Eleanor Roosevelt: My Day (1947)

41

February 17, 1947

HYDE PARK, Sunday – This is the first Sunday that I have been in Hyde Park for a long while. My only other visit, since January 1, was just for the day on my husband’s birthday.

I have received in the mail a number of questions as to the day on which the Hyde Park library and house are closed. Ordinarily, Monday is the only day on which the grounds are closed to the public.

But once the weather is good again, if the crowds are very great, people may find it difficult to get into the house itself. While a good many can go through the library and visit my husband’s grave without too much congestion, a house which was not built with the idea of having large crowds going through it all day long has a limited capacity. They tell me that 2,500 people is about as large a number as can go through the house in a day. If it is a fine day, therefore, try to get there early or you may be disappointed!

There is just one other thing which at present might disappoint visitors – namely, during the winter months some repairs are being made in the house to make it safe for crowds.

One of my letters also asked me about the “Gould” mansion. I think the writer must mean the Vanderbilt mansion, which is also open to the public. It was given to the government by Mrs. Van Alen when she inherited it from her uncle, the late Frederick Vanderbilt. It was accepted by the government as a perfect example of a type of house built in what might be called the “millionaire period” in the United States. It is a very beautiful house of its kind, and is an enlarged copy of the Petit Trianon which Marie Antoinette built at Versailles.

Visitors should not forget that, by driving some five or six miles up the Hudson River, they can also visit the Ogden Mills house, which is owned by New York State and is historically interesting as an old home of the Livingston family.

I have given this information before in my column, but so many people have been writing to ask me questions, I thought it was worth repeating, since spring will soon be here and people will be on the road again.

The other evening, I presented the awards at the annual dinner of the New York Newspaper Women’s Club. It was great fun. I get so much pleasure out of seeing young women gain recognition in a field which, as one of the judges remarked, was almost entirely a man’s field 25 years ago.

42

February 18, 1947

NEW YORK, Monday – This is Brotherhood Week, and all over our nation there will be recognition of the importance of the principles for which this week was established. President Truman issued a message in which he said that he joined with the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and with all forces of goodwill, in commending a nationwide observance of this week.

It is obvious that unless we here can bring about a feeling that all men are brothers, there is little chance of that feeling developing anywhere else in the world. Race or creed or national origin have little to do with the essential brotherhood of man. All of us can encourage cooperation among the citizens of this country by our attitudes in our daily lives, and if we value peace, we will do all we can.

The other morning, I went to hear a tone poem written by Lou Cooper in honor of my husband. The music is quite beautiful, and the script very moving. Mr. Cooper was at Wright Field, in the Army Air Forces, when my husband died, and the poem was started two days afterwards, but was finished only last year. It will be sung in Dayton, Ohio, with full orchestration, but former Gov. Cox was so enthusiastic about it that he arranged to have it played and sung for me.

The various voice parts were taken by Lucy Kelston, soprano; Helen Stanton, contralto; Robert Marshall, tenor; and Tivis Wickers, baritone. The narrator was Roland Sharon. I have seldom heard anyone read with more feeling and achieve more sense of being a part of the music. There were tears in many eyes. And I think that, when the poem is recorded, there will be many people who will enjoy having it. It expresses what hundreds of people have told me, in one way or another, that they felt on hearing of my husband’s death, but few of us can put our feelings into words and music.

Friday night, I went to the dinner at which the American Association for the United Nations entertained for the World Federation of United Nations. For several days, there had been meetings in New York of the heads of international non-governmental organizations which have a deep interest in the work of the United Nations. The four Group-A organizations which have been granted consultative status all had representatives who spoke at the dinner. Two of these organizations represent labor – the World Federation of Trade Unions, and the American Federation of Labor. One represents the International Chamber of Commerce, and one the International Cooperative Alliance.

It is interesting that there are so many organizations keeping in close touch with the work of the United Nations, and one hopes that they will play an important role in keeping us thinking internationally in the coming years.

43

February 19, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – As the days go by and Sen. Kenneth McKeller, together with a few others, continues to oppose confirmation of David E. Lilienthal as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, one begins to wonder just who pulls the strings. Is it, as one newspaper states, that the power companies, because of competition with TVA in the past, are now stirring up all of this feeling against a man eminently well fitted for the job? That would be short-sighted, because TVA has really helped the power companies!

Is it that we are so completely possessed by fear that we do not recognize the ring of truth when a man speaks up for democracy as Mr. Lilienthal did? Is it that Sen. McKellar is really afraid to trust any five men with the development and use of atomic energy? If this is true, we had better remind the Senator that this is not the only country in the world. Atomic energy is going to be developed, and whether it is developed for the good of humanity or the destruction of humanity will depend a great deal on this five-man group.

I would trust a man with Mr. Lilienthal’s expressed belief in democracy to head that group. Where his parents were born seems to me to have no relation to the question at hand, which is his fitness to do this job. Where his loyalties lie is crystal clear to those who can read and understand the English language.

There are not many men with the training and background for a job such as this one and, if we turn down a man who is preeminently well-trained, then we deserve to be handicapped in this race for the development of atomic energy. Instead of leading the world and helping it to use this power for the good of humanity, we will be branded as being so small of vision that we could not control a few men but let them hold us in check.

The world cries out for men, especially those of the United States, to work and produce. We blame workers who go out on strike. How about the members of an important legislative body who go on strike against the group of men who should be developing the world’s greatest new source of power?

Early yesterday morning, at Hyde Park, I woke to one of the most beautiful sights in the world – a slim sliver of a moon with one star shining out above it. The wind had blown hard all night but, towards dawn, it dropped and there was the sense, which one always has at this season, that everything in nature was waiting for the first call of spring.

When we were ready for the trip back to town, my little dog refused to get into the car, and my feet walked just as reluctantly as his. Why do we live in crowded places when a sliver of a moon and a star can give so much enjoyment? In these brief, still moments of beauty, one sees in stark relief the actions and motives of little men – and far too many such actions in contemporary history are unpleasant to contemplate.

44

February 20, 1947

NEW YORK, Wednesday – The other morning I went back to visit the Child Development Center which I recently opened, so as to see it when the children were there. In talking with the doctors, I found myself making a connection between the study of these children and the ultimate decision of what shall be done to protect the younger generation from the results of living in the modern world. I have watched the effects of bad housing and drunken parents, and have followed all the long miserable story which usually goes to the making of juvenile delinquency and ultimately adult crime.

We have had spelled out for us pretty clearly what happens when a youth just hasn’t built up enough stamina to stand the strain of modern war. We know that some boys who should have been men cracked temporarily, and some cracked permanently, under the strain of the last war. We know that any future war is going to be more devastating. Out of this knowledge, we achieve a sense of bewilderment and we turn to the psychiatrist as our only hope to solve this problem. Heaven knows whether he can, but he probably is one of the few people consciously working on it.

One thing I am sure is fortunate – namely, that we are going to study mental attitudes and strains where children are concerned. At the center, I saw a little girl who, because she had been a very tiny baby over whom her mother had agonized and watched with unremitting care, had now become completely dependent on her mother, so much so that she spoke to no one else. She is the victim not of her own fears, but of her mother’s fears. The thing that stands out is how much parents often have to learn in dealing with themselves.

I saw a little boy who lives completely in a world of unreality. Sometimes he is Superman, sometimes he is some other character in the comic books. He is always the hero because, in real life, he has so little confidence in himself. One comes to recognize very quickly that this is no children’s problem, but a joint family problem.

When we grow to be mature men and women, I wonder if those of us who express so much fear in relation to the problems of the world are not simply reflecting fears which were not conquered in childhood. A woman said to me yesterday that she had been in Europe a great deal after the first World War, mainly in Germany, and she had had high hopes of a peaceful world. Now she had no hope for peace – she felt that it was just a question of who would use the atomic bomb first.

That is an expression of fear – fear of a power which we possess but are not sure that we can control, fear of what others may do with that power if, before long, they have it too. None of this spells maturity in the individual – and immature individuals mean immature nations.

Fears breed fears, and if we who are at present the strongest nation in the world have fear, we will breed it in other people. That is one reason why I dislike to see us so often take a negative attitude, both in our domestic affairs and in our foreign policy. I should like to see this country be for certain definite programs and go out and achieve them. Psychologically, that is a better attitude of mind in the world of the present.

45

February 21, 1947

NEW YORK, Thursday – Sometimes I wonder what has happened to the religious groups of this country that all of a sudden they must bring representatives from Germany over here. First, the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America brought over Pastor Martin Niemoeller. Now a group of the Catholic clergy is sending Cardinal von Preysing of Berlin around the country.

I am not questioning the high character of these gentlemen, nor their value to their churches and to their country. I am simply wondering if our people are aware of the fact that, when we bring these gentlemen here, they naturally create sympathy for Germany – a country which twice has plunged the world into war.

It seems to me that we ought to know ourselves well enough to realize that we as a nation forget wars and their causes very quickly. We bear no grudges. But this time, if we do not want another war, we must remember long enough not to allow the German nation again to reach a position where it can cause another war.

We have no bitterness, we are not making the Germans suffer. What comes to them now is a direct result of their initiative in creating the second World War. We are willing to see them rebuild their economy, and we will do business with them just so long as they don’t get back to the point where they can prepare for another war. We must be alert to prevent that, and we must not be lulled into a too sympathetic and uncritical attitude by visits of worthy German gentlemen.

Transportation of all kinds is having hard sledding these days. At first it was only air transport that was affected, but now people who had grown to feel that travelling by train was completely safe are beginning to have their faith shaken.

Of course, the most dangerous kind of transportation is by car, but that is so much a part of the life of every American that nobody dares to say anything about its dangers. However, some of our states are passing drastic laws on insurance in order to spur people to more careful driving.

The truth of the matter, I suppose, is that railroads and airlines alike are suffering from worn-out equipment, from the difficulties of replacement, and from shortages of manpower. Until these things can be changed, I am afraid there will be a small percentage of risk whenever we travel. This can be eliminated only by time and production.

Two good things will probably come as a result of the recent series of accidents – every effort will be made to improve equipment as rapidly as possible; and more of us who do not have to travel will stay home willingly, which will lighten the load of our overcrowded transportation systems. I speak with feeling because, in a short time, I am going to be almost constantly on the move, and I am not quite certain why I agreed to be so peripatetic.

46

February 22, 1947

NEW YORK, Friday – The other afternoon, a group of very ardent members of the League of Women Voters came to see me, and to my shame I was told that my membership in the league had lapsed! I was for many years an active member, and then, when I became active in the Democratic State Committee, I joined my local league in Dutchess County, but was never very active. However, I never intended to disassociate myself wholly from the league, because I think it has been one of the great forces for the political education of women and for better government.

Their publications are short and informative, and they now try to conduct their meetings on a discussion basis in smaller groups – which, I think, is the best possible way to get individuals to feel their responsibilities as citizens. The league’s pamphlet “They Represent You” is something everyone should have at hand. It gives the names of our federal, state and local representatives, with whom we should keep in close touch, for they cannot know how we feel unless we tell them. The league is going to add to this publication the names of the United States delegates to all the different groups in the United Nations, and that should mean that those delegates also would have a closer touch with many people throughout the country.

The league has developed a slide film which can now be shown at meetings, and they hope to develop more. This film is entitled “Economics for Everybody,” and must be entertaining as well as interesting.

I was happy to renew my contact with the League of Women Voters and I had a sense of stimulation when my guests departed – which is a good way to feel these days, for too often discouragement as to arousing public interest settles upon us all.

I went to a birthday party the other night, and after dinner we went to see the play “Craig’s Wife.” Judith Evelyn, in the role of the wife, gives a very good performance. The cast is excellent and the young man who is responsible for presenting this play – Gant Gaither – deserves the success which is evidently his. Philip Ober plays the part of the husband very well. This character, when goaded to final recognition of his unhappy existence, mildly breaks an ornament and smokes a cigarette! That he did not do this much sooner is the only thing which makes the character seem a little unreal to me.

I saw myself doing some of the things that Craig’s wife does! I am too neat a person, I fear, and spend much more time than necessary tidying things up. I hope it hasn’t become such an obsession that the house I live in has ceased to have a homelike atmosphere. But one of the things, I suppose, that we all must guard against as we grow older is the horrible tendency of getting “set in our ways.” Perhaps grandchildren are the best antidote – they will drag all their toys out on the floor and leave them there in spite of all of our admonitions to put them away!

47

February 24, 1947

NEW YORK, Sunday – There seems to be a determination these days to do away with as many controls as possible! I believe the people as a whole would like to have OPA operate and retain rent controls, for a time at least. But their representatives seem to be convinced that the more rapidly we do away with OPA itself, the better it will be.

I have not heard that any of the big real estate operators are losing money under the present system. I have had a few letters from people owning small apartment houses, or small houses, who do seem to have a claim which ought to be adjusted. Where there is a real hardship on anyone, there should be the right of appeal, investigation and adjustment.

But at present, when there is such a shortage of housing, removal of rent control would seem to me to work a great hardship on people of moderate income. It would mean that those with money to spend could oust a tenant who had perhaps been living for some time in his particular house or apartment. Such a tenant’s budget might not permit him to pay a higher rent. But he would have to move out in favor of a new tenant who could spend more money, but who for just that reason might be better able to find accommodations elsewhere in any case. I have known people to go south for the winter because they couldn’t find an apartment. Since there are a good many people who could not afford to go south in any case, perhaps it is just as well that those who can afford it, do so!

Rent control is essential until we have caught up to a certain extent on our building program. On the way to Lake Success, I have been passing some of the places which are labelled as “Veterans’ Emergency Housing,” and I must say I am appalled at the flimsiness of the building and the utter lack of any kind of architectural handling. The buildings look like barracks, and I believe that veterans have lived long enough in barracks and should not have to go on doing so when they return to civilian life.

I went to Baltimore last Thursday afternoon to speak at a meeting of the Union for Democratic Action, which is shortly going to merge with the Americans for Democratic Action. I took the night train home from Baltimore, was a guest on a radio program Friday morning, then caught a train to Boston.

I was met there by the police commissioner and Mr. LaRue Brown. But my train was late and I missed a meeting of the Nieman Fellows. I went directly to greet some high school students who are competing in a contest of reporting on the United Nations, then dined with Mr. and Mrs. Brown before attending a joint meeting of several organizations on “The United Nations and Peace.”

I spent the night with my sister-in-law, Mrs. John Cutter, who drove me out on Saturday to see my grandson at school. I caught the afternoon train back to New York, and here I am, on Sunday morning, feeling a little bit as though I had lived in a whirlwind for the past three days!

48

February 25, 1947

MONTREAL, Monday – After spending Sunday at home in peace and quiet, with a few guests at lunch and a few at tea, I departed again Sunday evening, continuing my whirlwind round of travel. This time I find myself in Montreal. The day here I shall have to tell you about later, but the point of my coming is to speak tonight at the meeting of the United Nations Society of Canada.

During my brief visit to Boston, it was quite fitting that on Washington’s Birthday I took my grandson and some of his friends from school over to the Wayside Inn near Southboro, Mass. I greatly admire the delightful way in which Henry Ford has restored this old inn, where George Washington is said to have dined. I am always fascinated by the kitchens of that early period, but the inn’s dining room is very charming.

All the old-fashioned implements hang on the wall, and I particularly admired the grace of an old iron instrument with which our forefathers took coal from the fire to light their pipes. Being ingenious, that is not all that they did. They had a tamper attached, and a little thing through which one could draw the air to make the pipe burn better, and a cleaner for the stem and bowl. Nowadays, all of these things are made pocket-size so that one can carry them around, but in those days people spent more time at home and this instrument hung by the fireplace for their hours of ease.

To me the most interesting thing in the inn is the illusion of height created in the ballroom on the second floor. The ceilings are very low everywhere, but in that room there are chandeliers and you feel that there is more height than the yardstick measures.

We all know, of course, what a valiant soul George Washington was, but when I realize how much, in those days of slow travel, he apparently went around and visited in various parts of the country, I cannot help feeling a good deal of sympathy for Mrs. Washington, who was running a plantation and carrying a heavy responsibility more or less alone! In those days, to run a plantation was tantamount to running several factories today!

I forgot to mention that, on the train to Boston the other day, I met a young Bostonian who was returning home after having tried to attend the meeting of the World Federalists in Asheville, North Carolina. But he had been frustrated by the weather. We had a talk on the subject of a world federalist government, and he told me of the vote that had been obtained in Massachusetts in favor of a world government. He feels strongly that this question must be discussed in order to prepare people for the achievement of this type of organization, which he thinks is the only way to maintain the peace of the world.

Therefore I read with interest the statement of “beliefs and purposes” formulated at the Asheville meeting, but I must say I find them a little difficult to understand. Just what is “a world government of limited powers adequate to prevent war and having direct jurisdiction over the individual?” I am afraid that a “people’s world constitutional convention” would be about as baffling a meeting as could be called. I can well imagine the varied ideas which would be presented and the unending debates. And in the end, since the people individually would represent only themselves, I wonder what agreements would be achieved.

49

February 26, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – My day in Montreal yesterday was most interesting. It began with a very kindly gesture of hospitality. As my train was late and there was no diner, Mr. A. A. Gardiner, one of the vice-presidents of the Canadian National Railway, invited me to have breakfast with him and his wife in his business car. Such kindness was greatly appreciated and, in consequence, I was quite ready to start on a strenuous day.

Our consul, Mr. North Winship, with his wife and other officials, met me at the station. Snow was deep everywhere, but the streets were marvelously open to traffic and the drivers must be particularly skillful, including the police escort which went with us all day and never had a mishap.

Our first stop was for a press conference, followed by two recordings. Then I visited the Mayor in his office and signed his guest book. The entrance hall of the imposing City Hall is a very beautiful room. After a short reception, I was also shown the Council Room.

There are 99 councilmen, and they are chosen to represent the different city interests. This form of government, based on that of Manchester, England, and of Barcelona, Spain, was inaugurated in Montreal in the early ‘30s, when conditions financially became very critical. The present mayor has held the office off and on for a long time, so he must have found the secret of pleasing the people. We lunched with him and some other representative gentlemen.

Then I visited the University of Montreal. This is a really wonderful modern building, bringing all of the usual university buildings into one compact whole. The Government has been most generous to the university, and help came also from the Rockefeller Foundation. Including the graduate schools, which are still in outlying buildings, there are about 13,000 students. The Monsignor was very kind in showing me through this most interesting establishment.

From there, I went to McGill University to speak before their International Relations Club. The large group of students proved to be a wonderful audience.

By a little after 4 o’clock, I was back at the Winship home and had time to rest before going to a dinner given by the United Nations Society of Canada. This was followed by a great meeting in the skating rink, which had been converted into a fine auditorium for the occasion. Several government officials were present.

It seemed to me that interest in the United Nations was developing fast and that the United Nations Society must be growing stronger and gaining a large membership all over Canada. I think the women of the Province of Quebec, as well as the men, are recognizing their responsibility in the work which lies before all of us to aid in preventing future wars.

50

February 27, 1947

NEW YORK, Wednesday – The very extraordinary outburst of British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin against President Truman’s restatement last October of a position which he had stated many times, necessitates a little clear thinking on the part of all of us.

Mr. Bevin will remember that it was at the British Government’s request that a commission of inquiry composed of British and Americans restudied the question of Palestine. At the time, it seemed to me an utterly unnecessary commission, since we already knew, as did Great Britain, all there was to know on that subject. Therefore, there could be only one reason for the request – namely, that Great Britain desired to have the United States accept some responsibility for any future policy. From later developments it was made clear that we, at least, had not understood that we were assuming any military responsibility, but had thought that the report of the commission would carry some weight.

As far as I know, the recommendations that were made might just as well never have been made. The average public can only judge, as I do, by what they see day by day in the press. They cannot have private information which we suppose is available to the foreign offices of the world. But those foreign offices must be as familiar as the average individual with stands which are clearly understood in every country.

It can have been no surprise to Mr. Bevin that the President of the United States, in accordance with the recommendations of the Anglo-American Commission – which Great Britain had asked for – called for the admission of 100,000 refugees into Palestine. It can have been no surprise to the Arabs. So this sudden attack on the part of the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain seems to have occurred under the impact of sudden anger, perhaps not entirely concerned with Palestine.

No one in the world thinks that the question of Palestine is an easy one for Great Britain. And the world is aware of the troubles facing the British Empire today, which have come about largely because of the slowness with which certain inevitable changes have been faced – not just in Great Britain but in many other parts of the world. If India had been developed to the point where Canada now stands, there would be no problem in India. But that is hindsight, and we cannot turn back the pages of history.

We can, however, accept the situation as it is in the world today and we can suggest to other nations, such as the Arabs, that there are advantages to be gained from doing so. The Palestine question is a thorny problem, and in all probability no one is going to be completely satisfied with the way it is settled.

It looks strangely like looking for a whipping boy, however, when Great Britain’s Foreign Secretary suddenly accuses the President of the United States of having made agreement impossible by restating a stand from which he has never deviated. Even the Arabs couldn’t have been so much surprised by this stand. They belong to the United Nations and have been in the United States. Undoubtedly they also read the newspapers. I suppose that the President, being a patient man, will accept Mr. Bevin’s remarks with charity and will recognize that a fit of temper has created a tempest in a teapot.

51

February 28, 1947

NEW YORK, Thursday – The story of the riot staged by veterans in Brussels, Belgium, around the Parliament building, while the deputies were debating the budget for national defense, is one of the sad stories which brings home to us that, when soldiers return to their own country and cease being soldiers, there is a need to learn that at all times a man is a citizen first. The same thing which is happening in Belgium might happen here unless our veterans remember the important fact that they have to live in the land they have saved, and that only by promoting the welfare of all the people can their own welfare be secure.

I am glad to note that not only the President but a number of the influential writers in this country are emphasizing that we have to accept our moral obligations in the United Nations and redeem them in hard cash, regardless of all of our money-saving desires. I can well understand the desire of Congress to begin to pay off the national debt and to balance the budget, and I am in no position to judge where savings should be made. I feel quite sure, however, that they cannot be made at the expense of people who have suffered all that human beings can endure, and who must still build up their countries in order that we may all return to normal economic activities.

One of my newspaper friends has written to ask me to settle a question which keeps coming up in newspaper offices and also when I am introduced on speaking engagements. Do I want to be called Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt or Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt? Of course, I want to be called the latter.

I have been called that ever since I was married and it would seem very odd to change. I understand perfectly well that a professional or business woman who has made a name for herself may find it difficult and confusing to change her name professionally when she marries, but that does not happen to be my situation. I have never made any name for myself, and as I have always been known as Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, it seems to me simpler and more correct to be called that.

The young pianist, William Kapell, who played with the Philadelphia Orchestra here in New York the other evening really performed in a most distinguished manner. His technique is extraordinary. The program told us that he is a product of our settlement music schools, which I think should make us proud. I have always felt that the music and art work done at Greenwich House in this city was outstanding and of great value to the young people in the neighborhood. In the case of Mr. Kapell, a musician of great talent has been developed.

52

March 1, 1947

NEW YORK, Friday – I hope that every one will read with extreme care Herbert Hoover’s report on Germany, because the basic effects of the war are set forth there very simply. In the first World War, Germany did not suffer in this way, but other countries in Europe did suffer in exactly the same way at the end of that war.

France has twice been sapped of one generation, among them some of her finest young men. Great Britain has gone through the same thing twice. Russia did not suffer so much in the first World War, but has suffered in full measure in this last one. And the small nations have all suffered in similar fashion.

Germany is experiencing this drastic loss of manpower for the first time, and the figures given by Mr. Hoover are illuminating. In the age group between 20 and 40, there are 6 men to 10 women, and in the group from 40 to 60, about 7 men to 10 women. This means a very profound effect not only on the nation’s economy at the present time, but on what will happen to Germany 20 to 30 years from now.

Mr. Hoover notes the shortage of housing and of coal, and the changes made in food production by the alterations in Germany’s boundary line and the consequent shifts of population.

Nobody has questioned that the food ration is low, and Mr. Hoover points out very accurately where the deficiencies hit hardest. The self-suppliers, or farmers, are naturally in good condition; and it is satisfactory to know that the prospective and nursing mothers and the children under 6 have had sufficient supplemental diet to keep them in good condition. But beyond that, the report is exactly what one would expect.

The people’s physical condition shows undernourishment. In a country where great physical endurance will be needed to rebuild it, the population is probably not only unfit to do hard work, but unfit to meet the strain spiritually and mentally.

Mr. Hoover bases this part of his report on surveys made by Dr. William H. Sebrell, Jr., of the United States Public Health Service, who was a member of his mission. Dr. Sebrell also visited Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and Britain, and found that the people in those countries were very nearly in the nutritional condition that existed in the pre-war period.

The recommendations made by Mr. Hoover to increase as quickly as possible the rations for children over 6 years of age and for adolescents seem wise, as this would cover about 3,500,000 people in Germany, or 50 percent of those in need of extra nutrition. In the American zone, a systematic distribution of school lunches, which we can accomplish with available Army ration resources, would achieve this result.

The main suggestion, which will strike most of our farmers as sensible, is that we ship 400,000 tons of surplus potatoes to Germany. I am wondering if there is some way of dehydrating these potatoes and thereby using much less space for shipment. Of course, if they are to be used for seed potatoes, that would not be possible, but when they are to be used for food, this might increase shipping space.

53

March 3, 1947

CHICAGO, Sunday – In Herbert Hoover’s report on Germany, his suggestion that about 75 of our now unused Liberty ships be temporarily operated by German crews to transport food and raw materials to Germany seems to me eminently sensible. I have always felt that some use should be found for those ships. If we can also supply some fishing boats to replace those lost in the war, that would seem to me a wise manner of increasing the available food for the German people.

I cannot imagine that it is really a surprise to the American taxpayers that they are faced with considerable expenditures, for some years to come, in order to get the continent of Europe back on a self-supporting basis. It has long been accepted by most of us that nobody wins a war. The Allies were victorious; but everyone, the conqueror and the conquered, pays a price after the fighting is over in modern war.

We need markets for our goods in the future. Therefore, all thinking people have long known that Germany has to return to a self-supporting basis. The only question is how that shall be brought about without rebuilding Germany as a great economic power on which all the other nations of Europe would depend for their industrial supplies and which also would be a constant war menace. The problems of Germany cannot be looked at alone. They are in the heart of Europe and affect all Europeans.

Personally I hope there will be internationalization of the Ruhr and control, through that, of the type of German industry that is allowed to grow. But there must also be careful planning and lending on our part to build up in other European nations some of the industries which before were in Germany. At the same time, we must help Germany to build such industries as she needs for exports, since it is self-evident that we cannot expect to create in the heart of Europe a happy and democratic people unless they have hope for the future.

This is a tremendous planning job and the best brains – financial, industrial and agricultural – that can be found should be working on it. Not our people alone, nor the northern Europeans alone, but all the people of Europe, including Russia and the eastern European nations, should be interested in this planning. The development and growth of contentment must come in all of the countries that have been at war or there is no hope for future peace.

The day I left New York was a very busy one and I really had difficulty in getting away on Friday evening! On Saturday morning, in Detroit, I spoke for the United Jewish Appeal, then spent the rest of the day visiting with my family.

I have one young niece there who seems to be able not only to bring up three fine, healthy little boys under five, but also manages to draw for two hours every afternoon. She showed me some illustrations she has been doing for a book and I found them fascinating.

Miss Thompson and I left for Chicago Saturday evening. Today, Sunday, will be devoted to a trip to Walworth, Wisconsin, where my eldest grandson is at the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy.

54

March 4, 1947

CHICAGO, Monday – A young woman who came to see me in New York City the other morning brought to my attention a situation of which I think comparatively few people are aware.

She has a child who is strong and healthy physically and quite brilliant mentally, but who is emotionally uncontrolled. No amount of training teaches her self-control, and as a result she can never be trusted where anything might irritate or excite her. She has been in schools, but is now in an insane asylum because the doctors all say it is not safe to allow her to associate with normal young people of her own age.

The mother feels that some State or Federal institute should provide the proper kind of environment and supervision for this type of youngster. She insists that much juvenile delinquency occurs through the influence of such young people. She has been told by reform schools that they do not want such youngsters because they feel they are dangerous. In no state and under no Federal program can she find a place where this child can be properly cared for. Therefore, a brilliant youngster, for the most part normal, is learning rebellion behind the bars of an insane asylum.

The mother looked at me pleadingly and said, “Something must be done,” and I agreed that it was vitally necessary. But unless doctors put on a full-fledged campaign of information, I could not see how members of state legislatures or members of Congress would feel justified in appropriating the necessary money. Most of them will have to have it proved to them that there are enough children of this kind to require special schools to house them.

Our drive to Walworth, Wisconsin, yesterday to see my eldest grandson began in a real snowstorm. Mrs. Ellsworth Mills and her son had offered to drive us there, and I thought they were very courageous to stick to their plans. Mrs. Mills’ younger son is with my grandson at the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy, so she was anxious to get a glimpse of her boy and therefore willing to face what looked like a very stormy day. However, by the time we reached Wisconsin, the skies had cleared, and the rest of our drive was under very favorable conditions.

I like this school very much. The young Episcopalian clergyman who is headmaster has undertaken a big job, but in some ways the military training of the school has a democratizing effect. I was interested to see how much my grandson has developed in the two years since we last met. This is partly, of course, the effect of his work last summer with his parents on their newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona, but the school too must be given credit for much of his development.

Today I am to speak for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations on the subject of the United Nations and human rights. Mr. Adlai Stevenson, who urged me to come here, could make a far better speech than I, for he headed the Preparatory Commission in London before the first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly and he did valiant work as an alternate in our delegation to the second meeting of the Assembly. However, he is not so familiar with the work of the Human Rights Commission, so perhaps I can contribute something new on that particular subject.

55

March 5, 1947

EN ROUTE TO PORTLAND, Tuesday – At the luncheon of the Council on Foreign Relations in Chicago yesterday, I was asked a question which I thought had been answered over and over again – namely, “What are the chief objections to our taking in some of the displaced persons in Europe?”

Even if Congress approves an appropriation – which I hope it will very soon – for our share in the International Refugee Organization, we will be able to do only half the job unless we can lead the way in accepting some of these people in our own country and getting them started on new and constructive lives. To do that we not only need the money, but we need a temporary law which would allow the use of immigration quotas which were unfilled during the war years.

By law, we allow 150,000 people to enter this country every year. But only about one-fifth of that number are actually entering because some of the countries with the highest quotas are sending us practically no immigrants today. And during the war, we received very few people because of the dangers of travel and the difficulties of leaving war-torn countries.

If that slight change in our immigration law was made for a period of a few years, we could accept some 400,000 people into this country, under the same careful scrutiny that all immigrants have to undergo for health. It is practically impossible for any immigrant to become a charge on the community today since individuals or organizations have to go bond for them.

I sometimes wonder how much people really know about the displaced persons. I am frequently asked if all of those waiting to come over here are Jewish. As a matter of fact, probably only about 20 to 25 percent of the people remaining in camps in Europe are Jewish. Having been the ones most cruelly attacked under the Hitler regime, the Jews probably have the least resistance and have been dying in greater numbers than any others. The majority of the people still in camps are Poles, Balts, Ukrainians, a few Yugoslavs, and a scattering of other nationalities. Probably three-fourths of these are Catholic, and one-fourth Protestant.

In the past we have prospered because of the new skills and new blood coming to us from various countries, but if we leave these people in camps much longer, they will deteriorate to a point where they will be of little value to any nation which they may enter. We still, of course, have in our minds the days of the depression and we fear unemployment for our own citizens, but if we read the reports on such refugees as have come to us in the last few years, we will feel reassured, for most of them are not only self-supporting but are employers of others.

While I was in Chicago, two people asked me how they could apply for work on international affairs – which I suppose means work with the United Nations. I have to point out that very few Americans can continue to get appointments in the U.N. since there must be an equitable distribution among all the nations of the positions available in the Secretariat. But anyone wanting to try should write to the Director of Personnel, The United Nations, Lake Success, New York.

56

March 6, 1947

PORTLAND, Ore., Wednesday – It is a long time since I have crossed our country by train, but when one does, one gets a realization of the vastness of the United States. Outside our train windows yesterday were the familiar plains – miles and miles of land looking more or less like desert. I saw few vehicles on the road and fewer human inhabitants.

I have always loved the West. The vastness of the spaces must make for self-reliance and independence in the people. Nature may be a friend, but in some of her aspects she calls on man’s strength – physical, mental and spiritual – since she can also be a formidable antagonist. Resources must exist within an individual if he is to live successfully in these sparsely populated, wide-open spaces.

That is probably why our West so often breeds more liberals than reactionaries. They are alone enough not to be afraid of realities, and they have time to think – to analyze their beliefs and their motives and to understand the need for human cooperation.

I think that most of our Westerners, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, are not going to be so anxious to cut the income tax and slash the President’s budget. They will consider what these slashes may mean. Our armed forces are able to speak up and say what a cut in their appropriations will mean, but we are not hearing so much about what the cuts will mean in other services.

We cannot afford to curtail soil conservation, either in the East or in the West. We cannot afford to abate by one iota our reforestation anywhere in the nation. It is vital to the future of our farm areas, and though you may live in a city, what happens to the land of your country touches you as closely as if you were a farmer.

We cannot afford to do anything but add largely to our educational funds, both federal and state. The people of this nation are our greatest asset and we must have an educated people, both because of our economic interests at home and abroad, and because of our desire for peace in the world.

I am told we may cut our school lunch program. If we do, we are being penny wise and pound foolish, for this is one of the things which has helped the health of our children very greatly. To cut it out would be not only an injury to health but an injury to education, since only well-fed children can absorb education to the fullest extent.

We cannot economize on health programs, and we cannot economize on relief for the world.

I am more than willing to see us try to run our government with greater efficiency and economy. I am more than willing to see us cut out the luxuries which we have come to think are essential. I am more than willing to see us pay high for all the things which are not essential. But I hope and pray that our Congress will have the wisdom to tax us on luxuries, so that we may continue doing the essential things which mean prosperity and well-being in the future.

57

March 7, 1947

PORTLAND, Ore., Thursday – At a dinner I attended last evening, a newspaper owner told me about his plan for a free press. He evidently thinks that no press can be free except as its owners make it free and, on his small paper in Vancouver, he is trying an experiment of joint ownership in which the members of the unions working in the plant are his partners. At the top of the paper, this legend is printed: “Owned by the men who run it, run by the men who own it.” It seems to me it will be worth watching this experiment.

Many things have been tried. For instance, for a while a New York paper took no advertising so that it could not be influenced by its advertisers. Some people feel that the tyranny of the subscriber is felt by many papers, for while a newspaper is supposed to lead in creating public opinion, it very frequently abdicates that position and molds its opinions to suit its audience, which makes it the slave of the subscriber.

A really free press is a very difficult thing to obtain, and I often wonder whether those who clamor loudly for it in this country really want a free press or a press which they are free to run in their own way.

When we arrived in Portland yesterday morning, we found the daffodils blooming. Portland’s winters are usually rather rainy, but yesterday the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly.

The day was nice and peaceful on the whole. In the morning, I was visited by the press, who asked me many things of consequence about the United Nations, and a few such inconsequential things as when would I get my driving license back and what did I think of the spring fashions. Not having had any time to look at the spring fashions, I was woefully ignorant that they were as yet ready for consideration.

In the afternoon, my granddaughter showed us around the campus of Reed College. There is no question, from what I hear on every side, that the students here think first about their work. The library into which I glanced was filled with students. This college is run on an interesting system. No class attendance is taken, but the standard of work is so high that the youngsters do comparatively little else but work. Sunday is their only free day, and even much of that has to be devoted to study. Dr. Peter H. Odegard, the president, tells me that the trend in the choice of courses is towards preparation for a way to earn a living, with less consideration for an all-round preparation for life.

At 4 o’clock, I went into Portland for an interview on a local radio station and was presented with a lovely corsage of Portland roses and lilies-of-the-valley. I must say that the City of Roses lives up to its reputation, and the bunch I found in my room are fragrant and beautiful.

58

March 8, 1947

PORTLAND, Ore., Friday – Yesterday morning, Mr. Sheldon Sackett drove me to Vancouver, Wash., to visit the plant of his newspaper, which I told you about yesterday. It certainly looks like a busy place. Mr. Sackett told me he had started setting type when he was 8 years old, so I suppose the newspaper business is in his blood. He is branching out into the radio field as well.

I have never been able to make up my mind how good this combination of newspaper and radio really is. If the right people use both mediums of communication and really let different opinions be freely expressed, there is no reason why the two mediums should not be used together for reaching the public with news and information. If, however, they were joined at any time to prevent the free flow of information, it might be very harmful to have a combination of the two.

The public is really at the mercy of those who gather and disseminate the news, and in a way this business of furnishing information is a public utility. It affects the trend of thinking and, unless it is free and impartial, it does not give people a chance to make up their own minds. In other words, the newspaper and the radio have a great responsibility to the public. As far as I can see, Mr. Sackett’s experiment in joint ownership of his paper shows a recognition of the stake the public has in this business.

On my return to Portland, I spoke to a gathering of Reed College students in the chapel. And then, at 1:30 the delegates to the Pacific Northwest College Congress met in the chapel for their opening convocation.

So many of the men in these colleges in the Northwest are returned soldiers and, in many cases, look older and more serious than the average college undergraduate. Having them in a college such as Reed has increased the understanding of the other undergraduates of how hard you work when you are in a hurry to start your career. Many of the veterans are married and have to live in a town 10 or 12 miles away from the college, which means a lot of travel both ways every day.

The League of Women Voters, one of the organizations sponsoring this Congress, gave a tea from 4 to 6 for the delegates and the members of the faculty of nearby schools and colleges. It was interesting to see there young people from Holland, Siam, Czechoslovakia, and various other countries.

59

March 10, 1947

SAN FRANCISCO, Sunday – Some time ago, a veteran’s letter, under the title “Rehabilitation,” was published in the New York Times by Dr. Howard A. Rusk, who did so much for our aviation forces during the war and has devoted himself to rehabilitation since the war. He published this letter because he felt that it represented “the totality of spiritual rehabilitation.”

The boy in question is still very young and is what is known as a paraplegia, which means he is paralyzed from the waist down. At the time he wrote the letter, he was still at Halloran General Hospital on Staten Island. He is now at home with his mother and is developing, I am told, a real talent for writing. By spring, he will be able to drive a car.

With Dr. Rusk’s permission, I am reprinting the letter because I feel it is the kind that people need to read not once, but many times:

“My name is John Crown. I am a paraplegia at Halloran General Hospital. My physical wounds are very small in comparison with my spiritual wounds. I have come back from death to a world that I no longer care for. I, who have been engaged in the great struggle to save the world from tyranny and having seen my comrades die for this cause, can now find no peace in the world or in my country.

“Having lived close to death for two years, the reasons why there is no peace seem infinitesimally flimsy. Russia wants the Dardanelles, Yugoslavia wants Trieste, the Moslems want India, labor wants more wages, capital wants more profit, Smith wants to pass the car in front of him, Junior wants more spending money. To these, I say, is it necessary to kill and cripple human beings for these petty gains?

“Anyone who thinks a human body is so cheap that it can be traded for a tract of land, a piece of silver, or a few minutes of time should be forced to listen to the moans of the dying night and day for the rest of his life.

“All the troubles of the world originate in the common man. The selfish and greedy ways of nations are just the ways of each individual man multiplied a hundredfold. When the morals of the common man drop, so do the morals of the nations and of the world.

“As long as our individual morals remain at a low ebb, so will be the world. Until each of us stops ‘hogging the road’ with his car, stops fighting over the seat on the bus, stops arguing over who is going to cut the grass, there will be no peace in the world. If man wishes peace again, he must return to the great Commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself for the love of God.’”

60

March 11, 1947

SAN FRANCISCO, Monday – The United Nations seems to be a subject in which people are vastly interested. I begin to be more hopeful that the people of this country really understand the necessity for making this machinery work and that they are more understanding of the world situation than I had realized. Everywhere I go on this lecture tour, they greet with applause concrete suggestions that Congress must appropriate money for the International Refugee Organization and for relief, and they seem to accept equally enthusiastically the suggestion that we take our share of displaced persons by filling the unused immigration quotas accumulated during the years of the war.

While I was in Portland, I had the pleasure of seeing a young man from Tacoma who, years ago, worked in Bear Mountain Park, New York, and then with the CCC. Lately he has been in the Army, in which he rose from a private to a lieutenant. Now a civilian again, he has brought his family to Tacoma and has decided to stay in the Northwest. It seems to be the land where young men can branch out and dream dreams of the future.

He has a landscaping business already well started. He told me that the easy way of spending money, which was prevalent immediately after the war, has already come to an end, but he is doing well. He corroborated what is always felt about this part of our country – namely, that young men who want to be on their own have a chance here which they might take far longer to develop in the East.

On the train from Portland to Orland, California, the other morning, I was struck by the great variety of people one sees travelling these days – and travelling very comfortably. This country of ours, through its natural resources and because of the energy and ingenuity of its people, has provided an astonishing number of its inhabitants with an ease of life scarcely matched in any other country in the world for such a varied group of individuals.

I watched an old couple across from us in the dining car. The woman had a sweet face. The man wore an old-fashioned watch and chain of my grandfather’s day, and drew from his pocket the old type of purse which I had not seen, except in the country, in fifty years past. He looked like a well-to-do farmer, or someone who had spent many years of his life working with his hands, and now, in the evening of his life, was enjoying his ease and freedom from care.

Travel always renews my confidence in the American people and in the United States itself. We have such varied resources. All one has to do is to travel for a few days, and all these resources and all the strength of our people passes before us in a truly formidable array.

From Orland we drove to Chico, California, where I spoke on a forum series of the State College. Chico is the center for a vast farming valley, and this forum series was well attended as it served not only to bring the people food for thought, but also a chance for social get-togethers, which are evidently popular. The questions after my lecture were many and interesting.