Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (Sept. 1940)

eleanor

MY DAY

By Eleanor Roosevelt

September 2, 1940

Hyde Park, Sunday –
To me and to every citizen of the United States, Labor Day must be one of the most significant days on our calendar. On this day we should think with pride of the growing place which the worker is taking in this country. In every walk of life, the man who actually does the work is gaining in influence and respect. That is as it should be in a democracy, and it is the surest way of proving that we intend to preserve democracy.

I was talking to a Frenchwoman the other day who, though married to a citizen of Venezuela, has lived many years of her married life in France and left there only last June. One thought she expressed has been echoing and re-echoing in my mind. It ran approximately like this:

I wish I could tell the people in America what happened to the spirit of France. There were too many people there who had either a little money or a great deal, who cared more about what they had than about France, and who believed the Hitler propaganda that communism was something imminent and threatening because of demands being made by the workers. They were therefore almost willing to invite Mr. Hitler to control their country, in the hope that by doing so they would continue to retain all that they had without making any concessions to the workers.

They never realized that these workers in their country had a right to share some of the things controlled by the little and big employer in shop or factory, mine or field. Now these employers have learned to their sorrow that Mr. Hitler has taken everything.

She told me the story of a woman whose father was a self-made man, owner of a fairly big business, and who slept with her jewels under her pillow every night because she was afraid that the workers would come and burn the factory when they heard of the French army’s collapse. The workers did nothing of the kind, but Mr. Hitler has taken over the factory – and no doubt her jewels, though that was not mentioned in the tale. But all that went to make the factory a success is gone, and her country is gone too.

There is a lesson for us in this tragedy. Our people must be one. On Labor Day we must remember that this nation is founded to do away with classes and special privilege; that employer and worker have the same interest, which is to see that everyone in this nation has a life worth living. Only thus can we be sure that Labor Day will continue to be celebrated.

If Labor Day does not live as one of our significant holidays, we may be very sure that many other significant holidays will pass with it.

September 3, 1940

Knoxville, Tenn., aboard the President’s train, Monday –
I did not have space to tell you of a visit last Friday from the director of the Woodstock, New York, NYA, camp. He brought a group of boys interested in making homespun yarn for weaving projects. We had a picnic lunch and then I took them over to discuss their problems with our weaver of homespun materials, Mrs. Nellie Johannesen, at the Val-Kill weaving shop. They spent some time and I hope they felt the exchange of information was mutually valuable.

On Saturday, the Roosevelt Home Club held its yearly meeting. These meetings have a homey flavor which would be hard to duplicate anywhere else. After the newspaper people had all written their stories, they came to the cottage for the annual Labor Day picnic, which was held ahead of time. Everyone seemed to like our food; baked beans, corn, hot dogs, doughnuts, pies and coffee. Wally Mitchell played his accordian on the porch after supper, so all gathered there and sang until the President went home.

On Sunday morning, we left the house at 9:30 and waved goodbye to our young Norwegian guests, who looked very much the way my children looked like in the old days when we used to drive away and leave them at home – just a bit forlorn.

In Weehawken, New Jersey, the Crown Princess and her lady-in-waiting, were met by the Norwegian Minister. I hope they will have several pleasant days and enjoy seeing some of their Norwegian friends and that they will be back in the country before I return there.

By the time we reached Washington, the sun was shining and the air in the station seemed warm in contrast to the the air-conditioned car.

I was sorry to hear of the airplane accident in which Senator Lundeen and so many people lost their lives. The Pennsylvania Airlines had such a good record for safety, in fact all of the commercial airlines have been so fortunate in this respect, that one regrets to see an accident such as this occur.

From Bishop Atwood, I received today a copy of a “note” written by a young Englishman, and certain excerpts from it seem to me very significant. He writes:

It seems to me clear beyond a doubt that the nation has changed permanently and that return to our old grooves of thought is no longer possible. I do not think that the swing back to ‘business as usual’ of the post-1918 years could, under any circumstances, take place at the end of this war.

And again:

Apathy is man’s besetting sin and it was apathy – reluctance to change, etc. – which caused us to stray so far from the purposes of life, in these last decades. I think, however, that we are nearing the point in our evolution when we can so construct the social framework that there will be a constant stimulus and inspiration in life, making war unnecessary. Struggle and effort can be found in many other fields other than that of battle.

September 4, 1940

Charleston, W. Va., on the train, Tuesday –
Yesterday was a most beautiful day. The air was cool, the sun was warm. We first left the train at Chattanooga, Tenn., and drove to Chickamauga Dam. I had been there when the President laid the cornerstone, but yesterday it looked like a beautiful lake dotted with white sails. There was a large yacht tied to the dock and several barges in the offing filled with people. Every inch of space on the dam itself was covered with human beings.

The President spoke from his car over the radio, and I think very few of the people who waited below could see him. When we drove up, the roads were lined with people. At every little village or crossroads some sightseers were gathered bearing the sign:

Welcome Mr. President.

Eventually, these great dams mean safety for thousands of homes, which before were under frequent threat of flood. They also mean navigation with cheaper transportation for goods, and cheaper electricity for thousands of homes. This yardstick has brought the cost of electricity, furnished by private companies, down to a far more reasonable level.

Back on the train after the ceremonies at the dam, we had lunch and were ready to leave the train again at 2:00 to drive from Knoxville to Newfound Gap, where the dedication of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park took place. The drive goes through the most beautiful scenery. Once in the park, I think you are impressed by the wonderful care which is being given the area.

I saw no signs of forest fires, or of blights which have killed so many of our trees in other parts of the country. There is much virgin timber in these woods, but you have to go a little off the main road to see it. A policy of careful wildlife conservation will probably bring back much of the game which has disappeared.

I looked with special interest at the people along the route. In the autumn of 1932, I was with my husband on a trip through Kentucky and a part of Tennessee. It was not a pleasant trip. Too many people looked starved. Too many houses looked unkempt. Too much land was washing into the creeks and rivers.

Strange to say, conservation of land and conservation of people frequently go hand in hand. There is much conservation of both which still needs to be done where we drove yesterday. There are hillsides of corn which should never have become fields and cannot produce sufficiently good crops to pay for the labor which goes into the planting and cultivating.

But over and over again you still see gulleys where green shrubs and trees are planted, which means that erosion there will stop. I saw few children yesterday who looked hungry or ill clad, as they did 8 years ago. Many women still look 60 when they are 30. Life is not easy but I felt progress is being made.

September 5, 1940

New York, Wednesday –
It was foggy when I first looked out of the train window yesterday morning in Charleston, West Virginia, but I soon realized the chemical plants and the low-lying valley caused the mist, for above the sky was blue and the sun was burning through.

Miss Thompson and I had breakfast early, for we realized the day would be busy and, unless we could get our column written before we left the train, we might find it difficult to do so during the rest of the day.

By 9:00, the party was ready to leave, and Mrs. Neely, Mrs. Holt, Mrs. Koontz and I drove together in an open car behind the Secret Service, who always follow the President. I rather like driving behind because you get a much better impression of what it means to people to see the President of the United States.

They often come up to him and say they have driven hundreds of miles to see him, but one takes that as a mere desire to be polite. People aren’t being polite, however, when they stand on the sidewalk. Yet the expression on the faces of certain people gives one a feeling of the depth of the responsibility which a man has when he is President of the United States. To many people the President is a symbol of protection, a source from which comes their sense of security in a sadly troubled world.

We drove through a plant in Charleston, W. Va., which my husband, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, had seen built during the last World War, but I confess that the machinery meant less to me than it did to the gentlemen. We also saw a plant under lease to the Carnegie Steel Corporation.

My greatest thrill was in seeing the NYA resident project. Here some 500 boys were being trained as aviation mechanics. It looks like a good shop with excellent teachers. They were working on a real production basis and that, after all, is the only good preparation to give young people who eventually want to be skilled mechanics.

In driving back to the train, we went over the new boulevard which runs along the river. It is certainly a beautiful drive and I suppose in deepening the channel they may have done something to improve flood conditions which so often menace this area.

I felt quite sorry to let so many nice people depart on the train and I wished that I could have seen more of some of our friends who made the trip with us. Miss Thompson and I stayed in Charleston, and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Koontz were charming hosts. I was taken to the Capitol, a beautiful example of Mr. Cass Gilbert’s work. After greeting a number of people there, we returned to a delightful ladies’ luncheon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Koontz. A small reception followed and a little after 4:00 we boarded the plane for New York City. We were in our apartment there at 10:00 p.m., and now I am starting out on a busy day in New York City.

September 6, 1940

Hyde Park, Thursday –
I spent most of yesterday morning at a meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children, and returned to my apartment for a short conference with Mrs. Henry A. Ingraham and Miss Emma P. Hirth, of the Young Women’s Christian Association.

I am becoming almost self-conscious about the fact everybody who comes to my apartment, arrives at the top of the three flights of stairs in a perfectly breathless condition. Now I warn everybody beforehand that I shall meet them somewhere else if they mind climbing three flights of stairs.

I really think the introduction of elevators, while very convenient, has probably made life too easy for us. As a little girl, I can remember that two flights of stairs were a matter of course to all of us, and three flights of stairs, nothing extraordinary. In fact, I was much annoyed when I was forbidden to slide down the banisters the whole way, for it was not considered safe until I reached the lowest flight of stairs.

In the evening Mrs. Grace Murphy came to see me to ask if I would speak for her group in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is opposed to the selective draft. I listened to Mr. Norman Thomas last night over the radio on this subject. No one hearing him could refrain from feeling that he was a most able and persuasive speaker.

With both Mr. Thomas and Senator George Norris, one knows that one is listening to people of absolute sincerity. Their reasons might not be entirely similar to reasons put forth by the women for whom Mrs. Murphy speaks, but I think all of us should listen to both sides of the question and not make up our minds until we feel we have heard equally good presentations of the problem.

We drove up from New York City this morning, and the autumn colors are beginning to show on the trees. My purple loosestrife is fading and its brilliance will soon be gone. We saw two deer run across the parkway, a most unusual sight.

On arrival at Hyde Park, I found that our Norwegian guests were comfortably established and had apparently had pleasant weather while we were gone. Little Franklin III has returned from Maine, but he was asleep right after lunch so I have not seen him.

At my cottage, Diana Hopkins, arrived early this morning from Illinois. She had a good play with the other children at the pool and all of them plan to go swimming again this afternoon. I never cease to marvel at the way the young Norwegians take the cold water, they do not even gasp as they go in.

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September 7, 1940

Hyde Park, Friday –
We had a picnic lunch yesterday for the second group of boys from the Woodstock, NY, National Youth Administration Project. These boys are learning quarrying, masonry work, stone carving and even the making of their own tools. I did not have a great deal to show them, but out on my porch, they looked with a great deal of interest at the big stone fireplace which I have for broiling.

After a swim and lunch and a visit to the pewter shop, where they were interested in the making of salad bowls and pewter articles, I took them over to see the new library. They were much interested in the stone used in that building. The ship models and the other collections, which can be seen at present, though they are not as yet arranged, seemed to interest them also. They have a great appreciation for anything which is handmade and seemed a group of young people with keen and varied interests.

I hope they enjoyed my lunch as much as I did the one they gave us the day that Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. and I visited them.

I induced Mrs. Morgenthau to drive up from Fishkill to be with us today and we talked over various plans, for she and I are to meet in New York City today. It is most satisfactory to do anything with her, for she has such a quick grasp of any situation and an esthetic and cultured appreciation of many things which is not given to us all.

There was some little accumulation of mail and a number of things to be gone over and arranged. Christmas shopping must begin and I am glad to say I went over all my lists yesterday and am able to start with a very well planned list of what must be bought in the course of the next few weeks.

You will probably say that it is early to be planning Christmas shopping, but I am rather horrified at not having more laid aside and marked for this busiest of seasons. From now on it is going to be busier and busier, and we have learned that preparation well in advance makes it possible to enjoy the Christmas spirit.

I write you little about the war because it seems to me that you must feel as I do, that it is hard to free your mind of the news which comes over the radio and which screams at you on the front page of every paper. The horror grows worse and the feeling that you never know quite what is happening, or may happen, is very hard to bear. The weight of suffering in the world is so great one can not be happy these days, but at least I think, it is incumbent upon all of us to be grateful for our lot and show it by as much cheerfulness and willingness to give to others, as we possibly can.

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September 9, 1940

Hyde Park, Sunday –
I have read in the newspapers that people have been donating their blood to England to use in transfusions for wounded soldiers. Somehow, it seemed that had nothing to do with me, until someone asked me yesterday if there was anything I could do to bring it to people’s attention.

It appears that a cablegram has come from Dr. John Beattie, chief of the British army blood transfusion service, to the American Red Cross, requesting 10,000 pints of blood in the next four years. This would represent 20,000 donors. I imagine the Red Cross headquarters anywhere will be able to give one full information later on, but for the present I am told, greater New York is the only place where the hospitals are actually cooperating with the Red Cross chapters.

Donors can go to the Presbyterian, Mount Sinai, New York Hospital and the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. This is the first time that an attempt at such mass production of blood plasma has been made. It will mean the difference between life and death to many wounded soldiers. It will hardly be felt by the individual donor.

There is a grim article on Poland in Friday evening’s PM. Among the list of things which they give as happening just now in Poland, the first item:

All men and women between 16 and 47 must register for work in Germany.

…is a little reminiscent of the days when we sold slaves in this country and divided families, sending them to new masters in different places. It is quite true that there is no place in Nazi culture for a man like Paderewski. No wonder his statue has been removed by them from Poland.

Yesterday was a most beautiful day. I had a ride and a swim and worked two or three hours. At 4 o’clock, the teachers from the three new consolidated schools came to tea at the big house. It was a great pleasure to have an opportunity to meet them, for I am away so much that I really feel I know little of the constructive forces in my community. I always feel that teachers are among the most important influence in any community.

In the evening, we all attended Secretary and Mrs. Morgenthau’s annual clambake. It was cold, but the big bonfire looked warm and we all wore plenty of warm garments and went into the house later to dance.

This morning, I rose early to ride, and we all went to church. Later we had a group of guests at luncheon.

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September 10, 1940

Hyde Park, Monday –
The service yesterday was an impressive one. All the hymns stressed the fact that this was a day when we were praying for peace. After his sermon, our minister, Mr. Frank Wilson, explained that yesterday, the President had asked us all to join in a prayer for peace. Mr. Wilson told us that prayer does not mean something that you say only on one occasion. It is a continuing thing, something you carry in your heart and mind all the time and it moulds much of your active life.

I have seen several articles lately in which people have seemed to feel that we are drifting into war. One after the other has said that this or that individual action, or government action, brought us nearer to participation in the European cataclysm. I look at it entirely differently.

It seems to me that a firm, strong attitude is more apt to keep us out of war. War is a mass movement, but masses are made up of individuals. An individual is much more apt to be bullied and badgered until he finally turns upon his assailant and finds himself in a fight, if he is weak and indecisive in character and allows his opponent to take the offensive. An individual, however, who feels strong and full of self-confidence does not invite the aggressor. I feel that as a nation we should be that kind of individual, not wanting to bully anyone, not wanting to take anything away from anyone, but feeling so self-confident and strong that no one desires to oppose us.

After lunch yesterday, I went down to Poughkeepsie to say a few words at the unveiling of a monument to General Pulaski. The General did much to help us gain our freedom and it is only right that we should honor him and remember him among our heroes, particularly at this time when freedom everywhere is threatened again. Quite a crowd gathered at the monument and one interesting incident occurred.

A few years ago, the Women’s Division of the Democratic State Committee held some essay contests and we had a boy who represented Dutchess County as one of the winners. He was an interesting young boy who has now grown to be a young man and is practicing law in Poughkeepsie and managing the campaign for our Democratic candidate for Congress. He proved to be my escort at this Polish celebration. I think he is progressing well and I know that it gave me great pleasure to see him again. I am wishing him success in all his undertakings.

Our Norwegian friends left us today, so we all had a picnic supper last night out by the big fireplace on the picnic grounds. The children played all kinds of games afterwards to keep warm. I fear I must acknowledge that autumn has come to stay.

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September 11, 1940

Hyde Park, Tuesday –
Yesterday morning I left home at 7:30 and did succeed in doing some of that Christmas shopping I have been talking about. I also bought a few birthday gifts, for September happens to be a month of many birthdays in our family.

I went to speak at a luncheon which opened a conference held by the International Student Service of young student leaders. A very charming Miss Louise Morley, who had organized the conference and introduced me, said some very true things about the responsibility which young college people have to be leaders in their communities because of their educational advantages.

I kept getting more and more worried, for several honorary degrees do not make up for four years of good college work, none of which I ever did! I console myself at times by thinking that contacts with interesting and stimulating people, both here and abroad, have in some ways compensated for a more formal education. But that doesn’t change the fact that I wish I had had those four extra years of good hard work.

This is a time so full of challenging situations for all of us, young and old, that my greatest difficulty is the sense of not being able to live up to the opportunities which present themselves to us all. If you do not grasp your own opportunities, what chance have you of stimulating anybody else so they will see and grasp theirs?

There were students from many countries at this conference, and I was interested in watching the different faces and wondering what the years of study here would do for them when they returned for work in their own lands. After all, education is only the preparation for earning your way in the world. Most of us have to earn our daily bread, but if one does not actually have to earn a living, everyone has the obligation to live so that he pays in some coin for his existence.

While I was at luncheon, a letter was sent to me, which had been brought from Italy. The bearer had been asked to deliver it to me in person. It was from a professor in a college in Milan who remembered a Christmas holiday which two girls spent in Rome years ago, and wrote to remind me of it. She had taken those two youngsters, one of whom was myself, out to see the city and to practice speaking Florentine Italian. The world is a small place, after all, isn’t it?

I reached home at 5:00 and inveigled one of the busy ladies who never leave their desks because of our mail, into coming out to play badminton until we were both warm enough not to mind a dip into a very cold pool.

I expected to leave this morning for a trip around the state to visit NYA projects, but bad weather made it impossible, so I have a free day, which I shall put to good use.

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September 12, 1940

Hyde Park, Wednesday –
I started my morning yesterday with the feeling that I would accomplish a great deal. I can’t say that I actually did, though I kept at it. I never left my desk at the cottage from 10:00 until nearly 1:00, when Diana Hopkins and I motored back to lunch at the big house.

At work again in the afternoon, but about 4:00, the sky began to clear. Diana and I drove to the top of the hill to invite a little two-and-half year old girl who lives there, to come down and play for a while. Someone had told me that little Ruth Bie was really lonely, for when their car drove up the other day, she opened the door and said

No little girl in here?

I thought, therefore, we should provide her with a little girl as a playmate for a while yesterday afternoon, even though Diana is so much older. Diana took good care of her and kept her entertained for more than an hour after we reached home.

We put in a little exercise before dressing for dinner and we had a most hilarious meal in which my husband suggested that if at any time it became a little difficult to chronicle the affairs of the day, I should go back to the past and pick out amusing incidents of various kinds. He proceeded to pick them out for me and I feel sure that the tales would make everyone forget that I was not writing contemporaneous activities!

We happened all of us to be listening to the radio the other night when the debate was going on between young Sumner Gerard and James Lanigan. They stated their reasons for voting for Willkie and Roosevelt, respectively, and were cross-examined by two eminent elder gentlemen. All of us were much amused, for we have known Sumner Gerard’s family for many years. His flow of words is certainly inherited, but he did not think quite quickly enough when he was asked if anything in the debate had changed his mind so he would vote differently in November, and he almost said his vote would go to Roosevelt.

The insistence of the gentleman who wanted Jim Lanigan to name a breadline which he had actually seen and could recall in his personal experience was funny. The fact that Mr. Lanigan is 22 and probably would not have recognized a breadline if he had seen one at the age of 14, did not seem to dawn on the gentleman. I remember, morning after morning, passing a breadline outside of a certain Roman Catholic Church, which stands halfway down the block between 6th and 7th Avenues in the Thirties in New York City. That breadline often went all the way to the corner and stood three deep. What is the use of recalling such things, however? They are not pleasant to think about and thank God they are gone.

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September 13, 1940

Hyde Park, Thursday –
It seems that I have to read the papers in order to find out about my shortcomings! I must say, many as they are, novel ones creep up on me all the time. Yesterday I found a little item announcing that in Cincinnati, Ohio, at an Interstate Commerce Commission hearing, a porter testified that I had paid him fifty cents for a seventy cent service and that he had not told me of my mistake.

What grieves me, is that he did not tell me, for I have always doubted whether the new rule of ten cents a bag, gave the porters sufficient pay. Therefore, I thought that I had always paid not only my ten cents a bag, but a tip in addition. To find myself twenty cents shy on the actual amount due, is really a shock. However, if it helped the porters to change this rule, which I feel quite sure is not giving them enough weekly income, perhaps it will not do me any harm.

I had a letter yesterday from a gentleman who says he reads my column in two different papers, and he found something which he considered vital to the meaning of the column left out from one of them. I am flattered that anyone bothers to read what I have to say in two papers, but I am also rather interested for, of course, while no paper can add to what I have written, any paper, because of limitation of space, can take out sentences. This does inevitably change the meaning somewhat.

I traveled down to New York City and back on the train yesterday and had an interesting conversation on the way down with one of my Poughkeepsie neighbors, who is interested in laboratories and research work for the prevention of contagious diseases. She is convinced that we should force every mother to have her child inoculated against diphtheria before it is a year old. She told me that every death from diphtheria was equivalent to murder.

I think it is so well known today that it is a protection for a child to be given diphtheria antitoxin, that there is really comparatively little necessity for a drive to educate people in this particular field. If, however, statistics show that many people, especially children, are dying from diphtheria, I agree with my lady of the train that we should all do what we can to prevent it.

Today has been a glorious day and, after a grand ride and plenty of exercise, I even had a swim, though I must confess that the water is getting very cold. Some friends came to lunch to discuss some difficulties about refugee children in unoccupied France, and now we are about to start to attend the Democratic Women’s Tea given by Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr.

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September 14, 1940

Hyde Park, Friday –
I thought my arrival at Mrs. Morgenthau’s tea party was extremely late yesterday afternoon, but I forgot the propensity Democratic parties have to last indefinitely! I arrived an hour and a half after the party was scheduled to begin, and one half hour before it was scheduled to end, to find that the Democratic candidate for Congress, Mr. Steeholm, was just swinging into his best oratory. The poor man had to stop to say a few polite things, which was hard on him and somewhat embarrassing to me, because I know how annoying it is to have a speech interrupted.

However, I had expected all the speeches would be over, and was glad to have an opportunity to hear one or two, and to meet several Democratic candidates. At the close, a band composed of young schoolchildren gave a drill which was really very well done.

Afterwards, we all talked and drank coffee and fruit punch. It was a very pleasant party. I brought Mrs. Morgenthau home with me, because we were having waffles for supper and I wanted more people to enjoy them. She contributed the first really ripe grapes which we have had from their new vineyard and we sat in front of the fire all evening and ate far more grapes than grown people should. Of course, I can remember as a little girl buying a whole basket from the farmers as they started to market, and eating them all before I reached home, but the days for such excesses are long past.

I forgot to tell you yesterday of the impression that Mr. Churchill’s speech made on me. There was calmness and great fortitude in his voice and words. It seemed a challenge to every individual Briton, which made one feel that it would be impossible to do anything but endure to the end. He reviewed the crisis that they have gone through in the history of their nation, and spoke of Nelson’s message to his sailors. His own speech was very similar and could be summed up in much the same words:

England expects every man to do his duty.

…and, for that matter, every woman and child might well be included.

I read a letter last night from a little boy in a refugee camp in England and he passed off the fires and the bombs quite casually, saying that they were so frequent now that he really could not take the time to tell about them.

Mrs. Morgenthau and I drove to New York City early this morning and we are lunching with Mr. Morris Ernst and some of his friends.

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September 16, 1940

Hyde Park, Sunday –
Yesterday and today have been beautiful days. I think spring and early autumn are my favorite seasons in the country. Spring, because it is so exciting to see everything come to life again, and autumn, because the tang in the air seems to restore a vigor which the summer has relaxed.

The colors that come gradually to our countryside are perhaps more beautiful than any in the whole pageant of seasons. There is beauty, of course, in every season, but nothing lovelier than the blue sky of autumn with white clouds scudding across it. The gold, red and green of the trees repeat themselves in the fields where the goldenrod and the various creeping plants make a carpet of color.

I have spent the mornings out-of-doors and had a few guests this weekend. I very much enjoyed seeing Dean Mildred Thompson of Vassar at lunch yesterday. She is just back after a long illness but, while she may be still weak in body, she is certainly a person who gives one a feeling of the utmost vigor in her thoughts and mental activity.

In the evening, on Saturday, Ethel and Franklin Jr. brought four of their young friends to supper at my cottage, though they were staying at the big house. We certainly had plenty of conversation. How much value it was to any of us, I really cannot tell. One able young lawyer argued his political belief against all the rest of us and did very well, I thought, considering that the balance of numbers was distinctly against him.

Today they will all be be back for lunch with me after what, I fear, will be the last swim in the pool this season, for by next weekend the water may be too cold.

If you have not seen the three essays on the purposes and problems of American education, published by the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass., I think you will be interested in reading them. Two of the essays are by Dr. James Bryant Conant and were published, one in the Atlantic Monthly this past May, and the other in Harper’s Magazine, May 1938. Both of them are well worth reading for anyone interested in education and the development of democracy.

The third essay in this pamphlet is by Francis T. Spaulding. All three lay the groundwork for a changed and improved system of public school education in this country and are a stimulant to the thinking of all of us.

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September 17, 1940

New York, Monday –
We left the country this morning by an early train. I must confess to departing reluctantly, because I must be away until next Saturday and spend the intervening days in many different places, and the summer has made me lazy.

Yesterday the sad news came to us of Speaker Bankhead’s death. I have had the pleasure of talking with the Speaker on many occasions and always found him a kindly, tolerant, high-minded human being. He will be missed, for his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives was one of great importance. He had the respect and affection of his colleagues. His life was a full one, which must be a consolation to his family and friends.

In the last few days I have read a book called Beyond Tears, by Irmgard Litten, with an introduction by Pierre van Paassen. There is a short foreword by the Archbishop of York, so short that I can quote it here:

I hope this book may be widely read as a moving human record which illustrates the spirit of the Nazi tyranny.

In his introduction and epilogue, Mr. van Paassen points to the implications which this story and the Hitler triumph in Europe have for our country. To me the book was painful to read and deeply moving. One cannot help but be proud for the whole human race that such people as Hans Litten and his mother have lived in the world and kept faith to the end.

On the other hand, when one sees what an able fight was put up to preserve justice and respect for the law and freedom under the law, one must tremble for what may happen to the rest of the world if such a regime as Hans Litten fought gains mastery permanently over a great area.

The doctrine that might is right is no new one, and martyrs have suffered down through the ages in establishing the fact that justice is meted out according to a code which is above might and which protects the weak as well as the strong. There is one other point to be made and emphasized – that those who have power purely through physical force are very apt, when there is no restraint over them, to become brutal and to use their power with cruelty.

I hope with the Archbishop, that many people who are not yet awake to the menace of power which knows no restraints except the measure of its own physical force, will read this book. But I shall not blame them if they put it down occasionally with a feeling that they cannot bear the human suffering it depicts.

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September 18, 1940

New York, Tuesday –
I paid a visit yesterday morning to the Democratic National Headquarters, and to my delight found my old and dear friend, Miss Molly Dewson, back to help in the campaign. Mrs. Dorothy McAllister, who is in charge of the women’s division, told me with great joy of her arrival, and I went at once in search of her and found her looking up all her old friends.

She was chatting in Mr. Charles Michelson’s office and we visited several other people together. We wanted to see Mr. Farley and Mr. Flynn, but both the gentlemen were out. I imagine Molly went back again. Later, I succeeded in seeing Mr. Flynn for a few minutes, but unfortunately was unable to be there when Mr. Farley was in his office.

I had not seen Miss Dewson for some time, but I felt as everyone else did – enthusiastic over her return. I always like to go to see Mrs. McAllister and all the others who are working so hard at the National headquarters, but I shall enjoy it doubly now that Molly’s dry humor will be there to light up every incident.

Last night I dined with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, affiliated with the AFL. It was the 15th anniversary of their biennial convention. These men have made life comfortable and pleasant for me on many long journeys, and I know that they had a long hard fight before they gained recognition of their union.

I did not know until Mayor LaGuardia spoke, that he had been one of the people at their first organization meetings. I am constantly finding where there has been a struggle for the rights of labor and the for the recognition of human values, regardless of race, creed or color, that the Mayor of New York City has been in it from the start. If satisfaction has finally come in the gains of freedom and justice meted out to any groups of human beings, he can take pride in their achievement because he has carried his share of the fight.

It was quite a lengthy party and the breakfast hour this morning arrived all too soon. I had to hurry to be ready when my doorbell rang to announce Franklin Jr. and Mr. Lanthier were on hand to take me to the steamer to meet Mr. Leopold Stokowski and the All-American Youth Orchestra, which has been touring South America. They were very good before they left, but I am sure from all the accounts which I have heard that they are even better now.

I am told that their performances have made a vast difference in the way that people feel about the United States in many South American countries. The 16 girls in the orchestra have created so much comment that they say the position of women in orchestras will be changed for all time in consequence.

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September 19, 1940

Washington, Wednesday –
I spent all day yesterday in New York City. I planned to come to Washington in the early afternoon, but since my husband was away, I decided to take the midnight train down. The day was divided between such extremely feminine activities as having my hair washed, and seeing various gentlemen on a variety of subjects.

In the evening I went again to see Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in There Shall Be No Night, and took with me several people who had not seen it before. Seeing this play for a second time, still is for me an exceptional experience.

All the discussions and thoughts on the situation of the past few months, seem to be crystalized and clarified by the type of acting which makes you live with the characters of the play, and by the writing which springs from a depth of understanding and faith which must help us all. These are times to shake strong men’s souls and those who can help us deserve our deepest gratitude.

I arrived in Washington this morning to find a most beautiful autumn day. It is a joy to be greeted by so many smiling faces. Even the White House itself is beginning to look more cheerful because the new white paint is making it shine, in spite of the places not yet touched which in comparison look extremely grimy.

I had an opportunity to talk over various household activities with Mrs. Nesbitt, the housekeeper, and with Mr. Crim, the head usher. Then Miss Charl Williams, of the National Education Association, came to see me. She had a charming silver tray made and on it has had reproduced a letter written to her by the President in commemoration of her many years of service in the Democratic Party. She was the first woman national vice chairman in our party. She also told me of a delightful and interesting visit she had paid in Nassau to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Because of her interest in educational problems of the South, coming as she does from Tennessee, she thought of certain problems we might discover in connection with the countries where we acquire bases. Of course, they will not be our problems, for we only administer to our own naval bases. But we will naturally know much more about many problems in these islands, which may have some bearing on conditions in our own country.

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September 20, 1940

New York, Friday –
Last night, we attended the concert at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, in which the All-American Youth Orchestra gave a program of Bach which was completely enchanting. It was so beautifully conducted and played, that I felt as though I were hearing this music for the first time.

The second half of the program, Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich, I had never heard before, and because it was unfamiliar, I enjoyed certain parts more than I did others. But taken all in all, it was an unforgettable evening, and one in which you were proud of the achievements of young America in music.

They say no young country can produce great artists or great musicians. Then we must be growing up, for we did hear a great all-American symphony orchestra last night.

Yesterday morning, I spent two-and-a-half hours in Washington with the National Recreation and Educational Council. They called upon all government agencies touching the fields of education and recreation, to give a report on their work in order that the private agencies might better understand how all facilities could be integrated for the good of the people.

It is a good thing that we are seeking normal outlets for recreation for young and old. I think it is also a good sign that we are coming to consider education and recreation as being closely bound together. We need to go one step further and realize that there is much to be done in the field of recreation which will develop our responsibilities as citizens.

We talk so much of how to develop patriotism, and it seems to me fairly obvious that patriotism comes through a devotion to a way of life. That way of life may be lived in a rural area, in a city or in a small town. Our heartstrings may be bound up with the scenery, soil or the house in which we live, but even this love of a particular piece of ground, of particular surroundings, will not give that passion of patriotism which makes people live and die for an ideal. That comes only through devotion to a way of life, something which you strive to achieve day in and day out, something which sets the standards by which you live.

Before I left Washington, the President returned from Alabama. It was a sad trip for all of Speaker Bankhead’s friends.

This sad event, also, will make a great difference in the way things move in Congress this week, and the President was uncertain as to, his own plans. I will meet him, however, in Philadelphia on Friday.

I am now leaving to attend a meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children.

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September 21, 1940

New York, Friday –
I started my morning yesterday by receiving a delegation from the Joint Committee for Trade Union Rights. I always feel that when people want to see me, if it is possible, I should see them. However, I confess to a feeling of futility when the subject under discussion is something about which I know absolutely nothing.

There followed a long meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. Mr. Eric Biddle is still in London and his efforts to see people and talk over questions of transportation for children must be somewhat impeded by the conditions now existing in that city.

I hope he will be back before long and able to tell the Committee how many children we should really plan to care for in the next month or so. Beyond that I do not think any of us can hope to see into the future.

We had a short but pleasant luncheon at the Biltmore Hotel yesterday. Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr., Miss Mary Dewson, Mrs. Henry Leach, all of whom are working at Democratic Headquarters, and Miss Fannie Hurst and Mrs. Grenville Emmet, who are anxious to be at work, were there.

Two charming young girls greeted me as they were going out laden with literature. They remarked that they were Republicans for Roosevelt, and had come in to find out how they could be useful.

Late in the afternoon, I took the train with my cousin, Mr. Henry Parish, for Orange, New Jersey. We drove into the quiet and peace of Llewellyn Park and I felt as though I was stepping into a different world. None of the turmoil of New York City streets, or the crowds of the tube in which I had travelled, none of the excitement and tension of the groups of people which I have been seeing.

Here, in my cousin’s home, there is quiet and decorous living. Life moves along settled paths and there is a charm about it which does not come my way so often these days. I am always happy to spend a little time with Mr. and Mrs. Parish, but it makes me reluctant to plunge into the maelstrom again early this morning.

I came to the city with Mr. Parish and am taking the 11:00 train to Philadelphia, where I shall meet the President, who is coming up from Washington to inspect some defenses and receive, this afternoon, a degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

It is incredible to look at the pictures in the papers which show the destruction going on in London. Because of the long defense of Madrid, we all know that people can stand up under such terrific bombardment, but I cannot help wondering what it will do to us all in the future. I believe that it must have some effect on our nerves and general physical and mental condition.

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September 23, 1940

Hyde Park, Sunday –
Last Friday was a long day. I started for Philadelphia and, before I reached there, a young reporter boarded the train. I explained to her, as I did to those who met me when I got out at the station, that all I was doing was to meet the President to see him receive a degree and, therefore, was not news for the day.

Colonel Starling had arranged for me to be taken in a car to the Navy Yard and the President had arranged for luncheon in his private car at the station. Mrs. Curtin Winsor and our grandson, Bill Roosevelt, together with Ambassador Bullitt and Ambassador and Mrs. Biddle, joined us. One little remark of Mr. Biddle’s illuminated me as to what they had been through.

He said:

I used to pray every morning that I would be so busy until I went to bed at night that I could not stop to think. If you had nothing to do, the sights you saw were too overwhelming.

After lunch we drove to the municipal auditorium and the exercises which closed the Bicentennial Celebration of the University of Pennsylvania were dignified and extremely interesting. Academic robes are so often black that to find two brilliantly colored ones on the platform was a decided novelty.

I enjoyed the band and all the speeches, but at the close I had to make a dash for my train. I stepped into a car and left ahead of the President and soon realized that any car which did not contain him, seemed a disappointment to the crowds. I made my 5:00 train and was in my apartment in New York City in plenty of time to dress, dine and be at the movie theatre for the opening there of Pastor Hall.

It seemed strange to see my son’s name blinking at me from the front of a Broadway theatre and it seemed even stranger to see myself announced at the beginning of a feature picture. I can’t say that I like myself on the screen, but I do hope people will go to see the picture and remember the lesson it carries.

Hate and force cannot be abroad in such a great part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it. Just as this little village was changed by the new spirit which came into it, the world has been changed. If ever we are to win back a world of peace and goodwill, force and hatred must be crushed. It is important for us to see what a system can do to human beings when it brings out all that is worst in them.

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September 24, 1940

Hyde Park, Monday –
On Saturday, I met with a number of people at my apartment in the New York City, who wanted to talk over a variety of things. I think my most unusual visitors were Mr. Hans Meyer and Mr. Guy Johnson. They come from a group who believe in living, here and now, in real brotherhood.

For the moment, while the government of England understands their position, the people about them are making their community life somewhat difficult, for they have every nationality in the community in order to show that there really is a brotherhood of man. You make no commitment as to any special religion in joining them, you simply are willing to live according to their theories of government.

South Dakota has a similar community, but they are somewhat withdrawn from the other people of the neighborhood. The English group wishes to bring over its members to join those in this country. It is evident that they would be model citizens and their conception of democracy is certainly a pure and practical one. But even these two men with fine, calm faces, agreed that community living was not without its problems. I wonder if it will be easier in South Dakota than in England. I hope so, for they could not fail to be a good influence.

After attending the opening at a department store of designs for household furniture which various American artists had made, I left New York City in a cheerful mood. This work is going to bring taste and beauty to the people in the country because it is within the price range that many can afford. I wish them great success in what is a commercial venture, but at the same time, an artistic one.

Saturday night, to our great joy, James, Elliott and Ruth, and Franklin Jr., and Ethel, were all here for their grandmother’s birthday celebration. Our other guests were Mrs. J. R. Roosevelt, Miss Laura Delano, Mr. Langdon P. Marvin Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. It was a happy family gathering and I hope there will be many more similar ones.

Elliott has decided to go into the Air Corps for the duration of the emergency and his brothers are trying to figure out with his various business commitments, for it is a little disrupting completely to change your life. Today he receives his orders in Washington and will know the exact date when he must report for duty in Dayton, Ohio.

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