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

[This column has emendations. View original version]

      

HYDE PARK—Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's remark to his press conference in Washington that American foreign policy is "far less rigid than I had thought" certainly should have amused certain Americans who have been saying for some time that American foreign policy is almost nonexistent!

Of course, this was not meant literally by any of them, I am sure, but they were trying to convey their own lack of understanding of what American foreign policy is and where it actually is going.

It certainly has been clear of late that there have been changes in American policy. For instance, we seemed to have drifted very far away from our former allies, the French and the British. We are now told, however, that Secretary of State John Foster Dulles has been trying to remedy that situation and we hope he will be entirely successful.

We realize also that in our latest actions we seem to have tried to prove that we stand practically alone among nations as far as our position towards friend and foe alike is concerned. What we believe to be right is what we stand for, whether it means that we pass adverse judgment on either our friends or on our foes.

This is an admirable stand to take, but not one we have always taken in the past. However, in this particular case it brought us praise from areas of the world which previously felt we always would be plagued by political expediency and our alliances and, therefore, could never be counted upon for any real judgment as to right and wrong.

Now they feel that this has changed. And it may well be that if we actually mean what we have said and from now on are going to have a policy based on our convictions of what is right and wrong and that, come what may, we will stand for our own beliefs and will not be influenced by expediency or political effect of a situation, this may really be the start of a new era in the conduct of foreign affairs for the countries of the world!

I think such a stand would be a complete surprise and might bring about some rather astounding results. It will take courage to develop such a policy, however, and it is not easy to determine what the people of the United States really believe in many of the situations that face us.

It is encouraging to have Prime Minister Nehru optimistic about relations between India and the U.S., and both he and the President certainly must have gained some greater personal understanding in their long hours together.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1956, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 22, 1956

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 UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
TMs, AERP, FDRL