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

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Tuesday—We reached home from our cross-country trip in time to visit my husband's grave in Hyde Park on January 30, his birthday anniversary. It has become a custom for the President to send a wreath to be placed on the grave by the Superintendent of West Point in the presence of an honor guard of cadets. This year Colonel John J. Morrow represented the Superintendent.

After the wreath laying, I always enjoy showing the young men around the house and library and taking them home for light refreshments before they return to West Point. Such members of my family as are able to be present do so.

I was glad to be able to spend a few hours at home even though I had to leave in the afternoon to make a train for Raleigh, N.C.

From Raleigh I motored to the State University here after a very enjoyable breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Daniels. I plan to spend three days in Chapel Hill and give the Weil lectures. My subject, of course, is the United Nations. There are discussion groups planned as well as the evening lectures and these add greatly to the value for the students.

There are, of course, many other people who are far better informed than I am on many aspects of the work of the U.N. I only wish it were possible for many people in many parts of our country to hear the experts on both the political and economic work which is carried on. Everyone should have an intimate knowledge of every phase of the U.N. work.

During my recent trip I often wished that our permanent delegate to the Security Council, Ambassador Warren Austin, who heads the U.S. delegation to the General Assembly when the Secretary of State cannot be present, could also travel around the country and make his personal knowledge of the various delegations available to the American people.

He cannot do so, however, because he is so tied down by the work at Lake Success and in New York City. Since he has constant contact with the other permanent delegates from other nations, he is probably the best qualified person to answer some of the questions that those of us who are able to go about the country are being asked from day to day.

People, for instance, have asked me specifically about the way the representatives from India, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Pakistan, react to different questions. And only Ambassador Austin could really answer such questions authoritatively and satisfactorily. I think it also would be of value if members from the other delegations that are more or less permanently in this country would travel about and acquaint our general public with their views.

My recent trip took me to 10 different places and in each place I was asked to speak on the United Nations, or some phase of it. And in each case the audiences were large and attentive. The questions showed that people are interested and eager for information. My mail reflects the same interest and desire for more knowledge of the U.N.

Traveling about in winter is rather difficult, as schedules go awry because planes and trains are late. Nevertheless, it is rewarding to feel that one has contributed even a little to better understanding of the machinery which the peoples of the world must use if they hope to create an atmosphere in which peace can grow.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1950, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC., REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, February 1, 1950

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

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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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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