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

[This column has emendations. View original version]

      

HYDE PARK—I am rather pleased that, subject to U.N. procedure, our State Department seems to have no objection to including in a summit meeting India and the Arab chiefs—which latter, I suppose, means mainly Mr. Nasser. What other Arab governments will be represented seems fairly unimportant. Mr. Nasser has become the spokesman for them all.

Mr. Krushchev, as usual, seemed in a great hurry when he said he would be ready to come on Monday. The mere physical arrangements for such a meeting at the United Nations, it seems to me, will take a little more preparation!

In addition, our government must make a good many arrangements for Mr. Krushchev's own safety. We are a nation made up of many nations, and there are refugees in our midst who undoubtedly do not feel too kindly towards the Head of the Government of the Soviet Union. So it will be necessary to make sure that he is well protected while here.

My husband used to say that it was not possible to ensure any Head of State against an attack from a person who was willing to risk his own life. And I suppose every Head of State accepts this as part of his daily job.

But the country where he is visiting must take every precaution against any possible accident and, therefore, I think we should be given the time to make the best possible arrangements. And if the meeting occurs within the next two weeks that would seem to me a real achievement.

I was relieved to see that Beirut has announced that the Lebanese parliament will meet and choose its President on July 31st. This should certainly quiet the fears of the opposition to the present regime.

In the past few days Thomas K. Finletter has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from New York. Senator Irving M. Ives, a Republican, is retiring this year on account of his health, and this gives the Democrats an opportunity to try to place in the Senate someone who has the capacity to grow and become as important a statesman as former Senator Herbert H. Lehman was.

While Senator Lehman was there we could be proud of his stature among his colleagues. He was called "the conscience of the Senate," and on several occasions stood alone, or almost alone, for what he thought was right. The other Republican Senator, Jacob K. Javits, is a good man, but I doubt that he can grow to be the influence and the leader that Senator Lehman was.

The only candidate that I see with the potentialities to give New York State the representation it should have is Mr. Finletter. He has already proved his competence in office. He is known in the national field and even internationally. His friends know that he has integrity.

When he says that the Senate "is one of the most powerful instruments for peace and freedom in the world," he knows that he can offer qualities to help make the Senate achieve these ends. For these reasons I am hoping that the New York State Convention will see fit to nominate Mr. Thomas K. Finletter, and that all our party leaders will work for his election.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1958, 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, July 28, 1958

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