Eleanor Roosevelt: My Day (1947)

121

May 21, 1947

HYDE PARK, Tuesday – I got up very early yesterday morning – at least, very early for me, though I realize that all around me people are astir by 6 a.m. When I do get up early, I wonder why we all don’t do it all of the time. The country is so beautiful and the air is so fresh in the early morning, and you realize that you were intended to get up with the sun and probably to go to bed with it. Only, all of our modern inventions make us able to turn night into day!

I didn’t, however, stay in the country. I travelled to Philadelphia to make a speech for the United Jewish Appeal. Both going and coming, I read many things which I had been carrying around in my briefcase, trying to find a few minutes in which to read them.

The $170,000,000 which the Jewish communities are being asked to give, to aid their unfortunate brethren in different parts of the world, is a tremendous amount for any one group in the nation to gather together for one special cause. If it absolved them from all other contributions, that would be different, but they are called upon, just as all other citizens are, to contribute to many other causes. The burden on this group of our citizens is a heavy one, and I marvel at their generous giving.

I have seen very little in the papers about an item which I found very interesting. I read the other day that Gov. Thomas E. Dewey is setting up scholarships for students in public administration, with the idea of providing better-equipped people as administrators in New York’s state, county and local governments. When I was last in San Francisco, I met a group who, through a private gift, were being enabled to study city administration with the cooperation of the San Francisco government.

I suppose that not all of those who avail themselves of these New York scholarships will actually become public officials. Some of them may be teachers in government courses, but the practical experience which they will absorb will enable them to prepare their pupils far better than before. And I think this is a farseeing and enlightened policy which Gov. Dewey is inaugurating in the state government.

I must have expressed myself badly in the column which I wrote recently on the use of military force by the United Nations, since a very able columnist seems to think that I was not aware that the veto power, as it now stands in the Charter, could prevent the use of military force by the U.N. against any one of the great nations.

I wanted to make two things plain – first, that as we came to understand this clearly, we might want to change some of the Charter provisions on this particular subject. The Constitution of the U.S., for instance, has been amended a number of times. And secondly, I wanted to say that already there are signs that the great nations are learning to use their veto power more intelligently and less frequently – which is an improvement if not an ideal solution.

122

May 22, 1947

HYDE PARK, Wednesday – I went to Newburgh, N.Y., last evening to a Parent-Teachers meeting at which Mr. Olav Paus-Grunt, head of the educational section of the United Nations, spoke on the teachers’ part in increasing the knowledge of our foreign relations and of the work of the U.N.. There were many questions afterwards. The audience ranged from returned soldiers, back in high school, to elderly grandmothers like myself. Men and women, old and young, all seemed to take a deep interest in the subject and to be very anxious to understand the way we function as a nation in relation to the United Nations.

Several times, questions were asked which forced Mr. Paus-Grunt to say that, as a representative of the U.N., he could not answer questions dealing primarily with internal affairs of the United States. I have a feeling that, at such meetings, there should be not only a speaker representing the U.N., but also someone who, as a citizen of the United States, is more conversant with and freer to speak about the things which concern us as a member nation with laws and customs of our own.

A most beautiful book, “Other Places” by Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, came to me yesterday. I had visited her studio in Charleston, S.C., and had associated her mainly with her charming etchings and pencil drawings of her own delightful old city. I had not realized she had so many recollections and sketches of other parts of the world. This is a really delightful book, both from the literary and artistic standpoint. And I am sure that many people glancing through its pages will be reminded of experiences and moments of beauty of their own, which could not be brought back in a pleasanter way.

I also received yesterday a book on Quaker relief work, “An Experiment in Friendship” by David Hinshaw. The Quakers of many lands have worked both in their own communities and in far-flung parts of the world. Ever since I have known about their work, I have admired it because, while they give lavishly, they never give foolishly. And they rarely work on what I call the purely “charity” basis. There is always an effort to make people feel that they are helping themselves and therefore building an independent future.

We had our first picnic yesterday but, because of the showery weather, we ate on the porch instead of in the fields as we had hoped. Afterwards I went over to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library to meet the members of the YSCA Friendship Club of New Britain, Conn. They brought me a present for the Roosevelt Memorial Foundation which I sent to Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

In addition, they gave me for use in my home some handmade work which spoke of skills brought to this country from other lands, as well as hours of time taken out of their own busy lives.

My niece with her three little boys, who have been visiting me, left yesterday evening, and the house seems strangely silent without the sound of young voices.

123

May 23, 1947

HYDE PARK, Thursday – The dogwood just now is at its most beautiful. Looking out from the porch of the cottage which my husband built and which he always tried to visit in dogwood time, it is simply breathtaking to see the brilliant color of the azaleas near the house with the sea of white dogwood all around.

Every year, my husband tried to come up from Washington to see the dogwood from this porch, but he rarely was able to accomplish it. On those occasions when he did get here, it was a cause for rejoicing. The whole side of the hill is dotted with dogwood trees, and your eyes rest on them with pleasure as you walk.

However, walking in the woods presents a real difficulty. I want to look up at the trees all the time, but I should also keep my eyes constantly on the ground, because there are still a considerable number of the little orange lizards which I mentioned in this column last summer. They are tinier this year than I have ever seen them before and, as they scurry away, I cannot help thinking that my foot must look like the most enormous mountain coming down near them. Then, too, if you look on the ground, you see a carpet of wild flowers. I have never seen so many! The only way I can resolve my difficulty is by standing still and taking my fill of looking up into the trees and then walking with my eyes glued to the ground.

Today I went over to the Library to greet representatives of the International Council of Nurses. There were, I believe, some twenty countries represented in the group. The International president, Gerda Hojer, who is also president of the Swedish Nursing Association, spoke for them.

The Council has been meeting in Atlantic City in their first post-war congress. Thirty-nine nations are represented in the congress, and the American Nurses Association, the largest member association, was in charge of all meetings. The presiding officer was Effie J. Taylor of New Haven, Conn., dean emeritus of the Yale University School of Nursing. This meeting should help to increase interest in the nursing profession and attract more young women to it.

I hope my readers have been watching carefully the efforts which have been made to bring before the people of Texas the case of a Negro, Heman Marion Sweatt, who does not have an opportunity for equal training in the law in that state. He has not been admitted to the University of Texas, and there is no other comparable training in the state.

This case has been well covered in the news, and I hope it will continue to be reported. I believe that the fine people of the South, who have always been among our most patriotic citizens, will themselves want to feel that the rights of all citizens, as written into our Constitution and Bill of Rights, are secure everywhere in our nation.

124

May 24, 1947

NEW YORK, Friday – I wonder if our concept of welfare is being changed by certain groups of legislators in Washington and in Albany. The current outcry against the New York City Welfare Department for doing the best it could for large families seems to me extraordinary. There may be inefficiency in the department, but there is such a shortage of housing that it was a question of putting a family in a hotel at minimum rates or letting them sleep in the park, in which case the attacks made on the Welfare Department are completely unjustified.

I also rebel at the thought that large families of some of the city employees have to receive welfare aid because their government salaries are not sufficient to take care of them. I think that, instead of Albany investigating in order to try to remove the welfare subsidy paid by the state, it would be well to investigate how many people there are on the relief rolls and what miserable lives they are doomed to live under present conditions.

I went last evening to the annual meeting of the New York City Citizens’ Committee on Children. It was particularly interesting because, after the very efficient staff made their brief reports, the meeting turned into a discussion group and I learned a number of interesting facts.

It appears that a great many workers in this field, in both private organizations and city departments, feel the need of some form of standardized annual report. This, of course, would involve a standardized vocabulary and, next, the analyzing of these reports on both public and private organizations, so that it would be easy to get information pertaining to allied fields of work.

For instance, if you are interested in the health of children, you should be able to find out from the Department of Schools the approximate number of children who will be in kindergarten next year, so that you can plan the health services with that in mind. If you are planning parks and playgrounds, you should have all the information available about children from both the Health Department and the Department of Education.

As things are at present, planning seems to frighten our officials in the city government as much as it does our Congressmen. Congress refuses to plan on national resources, and our city officials are afraid to plan even on statistics!

125

May 26, 1947

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Sunday – The more I read about the investigation of New York City’s Welfare Department, the more I realize how very complicated the situation is becoming not only in New York but all over the country.

In itself, the story of the New York family which received so much relief money for hotel housing is really quite fantastic, and one feels that it was a waste. Yet somehow the situation goes deeper than just that particular fact. The man in the case was making a good salary, but still it wasn’t enough to feed the number of children in his family. When he found that rising prices made it impossible for him to live, his wife took a job as janitor. This gave them an apartment rent free and an additional $40 a month, on which they were able to manage. But then the woman had another baby, and when she could not keep up with the duties of her job she was dismissed. At that point, it was either the Welfare Department finding them a place to live – or the park, with nine children.

There seem to be a good many questions involved here. One of them obviously is: What are good wages? The answer, of course, depends entirely on what you can buy with your wages. It will be recalled that we were assured some months ago by certain interested parties that if we did away with OPA there might be a slight rise in some prices for a short time, but that everything would then find its proper level. Well, in spite of all the wage increases – and there have been quite a number – wages have never caught up with the rise in prices. Every time wages go up, prices have to go up too. People therefore begin to talk about real wages – wages you must have in order to live decently. More and more people are beginning to wonder how you can get them.

The Newburyport plan was doomed to failure as a solution for this problem. Unless the people selling to the Newburyport merchants brought their own prices down 10 percent, the merchants themselves simply could not go on keeping their prices down. On this whole question, as far as I can see, the government is just drifting, with the administration begging responsible business people to lower prices and with Congress urging fewer restrictions and a cut in taxes.

Nobody really faces the situation brought to light in New York City. The relief rolls are rising. People cannot live on what they get when on relief. They can’t even live decently on the wages that the city pays them in certain jobs, plus relief. In other words, inflation is here, and individuals on a voluntary basis cannot handle the situation.

We are drifting toward a “bust.” The sooner the government and individuals of goodwill get together and work out something like Chester Bowles’ recently published plan, the better it will be. I do not think the people will have the same patience which they showed back in the early Thirties. We had therefore better do some preventative work now, instead of waiting to meet a crisis with a drastic cure.

126

May 27, 1947

CHICAGO, Monday – Travelling around this country is good for us all, because we find so many places that we know little or nothing about, and that not only have an interesting place in our history but are today making history.

Yesterday morning, Miss Thompson and I stepped off the train in Springfield, Ill., and later were taken by car to Jacksonville, Ill. I always like to see the Lincoln statue below the Capitol in Springfield, and I think the old Governor’s Mansion has great charm. But it was Jacksonville which was new to me.

I think the greatest charm of that small city is its trees. It is apparently a spot where New England and the South met, for the elms arching over the streets remind one of a New England village. Illinois College, the oldest in the State, is located there. Edward Beecher, one of the college’s early presidents, was a brother of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and was one of the liberals who left his mark on the city.

MacMurray College, also located in Jacksonville, was once the Illinois state college for women. It has grown very rapidly under a plan formulated by its president, Dr. Clarence P. McClelland, who has laid out the plan for the next twenty years. This is one of the few colleges for women in the Middle West which is comparable to our Eastern colleges for women.

I attended the Baccalaureate Service in the morning and heard a young Methodist minister, Rev. Charles Floyd Murphy of Cincinnati, preach a very good baccalaureate sermon on “What Are We Going to Do with Our World?” He was a chaplain with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during the war, and perhaps that is why he is so concerned with “where do we go from here.” Both of us were given honorary degrees at the commencement exercises – which we both deeply appreciated.

Members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce drove me to the large state mental hospital, but unfortunately I was only able to pay a very hurried visit. Jacksonville also has a school for the deaf which, I understand, is the largest in the world, and a very large school for the blind. All of these institutions have delightful grounds, which must add greatly to the happiness of the handicapped patients. A good many of the MacMurray College graduates are going in for social work with handicapped people, so the influence of the institutions and the fact that they can provide practical experience to students seem to have an effect on the choice of vocation.

It is interesting to see by the Illinois papers that a controversy is going on over a proposed cut which the economy-minded Republican State Legislature is advocating in the appropriation for the care of dependent children. One would think that the lesson of the Centralia mine disaster would impress on government officials that the well-being of people is as important as economy. However, I imagine the effect of the federal example is what spurs the Republicans in power in the states to economize not always wisely but too well.

127

May 28, 1947

CHICAGO, Tuesday – Two branches of the military services – the Army and the Navy – have written me about their plans for the future.

Last month, a bill was presented to Congress proposing that the Women’s Army Corps be established as an integral component of the Regular Army. The bill also proposes that women be appointed as officers or enlisted in the Reserve Corps. One of the reasons given for this proposal is the fact that, in any future war, women will be more needed than before, and therefore it is best to keep at work a nucleus which can easily be expanded.

The record of the service of the WAC in the recent war is quite impressive. On VE day, 100,000 women were in service in the Army, and about 18 percent of the personnel served overseas. Some of them are still in Europe and Japan and Panama, and five WAC officers are even in Korea.

The Navy Department has just had a week which it designated as Naval Reserve Week, and it offers opportunities to many young men to prepare themselves for naval service and thereby keep their country going. Quite plainly it stated that if a country is strong, there is less danger of attack upon that country.

I can see many advantages in both of these programs. Both men and women can be benefitted by discipline and by opportunities for learning a variety of skills. In the case of the Navy Reserve, men can take short cruises to foreign shores.

The only thing I object to is that we do not tie up our programs for defense with the idea that our ultimate objective is to create within the United Nations a military force to defend all nations, thus gradually reducing for every nation both the expense and the anxiety of having to act alone against aggression. I feel sure such a force would be less of a burden upon individual nations.

At the same time, the benefits which our young people can now derive through service to the nation, either as members of the armed forces or as reservists, should still be possible. The qualities which such service develops are the qualities of a strong and virile people, and the opportunities for education should still be available, as they strengthen our democracy.

128

May 29, 1947

DULUTH, Minn., Wednesday – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I spoke Tuesday night, has one of the most interesting plans for a war memorial that I have seen. The county sent more men into the services in proportion to its population than any other county in the United States. They are now embarking on a War memorial to these men who fought in the war, planned with the same generosity that the men showed in entering the services. They say in their literature that they hope their idea will spread to other communities and certainly the plans sound so attractive that they should inspire other communities to similar generous giving.

Milwaukeans want their memorial to serve the living so it is to have three auditoriums where theatre, and music and forums can all be enjoyed in proper surroundings. There will be an art gallery to house not only paintings but industrial designs and inventions which affect business life. In an arcade they will commemorate with individual plaques the men who died in service and they will also have a roster of honor displayed, giving the names of all of those who went into the services. The original investment they think will be $5,000,000, which is the largest sum which the city of Milwaukee has ever raised for one objective, but I think in the future, the city will find this investment bringing in many returns of value to the citizens not only of the city and county, but of the state as a whole.

One realizes, of course, that every effort of this kind is carried on within the framework of the ordinary demands which at this time in many cases, are extraordinary and which are made on many citizens of all communities, for civic and charitable purposes. Incomes in many cases are still high, however, and since the Congress is cutting income taxes as of July first, greater demands on voluntary giving can justifiably be made.

I am interested to find many people commenting on the high cost of living and some people sound rather downhearted about it. I was delighted to find one industrial leader in Milwaukee, however, who is engaged in an expansion program which he said he hoped might take up some of the unemployment which was appearing in certain other industries.

We had to sit up last night to take a late train. Finally as we were standing in the station at one o’clock in the morning, a group of high school youngsters who had been on a two-day visit to Milwaukee with their teacher came up to ask for autographs and then a couple of men, working on the railroad came and talked to me and finally some of the men in the station came over. One man shook hands, went off and then came back again and said almost as though he were ashamed of showing any emotion: “The boss did a fine job.” My husband would have liked his tribute, I am sure.

129

May 30, 1947

NEW YORK, Thursday – Decoration Day Is here again. Parades, soldiers, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, and just plain ordinary citizens and children will go to cemeteries all over this country and place their offerings of remembrance on the soldiers’ graves. In the faraway places where our servicemen were buried during both World Wars, commemorative exercises will be held and people in those foreign lands will bring flowers and attend those ceremonies.

I wish very much that we could stop looking upon this day purely as one in which our duty is accomplished when we remember and are grateful for the sacrifices of those who died in past wars. I wish this could be turned into a day when we think realistically about the cost of modern war and the danger of annihilation which another war may bring to our civilization.

I have the greatest respect for the ladies of the DAR, who, in their recent convention, passed such patriotic resolutions demanding that everything be done for the defense of our land. They were stirred by the head of the American Legion, who warned them that we must weed out the secret agents of Communism and Nazism who have infiltrated into our country with visitors’ visas and then lost themselves in wide-open spaces. I quite agree that we should get rid of such people, but I have a feeling that the FBI is up to the job. But the FBI and the patriotic ladies’ resolutions will not prevent the removal from the earth of what we call civilization if we have an atomic war.

This is what I would like to have people consider on this Decoration Day, and I would like them to dedicate themselves to the study of how to prevent war. We have proved on several occasions that it is not prevented by armaments alone. It is true that weakness courts aggression, but at the present time the people of the United States are in a strange position. They are stronger than any other nation in the world, and yet they are afraid of attack as they have never been before.

The perusal of any of our newspapers will show that this fear exists even when it is not plainly expressed. The only reason for this is that we have no real plan on which we are concentrating which will improve goodwill among the governments of the world. None of the peoples want to go to war, but all of the governments are suspicious of each other. And whenever a statesman makes a public pronouncement, he seems to create in the press, and probably in the hearts of other statesmen, tremors of fear and visions of coalitions against this or that nation.

Would it help if, on this Decoration Day, as we think of the graves of our dead everywhere in the world, we remember that all of them died to bring to their people at home security and peace and greater well-being? Could we pledge ourselves, as a tribute to them, to try to find new ways of meeting the problems of peace an atomic age? I am sure peace in the world has to begin with peace in the heart of each individual. Could we really today begin a new era – love God and love our fellow man?

130

May 31, 1947

HYDE PARK, Friday – While traveling around the country, these past few days, I ran into a number of young men who identified themselves as having met me before in various far-off places. One was an ex-marine who had been in Hawaii when I visited certain groups there in the summer of 1943. Another young man reminded me we had met in Trinidad and the porter on our train, a fine-looking young man said: “I saw you last, Mrs. Roosevelt, in Townsend, Australia.”

One rather elderly gentleman insisted that I was trying to hide my identity. He told me he was a general who had met me in 1942 in Great Britain. He said: “What do you mean by traveling in surreptitious fashion? I recognized you and I am going to get into the taxi with you,” – which he promptly did. After a little conversation, I think I convinced him that I was not trying to hide my identity, but that I was just not as “important” as in the days gone by. Since we were going to quite different parts of the city he was finally prevailed upon to get out and take another taxi!

In one hotel, Miss Thompson had an amusing experience with a gentleman who was apparently having a very gay time at a convention. He phoned my room and told her that he had just got out of Alcatraz, where he had once seen me. He needed immediate assistance, he added, which he thought I could give. Never having been to Alcatraz, I felt no responsibility; but in any case, I think his friends eventually persuaded him to retire for the night!

After a very busy day in Milwaukee, we took the night train to Duluth, Minnesota, where we arrived in time for a luncheon under the auspices of the Round Table of Christians and Jews. There I was reminded again that on June 10, in Chicago, the American Brotherhood of the National Conference of Christians and Jews will confer their 1947 arts and science awards, in recognition of women who have made positive contributions to improving human relations and welfare. Last year the two people chosen were Miss Katharine Corneil and Dr. Lise Meitner. This year the award will go to Miss Kate Smith for the influence she has exerted through her radio program to unify America and build better understanding among all peoples. The science award will go to Dr. Florence Sabin. At 75, this remarkable woman, who has been awarded honorary degrees by at least 12 of our fore-most institutions, is still leading an active and useful life. It would seem that these awards should draw attention to the value of work done in national causes which draw people together and, by doing so, enhance our chances of creating a peaceful world.

We arrived home again last night after a particularly bumpy flight from St. Paul, which made a number of our passengers rather unhappy. The first part of the trip was very smooth, but later we ran into thunderstorms. Some little boys who were taking their first flight, and who had been extremely happy and interested, discovered quickly that flying is not all they had previously thought it to be, and they decided that there were advantages in being on firm ground.

131

June 2, 1947

HYDE PARK, Sunday – It is an excellent thing to visit cities far away from our Eastern seaboard, now and then, to see the life and vigor which they exude. Just driving through the home sections of other cities gives you a feeling of the strength of our people. There are the thousands and thousands of big homes and little homes, all of them cared for and cherished by some family group. The children especially make you feel that your country is, on the whole, a happy one. They look well and strong; above all, they look happy. If you carry in your mind a picture of the children in invaded areas overseas, you cannot help making a favorable comparison and saying a prayer of gratitude for the strength which these children promise for the future of the United States.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a thriving, bustling business city where you feel men and women would attempt anything that might challenge their imagination. I was much impressed, too, by Duluth and Superior. In a way, they seemed like one entity. The harbor lying between them is a marvelous shipping outlet for a tremendous area of the country, and the possible developments for the future seem limitless. At present, the city is stretched out in a narrow strip along the lake. In Superior, they told me, much of the country around is cut-over land, and the city is chiefly an ore-shipping center. Cut-over land, however, can again grow the original kind of trees.

This is not particularly good farming country. With conservation, however, I should think it would remain extraordinarily good country for sportsmen. We saw fishermen, for example, starting off with glee on holiday trips. That could continue to be an unending source of profit to the area, as well as of pleasure to many people throughout the country.

It seemed to me that Duluth had opportunities for the establishment of new businesses and civic developments which were being neglected. It is a cold climate, but it is very beautiful there and I have seldom seen a lovelier home site than that of my cousin, Mrs. Bernard Ridder, Jr. Her house is hidden among trees and looks out over the lake, yet it is only about a ten-minute drive from the business district.

Some of the people I met were concerned about the hospital drive which is now on. They have only 300 beds available in their hospitals at the present time. Their situation points up the fact that even though Congress, in spite of the President’s message, may not think it necessary to take up the nation’s health problems during this session, the people of the nation in their own communities are becoming aware of the need for health services and, in many cases, the need for coordination and some Federal assistance.

132

June 3, 1947

HYDE PARK, Monday – The Roosevelt Home Club of Hyde Park held their Memorial Day services as usual at my husband’s grave. This year Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson was kind enough to give the address. I liked particularly these words:

“Today this grave and the graves of half a million Americans who died in World War II keep fresh in our minds the price the nation paid to preserve by the sword the peace we could save in no other way. Many of those graves are in foreign lands, but wherever our dead lie will always be to us part of the land they defended so well.”

Later in his speech, Mr. Patterson said: “We have plenty to do right here at home. If we strengthen our national unity, if we accept our world responsibilities without wavering, if we stand as the bulwark of freedom, if we prosper as a people and out of our prosperity extend assistance generously to people less fortunate, no iron curtain, no censorship will hide the facts from the world.”

The Secretary closed with these words: “In these times, when the work of healing the wounds of war and building a better future seems hard, he (Franklin D. Roosevelt) would have us bear in mind the lines of the hymn he loved: ‘Where duty calls, or danger, be never wanting there!’”

It seemed to me a particularly fine address for Memorial Day. There is no question in my mind but what every man who went to World War II wanted permanent peace to be the result, just as had the men who went to World War I. Somehow, when war is over, a reaction always sets in. And people who have been magnificent during the war – willing to make every sacrifice to win the war-suddenly are filled with lethargy and do not want to face the difficult problems of building permanent peace in the world. Permanent peace can certainly not be built by weak people. It takes energy and enthusiasm and a firm belief that success is possible.

Over the weekend, I have had some old friends and some young friends staying with me. The youngest, little Jonathan Lash, who is nearly 2 years old, did not arrive until Sunday, but he is now ensconced and quite at home.

Saturday afternoon I went over to the Library to receive a very beautiful piece of glass which was the gift of the glass industry of Czechoslovakia. Some of the representatives of these glass works had noticed that there were on exhibition samples of other glass which had been given to my husband but no Czechoslovakian glass, so this gift was the result.

On Sunday afternoon I went to the Library again to receive a portrait of my husband which was done in tiny pieces of fur by Monsieur Crepagny Bertrand and sent over from France. It has small American and French flags crossed under the frame. Such gifts as these are always very touching and I am deeply appreciative.

133

June 4, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – Probably the most far-reaching thing which has happened recently, because of the effect it may have upon the lives of our young people, was the report of the President’s Commission on Universal Training. The President had asked that they lay special stress on nonmilitary benefits of universal training, but the commission explained in their report that they could not justify training unless the military side was present.

In a talk I had with a responsible member of our Government the other day, he remarked that history showed that lack of preparedness rather than preparedness precipitated wars. A warlike nation which thought itself a little better prepared than its neighbors, but which was really not anxious to go to war, would try to put over a bluff to achieve some end. The bluff would not work and the situations created would lead to war even if the first nation was ready to draw back.

If that is so, then it would appear that we would be entirely justified in accepting the recommendations of this report, which takes a broad view of all our national defenses. It says that no branch can be neglected and suggests that every young man between the ages of 18 and 20 spend a year in training. The first six months would be spent in basic training. Then a broad choice would be presented, so that the young man could acquire something which would help him in civilian life.

I am glad that the report states that this program is essential until the United Nations is able to take over the complete defense of world peace. I am not sure, however, that even then universal training should come to an end, for we will have to provide our portion of services to the United Nations. And if the underlying philosophy of this report is carried out in legislation, it might well be extremely valuable to the young people of the country as peacetime training.

When Gen. Evans Carlson died the other day, I did not have an opportunity to pay him a tribute in my column, but I wish to do so now. My eldest son was with him as executive officer when he trained his first “raiders.” It seems to me the type of training which he gave them would be valuable to any young man living in a peaceful world, just as it was extraordinarily good training for the most difficult kind of fighting. He trained the minds and characters of men as well as their bodies, and that is what I hope we will do in any universal military training which we undertake.

134

June 5, 1947

LOS ANGELES, Wednesday – I think that the people of the United States are not communicating very frequently with their representatives in Congress! Some things which are happening in Congress seem very strange.

For instance, I see that the Women’s Christian Temperance Union has been granted $5000 for an international convention. I can remember that once upon a time the same amount of money was granted when The Countrywomen of the World met in Washington, with the women’s rural organizations of the United States as hosts. At that time, this organization included representatives of most of the women’s rural groups in our country and in many other countries. The WCTU, however, does not seem to me to be the same type of organization.

They are international but they do not represent a broad group of people who have general interests in common. Instead, they represent a limited group that has one particular interest for which it is working.

I hold no brief for the use of strong alcoholic beverages. In fact, I believe strictly in moderate living. However, prohibition taught me that individuals themselves have to learn to control their habits and that morality cannot be legislated. Prohibition not only failed in the objective for which it was designed, but it managed to create among large numbers of people a disregard for law – which seemed even more serious.

People may have forgotten what prohibition days were like but they should not do so, for we may be called upon to make the same decision again. Will we try this experiment anew, or will we work in other ways which might be more efficacious and more really helpful to human beings?

There are other things in Congress’ activities which seem a little strange and which I believe are at variance with the average person’s thinking. Congress has decided that veterans of World War II, even though they fought in the war and served their country, shall not be granted G.I. college benefits if they are Communists.

Now, this seems really odd, for one would think that here was a chance to educate these young people away from their faulty thinking. Evidently it is feared that a few youngsters who have been contaminated by Communism will be too difficult for the college authorities and their colleagues to handle.

I can work up far more enthusiasm for teaching real democracy, so that our young people can meet any Communist argument, than I can for refusing any veteran educational benefits. If our business groups would get out a really good report showing how our economic system is far superior to other systems in granting opportunity to all men, then I think we would really have some arguments which it would be pretty difficult for American Communists, young or old, to refute. Above all, we would be doing something positive instead of constantly expressing our fears.

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June 6, 1947

LOS ANGELES, Thursday – I came out here to speak at the State Democratic Committee dinner because my son James is chairman of the committee.

After my arrival yesterday morning, my day started with a press conference. From the questions which were asked, I gathered that Henry Wallace has created considerable confusion in the minds of his large audiences here. The people were hoping to get some concrete answers to questions which trouble us all.

“How are we to get unity in this country and feel that we really are working together on a policy which will bring peace to the world?” That, I think, is one of the first questions in the minds of a great many men and women. In consequence, the next question is: “Does our present Administration policy go in this direction?” “If not, what could we do to change it? Is our Congress, as now constituted, willing to accept a policy which will lead in the direction of peace?”

Fear of Russia has grown and no one knows exactly why. Nor do they know whether what is called a “tough” policy is the right policy to dispel antagonisms, or whether what is described as an appeasement policy or a conciliatory policy will bring better understanding.

As far as I can gather, Mr. Wallace in his speech here stated the desires of most people admirably, but gave them few concrete solutions. So they came away liking him as an individual and feeling his honesty, yet not being able to state what definite things we as a people could do to improve our present world situation.

It always comes as something of a shock to me, being an old-fashioned person, to find how quickly one can transfer oneself from LaGuardia Field in New York to Mines Field in Los Angeles! I left New York on Tuesday afternoon at 4:45 p.m., daylight-saving time, and was in Los Angeles at 2 a.m., Pacific time, in spite of having spent two hours at Kansas City waiting for some thunderstorms to clear up.

I was interested in the reaction of the plane’s passengers when we were told at Kansas City that there would be a delay. We were in the plane, supposedly ready to take off, when the announcement was made. No one complained. A few got out and went back to the ticket counter – I suppose to find out how long we might be held. But a great many people just sat calmly in their places and read or dozed through the entire period.

One very busy gentleman stopped to speak to me and, instead of complaining at the waste of his time, he said, “I never mind waiting if it means greater safety on the trip.” This is a very good attitude. And I think that if the airlines feel that the public has that reaction, they will put safety above everything else – which, in the long run, is better for all concerned.

136

June 7, 1947

NEW YORK, Friday – Some of the newspapers I saw in California treated the Hungarian coup almost as though it were an immediate cause for war. I wish that we might be a little more temperate even in the speeches made in our Senate.

I think it is quite correct to ask the United Nations to make an investigation as to whether any nation has used undue influence over the political actions of another nation, particularly when there is an occupation army in the smaller nation in question. But prejudging the results of an inquiry seems to me a mistake and it cannot help but make the inquiry, if it is decided upon, more difficult.

I wonder whether this nation really wants to repeat the history of the League of Nations by making one of the great powers withdraw from the United Nations. Judging from some of the papers I’ve seen and from the quotations they give from some of our statesmen, it would seem that we have forgotten that the League of Nations failed largely because we were not a part of it and because a number of other nations withdrew.

You cannot have world agreement without full participation in the discussions of international problems. I am certainly conscious of all the difficulties of reaching agreements, but I think the most important agreement of all is that all the nations remain members of the United Nations.

Otherwise, what happens is that we form alliances between nations. The world would be divided; there would be no chance of disarmament or of collective force used cooperatively against any aggressor who might wish to break the peace. I see very little hope that way for peace to grow in the world.

It seems to me that matters have come to a point where it is imperative that the heads of the great nations meet again. We are treating each individual question as a crisis and acting without reference to the basic overall situation of the world. The heads of great nations should meet and take into consideration a world view of economic, political and moral questions.

The California State Democratic Committee’s dinner which I attended in Los Angeles was apparently very successful. There is one great advantage in having political parties in Los Angeles – you can offer your guests the necessary speech-making sugar-coated by entertainment from Hollywood. At the dinner, Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore were all on hand. Even though I had to provide part of the evening’s more serious entertainment, still I enjoyed the real entertainment probably more than the other guests because I have so few opportunities for hearing or seeing any of these artists.

137

June 9, 1947

NEW YORK, Sunday – In the light of events in Europe today, it seems to me that we should look backwards as well as forwards. If we do so, and recall what many people said at the time we announced our Greek-Turkish policy, we will have to acknowledge that an outsider would have considered this not alone a policy to alleviate suffering in Greece and Turkey and to help them rehabilitate their economic situation. It would also have appeared as a policy aimed against the spread of Russian influence. It is therefore not very surprising, much though we dislike and condemn it, to find that Russia’s answer has been to continue to try and extend her political influence.

I think we have taken very proper steps in asking the United Nations to investigate whether any undue influence has been exerted by a great nation, with troops in a smaller nation’s territory, on the political actions of those people. Whatever the action, it should not prevent us from taking an objective view of the situation as a whole.

I could not help thinking with great relief, on the anniversary of D-Day, that at least bombs had stopped dropping on Europe. I was also thankful that Secretary Marshall, in his recent speech, invited Europe to come to an overall economic agreement in which we would try to aid. It was a very constructive suggestion which might lead to a joint economic council being set up in Europe.

What we should say to Russia today is that she has forgotten that our two countries and our political systems must live side by side. We should urge that both of us join together now with a firm resolve not to interfere with the decisions of small nations. Russia needs to rehabilitate her own economy. She will need help from us and we should give it to her, for she has a right to develop her own people and those who, in freedom, choose to join in her experiment. She has no right, however, to exert undue influence on other nations any more than we have, even though we also have the power. Our power is greater today, and therefore we must have even greater restraint.

We have fallen into the bad habit of scheming to see which one of us can put something over on the other, and we say many dangerous things not conducive to good feeling. The sooner our armies – all of them – are out of countries which are able to manage themselves, the better it will be. It may take a long time before certain countries are able to manage alone. Where we can find qualified civilians, however, they should be the ones to help as quickly as possible in rehabilitating devastated countries.

We should not let disagreements rest when they exist between ourselves and the USSR. We should try to find new suggestions on all points where actual principles are not involved. Principles cannot be compromised, but methods of procedure and economic questions can frequently be adjusted.

138

June 10, 1947

NEW YORK, Monday – I suppose it is impossible for any Congressional bill to be put into language which the people can understand! It will be difficult for the average worker to understand the legal language of the Taft-Hartley labor bill passed by Congress last week.

In many ways I think labor leaders have themselves to blame for some of their present difficulties – John L. Lewis chief among them, because the people as a whole have come to dread what he can do to our economy. And there are certain union rules which irk the people and which I do not think really help organized labor. These regulations have made the relations between the public and the unions increasingly unsympathetic, and should have been studied and corrected long ago.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations should have got rid of Communist leaders wherever they existed. The people of this country are more than willing to try to work with the Russians if they recognize on the part of the Russians a willingness to work side by side with other forms of governments and ways of life. However, the constant activity of American Communists, who evidently get their financial support as well as their political direction from Russia, creates suspicion and antagonism here and in some other countries as well.

If the Russian Government still hopes for world revolution brought about by representatives in other countries guided from Russia, it cannot be honest in trying to work cooperatively with other governments as they now exist. I am more than willing to believe that circumstances may modify the way of life and the forms of existing governments in many countries in the years to come, but the changes must come from the free will of the people, not from infiltration of ideas through the influence of outside governments. This is why union leaders known to be Communists should not have been allowed in our labor movement.

Nevertheless, the Taft-Hartley bill is a bad bill, even in its final modified form. I think it will make the work of the National Labor Relations Board practically impossible, and it opens a wide field of labor activities to federal injunctions. I see nothing gained by taking the Conciliation Service out of the Department of Labor. It seems to me that this bill is weighted in favor of the employer. For instance, the bill requires the NLRB to obtain federal injunctions against certain union practices, but there is no provision that the board obtain injunctions against employer practices.

I have not room here to go into this bill in detail, but analyses of it are available and people should study it. I was in complete accord with the labor-reform suggestions made in the President’s message, but this bill goes so far beyond that and is so weighted in favor of the employer that I feel that, if it becomes law, it will affect adversely the lives of many people.

139

June 11, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – I spent Sunday in Geneva, New York, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Colleges of the Seneca. In 1796, Geneva Academy was founded; in 1822, it became Hobart College; and in 1908, William Smith College which is the women’s college, was founded.

I was chairman of a most impressive panel, consisting of the Hon. John G. Winant, former Ambassador to Great Britain, Dr. William A. Eddy, a former president of the colleges and at present an Assistant Secretary of State, and Paul M. Herzog of the National Labor Relations Board. A panel on Saturday had discussed the responsibility of educational institutions in the community and in the state. The Sunday panel discussed this responsibility from the point of view of the nation and the world.

We all attended a very fine evening service at which the Rt. Rev. Charles K. Gilbert, Bishop of New York, preached the baccalaureate sermon and I was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, since I could not be present at the Commencement exercises on Monday.

My hostess was Mrs. John M. Potter, whose young husband was president of the colleges until he died suddenly last winter. She wanted to carry through his plans and the Board of Trustees helped her to do this. I think she must be very proud of the imaginative and forward-looking program which her husband started.

For instance, those young people who are studying the review of Western civilization cannot fail to meet the problems of today with a better perspective drawn from the past. And the eight-week course planned as “an educational program for leadership in the industrial community” should grow into something of real value in bringing together labor and management. Both must become conscious of their mutual interests and abilities. It has always seemed to me that mutual respect between them would greatly help their negotiations.

At Lake Success yesterday morning, we held the first meeting of the bill-of-rights drafting committee of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations. The eight members were all present, though the United Kingdom member, Mr. Geoffrey Wilson, was a little late, having driven straight from the dock when the Queen Elizabeth got in. Monsieur Rene Cassin, the French delegate, was delayed twenty-four hours on his plane, but arrived in New York Sunday night. So it was evident that the attendance at this meeting meant real effort on the part of the members.

The Secretariat had prepared a document which was really an analysis of the many bills which had been presented and a grouping of the rights mentioned in those bills. An enormous amount of documentation, showing the various sources where these rights have already been mentioned, has been done by the Secretariat. The suggestion was made that, after the election of officers and routine procedure of organization was over, we adjourn so that the members of the committee could familiarize themselves with the material in hand before meeting again on Wednesday morning.

140

June 12, 1947

NEW YORK, Wednesday – Greenwich Village in June is a very busy place, I find. Walking up to 8th Street through MacDougal Alley, your eye is caught by the display of water colors, paintings, etchings, pen and ink sketches, and if you have the time, you could get your portrait painted by several different people and even a caricature if you like to see yourself in some distorted light.

In addition, I am invited to attend a basement theatre on Thursday evening, June the 12th, and on the same evening in Webster Hall at 119 East 11th, I am invited to a beauty contest where twenty-five Powers, Conover and Thornton models will appear and “Miss Greenwich Village of 1947” will be chosen. The contest will be followed by a ball and the proceeds will send needy youngsters from the Village to one of the Greenwich House summer camps, or one of the Children’s Aid Society Camps.

Unfortunately I will be kept so busy by the United Nations that I can not take advantage of all of this gaiety, but this is certainly a time of year when anyone who is seeking a little relaxation should visit Greenwich Village. week ends through June, they can even go to the Fair, an exhibition of arts and crafts on 6th Avenue and Waverly Place.

I was very sorry that I was not able to meet while he was here, Mr. Fabian San Juan, who was one of the guerillas of the Philippines who helped to harass the Japs during the war. During almost two years in mountain hide-outs, he helped Mr. and Mrs. Johnston, and Mrs. Johnston’s book “Bread and Rice” tells the story. I was particularly glad to hear that Mrs. Johnston was able to arrange at the War Department for back pay for this guerilla fighter who helped Americans during the war and was loyal to the United States. I hope that this policy will be carried out with the many other men who must deserve similar treatment from the War Department.

Now that I am working again out at Lake Success, my attention is drawn to the fact that there are many people anxious to have regular news of what goes on day by day in the various commissions and committees, as well as in the councils of the United Nations. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation publishes “The United Nations News” of which Beatrice Pitney Lamb is the editor and this gives a clear, reliable summary of the activities of the United Nations and its related agencies. It appears monthly, is unofficial and therefore freer than an official publication of the United Nations could be. It is brief, simply written and unbiased. Anything appearing in its eight pages can be used by any individual or group since it is not copyrighted. The subscription rate is $3.00 a year, $2.50 for a new subscriber and $2.00 for student subscribers.

Yesterday I saw Monsieur Jacques Havet who has come over from Paris to act as an observer for UNESCO at our committee meeting.