The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
FEBRUARY 10, 1955
[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]
NEW YORK.—There seems to be only one subject of conversation today, namely, what did Malenkov's resignation after only two years in office mean?
It is generally conceded that Marshal Bulganin's appointment as Premier simply means that Nikita S. Khrushchev would be the No. 1 power in the Communist party. But in going through all the statements made by important people in our government I have found none that actually commits anyone to a firm interpretation of what the change in the Kremlin setup means.
There is in some areas the feeling that this will be a warning to China to be careful. I confess I don't see why! Others say they are hopeful it may be a good sign. Again I see no reasons given. Still others say that it means a tougher policy, but that may be the reaction to seeing a military man occupying the top position.
The net result is that we will have to wait and watch and hope that the touchy world situation will not grow any more precarious.
Foreign Minister Molotov says that Russia has caught up in a military way with the United States. Whether this is true, again we cannot know. It sounds rather like bragging when it is accompanied with so many assurances as we have had in the past few days that the Soviets want peace. Why, if they want peace, do they announce supremacy in the hydrogen-bomb area?
One thing we can be grateful for is that the civilians have been safely evacuated from the Tachen Islands and no hostilities seem to be developing.
I have just received a delightful book, which was published in Norway, of reproductions of famous Norwegian paintings. One reproduction in particular, called "Solitude" by Harriet Backer, is reminiscent of some of the early Flemish paintings which I particularly like. The variety and the charm of these reproductions make me long to become more familiar with Norwegian artists.
On Tuesday evening I gathered together in my little apartment 19 members of my own family and the cousins on my mother's side of the family. It is still a puzzle to me how I ever got enough tables and chairs into my little sitting room, but everyone seemed to enjoy cocktails and a buffet dinner.
Once a year I try to get this group together because I am the only remaining member of my generation and I think it is a good thing for cousins to see each other now and then and know that they at least are relatives, even though some of them may live miles apart!
I am not always successful in getting many of my own young family here, but Tuesday night Franklin and Sue and my granddaughter, Mrs. Van Seagraves, were able to be here.
I watched Mrs. Seagraves on the television show, "The Name Is the Same," on Monday evening and felt she ought to have done a better job of disguising who she was, for by the third guesser they had pinpointed her relationship to my husband and she retired from the stage!
E. R.
(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1955, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)
Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced
Persons
- Backer, Harriet, 1845-1932 [ index ]
Norwegian painter
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ] - Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971 [ index ]
Soviet leader
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | Other source ] - Malenkov, Georgiǐ Maksimilianovich, 1901-1988 [ index ]
Soviet premier
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ] - Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich, 1890-1986 [ index ]
Soviet diplomat and politician
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ] - Roosevelt, Franklin D., Jr. (Franklin Delano), 1914-1988 [ index ]
Son of FDR and ER
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - Roosevelt, Suzanne Perrin, 1921- [ index ]
second spouse of FDR, Jr.
[ LC | VIAF ] - Seagraves, Eleanor, 1927- [ index ]
American educator; ER's granddaughter
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ]
Geographic
- [ index ] New York (N.Y., United States)
Other Terms and Topics
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, February 10, 1955
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.
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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