Eleanor Roosevelt: My Day (1947)

101

April 28, 1947

NEW YORK, Sunday – All Americans, I believe, would have been glad of the chance to welcome Secretary of State Marshall home as President Truman did yesterday. The secretary cannot have had an altogether pleasant experience abroad. Like everyone else, he must wish that a peace could finally be agreed upon, so that the people of Europe could settle down under known conditions and reconstruction actually begin. Nevertheless, I think many things have been learned by the participants in the Moscow conference. The stage was not well set for writing the peace, but perhaps by November we will have learned to do better.

Most of us will listen anxiously tonight to Secretary Marshall’s radio report to the American people, hoping that he will tell us some of the things we need to know in order to understand the present situation. Has he come to a conclusion as to what a comprehensive plan for world recovery must contain, or is he still groping? If not, what are the obstacles that make understanding so difficult and planning apparently impossible?

During the last session of the United Nations, I used to hear Senator Vandenberg bitterly complain that we never looked at the whole picture of the United Nations’ financial needs, even from the point of view of the United States. Congress, that is, never got a complete budget, so that they never knew whether a given appropriation was the last one to be asked for or whether there would be more to follow. It seems to me that we have suffered from this lack of comprehensiveness in our whole after-war planning. What we needed was a complete plan – financial, industrial, agricultural, educational and spiritual. It should have been flexible and adjustable: if we found it did not work in certain ways, it should have been possible to change it. But we should have envisioned the whole picture of what rebuilding the world, after four years of all-out destruction, really meant.

Instead, we went at it as we might have gone at the problems confronting us in 1919 and 1920. We still are taking up a little bit here and a little bit there. Instead of a comprehensive plan of what we wish to do for our own benefit and that of the world, we find ourselves still in a purely negative situation.

We must stop Russia’s influence from growing, but what is our substitution? I learned a long while ago that vacuums have to be filled with something. It is not enough to be against a thing; you have to give people something for which they can actually work. Tonight I shall be hoping that somewhere I will get a clue from Secretary Marshall’s words which will point to the fact that this constructive plan is on its way.

I read with real regret of ex-Warden Lewis Lawes’ death at his home on Wednesday. For 21 years warden of Sing Sing prison, he was one of the first people to make the casual outsider understand that the man confined to prison is not, as a rule, a monster, but someone like you or me who happens to have gone wrong. Warden Lawes’ life was filled with many kind acts, and his beneficial influence will be greatly missed.

102

April 29, 1947

NEW YORK, Monday – There are advantages to having a few days of more or less enforced quiet. One gets a great many chores done which have been put aside for a leisurely moment, and one is able to enjoy the pleasure of more reading than usual.

The author of a novel on Tennessee life, Horace Marcus Coffey, has been asking me for a long time for an opinion on his novel. It is called “The Glass House.” The material is interesting and shows how corrupt politics can flourish where ignorance and superstition reign and how the people of the hills can be victimized in this way. Of course, anyone who watches the Congressional scene must understand much that is spelled out in this book of fiction, and anyone who watches the political scene anywhere, whether in cities or in rural areas, knows it is lack of education that brings about indifference, poor government and exploitation of the people in a democracy. This book, however, is not the work of an expert writer, and you have a certain sense of amateurishness in the way the story is told.

On the other hand, a novel by Willard Motley called “Knock on Any Door” is one of the best written and most disturbing books I have read in a long time. The story is not new. Many of us have known families like the Romano family. But it is just because the book puts together and marshals before you all the evils of our democratic society that it is so disturbing. You cannot help wondering whether in this country, which is known as the leading world democracy, we should not examine more critically the results of our democracy in terms of what happens to so many human beings.

The sketches of various types of people in this book are beautifully done. They live – you can recognize them as you walk down almost any street. Reading this book made me walk around my neighborhood with a more curious eye, and it made me wonder just what I would find if I “knocked on any door.” Many of the same characters, I am sure, as I found in this book.

I walked through Washington Square yesterday. It was sunny, and old men and women were sitting on the benches. A little crowd was gathered about two of the men, who play an unending game of checkers, but others sat alone. And as you looked at each face, you wondered what was going on back of the mask which hid the real human being who sat sunning himself, watching the children play and perhaps wondering what those children might be fifty or sixty years hence.

Washington Square is certainly the place where the two extremes of life meet – not only the extremes of age, but the extremes of rich and poor. This neighborhood can show you a quick transition from decent living to poverty and the Romano type of family described in “Knock on Any Door.” I hope that this book will stir many people to action in their own communities, for it is in our individual communities that we build our nation.

103

April 30, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – I have seen very little comment on a decision of the United Nations Military Staff Committee which has troubled me a great deal, and I am waiting anxiously to read something further to clarify it. I understood it in the following way – that the proposed international police force would be large enough and strong enough to coerce any of the smaller nations which might become aggressive, but would not be strong enough to take action against one of the great powers.

This difference between the treatment to be accorded great and small powers seems to me a very dangerous doctrine. One might say, of course, that the use of the veto in the Security Council would make it practically impossible ever to take action against one of the great powers. But I have always taken it for granted that, if the United Nations decided that a nation had committed an aggressive act, no use of the veto could protect that nation in wrong-doing, whether the nation was large or small. I think this decision of the military committee should be clarified for the general public, and should receive careful study before it is accepted.

Yesterday, the United Nations General Assembly met in its first emergency session. This meeting is going to find the eyes of the world focused upon it, for it is not just the fate of the Jews in Palestine which is at stake. Many people feel that, beneath the surface, other interests are stirring which will make this Assembly’s decisions of great moment in the whole history of the Near East.

Having had a successful Safety Conference under Maj. Gen. Philip B. Fleming’s guidance, President Truman has now asked him to undertake a Fire Prevention Conference in Washington from May 6th to 8th. My husband was always very conscious of the danger of fire. He had seen a number of fires start in old houses when he was a boy, and he always inquired whether all precautions had been taken to prevent a fire in any house where we might be.

Until one sees the total figures of the property loss in this country in 1946, it is hard to imagine that individual catastrophes can mount up to such tremendous figures. In 1946, our loss by fire amounted to $560,000,000. The average annual death toll taken by fire in this country is 10,000.

Many organizations and individuals will have to cooperate in making a success of this new drive against fires, because we must not only plan a program to prevent fires, but the people must be educated so that they will organize their communities and carry out whatever program is presented to them. There is no question but that the fire-fighting services of many communities can be improved. Water supplies can be checked everywhere. One of the big sources of loss every year – forest fires – can be controlled by the careful issuing of permits for hunting and fishing, and the insistence that the fire laws be enforced everywhere.

104

May 1, 1947

HYDE PARK, Wednesday – In his report to the nation, Secretary of State George C. Marshall continued to talk in the same objective, calm, firm and clear manner that he adopted in his report on China. The Secretary does not believe in using words to hide facts. I think he also believes that it is well for us to try to understand the complex situations in Europe. Even when he cannot make them entirely clear to us, because these are difficult questions requiring specific knowledge, he does try to indicate what the difficulties are and that they need study.

There is no question in my mind but that Russia is entitled to reparations, but the rest of Europe is entitled to a chance to rehabilitate the whole European economy, and this cannot be done unless some very careful planning is done for the German economy. In the past, the economy of the whole of Europe depended on the German economy. That situation should not be allowed to return, but there are things that Germany must produce to help the rest of Europe. And she must not be so stripped of her powers of production, or of her agricultural lands, as to make it impossible for her to do her necessary share.

This balance is hard to keep. That is why I believe that an economic plan which envisages the whole world is essential. But it should not be based only on the loan of money, since the loan of men is just as essential.

With Secretary Marshall’s honesty and Marshal Stalin’s hopeful statement that only the preliminary skirmishes have taken place and that they clear the way for some future plan, I hope the people of this country and of all other countries will settle down to think through how that plan can be made. Sooner or later, it has to be found. We cannot go on forever with a large part of the world still governed by foreign armies.

I was amused to see someone pick me up reproachfully the other day for having said that we of the democracies have to prove that our form of government and our way of life is better than all others. Instead, the writer said, the Soviets have to prove that their way is better than ours. They, not the democracies, are on trial. Unfortunately, misery turns more easily to the economic philosophy of Communism and to government by dictatorship than it does to free and individual enterprise. We are not on trial, but it takes security and self-confidence to be a citizen in a democracy.

And now for a switch from the broad fields of international affairs to the Equity Library Theater, which I visited for the first time yesterday afternoon at the Greenwich Mews Playhouse. I saw the first act of a play written many years ago – Frank Craven’s “The First Year.” It was simple and sweet and wholesomely funny, and I believe that, with a really good cast, people would enjoy it as much today as they did years ago when it was produced on Broadway.

What I really want to tell you is that this Equity Library Theater is doing things for actors and actresses in the way of giving them opportunities, and also is doing things for their audiences. I only hope this example will spread to the rest of the country, for it can be educational and provide much good entertainment.

105

May 2, 1947

HYDE PARK, Thursday – Early yesterday morning, I took my driving test in Poughkeepsie. I thought it might seem strange to drive again after such a long time, but I found I was able to carry out all of the directions and answer all of the questions. So now my license has been reinstated and I may no longer be lazy – I must drive myself around the neighborhood instead of always calling on someone else to drive me.

The other day, I received from Sir Carl Berendsen a most beautiful wooden case made by disabled veterans of New Zealand. Of every variety of New Zealand wood, it contains three drawers. In one of them there was a bound collection of photographs taken during my visit to New Zealand a few years ago. In the second drawer, there was a bound collection of newspaper clippings, and in the third, a volume of clippings which appeared at the time of my husband’s death.

I spent quite a little while looking over the photographs and remembering the very beautiful New Zealand countryside. How courageous and independent her people are, and how well her men and women alike stood up under the sacrifices of the war!

New Zealand is largely an agricultural country. I remember how amused I was to see cows wearing coats in the fields. Women left alone during the war ran these large dairy and sheep farms without any help, for men were just not to be found. There is very little great wealth in New Zealand but, as far as I could see, no great poverty, either.

Hunting and fishing are popular sports. I was amused to have it pointed out to me that, though some of their trout had come from the United States, the transplanting had done wonders and the trout were now many times larger than they were in their original habitat.

There must be hundreds of young American men who spent some time in New Zealand during the war. And I am sure that none of them will ever forget the kindness and hospitality shown them by people who were harassed by troubles but who nevertheless found time to show their gratitude to us by being kind to our men stationed there.

It was Prime Minister Peter Fraser’s kind thought in sending me the wooden cabinet that has led to all of these reminiscences. I hope he will be pleased that, because of their historical value, I am putting the cabinet and the bound volumes it contains into the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, where future students can examine them.

When we drove up to the country late Tuesday afternoon, the forsythia all along the parkway was fully out and made the most wonderful banks of yellow. In the fields, one saw occasional nodding daffodils. The only other flower I saw was a small purple flower that grows like a carpet. Next year, I must plant some around my home. In the woods yesterday afternoon, I saw more of the delicate wind flowers, both white and purple, but no violets as yet and no dogwood.

106

May 3, 1947

HYDE PARK, Friday – I have just received a final report on the Recreation Services, Inc., which were operated for the War Hospitality Committee in Washington, D.C. It makes an impressive record of achievement.

Now that these services everywhere, both at home and abroad, are gradually closing their doors, I think we should give them a warm vote of thanks. They did much for the men who were going overseas, or who were on their way home on furlough, or who were stationed here or there and had a few days off.

As we close this part of the war work with gratitude to the men and women who worked unselfishly and efficiently for such a long time, I hope we will undertake new enterprises of this kind, for all over the country there are hospitals where men are still undergoing treatment as a result of the war. They need all of the things that were done for the men during the war, and perhaps a little more because most of them face long periods of treatment without much chance meanwhile of returning to a normal existence and earning a living. Some of them face spending the rest of their lives within the walls of a veterans’ hospital.

I know that after World War I many of us meant not to forget, but little by little we did forget, and many a veterans’ hospital had very little outside attention between the two world wars. Now we face that same situation again and there is only one way to prevent forgetfulness – that is for organizations to start immediately and keep on going without a break.

I have been asked to go on Sunday afternoon to the Castle Point veterans’ hospital near Fishkill, N.Y., where the Ladies Auxiliary to the Free Sons of Israel Post 221, J.W.V., is coming with a professional entertainment for the men. It really ought to be a pooling of resources from many small towns and villages in this area, with a regular weekly plan which would never leave the men without a sense that the outside world remembers them. Perhaps this has already been done in the case of Castle Point, but it should be done wherever we have a hospital in which veterans of the first World War or any other war still survive.

In one of our big magazines, I read a most delightful article by a lady who told how she had wanted to live on a farm and write. She astounded the real-estate agent by falling in love with the first farm he showed her, because the house was old and there was a brook. The only thing she had asked for in addition was that there should be electricity. There was none but, though that was the one really practical thing she wanted, she waved it aside and gave it up without a thought.

Then the farm took possession of her. She had bought it only to live on, but instead the farm made her a farmer. I wish she had told more of the vicissitudes, which I am sure were many and strenuous. But at least she was honest for she ended by saying that all you have to do is to buy a farm and you will be a farmer – but you will probably not write!

107

May 5, 1947

HYDE PARK, Sunday – Two months from now, when UNRRA goes out of existence, the care of nearly a million displaced persons in European camps is supposed to be taken over by the International Refugee Organization at present being created under United Nations sponsorship. Yet there is danger that this organization will not be ready to undertake the job when the time comes.

This was indicated the other day in Switzerland, at a meeting of the Preparatory Commission, by Arthur J. Altmeyer, American executive secretary of the Refugee Organization. Mr. Altmeyer, a man who likes to face realities, pointed out not only that his organization would be unable to function unless a fifteenth nation signs and pays one percent of the budget, but also that only two of the 14 national pledges already given have as yet been made unconditionally.

The two pledges are those of little New Zealand and of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is sorely pressed for funds these days, and yet this seems to her such an inescapable obligation that she has made her pledge without strings attached. We in the United States, who lead the world democracies today, have still not ratified our pledge, which had to be made conditional upon appropriations by the Congress.

There are undoubtedly even greater worries on the minds of our legislators, but I think there are few moral obligations that should weigh more heavily. As of February 28, 1947, Mr. Altmeyer reported, there were approximately 834,950 persons in DP camps. Of that number, only 170,000 are Jews. The remaining number are probably two-thirds Roman Catholics and one-third Protestants and other religious denominations. It seems to me that the religious groups of the world should take a particular interest in the two steps that are necessary now.

Until these people can leave the camps, first of all, they must have at least subsistence care. Conditions will be little better than that in the coming months, and it is therefore essential that the International Refugee Organization be given an opportunity to plan the resettlement of those who will not return to their countries of origin.

Our second major responsibility is to make a gesture of accepting some of these people. In order to do that, we have to be permitted by Congress to use the immigration quotas which remained unused during the war years. Labor has voted in favor of this. There are rumors that the American Legion may change its stand, but as far as I know they have taken no action up to now. I hope with all my heart, since they are the strongest and the leading veterans’ organization, that they will see fit to reverse themselves and allow the United States to lead in what, after all, is for her a traditional type of humanitarianism.

108

May 6, 1947

HYDE PARK, Monday – About a month ago, our farmer told us and proved to us that it was highly uneconomical to make butter on a dairy farm; that we could sell our whole milk and make more cash; that the cost of the cream and the time consumed in making butter, even though we had an electric churn, was pure waste.

I remembered that, when I was a little girl, my grandmother made butter in a little glass churn on the dining-room table. It was completely sweet, fresh butter, and we thought it the greatest possible luxury. And my mother-in-law always boasted of having her own butter. It seemed somewhat of a wrench to me to give this up, so I loftily said to our farmer, “I will take the churn, and in our cellar we will make enough butter to last both my son’s house and mine for several weeks. It can be stored in the deep freeze.”

Last Friday, the farmer brought the churn. Our superintendent was on hand. So was I, assisted by Miss Thompson and the cook. We all stood around, prepared for our first lesson.

The farmer first showed us how to wash the churn and the implements. Then, firmly telling me the cost of the cream which he was pouring in, he poured it in, adjusted the cover of the churn, and started it. All of us were spattered with cream. He stopped the churn, looked at the cork in the bottom, adjusted the top, and started the churn again.

Then the five of us watched with pride for fifteen minutes while the electricity did its work. Finally, I inquired how long it took. The farmer said, “Anywhere from twenty minutes to four hours. It depends on the temperature.” I thought he meant the outdoor temperature, and did not realize he meant the temperature of the cream, which in our haste we had forgotten to take.

Time wore on. Miss Thompson decided she had to go back to being a secretary. The two men decided they had to go and eat dinner and attend to a few chores. The cook decided she had to go and prepare lunch. So we left the churning!

Three hours later, I returned. Still no butter. The men tried putting in ice cubes, which spoiled the buttermilk. It came time for the men to do the afternoon chores, and so they said, “Leave it overnight and turn it on in the morning and the butter may come.”

The next morning, around 11 o’clock, the cook and I finally finished our lesson and at last the men could go back to their work on the farm. We had learned how to use the electric churn, how to work the butter afterwards, and how to do it up neatly in half-pound packages. For all of that time and all of that labor, we had 13 1/2 pounds of butter!

I am quite sure now that our farmer’s economics are correct, but I had fun and I think the cook and I will try it again. It may be a waste of both time and money, but I am still old-fashioned enough to like the idea of having my own butter. I am rather glad, however, that the churn is electric. I think that if I had had to churn by hand for all of that time, I would not be writing about it today!

109

May 7, 1947

HYDE PARK, Tuesday – The other night, I went to the Golden Jubilee of the Parent-Teacher Association of Dutchess County. They had a dinner at the Nelson House in Poughkeepsie, and it was astonishingly well attended.

Dr. Henry MacCracken presided and told us of a speech he made at one of the early meetings of the group, when he had just become president of Vassar College. In his youth and brashness, he chose as his subject: “The Learned Profession of Motherhood.” He added that nowadays he had learned to talk on things he knew something about.

Dr. MacCracken told us another story which made many of us laugh, but also made us remember similar things which we ourselves had done. Recounting an interview with a student who was having a hard time adjusting herself to life at Vassar, he said he remarked to her: “I know how it is – I was a country minister’s daughter too.” She looked a little puzzled and said nothing, but the next day he received an amusing cartoon in the mail.

Such are the difficulties which a man running a woman’s college must occasionally run into. Miss Sarah Blanding, who is now president of Vassar, may not have the same difficulties, but she will certainly have others.

There was great good feeling at this Parent-Teachers meeting. The representation from all over the county and from one or two neighboring counties was excellent. And I felt that probably here was potentially one of the most influential organizations not only in the state but in the nation. What group can exercise greater influence on the shape of the future than the parents and the teachers? Politically also, they have a quite unique opportunity for moulding public opinion.

It was amusing to hear Mrs. Saltford tell of the early days when the organization started out under the name of “Mothers’ Clubs.” Women have certainly branched out and learned to use their strength in many ways in the last fifty years.

I told you that I was going to the Castle Point hospital, near Fishkill, N.Y., last Sunday afternoon. That has become a hospital for tuberculosis patients only, and 60 percent of them are veterans of World War II. Some of them look very young. I asked the doctor about the percentage of cures. He said they were doing very well if they got the boys in the early stages.

The view of the river is lovely from many of the rooms, and even on a gloomy day there is light everywhere. But it certainly is not a locality of high, dry air, and I was a little worried for fear the percentage of cures would not be so good. Apparently, however, that theory about the air is antiquated. Men come to the hospital from the whole Eastern seaboard and the deciding factor is to get there in the early days of the disease.

I hope every city in this country is carrying on a campaign to get every young person examined and fluoroscoped, for that is the only sure way to cut down the number of deaths from tuberculosis.

110

May 8, 1947

HYDE PARK, Wednesday – The actions of Congress on foreign relief in these past few days, seem to me to show a total lack of comprehension on the part of these gentlemen as to the economic situation which our action will bring about for the people of Europe, and what that situation will eventually mean for our people here at home.

The rehabilitation of Europe may have a humanitarian interest perhaps, but it certainly has an economic interest. Without the European market, our standard of living will have to go down. We do not help Great Britain or the other European nations because we are interested in them particularly. We help them because we know that unless we do, their misfortunes will react unfavorably on us.

There is one fund, however, which may have economic aspects for the future, but which certainly has a humanitarian appeal to us in the present. Even on the Children’s Emergency Fund, I see by the papers, that Congress is holding back and weighing whether we have any responsibility. Our full commitment would not be a very heavy obligation and yet it might save many children from starvation. If the work is successfully done, it might lead in the future to a continuance in other parts of the world of the demonstration on how best to feed children on native foods. Many children die today because in the localities where they live, no studies have been made on the cheapest and best way of feeding them, and very little is known about local sanitation problems. If these could be studied when the present crisis for Europe’s children is over, we might find ourselves with healthier populations in many other countries of the world. Healthy people mean more work; more work means better production; better production means more trade, and more trade means improved economic conditions the world over.

If the only thing that will move our Congress to generosity is the threat of the spread of communism, I wonder if it ever occurs to them that the removal of misery is the best antidote we have against communism. If our democracy becomes a symbol in the world of a country which not only eats well, but refuses to accept any restrictions in order to help the rest of the world, then it seems to me that we are building up not only the best basis for communism throughout the world, but the best basis for hatred. We have always stood for generosity and opportunity and today people all over the world long to come to this country because they think of it as a land where freedom and opportunity and generosity hold sway, but the picture which Congress is now painting of us does not make us seem like an attractive people.

111

May 9, 1947

HYDE PARK, Thursday – It is a curious thing that just at this time Congress should want to silence the State Department’s radio program, the Voice of America. Of course, I know that what has been done by the House may be changed by the Senate. However, the members of the House are supposed to represent the people of their districts, and it seems rather strange that they should believe that their constituents do not want the Voice of America to be heard throughout the world.

I am quite willing to believe that the first broadcasts to Russia were not the best broadcasts ever made. This is a new venture.

I have seen it said that one of the reasons for not supporting the continuance of the broadcasts is the fact that a book called “The Wallaces of Iowa” received some comment on the program. The State Department explains that this broadcast was written before Henry A. Wallace’s trip to Europe. As a matter of fact, it would be a strange thing if our books, as they came out, were not mentioned. And if a book about as important a family as the Wallaces had not been mentioned, whoever was doing the book reviews for the program should certainly have been censured.

I can remember a Secretary Wallace in the Cabinet many years ago who was a Republican. That was Henry A. Wallace’s father. And I can also remember a number of rather important experiments made by the present Mr. Wallace for the benefit of the farmer. The story of the family makes interesting reading. They are a typical American family which has contributed to the growth of the country. Surely a review of a book about them should be no valid reason for silencing America’s voice on the air at this time.

One grows to feel that our representatives in Congress are willing to give money for military opposition to Communism, but are not willing to give money to the spread of intellectual understanding of democracy. Yet if we do not want to see our sons go off to war again, we must spread the understanding of the value of our way of life and of our type of government.

There is bound to be some criticism of us throughout the world, since both our Constitution and our Bill of Rights enunciate certain principles which we have never been quite able to live up to in practice. But if we stop talking to the rest of the world, we cannot even tell them what our achievements have been, nor can we explain the reasons for the positions we take.

We take it for granted that the world as a whole believes in our good intentions. I sincerely hope they do, for unless the Senate restores the State Department’s funds for cultural and informational activities, the world is going to have to take us on faith – and we may find that faith in the world today is at a low ebb.

112

May 10, 1947

HYDE PARK, Friday – After a quiet week in the country, it seemed almost like an adventure to find myself on a crowded train going to New York City on Wednesday morning. For some unknown reason, I had been telling myself that I did not have to go until Thursday, but luckily I looked at the dates and found that Wednesday was the day I was to leave to go to the Choate School in Connecticut.

So I turned a very reluctant little dog over to Mr. Linaka, our superintendent, and departed. Of course, Fala really loves Mr. Linaka, but just at the moment of saying goodbye, he always looks a little bit as though I had beaten him instead of giving him a particularly loving pat.

After a few hours in New York, I was off to New Haven, Conn., where Mr. Robert Atmore met me to drive me to the school. It was seven years since I had been there last. Now I was talking to a new group of boys, this time on the problems which were created by the war and which we have to meet if the United Nations is to build peace in the world.

Justice Owen Roberts had been with them three weeks before and had left the group fairly well convinced that their only salvation was in a federation of the democracies. I cannot help wondering, if we start in to set up a federation of the democracies, just what countries we would include and where we would draw the line. Naturally we would not include Russia—and any world arrangement which ignores Russia seems to me to be doomed to short duration.

I enjoyed my time with the boys very much and found them an interesting group. Staying overnight with Mrs. George C. St. John, the headmaster’s wife, and having breakfast with her was a particularly restful and pleasant experience.

Yesterday morning, Miss Patricia Cummins from the Willimantic State Teachers College called for me and drove me there to speak again on the United Nations. Here again I found the young people interesting and I enjoyed my visit.

My friend Miss Esther Lape drove over from Westbrook, Conn., to drive me home. We had hoped for a warm day and sunshine, which would make a picnic lunch by the side of the road a possibility. Instead, as we came through the Connecticut hills, we met flurries of snow and so we ate in the car, glad to be protected from the wind.

113

May 12, 1947

HYDE PARK, Sunday – The National Health Insurance Bill is scheduled today to be introduced into the Senate by a group headed by Senators Wagner and Murray, and in the House by Representative Dingle. It is a bill of great importance and one that I believe should be widely discussed.

Extensive hearings were held by the Senate Education and Labor Committee on the previous bill last year. The main change in this bill is the increased emphasis on decentralization of administration. National standards and national collection of the insurance fund are retained. But the states and local medical service areas into which each state will divide itself are now given more definite responsibilities in working out the medical services in cooperation with the physicians and hospitals of the area.

One of the earlier criticisms was that too much responsibility rested with the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service. Now a board of five members has been set up as the administrative authority. Within the general framework, recognition is given to the voluntary insurance plan, which may continue within the new setup.

From my point of view, it is important to remember that a great part of our population never has had freedom of choice either as to what medical care they will receive or what doctor they will employ, and many feel that they accept charity. Under the new plan, funds would be collected from the people and their employers, and in this way 80 to 90 percent of the population could be covered. They would obtain their medical care as a right and would choose their doctors and their hospitals, who would be paid by the insurance plan.

The remainder of the population, in large part, are people who have no income or whose incomes are so low as to prevent them from becoming a part of the Social Security system. The bill provides that such persons be taken care of by state or local taxes. States may be helped by Federal grants, and free choice of the doctor is assured.

The Committee for the Nation’s Health, which is interested in promoting better medical care for all the people, is campaigning for the enactment of the National Health Insurance Bill. Further information may be obtained from them at 1790 Broadway, New York City 19.

Senator Taft’s bill suggests that the “needy” be assisted to obtain better medical care. But that is charity and, from my point of view, not the best system in a democracy. Under the Wagner-Murray-Dingle bill, there will be Federal aid to states for public health, maternal and child services, medical research and education, medical care for the indigent and construction of hospital and health centers. It will do away with certain restrictive laws in some states which now prevent consumers, farmers, workers and others from organizing health insurance plans.

The question has long been debated whether public health should be paid for by this type of insurance or by straight taxation, as in the case of our schools. I believe, however, that this new bill goes a long way in the right direction, and should be supported.

114

May 13, 1947

HYDE PARK, Monday – As long as I discussed the National Health Insurance Bill yesterday, I want to mention today the National School and Health Bill which has been introduced in the House and has been referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

This bill tackles a problem that we all know needs to be understood by the nation. There is totally inadequate service in our schools today in the way of health examinations and follow-ups for the children, but without the national health insurance plan, I doubt if this bill can possibly meet the needs of the people.

The defects that children have when they reach school must be prevented by recognition and care in the first years of their lives, and no child should come to school for the first time without having had a comprehensive physical examination. After that, it is essential that periodically examinations be made in school by well-qualified doctors, because children develop certain difficulties – such as eye, ear or psychological troubles – which appear when they are in school and are often brought about by conditions they are encountering for the first time. In addition, school often brings the first exposure to contagious diseases, which are often followed by other ailments.

While I think the National School and Health Bill is important, I think the National Health Insurance Bill must come first, and this bill must be an improvement on the present health services in the schools, which are certainly completely inadequate.

We live up here in the country under the illusion that we are cut off from the world and that few people will come our way. But last week we had the pleasure of several foreign visitors. We had a visit from two delightful representatives from Uruguay, Mr. and Mrs. Fontania; then a visit from Mrs. Zoltan Tildy, wife of the President of Hungary, who was accompanied by the Hungarian Minister to this country, Aladar Szegedy-Maszak, and his wife. We also had a writer from Great Britain, Mr. Luscombe, and a member of the United Nations subcommission on minorities and discrimination, Mr. McNamara of Australia. I felt that we were importing a little bit of the United Nations into the countryside of New York State.

I was particularly interested in Mrs. Tildy’s desire to see the operations of the TVA and the working of our cooperatives, and to develop as well as she could an understanding of those things in our democracy which might be used in the development of greater democracy and freedom in Hungary.

I am very grateful to a number of people who have sent me helpful letters on the making of butter and I shall report to you when I do my next churning!

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May 14, 1947

HYDE PARK, Tuesday – I have waited a long time to write this column, but as the United Nations special session on Palestine progresses, it becomes more and more difficult not to express the deep feelings which the events taking place in this session arouse in any fair-minded and compassionate person.

For two years now, displaced Jews have waited for the day of freedom and in many cases they are still behind barbed wire. The question of Palestine is as far from being settled as it was when the war came to an end.

I have reviewed many times in my own mind the history as the layman knows it. I realize perfectly that, from a religious standpoint, Jews, Arabs and Christians all have an interest in the Holy Land. I realize also that the Arabs have an economic interest and a right in much of that area of the world. But the big powers, Great Britain among them, gave their consent to letting a certain area in Palestine be built up as a Jewish homeland.

Jews were allowed to emigrate there. Sacrifices, even of life, went into the settling and development of Palestine by the Jews. The Arabs have found their standards of living raised, and those who were unwilling to change to new methods have probably had a hard time.

Under the British mandate, through money contributed by Jewish people in many parts of the world, areas of this country have gradually become settled and developed. Possibilities are outlined for future development which many Jewish people feel will support many more of their unfortunate brethren. It is true that, as yet, the Arabs outnumber the Jews in most of this area, but there is no real reason why these two peoples, who have great similarities, cannot live in peace together.

Some of the writers whose articles I have read suggest that, because the Arabs control much oil and because the U.S. and Great Britain are both interested in leasing this oil, they do not wish to offend the Arabs in any way. It seems to me, however, that this question cannot be settled on a commercial basis.

When we allowed the Jews to dream of a homeland and allowed many thousands of them to settle in Palestine – under the British mandate to be sure, but with the hope that someday this would be their country – we tacitly gave our support to this final conclusion. We are obligated today to see it through, giving every consideration, of course, to the rights of the Arabs, guarding their access to the religious shrines that are sacred to them, and seeing that from the economic standpoint whatever is fair is done.

I hope we will make sure that, under the United Nations, peace is assured in this area. Whatever the decisions are, they should be carried out under the protection of the United Nations or of those that the United Nations designate to assume the responsibility.

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May 15, 1947

HYDE PARK, Wednesday – This morning I listened to the report on the radio of what would probably go on today at what may be the final meeting of the special session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Arabs and the Russians, apparently, are opposed to a neutral committee of inquiry on the Palestine question. It is understandable that the Russians feel that the big powers should always have their say, but why the Arabs should threaten to walk out because a neutral committee of small nations is named is a little hard to understand.

In any case, I have no sympathy with this attitude that if a U.N. decision is not according to a nation’s liking, it will mean war. That is no spirit in which the U.N. can work out peaceful solutions.

All of us cannot always expect to be judged right by other nations. We must expect occasionally to have to subordinate our desires if they do not meet with the approval of the majority. We inside this country have learned that over many years, and sometimes we change a decision after agitation which has gone on for a long time. People may have lived under injustices but, in the long run, the majority of the people are aroused to action by real injustice. And I think that is what we have to hope for in the world.

We have a recent example here at home in the recognition by our Supreme Court of an injustice to the South. This, I think, is very encouraging. Ever since the Civil War, freight rates in the South and Southwest have been higher than in the Northeast. They were imposed by an industrial North and East on an agricultural South and Midwest with the mistaken idea, I think, that it would help the industrial part of the country. It is now evident to all fair-minded people that it has hurt the development of the South and, in so doing, has probably also hurt the industrial Northeast in the long run.

The Interstate Commerce Commission order of May 1945, raising railroad “class” freight rates 10 percent in the Northeast and lowering them a like amount in the South and Midwest, has been upheld by the Supreme Court, 7 to 2. I think the contention, however, of the two dissenting members has a good deal of meat in it, since raising the rates 10 percent in the Northeast will, it is estimated, put a “surtax” on the shippers of that part of the country amounting to about $50,000,000 annually. It may have the effect which the Government hopes for – a redistribution of population. But I think that it might have been simpler if we had simply equalized freight rates for the whole country, and then waited to see whether that was sufficient to put competition on a fair basis.

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May 16, 1947

HYDE PARK, Thursday – A very interesting letter to the London Times, written by two young American journalists, came to my attention the other day. It deals with Henry A. Wallace’s recent European travels.

I am glad that these writers acknowledge Mr. Wallace’s right to travel and to speak, but I am a little surprised that they think he has actually represented himself as “carrying on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s foreign policy.” No one could do that because anyone who knew my husband knew that, while he had definite objectives always in mind, he met each situation as it arose and he took into consideration the immediate factors involved.

Neither these two brilliant young journalists nor any of the associates of Franklin D. Roosevelt could be sure what his policies would actually be today. When people talk about his policies in connection with the future or with situations which have occurred since April 12, 1945, they are guessing, pure and simple. Mr. Wallace knows this and I do not think he has ever represented himself as being better able than anybody else to say what would be the attitude of Franklin D. Roosevelt under the present conditions.

I think it is much more important that all those who are progressives and are trying to lead progressive thought today should concentrate on what their own beliefs are. I should like to urge particularly on the young men and young women, who are looking forward to a long life of usefulness, that they keep certain things in mind.

The world today is interdependent economically. Therefore, there must be a world economic plan. Two strong political ideas are before the world today – Communism and democracy. The representatives of these two theories are going to work hard to prove which one can most effectively serve the people of the world and give them the most satisfactory control over their governments and over the general standards of living.

Lastly, peace is essential or our civilization faces destruction. Therefore a spiritual leadership which proves to the world the goodwill of men for each other, even when they hold differing political and economic theories, is essential to the working out of any constructive plans for the future.

It seems to me that our young people here at home, who must be the leaders in the rehabilitation of the world, have got to recognize that this battle is going to be won or lost in the individual communities of this, the greatest democracy of the world. They must realize that the responsibility does not lie only with our government representatives but also with each one of us as individual citizens. Our willingness to accept responsibility in our communities will, in the long run, be the deciding factor in the battle for the future.

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May 17, 1947

NEW YORK, Friday – I flew to Boston yesterday afternoon, and it was interesting to find that the planes from New York go right through to Maine. I could have been in Portland in no time at all, and even in Bangor. Once every airport is equipped with landing apparatus which makes it possible to come down in a fog, going up the coast of New England in summer will be just as easy as going down the coast to Florida in winter.

The dinner I attended last night was in honor of the 80th birthday of one of Boston’s first citizens, Dr. George W. Coleman. It celebrated also the Ford Hall Forum’s 40th year. This forum in many ways is a model for other forums throughout the country.

Dr. Coleman, who founded it, has run it on the principle that everyone has the right to express his ideas, no matter how they differ from those held by others, and that people have an obligation to listen and to make up their minds what they feel after hearing both sides. During the war, the forum allowed a German professor to state what he felt was best in Nazism. But whoever speaks at the Ford Hall Forum must answer questions afterwards, and then is when the real feeling of the forum comes out.

Dr. Coleman has always insisted that everyone had a right to ask any question and get an answer. If it was an honest question, it didn’t matter if it was not grammatically phrased or if the questioner came from some foreign land. He would be courteously heard and answered.

This forum, which meets every Sunday evening, has grown from a first group of 175 to a group that now always numbers from 1000 to 1300. That is a great many people to reach with objective thinking on subjects of the day.

It takes courage to run something of this kind, because people do not like to hear opinions with which they differ given as fair a hearing as their own opinions. But this is basic to democratic procedure and very good discipline for us all.

The other evening in Poughkeepsie, I attended the annual dinner of Lincoln Center. This center was started some twenty years ago by Mrs. Henry Noble MacCracken and a group of Vassar students. They rented two rooms in a crowded part of the city and invited the neighborhood children in to play. The students thus got the practical side of their sociology courses.

After that little beginning, the enterprise grew until the city donated a building and grounds. Then a gymnasium was added. Today, in a neighborhood of shifting population, colored and white children, Christian and Jew, young and old, come in and play and work together. It is one of the encouraging things in a land where we still have to make democracy a reality. And in a small city like Poughkeepsie – which is, however, the center of a large rural area – it sets a pattern for which one is grateful.

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May 19, 1947

HYDE PARK, Sunday – I returned home Friday afternoon to find my two young great-nephews being entertained by Miss Charl Ormond Williams, of the National Education Association. Three small boys, all under five, are staying with me at present. Their mother, Mrs. Edward P. Elliott, is my niece, and I marvel daily at the way in which she manages them. Each generation gets a different kind of bringing up, but I think the present one is being handled with more wisdom than I possessed as a young married woman!

When we drove off on Thursday morning, I never heard such bloodcurdling shrieks as came from the three-year old and the four-year old, who had never been left by their mother except when staying with their grandmother on the farm. On our return next day it was explained to us that “Mummy” had paid no attention to the kisses which were being thrown to her. I think it was fortunate that she did pay no attention, for otherwise I feel quite sure we never would have gotten away! All was serene, however, on our return. Miss Williams came up Friday to make final arrangements for the presentation of some of her most cherished possessions to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. She has spent many years with teachers and children, and was able to rise to the occasion when she found herself confronted by two friendly but demanding youngsters while she waited for her hostess to return.

All yesterday morning people seemed to “drop in,” and we ended up with many more guests than we had really expected for lunch. Everything went well, however, because the party was put into such good humor by the delightful presentation ceremonies at 12 noon at the library. The things presented by Miss Williams recalled not only her years in the teaching profession, but also the fact that she had been the first woman vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee and had campaigned with my husband in 1920. Since that time, off and on, our paths have crossed and I have always had the greatest respect and admiration for her work. Now I have great gratitude for her generosity in presenting the group of things which she has already given. I also anticipate that some interesting letters will be presented later, dealing with education.

My husband had a great interest in education, and I think it is most fortunate that future historians will be able to find in the library a record of some of the interest in the educational field that came to him through Miss Williams. He often said he would like to start a school of his own up here, but I rather think he would have found the details of running it somewhat trying unless he had found a paragon to do the managing.

In rereading some of the letters my husband wrote while he was at the Groton School, as well as those written by my brother and my own boys, it seems to me that the frequent accidents and epidemics must make orderly academic progress very difficult. The choice of masters, too, is such a gamble. Sometimes they turn out to be good masters and popular with the boys. But frequently they are popular with the boys and poor masters, or good masters and so unpopular with the boys that their teaching is valueless. Half of the time we do not realize the many factors which enter into acquiring an education!

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May 20, 1947

HYDE PARK, Monday – Some people do read my column, since I am told by a correspondent that, the other day, I referred to the National School Health Services Bill as the National School and Health Bill, which was wrong! I apologize for this mistake and I make amends by mentioning here that the bill has now been introduced in the Senate by six senators.

This bill would authorize $10,000,000 in Federal grants to the States for the first year, and $15,000,000 thereafter, to promote school health programs – such things, for instance, as more thorough examinations of the children to detect faulty teeth, eyes, heart, etc. Under this bill, treatment may be provided for such defects when there is severe economic distress in the child’s home. And special attention would be paid to rural areas. It would also be possible to give demonstrations of the proper training of personnel for health services in the schools.

Various other provisions in the bill seem to me excellent, since they draw together various departments of the government in a joint effort to do a good job in the matter of our school children’s health. Without good health, a child cannot fully profit from his schooling, so these efforts are genuinely a part of education.

I spent a great deal of time yesterday celebrating I Am an American Day. Under heavy gray skies, we drove slowly through the streets of Poughkeepsie and then reviewed the parade from a stand erected near the Nelson House. In the morning, I met with a small group of people for a short ceremony at my husband’s grave.

It seems to me that making this an important day in every community is well worthwhile. Among the young men who are coming to their first vote, there must be many who fought in the war and so, in a real way, have already experienced the heavy responsibility of citizenship. Men and women must realize that this is a very responsible time to assume citizenship in our great democracy. And it must seem to the young men particularly that one of the most important things they can do, with this new participation in civilian life, is to make of their own community the best model of real democracy that they can possibly create.

I spoke at noon at Vassar College where, over every weekend in May, they are holding reunions of the various classes. They had already had panel discussions on the family, the community, education, the arts and sciences, and finally, on the last day, they discussed our relation to the rest of the world. I think they have done a wise thing in bringing together classes of varied vintage, so that the young, the middle-aged and the near-old all contribute something to the discussions. We should get more of this rounded point of view. It would help us all to maturer thinking.