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

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VANCOUVER, B.C.—It is a clear and crisp day here and nowhere near as cold as I had expected. In fact, I have seen people out without their winter coats.

I read several articles in one of my favorite magazines on my way out here and in one of them the Democratic party was cautioned that while it had been winning victories locally, which resulted in Congressional majorities for the Democrats, it might very easily not win the Presidency in 1960.

The reason, according to this article, is simple, namely that the Democrats in the North and West, who were elected last November, had promised their supporters certain Democratic policies and have been unable to produce results, at least up to this time. The article goes on to say that Democratic forces in the South have overwhelmed these new members of Congress. Because of the seniority rule, Southerners in both the Senate and the House hold many of the influential places and are in a position to call on or prevent endless filibustering.

It may well be that the Southern Democrats in the Senate and House do not care whether they win the Presidency or not. But if they allow the chance of carrying national responsibility in the executive branch to slip away from them in 1960, the results may be disastrous not only to the Democratic party but to the country.

I believe in a two-party system and I think a change of the party in power is very healthy, but there are moments when we do believe that certain policies are needed for the country and the world. It is then that we must try to have our party stand by those policies and control the executive as well as the legislative branch of government. This is a point I would like the Democrats who control the Congressional committees to think over carefully during the next few months.

As we drove into Salt Lake City last Sunday night we were struck by the beautiful lighting of the four towers of the Mormon Temple. And the view out of my hotel window of the multicolored lights made the city seem very much alive at what for us was one o'clock in the morning but locally was only 9 p.m.

We had a beautiful view of Great Salt Lake as we flew out Monday morning, and of the white-capped mountains that were gleaming in the sunlight. The stewardess served us a very good breakfast on the short run to Idaho Falls.

A lovely Mormon Temple also stands in Idaho Falls, and close by it there is a large Mormon hospital On our drive to Rexburg we passed many developments of small homes. This is the part of Idaho where the potatoes grow, and there are some sheep and considerable beef cattle. The brown grass reminds me a little of the southern deserts, except where it has been plowed, and there is much successful dry farming in the area, for there is comparatively little irrigation.

I was told there was very little snow this past winter, much to the regret of the farmers, for snow has always been the source of their moisture, which they need for their crops. At present in the valley there is no snow at all. The sky is as blue as possible and the sun shines brightly.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1959, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, March 4, 1959

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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