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

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HYDE PARK, Monday—Everyone I meet talks of the committee of six Senators appointed to examine Senator McCarthy's qualifications and record. Personally, I think Senator Flanders showed exceptional courage in presenting his censure resolution. But the Senate has always been run more or less like a gentlemen's club and it was hardly likely that a resolution of censure could be passed, for it would have violated that feeling which club members have for each other and which is always evident among the Senators.

The Senators who supported the Flanders resolution were courageous, too, for Senator McCarthy is a ruthless gentleman, and people, even Senators, who have opposed him in the past have had unpleasant experiences.

He has warm supporters. Many of them honestly feel that he has awakened the country to the dangers of communism and that he is now being persecuted because of this work. Among his warmest supporters we find such people as Westbrook Pegler. But I do not think that Senator McCarthy is being persecuted because of any honest work which he has done against communism. His record goes further than that.

Many people have felt deeply against him because of his attack on such men as General George Marshall. And I, for one, was very happy when the President finally spoke of his belief in the selflessness and devotion to his country shown by General Marshall throughout his life. No one knowing the General would think differently. And I think it is the fact that Senator McCarthy can so misjudge such a fine person which makes one doubtful about all his work.

The proceedings and conclusions of the committee of six will be of great interest to many people throughout the country.

I can't help talking about the weather because it is so unusual and delightful. There is a nice invigorating feeling in the air, and just enough rain so everything is moist in the mornings. Last night my grandson, Curtis Roosevelt, and a friend arrived and we all dined with my cousin, Miss Delano. As we sat on her porch looking across the Hudson River to the Catskill Mountains with the sun setting, I could not help thinking how beautiful this country is, and how much the summer here should give us all in refreshment for the winter ahead.

I have received from the author herself an autobiography of Marie Louise Clemens. I have glanced through it, and it seems to give a rather interesting picture of the "Gay 'Nineties," but I have not as yet had an opportunity to read it with care.

Another book, "Betty Lee" by Charlotte D. Tucker, has come to me. It is a tragic story and yet a hopeful one. It is the story of the early life and care of a mentally handicapped child and of the emotions which her mother has to go through as she finds somehow a way to meet the problems that enter a home when a child of this kind has to be cared for. I think this book will be a great help to all mothers who have to meet a tragedy of this kind.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

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  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, August 10, 1954

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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