The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
MARCH 8, 1960
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WASHINGTON—Last Saturday I spent part of the day in Boston speaking at a series of meetings at the First Congregational Church. A morning meeting and a luncheon had been cancelled because of the snowstorm in Boston, so I had until 10 a.m. in New York before departing for Boston.
Sunday was devoted to the "Prospects of Mankind" television show, and Monday morning to a class at Brandeis University.
Then I took a plane from Boston to Washington, where the American Association for the United Nations was carrying on its annual conference of national organizations. I spoke there in the evening with a remarkable panel of newspaper and broadcasting people.
This group was made up of Martin Agronsky of the National Broadcasting Company, William Attwood of Look Magazine, Joseph P. Lash of the New York Post, Peter Lisagor of the Chicago Daily News, and Barnet Nover of the Denver Post. Thanks to this panel, this was a very interesting evening.
I also had the pleasure of dining with Mr. and Mrs. D. V.Sandifer and meeting some of my old Washington U.N. staff people.
On Tuesday I speak for the Air Force Wives' Club before returning to New York in the afternoon.
My activities of these past few days have made me think of the world at large, and I think all of us are interested in finding ways of interesting our children in other parts of the world. For this reason Coward McCann has been publishing a series of books called "Getting to Know."
Two of the latest books in this series I have just seen—one is "Getting to Know Nigeria" by Sam Olden and the other, "Getting to Know Israel" by Charles Joy. Both authors have had long experience in the countries about which they write, and the illustrations are delightful.
I think these books give the kind of information that youngsters really want. They tell how families live, what schools are like, how holidays are celebrated, what people wear and eat and hope for and work for. I think the books are well suited for youngsters between the ages of eight and 12.
We are very preoccupied about education at the present time and these books will help to give our children the kind of education that makes them want to delve for themselves and find out things they might otherwise not know.
There is one other thing I want to mention. Many of our veterans in hospitals may not know that from February 15 to April 15 they can take part in the 14th annual national writing contest sponsored by the Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project.
This competition is open only to hospitalized veterans of the armed forces of the United States, without fees or other qualifying conditions. No entry blank is required. Over 15,000 in prizes will be distributed.
One doesn't have to be a "writer" to take part in this contest. So, this gives the veterans a chance to tell the rest of us something that they think we ought to know. We can learn from them, too, and I hope a great many of them will take the opportunity and inquire at once about this contest in their various hospitals.
E.R.
(Copyright, 1960, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, March 8, 1960
Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007
Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
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