If You Ask Me
by Eleanor Roosevelt

I was amused in answering this question and meant to be funny. Evidently one should never say anything, even in fun, which can possibly be misinterpreted. I can only tell you that, since I have always heard that the Irish are famous for their warm hearts and hot tempers, I thought this answer was permissible!

I carry both theft and fire insurance and I have collected on theft a number of times.

I am not familiar with this opinion and I have not given the question any very deep thought, but I think on the whole it would be well to remove the old adultery laws from our statutes.

I don't know why, but if you will send the clipping to the U.N. Secretary General I am sure he will tell you. The rights of organizations to sue are something I know nothing about, but I do know that an individual cannot sue for slander unless he can prove that his ability to earn a living has been impaired by whatever has been circulated against him.

We lost our third child, who was named Franklin, at eight months from a heart ailment which came, we thought, from flu.

I think it is harder to bear when you have no other children; the loss of your first baby is a real tragedy. It happened to my brother and his wife and also to my youngest son and his wife. The disappointment is great and the only consolation is that, having had one baby, there will probably be more; but nothing can really ease the heartache except time, and faith in the wisdom and love of God.

I am not familiar with the exact cost under the Dixon-Yates proposed contract, but you could quite easily check it against TVA figures which you could get by writing the members of the TVA Commission. As to the support for this project, I can only say that many people in our government at the present time seem to feel that private enterprise will always serve us better than government undertakings.

I have seen one home for old gentlemen in Washington, D.C., which is really delightful, and I recall a very pleasant home in New York for old couples. I have also visited people in various religious denominational homes which I thought, on the whole, fairly livable. In Europe I was impressed by an old people's village in Belgium and apartments for the aged in Sweden. But if you want to know a definite place to go yourself, I think you should contact your church or possibly a social agency for suggestions.

Yes, if I had to. I think I could probably find a way to do it and not be too unhappy, although it would mean, of course, an entire change in my way of living and in my ability to give.

I don't think I was ever asked to join. Also, I worked on so many things and was so busy both at home and with outside interests that my husband was never eager to have me join too many organizations.