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

      

WESTBROOK, Conn. —As usual after a political convention, rumors of every kind are flying around concerning last week's Democratic meeting in Los Angeles, and one of them had it that I left Los Angeles on Thursday because I would not sit on the same platform as Sen. John Kennedy.

What utter and complete nonsense!

I had made my travel reservations for Thursday and Friday before the convention opened, and when the first ballot brought Senator Kennedy's nomination, I thought it best to keep my Thursday reservations and come home then, since whenever I am gone for more than a day my desk becomes so loaded with correspondence that it is truly terrifying to face.

There are always innumerable obligations, too, that I should fulfill if I am at home and can do so. Going away just adds to my burden of work when I come home, so staying in Los Angeles for what would have been pleasant but perfunctory meetings did not seem very sensible to me.

I want to thank the many people who sent telegrams to me before the Democratic convention in support of Adlai Stevenson. They will understand that it is impossible for me to thank them personally.

All the messages were given to the Stevenson headquarters before the nomination. Those sent afterward were forwarded to Sen. Mike Monroney's office in Washington so that, if in his judgment Mr. Stevenson would like them in his records, they could go to him.

It would be equally impossible for two busy men such as Senator Monroney and Mr. Stevenson to acknowledge all those messages I sent along to the Senator's office, or those they received personally, so I wish to tell everyone how grateful I am for their kind words and how much I wish we had been able to register more effectively what I feel was a movement of the people.

While I am happy that so much spontaneous affection and appreciation was shown for Mr. Stevenson's qualities of statesmanship, I cannot help feeling rather relieved that he will not have to head the campaign against Vice-President Richard Nixon. This will not be a pleasant campaign, and in many ways I feel that Senator Kennedy is better fitted to organize and plan it.

Because of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's position, the Republican convention in Chicago will be more interesting than was indicated, but I don't think it will command the attention that the Democrats managed to hold for so many days in Los Angeles.

It will disappoint a good many of our lawmakers if New York State, because of its drop in population as revealed by the 1960 census, loses two or three of its 43 seats in the House of Representatives and New York City's representation drops from 22 to 20.

Of course, there will be difficulty in deciding where these changes will come about, but the population shift makes a difference and the suburbs will gain over the city. For instance, Nassau and Suffolk Counties have doubled their population since 1950.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1960, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Westbrook (Conn., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 20, 1960

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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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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