The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
JANUARY 8, 1936
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Needless to say, the big thing in the past twenty-four hours has been the Supreme Court decision. I thought it was going to be the budget, but that has been completely overshadowed. It seemed to me that after a long afternoon of reading and rereading and trying to thoroughly digest legal opinions, we would have a rather quiet and subdued swim at six o'clock. One of our sons who was still home, a young friend of his, and one of the men who has been working with my husband, all appeared with me at the pool.
My husband was already in the water and before I reached the door, I dropped my wrapper, plunged into the water, and swimming about very quietly, I inquired hesitatingly how they were all feeling. To my complete surprise instead of either discouragement or even annoyance, I was told that everyone was feeling fine, and on that note we finished our swim, went up to dress for dinner and the family met again at the dinner table, no guests were present.
I was prepared for some candid opinions on current events. Instead I found that we were discussing history. My memory for dates is extremely bad, but between us we settled the dates of the dark ages, the middle ages, the Renaissance and how long the Holy Roman Empire remained a reality and when it continued in name but was really only a figment of the imagination. Then we took up what happened in the different countries during the Renaissance, and reluctantly we got up from the table at a quarter past nine, still violently discussing the history of the past when I imagine most supper or dinner tables which gave any thought at all to questions of government discussed those of the present day.
My husband plunged into work on a speech and I went off to work on an article. Midnight came and bed for all, and all that was said was "good night, sleep well, pleasant dreams, with the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
E.R.
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 8, 1936
Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007
Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.
TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.
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TMsd, 7 January 1936, AERP, FDRL