Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (Sept. 1940)

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September 25, 1940

Hyde Park, Tuesday –
Here it is Tuesday and I must begin by telling you of a picnic which we had at Hyde Park on Sunday. You have probably read in the papers about how many distinguished people came to share our chowder and frankfurters at my cottage, so I will just tell you one thing which made me glow with pride. F. P. A. remarked, holding a paper cup in his hand:

This is good coffee, I never take coffee outside of my own home because it is usually bad.

Even though I had to tell him that Miss Thompson was responsible, for she is the person who really cares about coffee, I still felt a pride in having someone around who insisted on perfection, or as near perfection as she could attain in the way of coffee.

I understand that F. P. A. is running for election on the school board in his very Republican Connecticut District, and I sincerely hope he is elected. I can imagine no one who would be a more valuable member of any school board.

Everyone seemed relaxed and at ease. Even Katharine Hepburn, who landed in a seaplane in the Hudson River at the foot of our place and dashed a mile and a half through the woods to the big house, found the President to bring her over to the picnic.

I said goodbye to the President Sunday night because he returned to Washington last night, while I left Hyde Park early Monday morning. I drove to Scranton, Pa., where I had promised to spend several hours visiting WPA projects. Something went wrong with the starter on my car and Monday started badly in consequence. I am always ashamed to know so little about the insides of my car.

However, though I wasted an hour, I had allowed a good deal of extra time and reached Stranton on schedule. The day was interesting and we reached Mrs. John Regis’ (June Hamilton Rhodes) home for dinner and the night. Her farmhouse is a joy and the farm a most interesting and practical business venture. We were up early this morning to see the cattle and are now on our way to Hyde Park.

By the way, I must not forget that this is Better Parenthood Week., and that I want to extend my congratulations to Miss Katharine Lenroot, Chief of the United States Children’s Bureau, who was awarded the annual medal for outstanding service to children, given every year by Parent’s Magazine.

It was presented to her on September 23, at a luncheon which opened Better Parenthood Week. The object of this week, which is sponsored by the Chief of the United States Children’s Bureau and the leading parent education and child welfare organizations, is to improve the knowledge of mothers so that they may be able to make better homes for their children.

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September 26, 1940

New York, Wednesday –
Mrs. June Rhodes, Miss Thompson and I left Mrs. Rhodes’ farm in Sergeantsville, NJ, yesterday morning after an early walk to see the cattle. They really have some beautiful stock. The barn was so well arranged I wanted to go back to my childhood and climb up in the hay and go to sleep.

The drive into New York City Tuesday and up the Parkway to Lake Mahopac, New York, was very lovely, for the trees are changing rapidly. Here and there are maples crowned and tipped with scarlet and on the hillside every color from gold to brown is before you.

We lunched at the Putnam County Country Club in Mahopac and discussed the problem of what the community could do really to understand and help solve unemployment for young people out of school. The role of NYA is increasingly important with the establishment of the new type of training projects. I was glad that a committee was appointed to go into the whole question thoroughly. Afterwards, I spoke to a large group of women on the same subject for a few minutes and Miss Thompson and I reached Hyde Park at 4:30.

Little Diana Hopkins and her father were there, and this morning they left to take Diana to boarding school.

It seemed as though the telephone rang incessantly after we arrived and several people told me reproachfully that they had been trying all day Monday to reach me and had been unsuccessful.

Speaking of Monday, I neglected to tell you about one or two things in the WPA projects in Scranton which I think might interest you. They have teachers there on one project who visit handicapped children in their homes. We saw one young girl who has been two years in bed with a broken back. She is up with her class and is doing really good work on her typewriter. Best of all, she looks cheerful and happy. This must be due in part to her teacher, though her mother and six brothers and sisters are a great help in keeping her entertained.

The housekeepers’ aid project was as good here as it is everywhere. I feel that this could be developed in a great many rural districts as well as cities. The motorcycle policeman who took care of us, turned out to be a second cousin to Mr. Winston Churchill, and he evidently approves of his English cousin and the way the English have behaved in the present crisis.

We left Hyde Park again this morning fairly early for a meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. The rest of the day seems fairly crowded.

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September 27, 1940

Washington, DC –
How it did rain in New York City yesterday! Foolishly, I left my umbrella at home, thinking I could always pick up a taxi. When the meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of the European Children came to an end, I stood hopefully in the doorway of the State Charities Aid Building, and lo and behold, there were no taxis in sight. The Salvation Army came to my rescue, however, and a very kind gentleman walked down a block or two and brought one to the door.

The rest of the daytime hours were consumed in seeing people. There was a time in my life when my contacts were largely through the written word, but in the last few years, individual people have spoken the novels which, once upon a time, I read. Some of their stories are as strange as any to be found in books. Yesterday, I mixed some people who were strictly businesslike and practical with those who lived in dream worlds of their own.

I dined at home and then started uptown to attend my first Newspaper Guild Meeting. I may not have any right to be a member of the Newspaper Guild, as has been suggested by one gentleman, but I was admitted last night, so I am at present apparently in good standing. The group as a whole, I hope, have a comfortable feeling that if they really want to, they can always get rid of me. In the meantime, I enjoyed a rather long drawn out evening.

A great many years of listening to speeches and conversations have made of me, I hope, an appreciative and understanding listener. Since we never end our education, I hope that this like many other experiences may be a valuable contribution to mine.

We flew down to Washington this morning and picked up Major Henry Hooker on our way to the airport. He had never flown before and I was glad that we had such a beautiful day and that he enjoyed it. Miss Thompson is becoming a veteran flyer, for our trip was quite bumpy in spots and she was completely unperturbed.

I have just seen the first copies of The Moral Basis of Democracy, which the publishers have sent to me. At least it looks short enough not to frighten anyone by its length. The other little book, which I wrote this summer, is a child’s Christmas story and is considerably shorter. It will come out in November. I understand that several other people have followed in Mrs. Dwight Morrow’s footsteps and have written Christmas stories for children, which also may have some meaning for older people.

The Crown Princess of Norway is here to look for a house. A number of people came to lunch, each of them with some special thing to talk about. So, wherever you are, people continue to bring you an insight into the life of this country.

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September 28, 1940

New York, Friday –
I had tea yesterday afternoon in Washington for a group of the Henry George Foundation and then went over to the Chinese Embassy, where Pearl Buck presented the Book of Hope to the Ambassador. This Book of Hope means medical supplies for China, and the Ambassador was appreciative of what American women had done.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek sent a message giving the thanks of the Chinese women and expressed it in the way which we have grown to appreciate in this country. I think that the wife of this Chinese leader has made a deep impression on the women of this country. Her courage, personality and determination to help the unfortunate people of her land establish themselves on a better economic basis has won great admiration among women over here. In addition, she was educated in this country which, of course, gives us a sense of pride in her achievements.

Last evening I attended a dinner given by the Women’s National Democratic Club. I made a short speech and stood in line to shake hands with the guests. It was a very successful party and I was very glad to see Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, Mrs. Cordell Hull, Mrs. Claude Pepper and many other Democratic men and women gathered together so early in the autumn. It was my first day of social functions after a long summer’s rest and I was rather glad to have the handshaking divided so that neither afternoon nor evening party was a strain.

The President, as usual, was extremely busy and was still hard at work on his basket of mail at midnight. Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess Martha, with her lady-in-waiting and her chamberlain, were very much elated when we met at tea time, because they had found a very comfortable house in which to live and which will require very little done to it before they move in.

This morning we flew back to New York City and a busy afternoon is about to begin here.

I received yesterday one of the most interesting statements I have read in a long time. It is a joint statement made by a group belonging to the National Conference of Christians and Jews on the question of religion and democracy. I like the first two sentences:

Religion and democracy are inextricably interwoven. Democracy’s survival and growth are not possible without religion.

Another definition is very clarifying:

We define religion as to know, to love, and to serve God.

These men are doing a splendid work in bringing together people of different religions to prove that common meeting grounds for thought and action can be found.

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September 30, 1940

Hyde Park, Sunday –
Friday night, I had the pleasure of interviewing on the radio a group of most interesting and distinguished people. They worked well together and were patient beyond words in rehearsal. They listened to everything which they were told about radio procedure, and I am sure they have received many favorable comments on the work they did. Some of them will probably, also, receive a few unfavorable messages.

It is always interesting to me that the people who are opposed to what you do or say are the first ones to put pen to paper. There have been times when I thought all the world was outraged, until I made the discovery that people who are “again” something write readily.

I should have known it long ago from watching some of my brethren of the press. It is a fact one forgets, so, in case you ever receive a great many unfavorable comments, let me console you. In all probability, there are people who approve as well as those who disapprove.

Last week there was held at the New York World’s Fair a demonstration of work done in four hundred sheltered workshops in this country. These workshops annually help a hundred thousand handicapped persons to re-adjust themselves and to earn a living. The House of Sheltered Workshops at the World’s Fair, which was furnished completely by 18 shops employing handicapped persons in New York City and other Eastern cities, actually had some of these people in that house performing the tasks which they had performed as contributions’ to the furnishing of the house.

Sheltered workshop employees are paid standard piecework rates and their commodities sell on the open market, so they are not subsidized labor. They operate under the provisions of the Wages and Hours Act, and the only philanthropic aspect of the workshop is comprised in the social and medical services needed to assist these handicapped workers back on the road to self-support. This work was begun in the days of the World War, when wounded veterans had to have some place to retrain for new skills.

Few people then foresaw that it would grow until, today, the gross turnover in the sheltered workshops amounts to three million dollars a year. If you failed to see this exhibit at the Fair, you can still visit the workshops themselves.

Another group of NYA boys from Woodstock, NY, picnicked with me yesterday. We spent last evening quietly at home with a few friends. Today we enjoyed every minute of the beautiful weather out of doors and played games and sat in the sun, until the chill of afternoon made us seek the warmth of the fireplace.

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