The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

      

NEW YORK, Wednesday—New York City politics seems more confused this year than usual. First, the Republican party nominates for Mayor a one-time Democrat, and Governor Dewey backs him in spite of a few things said by the candidate in a past campaign which must now be buried in oblivion! Then, the Democrats nominate a really good man, General O'Dwyer. To be sure, they, too, cannot get away without a little confusion and a few changes in running mates. But the ultimate product is good.

And now Mayor La Guardia, who has done much for New York City, backs another good man, Newbold Morris, who is a regular Republican but who does not have Governor Dewey's backing and does not seem to want it. He is to run on a "No Deal" ticket—whatever that may mean, since no politicians get away without some deals. The only important thing to know is whether they are good or bad deals, because "deals" is really another word for "plans," and one must plan. It is the way one plans that matters, and whether the plans leave one freedom of action for the future.

* * *

Well, there is the picture, and ordinarily, as a voter of upstate New York, I would be only remotely concerned about a mayoralty election in the City of New York. This year, however, it looks to me as though not only the citizens of New York City are concerned. This election is of importance to the state and the nation. It is the opening gun in a campaign which is already being waged—under cover, to be sure, but nevertheless with skill and tenacity—by certain groups in the country, represented largely in the Republican party. These groups will nominate a Judge Goldstein because they can use him, and because they think by so doing they can carry certain elements with them that have been with the Democrats in the past.

These groups hope that the people may be fooled, but I have great confidence in the people. We, the people, are growing in wisdom politically; we have learned to study the candidates and weigh them as men and as public servants; we weigh their backing and what that backing means.

* * *

Newbold Morris is a good man but he cannot be elected, and I think the voters of this city are wise enough to know that if General O'Dwyer could fight for the things that he considered right against such strong forces in Brooklyn, he will fight for these things in City Hall.

The Mayor of New York in the next few years will meet great problems, problems that touch both business and labor, since their interests are closely allied. He will need an understanding of the wider horizons that reach out from this great port to the far ends of the world. General O'Dwyer has had the opportunity to learn and to see the distant scene in the last few years. I think New York City voters, in electing him, will give themselves a "Good Deal" and help in the fight for control by the people as against control by certain powerful groups.

E. R.

(COPYRIGHT 1945 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, August 9, 1945

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
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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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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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