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

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NEW YORK, Friday—I have been getting up rather early the past few days. On Tuesday morning I left Hyde Park by a 6:30 train in order to make the 10:20 plane for Raleigh, N.C., and on Thursday I left The Inn in Chapel Hill at 6:15 to make the 7:30 plane back to New York City.

Nevertheless, I promised to tell you what I did while I was there, so here goes. My plane was an hour late on the way down because of foggy weather. Mrs. William B. Umstead, wife of the governor, was awaiting me and we went to a meeting of the wives of state officials and legislators in Raleigh. I talked for an hour about the United Nations and answered many questions.

Then I drove directly to Durham, and had a very pleasant dinner with Dean Jenkins and her guests. That evening I again spoke at a meeting and on Wednesday had an early breakfast in the Union where I had a chance to talk to a great many of the college girls.

At 9:30 I went to North Carolina College and talked to two groups of young people. President Alfonso Elder could not arrange for a large assembly and that is why I had to go from one group to the other.

I drove from there to the Woman's College at Greensboro and at 12 o'clock spoke in the auditorium. This was followed by luncheon with a few of the faculty and many of the senior girls. I met again, to my great pleasure, some of the people who were so kind to me when I came here before on various occasions.

The Woman's College, of course, always reminds me of Miss Harriet Elliott, who headed it for so many years and left it on several occasions to work in Washington during my husband's Administration, each time making a real contribution to her national government.

I was still answering the girls' questions when a contingent of boys arrived with the Dean of Men from Chapel Hill. We soon started on our drive to Chapel Hill. As I had a few minutes to spare on arrival, I went out to see Dr. and Mrs. Will Alexander at their farm. Dr. Alexander had been ill and for the first time had gone out to walk, so I missed him, and this was a real disappointment. However, I enjoyed having a talk with Mrs. Alexander and making friends with a four-month-old dachshund.

Back on the campus at 4:30 I spoke and answered questions for about an hour for the girls. At 6:30 we had dinner, during which again I answered questions and at 8 o'clock the meeting of the Carolina Forum was held.

The question period was a particularly lively one at the forum and almost as long as my talk. But these young people never seem to have asked all their questions, because when we went back to a short reception in one of the big halls, the young people were still ready to sit down on the floor and ply me with questions for another half-hour or so!

President Gordon Gray and Chancellor Robert B. House had spent all day in Raleigh with the budget committee of the legislature, but they got back to greet me in the evening, which I thought was most kind.

I was asked on one or two occasions, in view of Mr. Debnam's booklet, "Weep No More, My Lady," and now that I had returned to the South, if I had changed the opinions that had brought about the booklet. I was obliged to answer that, with an itinerary such as I had had, what I had been able to observe was somewhat hurried and casual.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
  • Alexander, Will Winton, 1884-1956 [ index ]
         American founder of Commission on Interracial Cooperation and president of Dillard University
         [ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | ANB ]
  • Elder, Alfonso, 1898-1974 [ index ]
         American educator
         [ LC | VIAF | SNAC | FAST ]
  • Elliott, Harriet Wiseman, 1884-1947 [ index ]
         American scholar and educator; Consumer Commissioner on the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense (1940–1941); Chairman of the Woman's Division of the War Finance Committee (1942–1946); De
         [ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ]
  • Gray, Gordon, 1909-1982 [ index ]
         American politician
         [ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives ]
  • House, R. B. (Robert Burton), 1892-1987 [ index ]
         American Chancellor of the University of North Carolina
         [ LC | VIAF | FAST ]
  • Umstead, Merle Holland Davis, 1901-1088 [ index ]
         American teacher; spouse of American politician of William Bradley Umstead
         [ Other source ]
Organizations
Geographic
  • New York (N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, February 7, 1953

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)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
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  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
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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.

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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