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

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NEW YORK—Saturday was really a frustrating day for me. Having had to disappoint the young people in Baltimore when planes were not flying because of the fog, I turned to the question of whether I could reach Washington in time for the afternoon rally for Adlai Stevenson.

I discovered there was an American Airlines plane at 11:45 a.m. that would get me there on time, but again I would have to go out to Idlewild Airport. This I did and was about to step on the plane when an official announced that the plane's departure would be delayed till 1 p.m. I gasped, for this meant I would be too late for the rally.

I dashed back to the desk, where employees kindly telephoned National Airlines and got me a seat on one of its planes leaving at 12 o'clock. I literally ran from one end of the airport to the other, finally finding a telephone booth that was unoccupied, and called Miss Corr, my secretary, to ask her to telephone Washington with word that I was on a National Airlines flight and would arrive there, I hoped, about 1:30 p.m.

Then I went to the gate and waited and waited. There were crowds of people everywhere as a result of having missed their planes, as I did, because of the fog and were trying to get on any plane at all to reach their destinations. There were tired, weeping children, but the door remained closed.

Finally, it opened and I went to the plane. Then I went on waiting. At 12:30 p.m., half an hour late, we took off and reached Washington at 2:05 p.m. I was met there and at 2:30 we were in Turner's Arena.

Myrna Loy had arrived by plane ahead of me and had made her speech. Senator James E. Murray of Montana was there and Senator Richard Neuberger of Oregon arose at once to introduce me.

Inwardly, I wondered if it had been necessary for me to make the trip. I thought they would have had just as good a meeting without me. Nevertheless, I spoke, and the crowd seemed enthusiastic about Stevenson, which pleased me very much.

At 3 o'clock, I had to run for the car to make the 3:30 plane back to New York. Myrna Loy also made it and we came up to New York together. It was a pleasant trip and we were on time, so I reached home in time to greet a lady who had been trying to see me for several months. She wanted help of a nature that I was unable to give, but I was glad at last to be able to see her.

I even had time to dress leisurely before my son, James, called for me to go to the Sheraton-Astor Hotel for a dinner given by the American Medical Center at Denver, Colo.

This medical center originally was started for the care of tuberculosis victims but since has branched out into research and care of cancer patients. At the dinner, the center gave an award for hard work to Mr. Simon Cohen and my son, and I was glad to be able to be there.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1956, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 1, 1956

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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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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