Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (Feb. 1941)

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February 25, 1941

Washington, Monday –
Flying from Washington to Richmond, Va., yesterday morning was very pleasant. It gave me time before I left to see my grandbaby for a little while, and to have a very leisurely breakfast all by myself for the first time that I can remember this winter in Washington.

The baby is at the stage where everything goes straight into his mouth. Whether it is the beads around my neck, the spoons of the table, or the newspaper which he grabs out of my hand. I discovered when little Johnny Boettiger was his age, that newsprint was evidently harmless, so I do not worry any more when I see it being chewed to a pulp.

The car met me in Richmond and it took only three quarters of an hour to reach Virginia State College. The plant has been greatly improved in the last few years through the use of various government setups. I ate a very delicious lunch cooked and served by the home economics girls and can vouch for the fact that this course is well given. The head of the department told me that when they are through it, the girls are prepared for 17 vocations.

Most of these young Negro people, however, take teaching positions. I feel sure that they are gradually raising the standard of living among their own people in the State of Virginia. There was no convenient return plane, so I drove back in 3 hours and 20 minutes and arrived here in time for supper. Our house guests, Mr. Alexander Woollcott and his secretary, Mr. Hennessey, arrived in the afternoon and were settled in their rooms, prepared to meet all the rigors of daily acting in The Man Who Came To Dinner.

Mrs. Florence Kerr of the WPA, came to supper and also my old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grosvenor Allen of Oneida, NY, and their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kerr, whom they are visiting down here. Mrs. Allen broke a knee last year and has had a lot of trouble with it, and so she is on her way to Tucson, Ariz., to convalesce. However, she has lost none of her old spirit and remarked to me in parting that she is coming back to take up all the things she has been longing to do during her period of inactivity.

I did not know that I was bringing together two Oneida County (New York) people, but Mr. Woollcott and Mrs. Allen have an equal interest in Hamilton College and entertained us with stories about their mutual acquaintances. Mr. Woollcott showed two reels of colored pictures in the evening, one taken in Marineland, Fla., and one in the autumn and winter showing his island and Vermont. The colors were the most beautiful I have ever seen and I only wish that all colored movies could be as beautiful.

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February 26, 1941

Washington, Tuesday –
We had rather an interesting press conference yesterday morning, and I learned a great deal about the present need for nurses in both the Army and Navy. The American Red Cross registers these nurses and tries to keep an up-to-date list, but, of course, the average nurse thinks of being called into the services only in case of war.

Here we are facing a situation where we are not at war and yet where we have a dislocation of population. Young men who would ordinarily be taken care of in their homes, are suddenly placed in a camp for training. The Army, particularly, needs a great many more nurses than they have had in the regular service. By the first of June, in fact, they want several thousand to report for duty. I believe when the facts are brought to their attention, many young nurses will answer this call.

How quickly things change! A few years ago, I received many letters from nurses who could not find work. When I went to the graduation exercises in the Harlem Hospital School for Nurses this winter, I was told there are not enough nurses in training to meet the needs of the New York City institutions alone.

Of course, the standards have been raised. They need a better educational background and the training is stricter. It seems to me to be good training for a girl, whether she is going to earn her own living or is going to marry and live in a community. It will help her as a wife, mother and neighbor. If she takes up nursing as a profession, it offers her great satisfaction in services, as well as a fairly secure livelihood .

Miss Mary Beard, National Director of Red Cross Nursing Service, Major Julia O. Flikke, Superintendent of U.S. Army Nurse Corps, and Miss Sue S. Dauser, Superintendent of U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, spoke to members of my press conference yesterday, so I am sure that the conditions under which nurses enter the services are well understood throughout the country.

My afternoon yesterday was spent seeing people who were interested in special fields. In the evening, Mr. Frederick M. Davenport brought his group, the National Institute of Public Affairs, to spend the evening. These young people asked many searching questions. They are an intelligent group of young people and I have always enjoyed meeting them every year.

They spend a year here in the government service and know many of the difficulties and complexities of government machinery. Last night I was interested to hear that well over two-thirds of them are either in the federal service, or in state government service and are seriously undertaking these careers as a life work. It speaks well for the future of democracy and I wish every success to them.

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February 27, 1941

New York, Wednesday –
I gave the last very large and formal luncheon at the White House yesterday, and in the afternoon I attended a tea given by the Episcopal Church Society. Lady Halifax was in the receiving line, and the photographers, as usual, took this occasion to take as many pictures as they could.

I should tell you something about an effort which the National Council of the Protestant Churches is undertaking. Eighteen churches have set up special national committees for the relief of refugees and victims of war. They are going to make their appeal for funds and will carry on all their activities through a coordinating committee, and the actual work will be done through already established agencies.

Though these funds are being raised by the Protestant churches, there will be no discrimination, either racial or religious, in giving aid. March 2 is the Sunday when this drive for funds will culminate, though as a matter of fact, there will be a continuation of the work all through the year as long as the need exists throughout the world.

Several people came to tea yesterday afternoon. Among them was a most interesting gentleman who has worked out a method whereby, without too much difficulty, you may make your own shoes if you wish. They do not look exactly like custom made shoes, but they are comfortable and people who have a gift with handcrafts, will probably find this a new craft to be developed which will prove useful to people not much concerned with fashion.

Last night, the President and I, with several other guests, attended a performance in Washington of The Man Who Came To Dinner with Mr. Alexander Woollcott playing the part of “Sheridan Whiteside.” It was one of the few times I have ever seen the National Theatre packed, no empty seats were to be seen. I have seen this play before, but there were some changes in lines, and when Mr. Woollcott acts in it himself, his appearance adds greatly to the flavor of the scenes.

So far as I am concerned, Mr. Woollcott is one of my favorite guests and I hope he will always consider himself not only welcome, but sought after. However, if one incurred his displeasure, the imp in The Man Who Came To Dinner might conceivably come forth even in my most welcome guest.

Between the play and the supper, which we had for the members of the cast after the performance, I went in for a few seconds to the ball given for the Thrift Shop, a most successful entertainment over which Mrs. Williams always presides. To end the evening, I took the train for New York City, where I arrived this morning to attend the meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. A summary of the work done by the Committee thus far, shows that 850 children are in this country under our care.

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February 28, 1941

Washington, Thursday –
Today I shall tell you a little about the work of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children, which I visited yesterday. I wonder if people realize that these children, even when they are in the homes of foster parents, are watched over by agencies in various parts of the country, chosen by the United States Children Bureau. Sometimes these agencies are state agencies, sometimes they are private ones, but they always come up to a high standard set by the Children’s Bureau and our guests from overseas are safe in their care.

No matter how careful they are in a choice of a home, however, a child does not always adjust and there is friction between the members of the household. In that case, the agency tries to find another home in which a happier adjustment can be made. Occasionally, people undertake a responsibility without realizing quite what it means when they face it day in and day out. Financial changes occur, problems arise within the family and necessitate changes. All these are part of the responsibility assumed by the United States Committee.

The United States Committee in many cases assumes financial responsibility for the children and must keep a skeleton staff and continue to raise a steady income. For the time being, no effort is being made to bring over children from England, but there are children arriving on various steamers, sometimes entirely unaccompanied. The United States Committee is notified, meets them, and arranges for reception care until they are placed in a home in this country. It may be possible to bring some children from Lisbon. These children are either now in Lisbon awaiting passage, or agencies hope to bring them over in small groups. They are largely refugee children of many nationalities from unoccupied France.

I was surprised to learn the other day that there are still 500 children with their parents in concentration camps in unoccupied France. The Red Cross is trying to help these children. Some of them may eventually find their way to our shores, as well as others who can no longer be cared for in France by individuals and groups there. It seems to me that every child saved is just one more life for which to be thankful. I hope that the United States Committee for the Care of European Children will continue to do its work with the same success that it has had so far.

I lunched with Dr. Dearborn, some of the faculty of New York University Extension Service and some of the educational people from the CCC camps in the corps areas in New York City yesterday. Their reading clinic of the University has conducted an experiment in one of the CCC camps in this area which reveals uncorrected eye defects in a great many of these boys and certain facts about their reading ability which point to some needed changes in our educational system. I was very much interested in the reading clinic and think many of us would profit by a course taken there.

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