The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
APRIL 14, 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.—On Monday of this week I spoke for the Military Chaplains of the United States at luncheon and then attended a board meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This was the first I have been able to attend since Walter White's death. I find they are considering a suitable memorial to him and I hope something that will stand as a continuing reminder of his work can be devised.
In the evening I went to a board meeting for Wiltwyck School and was reminded again of the need for interracial understanding and better conditions for the youngsters of this city no matter what their race, creed, or color.
Tuesday I spent at Hyde Park. The Governor, Mr. Averell Harriman, came to lay a wreath on my husband's grave, and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. and my sons, Franklin Jr. and John, and their wives were there to greet the governor. Later a service was held at the grave by the Roosevelt Home Club and the Roosevelt Memorial Foundation. It was a simple and fitting memorial service on this 10th anniversary.
An old friend, Mr. Bernard M. Baruch, sent me a letter which he had sent to Mr. C. P. Palmer, President of the Warm Springs Memorial Association, and as it was undoubtedly read at Warm Springs on the 12th. I think Mr. Baruch would not mind if I quoted from it in this column. He wrote as follows:
"When history is written, in Franklin D. Roosevelt's record four things will stand out before everything else: 1. His interest in human beings and their welfare, as is exemplified in the social legislation which he passed and which is being carried further to this day;
"2. As President of the U.S. and commander-in-chief of its forces, he was the main factor in winning the greatest war of all time;
"3. He brought about the creation of a United Nations in the framework of which, if nations so willed it, a peace can be written—a peace which mankind has yearned for over the ages. If he had lived, this would have been further advanced. And some of the things for which he has been criticized would have been avoided or their influence lessened;
"4. And not the least, he gave hope to countless disabled by conquering an affliction which struck him in the prime of his life and which he overcame to go on to be the Governor of the State of New York and President of the U.S. four times.
"Franklin D. Roosevelt and I had many differences, but he never personified them. I was privileged and honored to be called upon by him. He was always generous in his recognition of any services anyone performed."
That seems to me a remarkably fine tribute to any human being 10 years after his death, and I think it a good memorial.
(Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
E.R.
Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced
Persons
- Harriman, W. Averell (William Averell), 1891-1986 [ index ]
American politician and diplomat
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - Morgenthau, Henry, 1891-1967 [ index ]
US Secretary of the Treasury
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - Morgenthau, Marcelle, -1972 [ index ]
Second spouse of Henry Morgenthau, Jr.(married 1951)
[ LC | VIAF ] - Roosevelt, Anne Clark, 1916-1973 [ index ]
American; spouse of John Aspinwall Roosevelt
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ] - Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 [ index ]
American politician; 32nd President of the United States
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - 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, John A. (John Aspinwall), 1916-1981 [ index ]
American politician; ER's and FDR's youngest son
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives ] - Roosevelt, Suzanne Perrin, 1921- [ index ]
second spouse of FDR, Jr.
[ LC | VIAF ] - White, Walter Francis, 1893-1955 [ index ]
American civil rights movement leader; NAACP Executive Secretary
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | ANB ]
Organizations
Geographic
- [ index ] New York (N.Y., United States)
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 14, 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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