The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
JULY 3, 1946
HYDE PARK, Tuesday—Early yesterday morning, I left here and motored to La Guardia Field in New York to take a plane to Washington. At the Washington airport, I found waiting for me my son Elliott, his wife and his two little boys, who were on their way up to Hyde Park from Fort Worth, Texas. We went together to call on Mrs. Truman and then directly to the Capitol for the memorial services which were held for my husband at a joint session of the Senate and the House.
The committee in charge had invited the Hon. John G. Winant to speak. I thought his address was beautiful and very moving. His great sincerity reaches his audience, I think, and there is always so much in what he says that you want to take away for future contemplation. The ceremony was simple but very well arranged, and the music lovely.
* * *
I should have liked to speak to more of the people whom I saw there—the President and some members of the Cabinet, Sen. Barkley, Admiral Leahy, Gen. Eisenhower, Admiral Nimitz, and various other officers—but there seemed to be no opportunity to do so. I did have a chance to say a few words to some of the members of the Senate and House, and to speak to all the members of the committee which had made the arrangements.
The latter had kindly asked me to stay to luncheon but, having two small boys with us, we decided we had better go to Mr. C. R. Smith's house and give them a rest before our plane trip back to New York, followed by the long drive back to Hyde Park! It was 9 o'clock before I deposited them safely in their own home, and nearly 10 o'clock before we reached our own cottage. Somehow it seemed a long day!
* * *
I see that the House passed a 20-day extension for OPA, but the Senate, because of Senator W. Lee O'Daniel's blocking tactics, will probably not be able to do anything. What funny people we are, begging everybody to hold prices and yet allowing some of our representatives to use parliamentary technicalities to prevent the legal enforcement of our desires! Commodity prices have gone up already. It will be interesting and perhaps painful to see what happens in the next few weeks.
How often we fail to work for things here at home of which, in the abstract, we approve! There is a very good illustration of this in the fact that the National Federation of Professional and Business Women's Clubs has the following provision in its legislative support program: "Support of participation by the United States of America in international organization with adequate enforcement machinery for the maintenance of peace and security; and support of a foreign policy embracing international social development, economic and financial stability, and the peaceful settlement of international disputes."
They now propose to consider at their convention the support of a national policy embracing the same objectives. I hope with all my heart that this great group of women will point the way for the rest of us to do at home what we realize should be done in the world as a whole.
(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1946, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR PART PROHIBITED.)
E. R.
Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced
Persons
- Barkley, Alben William, 1877-1956 [ index ]
American Vice President of the United States (under Truman)
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ] - Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969 [ index ]
American miliatry leader and politician; 34th President of the United States
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - Emerson, Faye [ index ]
Actress; second spouse of Elliott Roosevelt
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ] - Leahy, William D. [ index ]
American Chief of Naval Operations (1937-1939); Governor of Puerto Rico (1939-1940); U.S. Ambassador to France (1941-1942): Chief of Staff (1942-1949)
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ] - Nimitz, Chester W. (Chester William), 1885-1966 [ index ]
American naval commander, sailor, and diplomat; Fleet Admiral of the U.S. Navy during World War II
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - O'Daniel, W. Lee (Wilbert Lee), 1890-1969 [ index ]
American politician; Democratic Governor of Texas from 1939 to 1941; Senator from Texas from 1941 to 1949
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ] - Roosevelt, Elliott, 1910-1990 [ index ]
American aviation executive; ER's and FDR's son
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - 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 ] - Smith, C. R. (Cyrus Rowlett), 1899-1990 [ index ]
American businessman and civil servant; CEO of American Airlines from 1934 to 1968 and 1973 to 1974; Secretary of Commerce from 1968 to 1969
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST ] - Truman, Bess Wallace [ index ]
US first lady; spouse of President Harry S. Truman
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972 [ index ]
American politician; 33rd President of the United States
[ ERPP bio | LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ] - Winant, John Gilbert, 1889-1947 [ index ]
American politician and diplomat; New Hampshire governor; US ambassador to Great Britain during World War II
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | US Nat. Archives | ANB ]
Organizations
- United States. Congress. House [ index ]
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | UK Nat. Archives | Other source ] - United States. Congress. Senate [ index ]
[ LC | ISNI | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC | FAST | Other source ] - United States. Office of Price Administration [ index ]
[ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | FAST ]
Geographic
- [ index ] Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States)
Other Terms and Topics
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 3, 1946
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.
XML master last modified on May 2, 2022.
HTML version generated and published on May 3, 2022.
TMs, AERP, FDRL