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

[Original version of the column. Text in red are tagged with <sic> (needs correction); text in purple are tagged with <orig> (needs regularization); and text in blue are tagged names of persons or organizations. View emended version]

      

If any one asked me my impression of the day so far, I would say umbrellas and more umbrellas! The President's usual luck in weather does not always hold, and today bad weather reigns, the ran simply coming down in torrents.

Last evening after the dinner to the various heads of the campaign committees at National Democratic Headquarters, we had the pleasure of hearing two of D'Olley Carte Company opera singers in a reallt delightful program. Miss Cecil and Mr. Oldham each sang groups of songs and they sang two together, one an old English song of which I am especially fond: "The Keys of Heaven".

After our guests went home I spent a few minutes with a basket of mail and then finished reviewing a book for the Junior Literary Guild Luckily the story was fairly exciting or I think I would have fallen asleep over it.

Bright and early this morning I looked out at the rain coming steadily down and thought of all the people who would be disappointed in not seeing and hearing the President make his Second Inaugural Address.

At nine o'clock I was presented with some beautiful violets brought down by Miss Burns of Dutchess County, New York where they are grown and the entire family went out with hunches of violets.

At ten o'clock we all went over to St. John's for church and here began some of the mishaps which are bound to happen on a day like this. Two of my grandchildren had gone over ahead of me and for some reason the policemen refused to let their car stop and they went round and round the block. It was half way through the service before they were brought in! I brought them home in the car with me and from that time on I kept my family together. Up, at the Capitol I could not find some of my friends whom I wanted to get under shelter, so I wandered around through the section where their seats were with my youngest son trying to find them and being greeted by all kinds of people who did not happen to be the particular ones I was looking for!

Finally yhr ceremonies began and wet and cold as we all were, and hardened as I am to official occassions, I could not hear the oath of office being taken by the Vice President and the President and realize what it meant for them to assume this responsibility without a catch in my throat. The President's speech I had read before, but even in the rain I felt these were words of sincerity which expressed well the feeling at the opening of the second stage in a long period of change.

As we came out they brought up my husband's car with the top up, but he insisted on having it down for the drive back so when we reached the White House his head and his feet were soaking and I was pretty well soaked through. In about a minute and a half I slipped a wet dress off and a dry one on and began to receive my luncheon guests and now we must go out to view the Parade.

E.R.


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
Organizations
  • D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus [ index ]
         [ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ]
  • Junior Literary Guild [ index ]
         [ LC ]
  • St. John's Church (Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.) [ index ]
         [ LC ]
Other Terms and Topics
  • Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Presidential Inauguration


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 21, 1937

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | WorldCat | DPLA | Wikidata | SNAC ]

Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ISNI ]
  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]

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.

XML master last modified on: May 2, 2022.

HTML version generated and published on: May 3, 2022.

Transcription created from a photocopy of a draft version of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. My Day column draft dated January 20, 1937, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 20 January 1937, AERP, FDRL