MY DAY
By Eleanor Roosevelt
July 1, 1941
Hyde Park, Monday –
After leaving Ethel yesterday morning, we stopped for nearly an hour and saw Johnny, Anne and young Haven, who are staying in Nahant, Mass., with Anne’s mother, Mrs. Wiltse, who has just come back from Honolulu for the summer. Johnny has to be at his naval course in the Harvard Business School all week, but unless on duty, he can be home on Sundays.
It is fun to watch the babies in the family grow up. Young Haven has just discovered that it is quite delightful to play in the water, as long as his father holds him safely in his arms, so together they swim all over the pool. He has no fear, so I think he will grow up as accustomed to it as a small duck.
We proceeded towards home by a long, but very beautiful, route over the Mohawk Trail. We had a lovely drive, but only reached here at 9:00 p.m. I dashed over to the big house to see our son, Jimmy, and his wife, as well as my husband and mother-in-law.
Jimmy has lost ten pounds, which he could ill afford to lose. He is on sick leave for a little while, but he has much of interest to say on the various things he observed. I am looking forward very much to reading his diary.
Princess Martha of Norway, her children and household, have been staying with my mother-in-law for a few days. This morning the children all came over to the pool to swim at the same time that my brother and I were swimming. To my surprise, little Prince Harald, (Harald correct) who had to wear water wings when he was here last year was paddling around very efficiently by himself.
All the children have grown. I saw them out riding this morning before they came to swim. They are on their way to Cape Cod and I think will enjoy the salt water and free life there. I sincerely hope it will be cooler than it has been since they came here.
I hate to see Jimmy and Rommie leave us this afternoon, but he is going to his farm in Framingham, Mass., for a complete rest.
My mother-in-law is having quite a lunch party this noon for a private opening of the library, when the neighbors will get a chance to look it over carefully for the first time.
I read with real grief this morning of Mr. Paderewski’s death. I don’t doubt that for him it is infinitely easier than to go on living in the world as it is today, but one cannot help wishing that he might have lived to see at least the forecast of a happier future for his people.
July 2, 1941
Hyde Park, Monday –
At 4:00 yesterday afternoon, we all gathered at the library and the President laughingly said it was the last time anyone would be able to see it free. At midnight last night, it was turned over to the government and will be run by a board of trustees, the chairman of which is the Archivist of the United States.
The ceremonies were very simple. Our local Catholic priest, Father Mee, pronounced the invocation. The Postmaster General, Mr. Frank Walker, was master of ceremonies, for he has been chairman of the committee which raised the money to build the library. Mr. R. D. W. Connor, the Archivist of the United States, spoke very interestingly, and was followed by Professor Samuel Eliot Morison of Harvard University, who has a sense of humor which is quite delightful, and who combined his history and his sailing in the fogs of the Bay of Fundy in a truly enchanting manner.
The President then spoke and Judge Conger handed the trustees their parchments and administered to each one the oath of allegiance. Dr. Frank Wilson, our own rector, pronounced the benediction and the dedication was over.
Afterwards, I had an opportunity to talk to a number of people who took the trouble to come to Hyde Park. I was particularly glad to see Mr. Nathan Straus, Administrator of the U. S. Housing Authority, and to talk for a little while with him. Everywhere in the country I see evidence of the good work of the Authority and I am grateful to Senator Wagner’s vision, which set up a medium for accomplishing, a comprehensive housing program, which will serve us not only in our present emergency, but will mean much in the future.
This is especially true because of the way in which Mr. Straus has developed an organization in which every branch consists of experts and men of high calibre. This can be accomplished only when one is creating a group which is to be continuous, and is not only for use during an emergency period.
Mrs. “Evie” Robert waved a package at me in the middle of the ceremonies, and I found she was the bearer of a most delightful blouse made by a woman from Missouri. Mrs. Robert told me she is planning a trip to South America, which she hopes to make useful by creating a sense of goodwill and by learning something which she can then impart to her fellow citizens on her return. I know she will create admiration for her beauty wherever she goes.
Mrs. Florence Kerr and Mrs. Anna Rosenberg spent the late afternoon and dined with us. Most of us had a swim and I was glad for my husband’s sake, because during the ceremonies he looked as if he found the heat rather trying. There were guests at lunch today, but everyone is conscious of the heat, so we welcome a thunderstorm which is going on at the moment.
July 3, 1941
Hyde Park, Wednesday –
There is an interesting book which the American Youth Commission has just published called Time On Their Hands, which is a report on “leisure, recreation and young people.” This book brings out the fact that with all the increase in commercialized entertainment that has come about in the last few years, our young people really have less opportunity for fun than they used to have.
Radios and movie programs are as available to rural youth as they are to urban youth, but somehow much of the joy of life that used to be created by simple human contacts and working together for fun or for educational and civic purposes, seems to have disappeared out of modern life. Our particularly underprivileged youngsters are those who come from the lowest income group, or who live in rural areas and, above all, our young Negro people. We need better planning and trained leadership.
The National Recreation Association has made a study of the amount of money which communities should devote to recreation per capita. They place it at $3.00, but in 1937, that standard was reached by only two of the 94 cities of 100,000 or more population. The average per capita expenditure for this whole group of cities was $1.54.
We are doubly conscious at the moment of the need of recreation, because we have found it so vital in and around our army camps. One idea which I have just heard about and which is being tried out in a number of communities around the camps is well worth considering. They have set up community cookie jars for the boys. Village and farm wives are sending in packages to the recreation center to keep these cookie jars full. I am told that they are one of the most popular things that have been tried.
I wonder if every home community is getting together to look after their boys wherever they go. Sending them packages of small luxuries, and even of necessities, is important. We have places where some of our Regular Army men are stationed today where a little thought on the part of their home communities would mean a great deal. This is even more true for the draftees who, in an hour, change from civil to military life.
The heat continues with very little break, but I find that as long as I sleep on my porch at night, it does not bother me a great deal during the daytime. Miss Jacqueline Cochran is lunching with us today and I am most anxious to hear the report of her trip, which I shall tell you more about in a future column.
July 4, 1941
Hyde Park, Thursday –
The Fourth of July seems to me to have a special meaning this year. They were young men who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence. Back of them there must have been old men, women and young people in the Thirteen Colonies, who agreed with them, and were willing also to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor “for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Few of them envisioned the great nation they were founding, nor could they possibly have imagined the world which would exist in the year 1941. But the feelings which moved those young men are the same which must move both men and women today, if we are going to meet our new problems with the same spirit and determination as our ancestors did in 1776.
Curiously enough, it is again a question of liberty which is going to weld us together as a nation, I think, and to bring us into closer contact with the people of other nations throughout the world. I have never believed that the majority of the people, even in Germany and Italy, if they were free and knew the truth, would want to fight their brothers of other nationalities. They have no liberty, they must believe what they are told, and thus must act according to a pattern laid down by the dictators. Therefore, in turn, they force the people of conquered nations to do the same.
It is true that for a long time both Germans and Italians have been accustomed to receiving orders. None of us who has traveled in these countries can forget the frequent verboten signs and non passare, which is the Italian equivalent. If you are directed in every step you take, you cease to function as a thinking human being. But that does not mean that if you had an opportunity to think, to know and to be free, you would not choose liberty instead of despotism.
War spreads, and on this Fourth of July, those of us who long for peace, and yet who would not give up liberty even to obtain peace, must remember what made the men of 1776 so strong. It was the formulation of an ideal which they thought would bring them a better life. Perhaps that is something which must be done for Europe and Asia today. The people of those countries will only win their revolution if they have a world which they understand and which inspires them to strive for themselves to attain life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
July 5, 1941
Hyde Park, Friday –
I have just read a report made by a committee of farmers who attended the annual AAA meeting in Washington in the early part of June. I am quoting a few sentences from the preamble because I think this document is of statesmanlike quality and deserves the praise of all citizens in the nation.
In the interest of the national welfare, we pledge ourselves to marshalling the agricultural resources of this country so as best to meet the needs of defense. In fulfilling this pledge it is essential to avoid throwing agriculture any further out of balance than is required by the necessity to meet successfully the challenge to our democratic way of life. The defense effort must succeed. The interests of any economic group must be subservient to it and inspired by a willingness to give rather than to take. As representing the farmers of the nation in respect to the program of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, we assure the people and the government of the United States of our full compliance with this policy.
They then proceed to make their recommendations. I cannot quote them all here, but I think a few are worthy of our consideration. They apply to any business or family group when translated into other purposes, though certain things apply specifically only to people who have land which they can use.
The strength of the nation lies in the strength of the individual families that comprise it. The security of the individual family depends on the security of the nation. During the period of defense preparedness and increased industrial activity and higher prices, farm families should, as far as possible, reduce debts to a minimum and accumulate reserves of cash and commodities.
To keep our agriculture in a healthy condition, it is necessary for prices of farm products and industrial prices to be kept in balance.
Adequate production by farmers should not be at unnecessary expense of conservation of land and other resources.
That greater emphasis should be given to proper nutrition. Official records reveal that about one-third of our people are below the safety line in health largely due to inadequate and improper diet. This appalling deficiency must be corrected.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Claude Wickard, makes a special plea asking that, where we can, we reduce the consumption of cheese. We have never considered cheese an essential part of our diet, but the British are accustomed to using it in greater quantities. I am sure we will make every effort to meet any requests such as this.
July 7, 1941
Hyde Park, Sunday –
Friday night, the President returned to Washington. On Saturday morning, our Norwegian guests left on their drive to Massachusetts, where they will be on the shore for the rest of the summer. I think they were all looking forward to the free and peaceful life up there.
I had my annual picnic yesterday for the Hudson Shore Labor School. The old Summer School for Industrial Workers at Bryn Mawr now has transferred its habitat to Miss Hilda Smith’s place across the river from us. Some sixty girls from every part of the country and from a variety of unions are studying there this summer. They have a few Austrian refugees and two campers from Canada.
I enjoyed my time with them very much indeed. I think my greatest pleasure was in meeting Dr. Max Lerner for the first time. We sat around and talked after lunch and I noticed how stimulating he was. But he did not come up to speak to me until just before they all left, when he brought his daughters over to introduce them and it was a pleasant surprise to discover his identity.
Today a few friends are coming to lunch and Bishop Atwood, who is staying with my sister-in-law, Mrs. J. R. Roosevelt, is coming over with her this afternoon to see me.
The news is discouraging to read these days. I keep wondering if a day will ever come when we shall open a newspaper or turn on a radio without a sinking of the heart.
I am receiving the most interesting items of information as to the work which is being done in various communities near our Army camps. In Falmouth, Mass., a group of 600 girls, which they hope will soon grow to 800, has been organized to attend dances in the camps. One chaperon is in charge of every six or seven girls, and I understand it has proven to be a very satisfactory and pleasant way to be of service.
In the Galveston, Texas, area, the restaurant owners in the city were called together and asked to provide a special dinner not to exceed 25¢ for men in uniform. The plate would be called a “soldiers special” or something similar. I think this is a grand idea and shows that there is organization going on really to be of service to the men in uniform.
July 8, 1941
New York, Monday –
I find that there is a lack of realization that the aluminum which you and I are collecting, must be held and not turned in until the date which has been set, July 21. Trying to turn it in now is a bad plan apparently, for some patriotic housekeepers have been used by some junk dealers, who found it very pleasant to collect aluminum and make some money out of it.
So you and I may prepare by obtaining our new pots and pans in some substitute ware for our aluminum utensils. We must not turn the aluminum in until some person officially designated to receive it is announced by Mayor LaGuardia.
It began to rain yesterday afternoon, but in spite of that and heavy traffic, three of us managed to make our way up to Mrs. George Huntington’s for a very pleasant evening. I was presented with three beautifully colored postcards of the grounds and cottages, which Mrs. Huntington’s maid and chauffeur had colored with infinite care.
Today we are off for New York City, and it will be a busy day. I shall have to tell you more about it tomorrow, for I only know that I am to be on the steps of the City Hall at 11:00. From there on, the Mayor and I participate in functions together for about an hour and a half.
I keep receiving letters from people who head the Women’s Institutes in England, an organization which is comparable to our Home Bureaus, and which is affiliated with them internationally. The letters tell me what the seeds we sent have meant to them.
Yesterday I received a letter from a woman with whom I went to school in England and who lives on the coast there. I quote part of her letter:
It is splendid to feel that your great country realizes so fully what we are up against and there is a lovely feeling of kinship with all the peoples who are banded together to overcome this embodiment of evil. Indeed this is a righteous war and a crusade to save those who are oppressed. We are all sacrificing everything gladly for the sake of freedom and to save goodness, kindness and self-respect. Life here is curious, such an odd sense and a realization of the impermanence of all material things and possessions. One sows seeds, one plants and cultivates with a detached feeling, wondering subconsciously whether one will be there to reap the crops or whether their progress will be hastened by a bomb.
I can hardly realize that the little girl I remember could have written this letter, but it is one worth our considering. Impermanence for certain things is not so bad if we can count on permanence in our real values.
July 9, 1941
Hyde Park, Tuesday –
I was a little late at City Hall in New York City yesterday morning because we encountered some pretty heavy showers, which always slow up my driving. As soon as I reached City Hall, the Mayor appeared and we went at once to the council room, where there was a large gathering.
I was happy to see my friend, Mr. David Dubinsky, amid a number of familiar faces. The girls who modeled the clothes and the girls who sewed in the labels were all as pretty as could be.
These labels have a real significance. They guarantee that labor conditions are good and tell every woman in the United States that she is wearing a dress designed and manufactured in New York City, which today claims to be the fashion center of the world. Mrs. Dorothy Anderson will be the Executive Director of the New York Dress Institute and I am sure that she will successfully promote the wearing of these dresses. Those shown us ranged in price from $1.95 to $295.00.
I was interested in the speed with which the girls sewed in the labels, and could see that this day was one of real excitement for them. May it also be a day which inaugurates a program providing more work for many people under better working conditions.
I joined the Mayor and drove up to the opening of the Soldiers and Sailors Club at 99 Park Avenue. This is to be a central bureau of information where any soldier, sailor, marine or aviator can find out what is planned and available in recreation along the lines of his particular interests. Today the lucky boys, fifty strong, who faced us, were all turned over to very pretty girls, who drew the names of their partners out of the Mayor’s hat. They then went off to show their escorts the town.
Mr. John Golden was on hand. I discovered he was responsible for arranging to let them all see the play Claudia, last night. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did when I saw it in Washington.
After lunch, I went to the Hotel Astor to see a collection of women’s clothes, which a group of English manufacturers have brought over for sale to our big shops. They certainly have some perfectly delightful materials, which I am sure were made in Scotland. It is extraordinary that, in spite of all they have been through, they can still turn out clothes carefully made and showing no sign of being made under unusual conditions. They presented me with a dress they had made for me and brought over. It is very charming and I know I shall enjoy wearing it.
We returned to Hyde Park through the rain. Some friends came to dinner, and so ended a busy day. Now we are starting off with my mother-in-law to drive to Boston, Massachusetts.
July 10, 1941
Boston, Wednesday –
The trip I took yesterday was over a road I had not travelled before. The first part of it was very familiar until we reached Sharon, Conn., and took Route 4. Somehow, I have missed this road up to now, and I was completely charmed with it. Much of the way one is either in sight of a swiftly running stony brook, or of small lakes. Frequently the woods and hills close in around one.
I enjoyed the drive and I have never seen roses growing in such profusion; over stone walls, up trellises on houses and even on trees. Pink and red rambler roses seem to swarm in lavish abundance.
We had a shower or two on the way. When we stopped under a tree for lunch, it began to rain in earnest just as we barely finished. Suddenly I looked up from buttering bread to see a state police car and a state policeman conversing with some members of the party.
He turned around and when I asked him if we had done anything wrong, he answered:
No, just don’t drive too fast.
Since I had been driving with particular care, I felt quite sure that that could not be his chief concern. I found later that he had come to make sure that we were not in any trouble and did not need any help.
We reached the Hotel Statler in Boston, about 4:00, and Johnny met us at the door and took his grandmother upstairs. Anne joined us and very soon Jimmy and Rommie and Mr. Sargent came. We all sat around chatting until Johnny had to go back to school at 5:45.
My mother-in-law had a light supper while we sat with her, and then she went to bed. Miss Thompson and I went out with Jimmie and Rommie to eat far more than was good for us, at a restaurant which Jimmy remembered from his college days.
I think we all slept well last night. I tried to drive so carefully and was so afraid that something would happen which would give my mother-in-law a scare, that I found myself more tense than I ordinarily am.
Everyone that I have seen so far is relieved that the United States is taking over in Iceland, and thereby making sure that no enemy will gain a foothold at the northern end of this hemisphere. I am sure we are going to know more about Iceland than we have ever known in the past. I didn’t know that it was the oldest democracy in existence, nor did I realize that many of her sons and daughters have come to settle in the United States.
This morning, we are stopping to see Anne and young Haven Clark Roosevelt, and Ethel and young Franklin D. Roosevelt III, because my mother-in-law can not bear to neglect the youngest members of the family.
July 11, 1941
Ellsworth, Maine, Thursday –
Yesterday was a really successful day. My mother-in-law saw so many of her young people that she was completely satisfied, and that happens rarely. The two youngest great-grandchildren behaved themselves extremely well. There were no tears from little Haven, whom my mother-in-law has not seen since he was three months old.
He liked the concentrated attention of his mother, two grandmothers, a great-grandmother and Miss Thompson. Only the two dachshunds were dissatisfied. Finally, one of them went up to the baby and licked his face, seeming to feel that in this way he would gain some attention himself.
Of course, little Franklin III having left Hyde Park so recently, knew us all quite well and was very glad to see us. We were all glad to see Franklin Jr. also, who is laid up with an infected leg as a result of what he thought was a mere scratch acquired during gunnery practice while at sea some days ago.
Not far from Ipswich, Mass., we stopped for a very brief lunch and the rest of the day we drove steadily. There seemed to be a great deal of traffic going south and west, but we made good time and finally turned south at Bath, Maine, to go to Sebasco Lodge. They had a cottage for us right on the water and it was really a beautiful spot.
I can well see that this is a marvelous summer resort for children and grownups alike. There is a golf course, tennis courts, wonderful rocks to climb and a small fresh water lake not far from the ocean, where swimming must be warmer than in the sea.
Last night, I finished reading a charming story in verse by Alice Duer Miller, which I have never happened to read before. It is called “Forsaking All Others” and achieves in a remarkably concise manner, not only descriptions of character, but a vivid description of incidents.
I am so interested to read that Mrs. Greenway King is going to be chairman of the board of the American Woman’s Voluntary Services. She has always shown great organizing ability for work of this kind and will do it very well and cooperate with the Mayor’s Committee in every way.
Mr. John D. Rockefeller’s credo, given in yesterday’s New York Times, is very fine. The first two paragraphs seem vital for every one of us to remember:
I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.
We are now on our way to Campobello.
July 12, 1941
Eastport, Maine, Friday –
While at Sebasco Lodge yesterday, I was handed a letter telling me about the work done in Sebasco Village by Albert Bailey of West Town, Pennsylvania. The economic condition of the lobstermen, many of whom earn only about $400 cash a year, is on a par with some of our other low income localities, only theirs is a cold and long winter which requires more cash income. Nearly every fisherman up and down the coast wrings a very precarious livelihood from the sea.
It is a dangerous life as well, but there is something you do not get away from easily in the hold of the sea. Even making money, while it is desperately important because you have to live, isn’t the most important thing in life. What is being done in Sebasco Village, should be done in every village up and down the coast. Mr. Bailey has had a work camp there and helped the people to help themselves.
They now raise vegetables and can them. The women have a knitting industry, and a housing project is underway which helps the people to build three-room houses for $250 paid in monthly installments. They have started a credit union and a small cooperative store. Isn’t it good to know that this is going on in even one place? The good seed is sown and will surely spread.
We reached Campobello very comfortably, stopping to eat our lunch by the wayside and reaching my mother-in-law’s house before 4:30. As we were driving the last part of the way, my mother-in-law kept saying to me:
There is something in the air here which no other air has. I feel better already.
I really believe that the trip has done her good.
I went over soon after arrival to see the group of students in our own house. I must say it is very exciting to be with a lot of young people who are having a good time, working together and playing together. I feel there is for most of them at least, a keen desire to open up new vistas, better to understand things they had not understood before, and to work out solutions for problems no matter how difficult they may seem. Dr. Neilson says they never weary, and I suppose that is why youth is so important to us. They have the energy and staying power which this sorely troubled world requires.
The Board of Trade of Campobello Island gave a dance last night and we all went down to the hall at 8:30. The NYA band came over from Quoddy Village to play and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Mr. Aubrey Williams and Dr. Floyd Reeves are here for a night or two with us. This morning I expect to go over with Mr. Williams to Quoddy and lunch there with the 850 or more boys, and then return to listen to our small group here during their afternoon lecture and discussion period.
July 14, 1941
Eastport, Maine, Sunday –
These few days have certainly been full of interest. On Friday morning, Mrs. Albert Lasker arrived. I tried to meet her myself in Ellsworth, Maine, only to find that the tide was so low I could not get across the ferry in time. So a car went for her from Lubec and brought Mr. and Mrs. James Wechsler also. Mr. Wechsler is lecturing on labor in defense and the young people are finding him very interesting.
Incidentally, several photographers have appeared on the scene. On Saturday, they tried to catch Justice Frankfurter and Dr. Alfred Cohn as they came across on the ferry. They were going to have one photograph at least, taken with me on the beach. But we were not caught by the photographers for Dr. and Mrs. David Levy arrived first and I drove down to the village with them, and returned to find Dr. Cohn and Justice Frankfurter had been ferried over, landed and started on the road to the house.
Dr. Cohn and Justice Frankfurter are both staying in the house with the students. Justice Frankfurter has already had a number of interesting talks, though his lecture is not being given until Monday. He has done an interesting thing in posing two questions to the students and he feels that, from the answers, he will be able to discover what they know about the law and how he must arrange his subject.
We were half through supper when Mr. and Mrs. Archibald MacLeish appeared at our door. They had left home at 6 a.m. and driven 440 miles. They were to stay down in the village, but they washed up and came down to supper and then went over to the students’ cottage for the evening’s entertainment. The students put on excellent songs and skits and, in spite of their weariness, I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. MacLeish enjoyed themselves.
Justice Frankfurter kept saying:
This is better than the Gridiron.
I am afraid our friends of the Gridiron would feel a trifle insulted, and yet the scripts these young people wrote were clever and witty and made many allusions to local happenings that evoked great laughter from all the young people.
I often wonder how much of a gap there really is between these young people from colleges, the cream of their various crops, and the boys working in Quoddy. It seems to me that the same qualities of leadership which are found in one group are found in the other.
On Friday night, in Quoddy, I met a Mrs. Fountain who has won the title of “Mother,” through her kindness to all the boys on the project. The girls in various neighbors’ houses are always willing to help her out, so she manages to keep the cookie jar filled for the boys and to make little extra things for them to eat every now and then, which make a homesick boy at once feel less keenly the need of his home environment. The boys are all devoted to her and call her “Mom.”