The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
AUGUST 26, 1947
[This column has emendations. View original version]
HYDE PARK, Monday—In church yesterday morning we prayed for the success of the coming meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations, and I could not help hoping that a similar prayer was being said in many churches in every country sending delegates. The United Nations will never have smooth sailing, but at the moment there are so many crucial questions in the world that every one of us should refresh our memories as to the purpose for which these nations joined together in this organization.
We ourselves are probably just as responsible as any of the other big nations for the device of the veto. The reason for this is that it seemed possible that the United States might repeat its former isolationist attitude unless something new in the way of safeguarding our liberty of action could be invented. The veto was suggested to make sure that nothing could be put over on us. But, probably rather to our surprise, it is the USSR that has used the veto, and we have come to realize that it can become a purely obstructionist weapon which perhaps we had better do away with.
* * *
In the last day or two, I have been reading a good deal about the reaction of the War Assets Administration to the proposal that the city of Eastport, Maine, should sponsor the use of "Quoddy" Village as a spot where displaced persons could be received and could contribute their labor, for little or no compensation except maintenance and training, for six months on the assembly of certain types of machines. Then they would accompany the machines to some South American country where they would be employed.
I had not fully understood the project until I read that the War Assets Administration's labor advisory group disapproved of it. Of course, I can quite see why labor in general should feel that this might become unfair competition in the field of labor.
As I look back on the original plan to develop power at Quoddy and as I see that power is scarce already in certain parts of the country, I cannot help wondering why the Senators from Maine do not back the revival of this power project for the good of their state, no matter how much pressure the privately owned power companies might bring to bear. Money expended would soon be earned back by the project, and the establishment of new industry would bring prosperity to this area, which needs new life very badly.
* * *
The other afternoon, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home Club, which has decided to continue its annual meetings in memory of my husband, met on my picnic grounds. They played cards and then they had a short meeting, at which a very charming young lady played her guitar and sang in between the three speeches—one by Judge Conger, one by Mr. George Palmer, who runs the two historic sites here, and one by myself on the United Nations.
E.R.
(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1947, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN PART OR IN WHOLE PROHIBITED.)
Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced
Persons
- Conger, Edward Augustus, 1882-1963 [ index ]
American judge on US District Court
[ Wikidata ] - Palmer, George A., -1988 [ index ]
American parks service official; superintendent of the government properties in Hyde Park - Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 [ index ]
American politician; 32nd President of the United States
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ]
Organizations
- Roosevelt Home Club [ index ]
[ LC | VIAF | SNAC ] - United Nations [ index ]
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | Other source ] - United Nations. General Assembly [ index ]
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ]
Geographic
- [ index ] Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States)
Other Terms and Topics
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, August 26, 1947
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.
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