time on air trips. There was a great crowd in the Chicago terminal and I imagine the weather had held up a number of people going in different directions.

I cannot help feeling that a number of air terminals may have to make major improvements, in view of the fact that air travel is certainly going to be increasingly used in the coming years, as new inventions make it safer and gradually conquer the difficulties of bad weather. Building is already going on to improve facilities for travelers.

There were, of course, enormous Army flying installations throughout the country during the war, and as you near the airports you see what look almost like small cities, which are realty barracks and other necessary buildings put up in wartime.

Out here, they tell me that the housing administrator has warned people that the use of such buildings to meet the housing shortage may create the worst slums that have ever existed in our country. This is entirely true if we don’t set a limit on the life of all temporary buildings and see to it that, at the end of that time, they are destroyed.

London, because of the great destruction by bombs, has a terrible shortage of housing. There, as they cleared certain bombed areas along the docks, they put up a very temporary kind of shelter. It consisted of two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. A tiny coal-grate fireplace in the living room and a little gas stove in the kitchen are the only means of heating the house.

The next step was still temporary housing, usually of prefabricated material, but with a bathroom and more kitchen conveniences. The last step is brick two-family houses with modern heating, a bathroom, and kitchen facilities far beyond what the poorer houses in London have enjoyed in the past. The first temporary shelters are already being torn down as room is found for the second type; and the permanent houses are going up wherever the land is cleared.

We in this country certainly should use our temporary buildings to the limit for the relief of those needing homes immediately. However, with our resources, and in view of the fact that our shortage comes only from not having been able to build during the war, and not from any destruction, we should be able to plan even more rapidly than the British to replace all temporary housing with permanent homes.

68

March 20, 1946

PHOENIX, Ariz., Tuesday – It seems so warm to me here that I was almost surprised to find how cool it was last night! Driving around today I realized what a wonderful farming country this is when you bring water to the land. Even among the orange and grapefruit groves arrangements are made for letting in the water which comes all the way from Roosevelt Dam to make this fruitful valley a green and profit-making proposition. Land around here costs about $1,500 an acre. One acre of cauliflower will give you a good-sized year’s income! Across the way from Mr. Douglas’s house, I noticed quite an area in grape vines and was told they were those green seedless grapes that have become so popular. Last year $20,000 was made from this particular piece of ground. Mr. Douglas ships hundreds of carloads of grapefruits and oranges and I walked a little way into his orchards and had a view also of date palms with the dates actually hanging from them. I’ve always thought of dates before in packed boxes in the grocery stores, never as hanging in great bunches from the trees with paper bags over them to keep the birds away. I also saw an orchard of olive trees this morning and was told that they were very scarce at the moment and bringing very high prices. That is, I imagine because Italy and Spain are not able to ship their usual quotas at the present time. In winter carloads of lettuce also travel northward from here and this is certainly a part of the world where intensive cultivation on small acerage brings good results as well as the larger ranches for citrus fruit and beef cattle. The milking cows look to me pretty poor and that, I imagine, is due to the fact that there is no very good pasture for them and feed is expensive.

The population of the state is increasing by leaps and bounds and Phoenix itself seems to have grown overnight or rather the numbers of small houses going up indicate that many people are moving here. They tell me that a great many veterans are coming here which is easily understandable for the climate will help many of them to rehabilitate their health. For a long time both this state and New Mexico have been the mecca to which many people with tuberculosis have come and it has always seemed to me unfair that these states had to bear the burden of the care of many indigent families who came here from other states, often having waited too long for a real cure to be possible. It would seem as though the federal government had an obligation to help, particularly where the veterans are concerned.

I visited, yesterday morning, the little office which my daughter and son-in-law have taken and saw their partners in their new publishing enterprise. I like the confident way in which everyone is looking to the future and greater success and apparently is prepared to work hard to succeed. This is still the country of the pioneer and of young people and I can well understand the attraction for those who are starting out to carve their own way in the world.

Now I must say just a word about a very enterprising young man who writes me every year from River Falls, Wisconsin. He is Mr. Raymond Baird, and from his wheelchair he writes several sports columns a week besides being the publicity director for Camp Wawbeek. This is a camp run by the Wisconsin Association for the Disabled, and boys and girls on crutches and in wheelchairs go there and spend a happy holiday every summer. They raise their money by the sale of Easter Seals and so Mr. Baird has asked me to tell the nation again that on the 20th of March, their campaign begins and though it is a Wisconsin charity, he hopes anyone in the country who feels that disabled youngsters are a national responsibility will help to swell the sale of seals this year as in former years.

69

March 21, 1946

PHOENIX, Ariz., Wednesday – The other morning, we went on a short excursin into the outlying countryside and I was surprised to see how many homes are dotted around the desert, almost hiddden from view. Elizabeth Arden has bought one of the most beautifully landscaped places around here, with an expanse of lawn that takes your breath away in this desert region. Of course, one can grow anything here if water is obtainable. All over her lawn are the pipes which bring the water which is the secret of the greend surroundings. As we walked out past the house to the swimming pool, the air was sweet with the smell of orange blossoms.

The most interesting thing on our trip was a visit to the new center for the Arizona crafsmen, which is established the villege of Scottsdale, only a few miles from Phoenix. Mr. Darlington, the organizer of this particular group, bought an old building an did it over. You come into a charming patio out of which all the different shops open.

At the back is the pottery shop. Mathilde Shaefer, the sculptress is doing some charming ceramics. She had done a pair of horses and a sleeping Indian child that I would gladly have walked away with if I had not been restrained by the thought that I had too many things already and too little space in which to put them.

The next shop we visited was Philip Sanderson’s. He is a master wood-carver and designer. As you go through his little display room to his workship, there is a most effective carving on the wall. In it he has used two different kinds of wood which contrast in color and bring out the design. His bowls and plates, made of imported wood, are satisfying both to the eyes and to the touch.

Our next visit was to Lloyd Kiva, a Cherokee Indian who has a degree from the Arts Institute in Chicago. He also has studied at the University of Chicago, the University of New Mexico and the Oklahoma A. and M. College. And he has taught at the Indian School near here. Now that he is back from his service in the war, he has decided to create an outlet for the young workers who have been trained in the various arts and crafts durng their school years.

He had beautiful specimens of leather work – bags and belts and purses and beanies decorated with Indian silver work. Very expensive, but they would long outlast the average expensive factory-made leather goods. He also had some lovely specimens of weaving – 50-inch-wide material in the softest and most beautiful colors. Tishanjinnie, a returned soldier, was doing decorative Indian paintings in a little studio room.

Finally, there was the Indian gift and art shop run by Peggy and Horace Smith, where silver work and baskets and wood carvings and many other Indian crafts were on sale. They also had Mexican glass and some Mexican silverware.

On the whole, I think this will become a place where one can get truly American gifts of real value for those who enjoy crafsmanship and original design.

In the afternoon, I visited what will soon be the city of Phoenix’s first boys’ clbu. The citizens have gradually awakened to the face that they have ahigh degree of juvenille delinquency and that theer teenage boys are getting into serious trouble. They have high hopes that the boys’ club will solve their problem.

70

March 22, 1946

EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES, Thursday – In one of my lectures recently, I happened to mention the fact that production was extremely important to the world at the present time. During the question period, I was asked whether production in itself was sufficient or whether any other considerations were necessary to make production effective. This led me down some fascinating paths.

What do we mean when we talk about production? We do not mean, of course, merely creating things that have no value. We must produce things that people really need. Or, when you go beyond actual needs, production must be justified through its contribution to better living and the enjoyment of the finer things of life.

For production to have real value, it must also come up to certain standards. Just to multiply the things in the world, unless they meet the needs for which they are produced, would be a rather stupid procedure. People everywhere soon discover whether they are receiving value for their investment. Though, for the moment, we are probably the only source from which people can obtain certain essentials with which to rebuild their economic life, it would be foolish to believe that we can let down on the quality of our production. Sooner or later, someone would step in and do better.

We in this country, however, have always believed that, in ordinary times, volume production was what we were after, since that would bring down the cost and therefore make it possible for more people to enjoy more things. This belief of ours is one reason why we want to avoid a depression if possible. During a depression, less money is in circulation. The prices of things drop because fewer people spend money. Fewer things are produced, fewer men are employed, and the cycle of a contracting economy is upon us, which requires different and sometimes drastic measures to change the trend.

We hope that, having learned how this comes about, we will never allow it to happen in our country again. But when I see the National Association of Manufacturers demanding that we remove price controls before we are in full production, I wonder whether our greed makes it impossible for us to profit by the lessons of the past. If we were to remove price controls now, when there are so few goods on the market, we would force prices sky-high and compete against each other. The rest of the world would also compete because, without certain essentials, they cannot start producing certain things for themselves. Price controls can be removed when there are enough goods on the market for us all to obtain what we need, but to say that these controls should be removed now as an incentive to production is courting disaster.

My questioner the other night suggested that production applied to many fields besides the manufacture of goods and, of course, in that he is entirely correct. But I think that, if we remember that in every field quality is as important as quantity, it will help us not to go astray. Of course, in the field of the arts, mass production can never be considered. In any creative art, it is beauty of execution and individual expression which is of value and each product bears the stamp of the artist – something that can never be mass produced.

That does not mean, however, that each artist should not produce for his own satisfaction and the joy of those who appreciate his work. This brings us, I think, to the ultimate reality that each one of us, in our own way, must be a productive member of society. If our job is to scrub the floor and we do it with the spirit of the artist or the skilled worker, in our own little sphere we have done our part of the world’s production.

71

March 23, 1946

LOS ANGELES, Friday – On the way here, we stopped off in Tucson, but it was a rather short visit, since we did not get there till just before lunch, and left early the next morning. I had lunch with my cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Robinson, and then went over to the Arizona Inn, which was built by my friend Mrs. King after the last war.

She started it largely so that she could help the veterans who had come to Arizona in search of health, by letting them make the furniture for the inn. It is a fascinating place which spreads around a delightful garden, and I was grateful for glimpses of what might have been very comfortable spots to sit and read if I had had time to do so.

In the afternoon, we met a group of civic leaders at tea, and then, after the evening lecture, we met another group. It was all very interesting, but it didn’t leave us very much time for sleep since, the next morning, we had to be at the airport around 8:00 a.m.

Tucson is more of a pleasure and health resort than Phoenix, but the population is increasing rapidly as more people are coming in who intend to stay there permanently and make a living. It is slightly colder and more invigorating than Phoenix and, if you like the desert and the mountains all around you, it is a very delightful place to live. Many people who have been there only a few years claim they would rather live there than any other place in the world. I saw two of my old Todhunter School pupils and they both told me that they could not imagine living anywhere else. New York might be a nice place to visit now and then, said they, but the West, with its wide open spaces, was their choice for home for the rest of their lives.

In flying in to Los Angeles, we had snow-capped mountains on either side of us and soft white billowy clouds underneath. It was really a beautiful sight. But the most impressive time to fly in to Los Angeles is at night, when all the lights are on and the city lies below you like a multi-colored heap of jewels.

That afternoon, I drove over to Pasadena to see my grandchildren. My son Johnny and my daughter-in-law Anne are still in New York but their little Haven and Nina were excellent hosts and showed me their new home with great pride. We had a very happy tea party. They talked hard, and both at once, each one trying to tell of his or her particular interest. But Haven, aged 7, must have realized that I might not completely understand Nina, because he stopped in the middle of his own recital to point out to me what Nina was saying.

Looking at these healthy, happy children, I was reminded of some excerpts I had seen from letters written by some Dutch children. Here are some of the things they said:

“I have had the last nuts five years ago and… soap. Next Sunday, we should eat the prunes, and last evening we ate the party loaf and it tastes very fine. Mother was very glad with the tea. Last winter I had not gone to school for we had no coal, no gas and no lights and almost nothing to eat.” And another: “Everybody here in the Netherlands is very thankful to the United States. I hope we will have the opportunity to do something for you.”

Let us hope our children keep up their interest in these children in the war-torn lands. I can think of nothing that will strengthen the ties of friendship in the world so successfully.

72

March 25, 1946

LOS ANGELES, Sunday – Friday we took the afternoon train to San Diego for my lecture there in the evening, and then caught the 11:40 p.m. plane back to Los Angeles. I am constantly surprised that a plane which travels all the way from New York arrives on time; but I was grateful that it did, for we were quite weary when we reached Los Angeles again at one in the morning.

Saturday in Los Angeles I attended a luncheon given by the PAC and the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions. In the evening I gave my lecture in the Shrine Auditorium. I was rather worried when I heard that it would be in such a big hall, but apparently they had no difficulty in filling it.

Since this lecture was a report on the UNO, I was able to tell more about the actual machinery which had been set up. I am happy to find that people seem really interested to know just what this machinery is and how it functions, and particularly how they can help it to function well. They are eager to know just what are the actual conditions in the other countries of the world, and I think it is becoming clear to everyone that there is a close tie between our own conditions and those which exist elsewhere.

Perhaps our very young people are helping us to see this tie. Here in Los Angeles, Miss Corinne Seeds, principal of the elementary school of the University of California, has helped to start what seems to me a very interesting plan. The names of 3,000 school children in one little town in Holland were secured and already 2,000 have become “adopted friends” of children in the schools of Los Angeles. This project is sponsored by the county board of education; it has the support of school superintendents and the backing of the head of all the Catholic schools in town.

Once a month, the children send a friendly letter and a parcel of warm, used clothing, shoes and food. If this plan spreads, it will of course be a tremendous help to the clothing drive held under UNRRA sponsorship and the food drive which they are now going to undertake. The children’s efforts may have more success than their elders have had in the past, so at least we can applaud their efforts and hope for the future.

Spring is certainly the most delightful time to see the Southern California landscape. The hills and fields are green and I know of no more beautiful beaches anywhere than those along the Pacific. When I come to California at this time of year, I always remember my first visit here. Franklin K. Lane, then Secretary of the Interior, was traveling with us. He loved this state, and early in the morning he would send us huge bunches of flowers, saying that this was the state of flowers and sunshine and he wished our first impression to be of their beauty and of the sweet odor of the orange blossoms. On this visit I’ve been sent a number of the very decorative paradise flowers, which one does not see as much in the East as out here. I must say that the profusion of little flower marts along the streets adds greatly to the charm of the city. On Saturday I had a chance to walk through Olvera Street, the heart of the Mexican community, and many of my old friends there spoke to me.

73

March 26, 1946

LOS ANGELES, Monday – I cannot help being amused by the excitement over Secretary of Commerce Wallace’s speech at the Jackson Day dinner. I may be wrong but it seems to me that the doctrine he is preaching has always been accepted by any member of any political party who held office. How could there be any effective party organization if those holding office did not subscribe to certain principles and to a party platform which has to be implemented by the passage of certain bills in order to carry out the program?

This does not mean that anyone becomes a slave. It simply means that, when you play on a team, you accept certain things as a member of that team. If certain objectives have been decided upon, you take direction to achieve them.

If you don’t want to be on a team, but want to play a lone hand, then you must run for office as an independent and must accept the fact that, as an independent, you will have no organized support. If every member of a team insisted on his right to play the game in his own particular way, the chances are that the game would be lost. But, of course, if you find at any time that the team you have chosen to play with is no longer to your liking, you can always resign.

I don’t think Mr. Wallace meant anything different from this, and surely this is no new doctrine but a very old one – one to which almost all political leaders have always subscribed.

Yesterday afternoon, I drove out to the Junior Auxiliary Jewish Home for the Aged. This home is for both men and women. They have a small hospital, a very charming dining room and auditorium, a small synagogue, and pleasant living quarters.

The old Jewish people there seem to spend most of their time in prayer, and so it was fitting that they should hold their short but moving ceremonies of welcome to me in their synagogue. In these ceremonies, they remembered my husband as their friend and presented me with a gift which will always have value because of the sentiment attached to it.

I could not help being thankful that, in this country, these old people could find a sanctuary in their declining years. A happy contrast to the sad old people that I saw in a Jewish refugee camp in Germany.

Later in the afternoon, I saw Dr. Temple, who told me something of the successful program of the Los Angeles Health Association. They are hoping that the methods that have been so successful here may spread to other cities. They have inaugurated a “Prevention of Disease Week,” and they have made the fight against disease on the basis that it knows no racial or religious barriers and therefore must be fought by all the people of the community on equal terms.

This morning, before boarding a plane for San Francisco, we are to visit the USO “Troops in Transit Lounge” at the air terminal. They operate on a 24-hour basis, 7 days a week, with volunteers who look after service men, veterans, and their families. I am delighted that this service still continues because, in many cases, it is more needed now than it was when there were more organizations in the field to be of service to men in uniform and to their families.

74

March 27, 1946

SAN FRANCISCO, Tuesday – I am going to do something that I have never done before – namely, point out that a fellow columnist has been inaccurate in certain statements he made. I would not do so if it concerned only myself or even my family, and if the statements were not in “quotes.” One is supposed to accept as accurate what appears in newspapers in quotation marks.

In this case, the columnist, who was not present as far as I know, reports a conversation between myself and Mr. Winston Churchill. The conversation never occurred.

I stated in one of my own columns what I thought in connection with Mr. Churchill’s visit to my husband’s grave. He came to do honor to an old and dear friend, and I deeply appreciated his coming.

In another column, I stated how I felt we should act in order to obtain peace in the world. The objectives of Mr. Churchill undoubtedly are to obtain peace. That was also my husband’s great desire. I happen to feel that most of the peoples of the world want peace and, in spite of many of our newspapers, I believe that Premier Stalin and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek want peace.

The difference, however, is that people think peace can be achieved in different ways. Mr. Churchill thinks that his Fulton, Mo. speech pointed out the best way in which Great Britain and the United States can keep peace in the world. On the other hand, many people think that peace can be assured only by the participation of all the great nations and all the little ones. That happens to be my own belief.

We are so accustomed to using force in the world that, for a time, either individual or collective force will have to be used to ensure peace. Many of us believe it is better to have collective force. It seems to me that these things can be talked out among the United Nations at their meetings and that the collective wisdom of a number of nations and men will find an answer to which we are capable of adhering. I do not believe that any answer which represents only two of us can be satisfactory to the whole group.

I want to emphasize again that it is the quotation marks and the fact that I am supposed to have said things that were both unkind and rude to a guest which make me mention the column in which these statements appeared. I have always appreciated Mr. Churchill’s friendship and personal devotion to my husband. Differences of political opinions are one thing and personal associations are quite another.

Our flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco was very beautiful. The weather was clear and we identified Mount Wilson and the observatory buildings. As we neared San Francisco, we looked down with interest at Stanford University, which from the air seems to be almost a complete city. Everyone told us, on our arrival, how fortunate we were that we had brought the sunshine, which has been absent here for some time.

75

March 28, 1946

SAN FRANCISCO, Wednesday – In every city where we have been, the same shortages of hotel rooms and homes seem to exist. I remember very well the overcrowded conditions that existed after the last war because of the wartime building restrictions; but the war lasted much longer this time and the conditions are therefore far worse.

People are buying homes because there is nothing to rent. In many cases they are paying far more than the actual value. This means that, when building resumes full-swing and homes are plentiful, the value of their investments will deteriorate. If the homes purchased are bought to be lived in over a long period of years, this will probably make very little difference, since the savings in rent will soon make up for the deterioration in value. But if, at some time in the not too distant future, conditions force people to move and to sell their homes, the loss in some cases will be considerable.

One cannot help wishing that, in some way, this loss might be obviated – particularly for people in the medium and lower income brackets. It would have to be done by some city, state or federal regulations, but it would certainly affect the future well-being of a great many people.

I am glad that priorities now are to be given to the building of veterans’ homes. I have felt for some time that our lack of planning to carry out the things which we promised the veterans would lead to a great deal of dissatisfaction.

It is certainly ironic to say that veterans have the opportunity for an education, and then to find that there is no room for them in the institutions they wish to attend. It is equally ridiculous to say they can have loans to buy homes and then have no homes for them to buy.

Of course, the war came to an end more suddenly than we expected. This unpreparedness however, is nothing new to us. We are usually averse to government planning. We consider it a menace to our free-enterprise system. And yet we have no respect for an individual who does not foresee the eventualities of non-planning in his own life or business. The same foresight and planning which make an individual a success probably would be helpful in making the government a success.

Yesterday morning, I walked through Chinatown and visited some of my old friends. Then I went to Gump’s and saw some of the work which they are encouraging artists to do in ceramics, woodwork and weaving. Some of the pottery was lovely.

One can order pottery table decorations, linen, furniture and materials in the colors of one’s choice, and even have an artist make special designs of one’s own choosing. I could not help thinking what fun my husband would have had with an idea of this kind. He always loved to tell people just how he wanted a design, and then leave it to the artist to work out the details.

76

March 29, 1946

OMAHA, Neb., Thursday – The other afternoon, in San Francisco, I acted as godmother at the christening of the infant daughter of my hostess, Mrs. Hershey Martin, the former Mayris Chaney. During the ceremony, the baby cried just enough to frighten the devil away!

That evening, we went to a meeting for the Jewish Welfare Fund. I couldn’t help thinking how sad it is that this fund has to be so greatly increased this year in order to give hope and help to those Jewish refugees who want to reestablish themselves in their own homelands, or in new homes far away from the original setting of their lives.

Had the conscience of the world been sufficiently awake, the tragedies of these people need not have occurred. It makes me wonder if we in this country should not struggle harder to achieve the equal rights guaranteed by our Constitution to all within our nation, since only by so doing can we stand before the world with clean hands when we plead for the wiping out of race hatreds and religious prejudice in the rest of the world.

It seems to me un-Christian to believe that any race was doomed to be an inferior race. We have all been conditioned by our surroundings and, consequently, some of us have moved more quickly than others into what we consider an advanced stage of civilization. But I wonder whether we can consider that we have achieved real civilization as long as hatred and suspicion survive in the world. When we go out to kill each other instead of to help each other, we give valid proof of the failure of our type of civilization.

I’ve seen in the papers that a number of communities are lagging in the Red Cross campaign and that quotas are not being reached as quickly as has been the case in past years. Of course, we are always aware of the need of the Red Cross in wartime, but it must continue to fulfill its functions in peacetime as well as in war. There are still places all over the world which need the things that the Red Cross provides.

I’ve even heard people say that they did not think it necessary for the Red Cross to have a reserve fund. But it seems to me that this is essential, since one can never know when famine, flood, pestilence or earthquake will strike somewhere in the world – and in each case, the Red Cross is immediately called upon.

I have always been very much interested in the American Junior Red Cross. This is one of the few charitable organizations which is permitted to solicit funds and memberships among New York City’s public-school children. Their memberships run from the little ones, aged 6, up to 18-year-old high-school students.

Their activities are valuable in the character development of the children as well as in the education which stems from thinking of children in other parts of the world and trying to understand the conditions under which those children live. The sense, too, of being part of an organization which spreads throughout the world will help our children to grow into better international citizens. This does not mean that they will not be just as good citizens of their own country, but does mean that they will realize the ties which exist between their own country and the rest of the world.

77

March 30, 1946

NEW YORK, Friday – I spoke in Omaha, Neb., last night and, immediately afterwards, took a plane. So here I am – back in New York on Friday morning, having left San Francisco on Wednesday evening and stopped over in Omaha for eighteen hours! That such changes in locality can be made in such a short time should be impressed on all of us, I think, because it gives us an added reason for real interest in parts of the world which, in the past, we considered too far away to affect our daily lives in any way.

On my last day in San Francisco, I had the pleasure of lunching with my old friend Flora Rose, who was for many years the head of the College of Home Economics at Cornell University and who now lives in Berkeley, Cal. I was also able to accept Mrs. Henry Grady’s invitation to look in for a few minutes at a luncheon which my son James was attending at the St. Francis Hotel. I am particularly happy to be back in New York today, for I find my daughter and son-in-law still here, so we can have a short time together before they return to Phoenix, Ariz.

I imagine that everyone these days, like myself, is taking out maps of the Near East and studying them with interest, in order to follow the questions that are under consideration at the UNO Security Council sessions. Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Palestine and Saudi Arabia have been just names to many of us. Often, we have not had a very clear idea of how much territory they covered or where they were. Now we are going to hear about them day in and day out, since what happens in the Security Council affects the peace of the world.

We in the United States have long had a stake in many of these countries, but too few of us know much about what some of our citizens have been accomplishing in the Near East Colleges. There are eight of these colleges, one of which is just beginning its work. In January of this year, a campaign was begun to raise $15,000,000 to support the work now going on and to assist its growth.

These colleges were started and have been supported by Americans. Robert College and Istanbul Woman’s College are both near Istanbul. The others are Athens College, The American College of Sofia, The American University and International College at Beirut, Baghdad College, and the proposed new Damascus College.

The people of this country should support these educational institutions and should know much more about them than they do at the present time, because everyone of them is a center of good citizenship. They do not try to Americanize their students, but they try to make them more valuable as citizens in their own countries. At the San Francisco Conference, where the Charter of the United Nations was written, there were 29 delegates and advisers who had graduated from these colleges – which is evidence, I think, of the good work they have done and of the value they can have for the UNO.

The students are gaining knowledge which is much needed in the modernization of their countries. For instance, at The American University and International College at Beirut, the School of Medicine Pharmacy and Nursing has 318 students – which will make a tremendous difference in the health of that part of the world.

We can no longer feel that the conditions existing in other parts of the world are not of interest in our country. For instance, with people flying so rapidly from place to place, an epidemic started in Syria could spread to this country in record time. So I bespeak the interest of my readers for these colleges, which so long have been a tie between our nation and the little-known Near East.

78

April 1, 1946

NEW YORK, Sunday – At my last lecture, in Omaha, Nebraska, a question was asked me which I have been thinking about a great deal ever since. It ran about like this: “Do you think that the war has increased religious and racial intolerances; or do you believe that we have a greater realization, because of the war, of our need to work as one nation and to have no ‘inferior’ people in our midst?”

It was a difficult question to answer because I think the tensions of war enhance racial or religious prejudices wherever they exist, for the time being. I am not at all sure but that the tensions which exist in the readjustment period, when people are getting back to peace conditions, are not almost as conducive to heightening our prejudices as the period of the war itself.

Yet when the history of the war is really written and people can look back on it with comparative calm, I think the realization of our great accomplishment will carry with it the understanding that the accomplishment was great because on the whole our differences, both racial and religious, were ignored, were swallowed up by the great objective of winning the war.

It will be difficult to gauge what the people of the country really feel because at present the questions that are coming up are very largely dealt with by our political representatives in Congress. Many of them are far removed from the reactions of the soldier or of the worker; and if these two sections of the constituency are not accurately represented, Congress may not be aware of it until the next election.

Some people tell me that the next elections are going to show that the whole country has gone extremely conservative; and, in fact, if we could repeat the Harding and Coolidge administrations, we would do so. Others tell me that the young people who fought the war, in many and varied capacities, have shed a great many prejudices and acquired a great understanding and courage about the future. These young people may not be so easily classified in any political party. But they will vote for the men and women whom they feel represent the liberal points of view which most of them have come to think are a necessity to insure economic and political stability in the future.

Two things, I found, are much in the people’s minds. One is the Poll Tax bill, and the other is the Fair Employment Practices act. Curiously enough, the colored minority, whom one would expect to be chiefly concerned, rarely mentions these two bills. It is nearly always in groups of white people that someone asks a question about them.

Getting a truthful answer to that first question which was asked me will be difficult until after the next election, and then perhaps we will find that the answer varies in different parts of the country.

79

April 2, 1946

NEW YORK, Monday – Apparently, my recent column about the sale of Easter Seals made a number of groups feel that I gave the impression that these Easter Seals are sold only in Wisconsin for a particular project for crippled children. As a matter of fact, the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults functions throughout the nation, and wherever a State group affiliates with it, the organization carries on an Easter Seal campaign during the month before Easter to support the work done among people with physical disabilities, including many of our returned servicemen.

So I want to emphasize here that many people can enjoy the privilege of buying these stamps and helping these organizations.

Another thing has been brought to my attention in connection with our disabled servicemen. I hope it will be considered in my own State of New York and in other states throughout the country, as well as by the Federal Government.

It appears that New York State has passed a grant which is to be given to blinded veterans in addition to whatever federal pension they may receive. The plea I received was that paralyzed veterans should be included in such a grant, because many of them are as handicapped as a blind person. This is probably true and I am sure that it is taken into consideration by the Federal Government in adjusting their pensions. But where the states pass special additional grants, it seems to me that the paralyzed young man should again receive consideration according to the handicap which he has to overcome.

For all disabled veterans, particularly when they are young, I think the aim should be to make them, as far as possible, self-supporting because the ability to work and feel useful is the only thing that will make life worthwhile to many of these young people, but some basic security is certainly going to be essential for most of them.

Since my return to New York, I have been in a whirl of family reunions. I was afraid I would miss my daughter and son-in-law but, fortunately for me, their business kept them here and we have had a grand chance to see each other. In addition, I thought I would miss my youngest son and his wife, but they returned from a brief trip to Boston yesterday, on their way back to the West Coast, and lunched with us. So the last few days have been very pleasant ones.

Last night, I went to the annual public forum of the New York Newspaper Women’s Club. I enjoyed it very much but felt that they had such a galaxy of talent on the speakers’ platform that my own contribution was certainly superfluous.

80

April 3, 1946

NEW YORK, Tuesday – It is a little hard for me to become adjusted to a new name at the head of the Office of Price Administration, but what the new administrator, Paul Porter, says sounds very much the same as what Chester Bowles has said right along. He emphasizes the fact that we started to accomplish an anti-inflation job four years ago and that we can finish it successfully, but that it will require intelligence and courage on our part to succeed. Where there are real hardships for big or little business people, prompt price adjustments must be made so as not to impede production. But to prevent inflation, we must keep present prices and rent standards with as few major changes as possible.

Business, in some cases, would like to have controls come off more quickly perhaps than the OPA deems wise, but I think OPA is going to be anxious to remove these controls just as soon as production begins to relieve the pressure in the major commodity fields. Anyone who lived through the lack of control which existed during and at the end of the last war will acknowledge, I think, that things are being handled better this time, in spite of the many inconveniences and some actual hardships which at times amount to injustices in certain fields.

I feel that the next few years are very critical years. We in this country who believe in democracy and in a free-enterprise system will have to justify, not by lip service but by actual accomplishments, the claims which we make for our system of government and our political and economic way of life. There are two strong contenders in the world today for the backing of the people – communism and our form of democracy – and the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

What everyone is going to look at is results, not the speeches which are made about the virtues or the failings of our respective ways of life and thought. Also, it will not be what suits this small group or that small group, but what really benefits the great majority of people, which will be the deciding factor in the judgment rendered – some ten, fifteen or twenty years from now – by the generation which has fought the war and now must try to build a peaceful world.

Of course, if we fail in building a peaceful world, we may all be annihilated and there will be no opportunity for either form of economic and political thinking to prove its value. But I’d like to quote the words which one of my favorite members of Congress, Mrs. Helen Gahagan Douglas, used in a speech before Congress on March 24:

“I don’t think we value democracy highly enough. The great mass of the American people will never exchange democracy for Communism as long as democracy fulfills its promise. The best way to keep Communism out of this country is to keep democracy in it, to keep constantly before our eyes and minds the achievements and the goals which we, a free people, have accomplished and intend to accomplish in the future under our own democratic system. I am jealous for democracy.”