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

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MEXICO CITY—I was delighted to read the other morning that Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas has been asked "to go to the United Nations to support the United States resolution calling for use of outer space for peaceful purposes." Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announced the appointment, and Senator Johnson accepted.

Of course, this is an effort by the Administration to show the world through the nations represented in the U.N. that there is unity in the U.S. in its foreign policy and that the Democrats support the Republican Administration in the field of outer space.

At the opening conference of ministers of Colombo Plan nations on Southeast Asia's economic problems, President Eisenhower pledged his support for a five-point peaceful crusade against hunger and want among the 700,000,000 people in uncommitted Asia.

He urged expanded international trade and a relaxation of trade barriers. On this one point alone he will have to do some education of his own people, for I cannot remember at the minute a single speech from him explaining this particular economic problem to the small manufacturers of the United States.

He promised that technical assistance would be furnished by us through our own program and through the United Nations and the International Cooperation Administration.

He urged private investment and said that the U.S. would try to encourage this, but that the countries needing this help would have to create a climate favorable to the investor.

He spoke of bank loans through the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and also of development financing through additions to the $700,000,000 Development Loan Fund, established by the U.S. in 1957 to finance projects overseas.

These things are not as easy to accomplish as they sound, and one wonders if the President has the cooperation of the American people, who will have to understand and implement these suggestions.

I had the privilege the other night of seeing the preview of a movie that Walter Wanger of United Artists produced. It is called "I Want to Live" and will open in New York on November 18.

It holds one's attention every minute, and is skillfully acted by Susan Hayward and the supporting cast. I think every one of us will carry away from it the reminder that human justice is fallible. We can never be sure that we are right.

This is why I eventually decided that capital punishment should be abolished everywhere, and I am always glad when we are reminded of our frailties. No matter how hard we try to ascertain facts they are not always ascertainable.

I have a most interesting little pamphlet, entitled "This We Believe in Turkey," which came to me in the mail. In the foreward the editor of the pamphlet, Nuri Eren, writes: "Only man is the master of his will, for he alone can contemplate and laugh. The cartoonist, combining both thought and humor, best represents this distinction of man. It is with this in mind that the Turkish cartoons reproduced here were compiled."

If you can get a copy of this booklet I am sure, as you turn the pages, you will laugh, but you also will think seriously of many political and social occurrences and wonder whether with all our wisdom the statesmen of the world have always handled these problems well.

E.R.

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


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, November 13, 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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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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