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

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NEW YORK, Thursday—To me, at least, it seemed very well worthwhile for Owen Lattimore to make public the papers that are supposed to be Senator McCarthy's proof against him. These papers show clearly that Mr. Lattimore stated his opinion on the issues before the United States in the Asiatic policy. They also quite clearly indicate that in spite of his recommendations other people, notably perhaps the Secretary of State, seem to have held strong opinions on the same policies. Therefore, some of Mr. Lattimore's policies were never accepted.

For instance, as far as I know, Secretary of State Acheson has never given up our interest in Southern Korea.

To many people who believe that it was not outside aid that was so much needed by the Nationalist party in China but internal action, Mr. Lattimore's advice on that score would not seem so serious. Even if it had been his advice that was accepted in the case of China, it probably would have made little difference since what was happening there was due to things that were being done or left undone by the Nationalist government itself.

Nothing could emphasize more clearly than the publication of this memorandum, which Mr. Lattimore revealed, that views which you do not agree with can still be held by people who are not communistic but who simply do not agree with some of the rest of us.

It happens that I would feel a change of policy as regards Southern Korea would be extremely bad at the present time, but I was still glad to read Mr. Lattimore's point of view on this subject.

We had a full day's meeting at Lake Success yesterday and made some progress. Article 9 is still incomplete, however, and will have to be finished today. I say that hopefully and really to bolster my own decisions, as we must try not to leave for the Easter weekend without having that article successfully voted on.

There are a great many people visiting Lake Success these days and at two o'clock yesterday I went down to meet with a group from a woman's club. Fifteen minutes later I talked to a delegation of Army and Navy nurses and tried to give them very briefly the story of the Human Rights Commission so they would understand what we were working on when they came into the afternoon session.

It must be tantalizing to visitors to go in for a short time and never to hear an argument fully developed and finished on any one thing. Yet, these groups have to be moved from one point of interest to another in order to allow other visitors to have a chance to see the various activities that are going on.

In the evening a group of members of the Human Rights Commission went with me to see a preview of a movie called, "The Men," a picture that will not be released until July. Afterwards the members of the Commission came back to my hotel for a bite to eat and we all had the pleasure of hearing a young music student named Brooker sing some spirituals. He sang with feeling and poise. One spiritual, called "Climbing the Ladder," I had never heard before and I particularly enjoyed it.

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, April 7, 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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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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