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

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NEW YORK—All of us must have read with a sigh of relief Senator Lyndon B. Johnson's speech in which he advocated that nations work together to control the outer space, through the United Nations, for peaceful purposes. The President, in his recent letter to Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin, said that outer space should be dedicated to the peaceful uses of mankind and should not be used for purposes of war.

It will be interesting to see that steps now will be taken by our leaders in the U.N. to implement the suggestion made by both the Administration and Congressional leadership.

I find a great deal of criticism on various sides of Walter Reuther's suggestion that automobile industry profits above 10 percent might be divided three ways—one-third for the worker, one-third for management, and one-third as a rebate to the automobile buyer.

Nobody mentions that at present the automobile companies are laying off a considerable number of men. The reason for this is that cars are not being sold as quickly as they were a year ago. Either the market is oversold or people can't afford to pay the high prices and have decided they must keep their cars for another year.

No matter how good are the attempts to sell us new cars, we may have developed a resistance through necessity. Whatever the reason, the fact is, I am told, that in many parts of the country cars are just not moving.

Mr. Reuther is interested in keeping his people at work, and I am amused that nobody seems to have brought up this particular point, mentioning the fact that this might be the basis for some of his efforts at new and more imaginative ideas.

Heaven knows, I am no economist or financier, and the financial leaders and editorial writers all seem to think this a bad idea. I would like to ask them to suggest their plan for full employment of the workers. I am sure that it would be welcome, because it is even more of a hardship to be out of work in winter than in the summer.

One night last week I saw the Israeli dancers brought here by Sol Hurok. Many of their dances tell a story, as is the case with most folk dances, and I enjoyed particularly the Yemenite wedding, "Leaping Flames," and Shabbat Shalom. The theatre was crowded and I believe the dancers' stay here has been extended for at least a week, and I am sure their tour of the country will be equally successful.

I have just been reading the 37th annual report of the American Civil Liberties Union, and I think that everyone wishing to be informed about the progress of freedom in this country and its preservation will find this report absolutely essential reading. It covers from July 1, 1956 to June 30, 1957.

I might add that anyone interested in freedom of the press should also read "Peril and Promise," by Gerald W. Johnson. He is eminent both as a journalist and a historian and his book is an important one.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1958, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 20, 1958

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
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Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

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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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