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]

      

NEW YORK.—It was good news indeed to read that President Eisenhower will be in San Francisco on June 20 to open the session in commemoration of the signing of the United Nations Charter, and to welcome the delegates of all the member nations.

His presence will bring much education to the people of our country, for to have the President review the record of accomplishments and failures and repeat again what our hopes and expectations are for this organization will fix the attention of the people on this record. He can bring the people of this nation to a realization that this machinery can only work as the peoples of the world make it work.

The President is listened to by all our citizens and he can focus attention on a subject far better than can any other individual. Therefore, it will be a delight to follow his lead in accepting responsibility for continuing to spread his message throughout the country.

It was interesting, too, to read in the news that the four American flyers released by Red China seem to have been returned in more normal emotional and mental condition than any other prisoners so far. It is natural that our government and everybody else should hope that this is just a prelude to the release of all other prisoners of ours held, as we believe, illegally.

But if we find that the prisoners have been well treated and not subjected to brain-washing I think there should be immediate recognition for this demonstration that there is a willingness to live up to the conventions that most of us have considered as binding in the treatment of prisoners of war.

Domestically, the recent news that probably affects us to the greatest extent so far as the future of our equality in this country is concerned, was the Supreme Court's opinion on the public-school segregation cases.

The court's ruling states that "all provisions of Federal, state or local law requiring or permitting such discrimination (racial discrimination in public education) must yield to this (constitutional) principle. There remains for consideration the manner in which release is to be accorded."

That is an unequivocal statement which every state will have to accept. Then it goes on to explain that the Attorney General of the U.S. and attorneys general of all states requiring or permitting racial discrimination in public education were asked to present their views on this question. A number of states did so. Time is given and responsibility laid on the public-school systems and local courts for enforcing the constitutional principle. It seems to be a clear and wise statement, with ample time given for consideration of specific situations.

The leadership in the South, we feel sure, will see that this nation cannot stand still in the face of the world situation. And, while time must be allowed for any great change, this nation will move forward in its moral and spiritual leadership.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1955, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 3, 1955

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

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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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