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

      

NEW YORK, Thursday—I must acknowledge a mistake that I have been asked to correct. I referred to ex-Justice Owen J. Roberts as heading up a group of the people who are trying to bring about world government. He is, of course, the head of the Atlantic Union, and the objective of the Atlantic Union is to get the President of the United States to call a convention of the seven democracies—the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg—as well as such other democracies as they wish to invite. They are then to explore whether these democracies can take further steps "toward integrating their resources and procedures in the manner used by the American states when they formed the United States."

I knew all this, but when I was trying to think of the responsible people who were in the committee for the promotion of world government, ex-Justice Roberts' name came to my mind as highly respectable.

I might have used any of the others who are also highly respectable in the world government group, but I apologize to the Justice and realize that it was very wrong of me to put him in the wrong group.

It does emphasize, however, the fact that there are a great many groups all doing something in the area of international relations. Sometimes I wonder if they are not confusing all of us considerably.

I know what the United Nations is trying to do. I cannot claim that it always succeeds, but I would like as many people in the United States as possible to feel that they really understand the program, and that they are able to sort out truth from falsehood when they hear it on this one subject.

I have a letter from a gentleman, a very honest and painstaking person, I imagine, who cannot tell the difference between the Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant of Human Rights.

The delegate from Uruguay in the Human Rights Commission yesterday moved that Thursday, May 1, be a holiday because in his country it is a national holiday. Other delegates backed him up, saying May 1 was becoming an international holiday and, therefore, should be observed by the United Nations. Those of us who work through any number of our national holidays which might well be called international, we think, tried to point out that we had a great deal of work to do and very little accomplished so far, but it was of no avail. Thursday was declared a holiday.

I have a notice from the United Church Women of the National Council of Churches, calling my attention to the fact that May 2 is Fellowship Day. This day is to be devoted throughout the country to the strengthening of spiritual ties within the family.

This group suggests that we say to people on this day: "Build a partnership at home. Build spiritual security with your family. The United Church Women of the National Council of Churches urge you to pray together today, May Fellowship Day."

If we do this at home it will spread throughout our country and have an effect in the far-off corners of the earth.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 2, 1952

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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