If You Ask Me
by Eleanor Roosevelt

Since the Soviets refuse to belong to UNESCO, it is difficult to see how it could be under their domination.

Isolationists who do not want international cooperation are inclined to call everything Communistic, and they use this label to harm all the efforts of the UN and its specialized agencies. I am quite sure that neither UNESCO nor any other UN agency at the present time has been taken over by Communists.

Perhaps your mother-in-law, if she still has a large family coming and going in her home, would appreciate, as I always do, things that can be eaten—ham, smoked turkey, fruitcake, plum pudding, fruit, cheese, candy. All of these seem to give pleasure to large families, and so I am always glad to receive them. I also like a great many useful things for my house, and I should think that any older woman would need replenishment of certain household things which do wear out, such as house linen, scrap baskets, furniture, rugs and the like. I do not think any of us who are older like to add very much to our personal possessions, because we do not need as many as we used to need and we grow fond of the few things which we use more constantly.

I think your wife may be wise in suggesting that you and she should see Spain. In view of the present controversy about whether the United States should give aid to Spain and have bases there, it might be well for you to see for yourself what conditions are in that country—whether the Spanish people are content with the present government or wish for a change, and whether or not they can be helped through their government or whether it should be done some other way.

There is much that is beautiful in art and architecture to see in Spain, and that is important too, but the decision of what the American people should feel about the government of Spain and the conditions now existing there is something worthy of study by every American citizen.

I imagine Mr. Pegler was making fun of the fact that I was supposed to have asked to see "poor people" in an Indian village where the people are all poor. I do not know where he drew his information from nor exactly what I said, but it would perhaps have an element of amusement if one asked for something which was present all around one.

I do not remember my husband ever mentioning anything about Mr. Stalin's physical appearance, and I would much doubt his having a withered arm.

I am afraid I am very far from being "the smartest woman in the world," and I am not fond of giving general advice to anyone. I am sure that all one can say has been said so many times to a boy of seventeen by his teachers, his parents and his pastor. I will not tell you all the obvious things—that it is better to be honest and kind than to be dishonest and selfish—but I will tell you that if you face life with a spirit of adventure and with courage you will get more out of it than if you are timid and unimaginative.