If You Ask Me
by Eleanor Roosevelt

I would not trust my own judgment on this, so I asked one of my friends, who is a good American and has served in high positions in our government and whose name is unquestionably German-Jewish. He said he would certainly not change his name. That was my feeling, but I thought it only fair to ask someone who had been through circumstances similar to those which you and your wife and children are now facing.

I have not directly asked any Europeans as to their attitude toward our 1952 elections. They generally express the hope that there will be no changes in our foreign policy that will jeopardize the work of a military and economic type that is being done in Europe and other parts of the world.

I know of no other book but the Bible, in particular the Twenty-third Psalm, that I think might help. What a tragedy for a woman to go through! I hope she is able to work and that there is something she would be interested in doing. That would seem to me to be the one thing that may make life worth living to her again.

When my children were born there was very little said about the “natural” way. They were all born in my own home. The nurse gave me an anesthetic, but I can remember each child's first cry, so perhaps it wasn't too different from what they now call natural childbirth. I do not think it is a question for you to decide, however, since your doctor will use an anesthetic if he thinks it necessary when the time comes.

Your grandson is telling you the truth. There is no color line in Paris, and a Negro is received exactly as a white person. This is partly owing to the fact that for generations people from North Africa, India, Egypt and the Near East, all of whom have dark skins, have been frequent visitors and among these people there has been intermarriage.

Some of us think that if you are old enough to fight for our country you are old enough to vote, and we have been saying so for some time. Perhaps in the early days it was thought that it took more judgment to be a citizen than a soldier in the army—and there was probably some truth to this—but in modern war it takes good judgment to be a soldier. Therefore, when we consider a young boy old enough to go to war we should also consider him old enough to take part in his government.

In my own home at Hyde Park in Duchess County, New York.

I think it is probably because I do not always explain carefully enough what I mean when I say certain things. I take it for granted that people know I have certain beliefs, traditions and standards, and I fail to repeat that these exist, since I feel they are so much a part of myself that they do not need any explanation. However, I cannot blame people for having felt that I did not explain thoroughly, and each time I make a mistake like this I promise myself not to do it again—and then I find I am very apt to do the same thing!