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

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NEW YORK, Monday—The long-awaited announcement of the United States' position on Palestine was finally made to the United Nations. There are, of course, days ahead in which there will be negotiations and compromises. Whether there can be finally produced a plan which will command a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly, no one can tell.

The United States said it hoped that a just and workable plan would be evolved. Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both. And certainly every citizen in the United States who hopes for a solution of this problem, which has brought so much suffering to so many people, must also hope for a peaceful solution, since anything else would bring more suffering and less chance for happiness for the peoples involved.

* * *

Yesterday, we were lucky to have a most beautiful day at Hyde Park, and I had the pleasure of entertaining the second half of my Committee No. 3 from the United Nations. The trees have all taken on their autumn coloring now, but the sun was still warm and we ate our lunch out of doors with comfort and pleasure.

One Dutch lady said to me: "How perfect it would be if we could have all of our meetings right here on the lawn." I had thought of that many times when we sat in the artificially lighted and cooled room at Lake Success, but I fear much less work would be done than at present.

* * *

Before my picnic, a few of us went on the air to discuss the Marshall Plan. This time we did succeed in getting two different points of view presented. The Pole, Mr. Raczkowski, tried to explain why his nation was unwilling to join with the other nations of western Europe in supporting the plan, whereas the Frenchman, Mr. Alphand, and the Dutchman, Mr. Patijn, told us why they thought this plan must be made to succeed.

It was amusing to have our Polish friend start off by saying that no plan which did not take into consideration the whole of Europe could succeed because western and eastern Europe were dependent upon each other for various trade activities. He pointed out that if France did not get coal from Poland, she would have to get it from the USA. That does seem rather far away.

Over what shall happen to Germany there is also a difference of opinion, but from the way it is discussed I feel it could be easily settled. The Poles want Germany democratized. They are willing that she should have peacetime industries, but they feel that the quota given her for steel is based on a year when production in Germany was too high. At that time in Germany, it was preparation for war which was stepping up steel production and the Poles are naturally very anxious that this should not happen again. The French join them in their anxiety. The point of the matter is: who is going to administer or allot the Ruhr coal to Germany? That is where the real control can be handled for her future.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1947, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN PART OR IN WHOLE PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
  • Alphand, Hervé [ index ]
         French diplomat; French Ambassador to the United States
         [ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ]
  • Patijn, Mr. [ index ]
         Dutch politician
  • Rączkowski, Stanisław [ index ]
         Polish, member of Committee No. 3 of the United Nations, economist
         [ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata ]
Organizations
Geographic
  • New York (N.Y., United States) [ index ]
Other Terms and Topics


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 14, 1947

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | WorldCat | DPLA | Wikidata | SNAC ]

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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  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text 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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