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

[This column has emendations. View original version]

      

On the train going back to Washington, and in the mail I am going through I find this sentence: "Could you, would you, through your column, 'My Day,' encourage the young American woman to cultivate her interests in political welfare, to know her country, state and civic government. Believe me, she needs this. I am speaking of the masses that have not had the good fortune of higher education."

I can hardly imagine that any group of young working women isn't fully alive to the need of taking an active interest in government, but I do know how very difficult it is for any busy worker to find time to really study questions of the day. Of course, if we belong to the League of Women Voters, where meetings are arranged for candidates of all political faiths during a campaign, and get bulletins giving us impartial information on state and national issues, it is possible to keep measurably well informed.

I realize, however, that this requires a certain amount of effort, women are tired when they come home at night and certainly it requires effort to go out to hear a political speaker! You may be amused now and then but you are often bored. Nevertheless your vote is a matter of real importance and I know no other way you can get knowledge of the man for whom you are asked to vote. Reading will inform you on issues but only seeing and hearing candidates will give you real information about them.

Many women feel that they are so unimportant that their action can count little for good or ill, but it is the mass of individuals that makes up public opinion and public opinion is what runs a democracy!

E.R.


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Organizations
Other Terms and Topics
  • Women--Politics and government
         [ LC | FAST ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, February 3, 1936

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | WorldCat | DPLA | Wikidata | SNAC ]

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)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ISNI ]
  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]

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.

XML master last modified on May 2, 2022.

HTML version generated and published on May 3, 2022.

Transcription created from a photocopy of a draft version of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. My Day column draft dated February 2, 1936, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 2 February 1936, AERP, FDRL