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

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WASHINGTON, Thursday—We had a pleasant trip from New York yesterday by air, but toward the end it was a little bumpy. Yesterday afternoon I saw a number of people and in the evening the Secreary of the Treasury and Mrs. Morgenthau dined with me. The President had a council of war with some important gentleman.

This morning has been busy. An old friend of mine, Mrs. Grenville Emmet came to breakfast. She has been here this winter and, unfortunately, I have seen her very rarely. Afterwards, we walked together as far as the hairdressers'. I was so late I had to hurry them in order to get through in time to reach American University for their chapel period at eleven-fifteen.

I liked the service and, after my talk, we went across to the dining room, where they were having a luncheon for United China Relief. The program preceded the actual luncheon and I had an opportunity to speak a few words for the drive which is now going on in Washington and to hear Mr. Liu Chieh give an excellent address. I was quite overcome at the presentation of an honorary membership in Pi Delta Epsilon, a collegiate journalist fraternity. With my membership went a small gold pins, which I shall feel much honored in wearing.

After this, I went to a lunch given by the ladies of the 75th Congress. This year they are giving the money they raise annually for work with the children in the District of Columbia. They feel that there is need for day nurseries and nursery schools, and since the WPA is obliged to curtail so many of its activities, the community will have to take on more of this type of work.

I have a letter in the mail which has touched me very much. It comes from a woman who says: "Mothers of soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the U.S.A. are honored and enjoy privileges, but nobody mentions those valiant boys on tankers, struck by torpedoes, who give their lives by burning to death. My only son and support was one of the victims of a 'rattle-snake' April 9, 1942, on the Atlantic Coast. He was a descendant of a former Governor of Pennsylania and a seafarer for many years."

We do indeed honor those boys who are doing work which is just as important and just as dangerous as that of those in the armed forces. I am happy to have this opportunity to pay a tribute to them and to their dear ones.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 24, 1942

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

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
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  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
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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.

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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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