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

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WASHINGTON, Wednesday—I was particularly happy yesterday to welcome here Lord and Lady Gowrie. Lord Gowrie is just returning to England, after serving in Australia as Governor General. They were more than kind to me when I was in Australia, and I am delighted to have this opportunity to renew our acquaintanceship.

Washington could not have given them a more beautiful day on which to arrive, and they went at once for a drive around the city. Lady Gowrie said she had been longing to visit here, and was delighted to find that it was one of her wishes that could be fulfilled.

At tea time we had with us Lord and Lady Gowrie, Alan S. Watt, charge d'affaires of the Australian legation, and Mrs. Watt, and in the evening we went to the concert given by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. Mr. and Mrs. Ormandy were in Australia not long ago and saw a great deal of Lord and Lady Gowrie there. They told me that two Australian girls had obtained scholarships to study in Philadelphia, and when the train came through that city they were at the station to wave to Lord and Lady Gowrie. It was a beautiful concert and we enjoyed it very much.

This morning I had to bid our guests good-bye, and after receiving Mr. and Mrs. Ormandy at the White House at 11 o'clock, Miss Thompson and I took the train for New York City, where I am attending a tea in honor of Senator Wagner.

I failed to mention the other day that I went to see some paintings by Candido Portinari of Brazil. There is a mural by him in the Congressional Library which I have not yet had time to see. He paints in a very modern style which I am never sure that I quite understand, but there is vigor and strength in his work.

I had a most interesting letter recently from William H. Dennis, who is with the Science, Education and Art Division of the Department of State. He wrote me from Ann Arbor, Mich., where he had been meeting with the Chinese students studying there, who invited him to celebrate their national day with them. Something which he says in his letter seems to me very important, namely: "China needs more than technicians, good citizens and good leaders who, when the promised elections came to pass, would know how to handle the situation in a traditionally democratic manner. The hope for this era lay largely in those returned students who had availed themselves of the opportunities to observe the successful practices and errors to be found in other countries of similar traditions."

This remark, of course, is applicable to the many foreign students studying in this country who will go back after the war, having received from us opportunities for observation as to our way of life and governmental practices. We should strive to make our way of life worthwhile to them as an example of true democracy in action.

E. R.

(COPYRIGHT 1944 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 19, 1944

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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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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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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