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

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Hyde Park, N. Y., Wednesday—I have just read the August Copy of "New Threshold". I must confess to feeling extremely humble, for not until I read my own article did I realize that I had not caught a typographical error in the proof in the very first sentence. The incident which I used in the opening paragraph was, of course, one that appeared in the paper, when a sailor stood up in the gallery of Congress, after listening to a lengthy debate, and demanded to know: "Are we fighting the Civil War all over again?"

I would not be guilty of pinning this remark on any Senator, and I have asked the editor of "New Threshold" to make this correction in the next issue. The fault was entirely mine. The error was in my copy and I did not notice it in proof-reading. I suppose when things are firmly fixed in one's mind, one's eyes can see without seeing, but I apologize to those I maligned.

I am quite sure that many people who had read of the other incident in the papers must have realized my mistake, but I cannot let it go without this public apology.

Some people have written me to ask me if I was advocating mixed marraiges and I would like to make it clear that I would never advocate this. It seems to me that in the mixing of racial strains, the difficulties which always exist in any marraige are greatly enhanced. Races will mix however, even in this country, we see the evidences of this mixture. Whether it has occurred in wedlock or not, makes little difference from the biolologist's standpoint, because over the centuries a strong racial strain will probably obliterate a weaker one.

In the meantime, many generations and countless individuals are involved in the difficulties and suffering occasioned by mixed marraige. The knowledge of this will keep anyone from advocating such marraiges if they love the people and want them to be happy. Some people will face the situation and then decide to take the risks involved.

This is an individual decision none of us will be able to do anything about. Nothing should ever keep us from advocating, however for all races that come together as citizens in our land, or that we meet throughout the world, equal respect and equal opportunity. Only in this way can we live side by side in peace and good will. Our desire must be for equal justice and we know, no matter to what sects and religions we belong, that most of us acknowledge that God made us all. Therefore, He must have intended that eventually all of us learn to live according to the ideal life, that of Jesus Christ.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1943, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)



About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 29, 1943

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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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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