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

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NEW YORK, Tuesday—Someone who is a dog lover and who knows how much I enjoy dogs sent me a most delightful little book, called "And I Learn About People," subtitled "Chapters in a Dog's Life," by Delmar W. Beman Sr.

The drawings at the beginning of each chapter and the chapters themselves are delightful. The writing is done from the point of view of the puppy. He is supposed to understand human language even though he cannot make humans understand his language. Any dog lover will recognize some of the situations and perhaps learn to think a little more from the puppy's point of view during the pleasant hour he will spend reading this book.

Now that I have told you something I really enjoyed reading I will tell you about two things that came in the morning mail, which I did not enjoy reading. Both of them were attacks on the United Nations—one by Colonel Robert R. McCormick, a reprint of a speech or an article which he wrote; and the other a piece by John T. Flynn.

The latter cares so little about accuracy that he doesn't point out the differences between UNESCO and the Economic and Social Council! His theme seems to be that UNESCO is a propaganda organization that is devoting its entire time to misleading our children and to making them give their allegiance to "One World," which, according to him, UNESCO invented.

The "One World" expression, so far as I ever knew it, was first made popular by the late Wendell Wilkie. There was nothing wrong in his conception, nor is there anything wrong in the way UNESCO or any of the rest of us may happen to use it.

Whether Mr. Flynn likes it or not, transportation and communication in the modern world have brought us much nearer, physically, to being one world than we ever knew before. That is why it is a good thing to know about the rest of the world because in so many ways we can't escape being touched by what happens in it. That is absolutely all anyone is suggesting to the youth of the world.

None of UNESCO's pamphlets has to be used by any school. They may be helpful if they are suitable to a particular course, but anyone to whom they are sent is under no obligation to use them. This fear of an organization whose chief object is to reduce illiteracy throughout the world is brought about by a plain distortion of facts.

We should get the material talked about and read it ourselves. Then neither Colonel McCormick nor Mr. Flynn could give us their interpretation and go unchallenged. We would know the facts for ourselves because we would have seen the material.

Mr. Flynn makes one astounding statement, namely, that the National Education Association on the higher level is a collection of "pinks." If that is so, a great many people have certainly been led astray. It is a long time since I have seen some of these officials but those I saw most recently were somewhat on the conservative side and certainly not eligible to be called "pink."

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, November 26, 1952

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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