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

      

NEW YORK, Thursday—Removal of the curfew and the racing ban, with the promise also that reconversion will begin in certain industries and that holders of "A" cards may get a little more gasoline in the future, are naturally accepted by everyone as tangible proofs that part of the war burden is being eased. It must not make us feel for one minute, however, that the necessity for an all-out war effort is any less than it was before the war ended in Europe.

Peace cannot be lasting unless we accept our responsibilities toward the peoples in Europe and in Asia. We have chosen the path of understanding and cooperation between nations to bring about a lasting peace. That really means that we must understand our fellow human beings throughout the world and must feel a constant responsibility toward them.

* * *

I have a long letter today telling about conditions in India and the need for outside aid. An organization has been formed, and the Quakers are dispensing dried milk, medical supplies and diet-supplementary drugs which are shipped from here at Indian government expense. This was begun last year at the request of the President's War Relief Control Board upon the recommendation of the American Mission in New Delhi.

Their first contributions came from the big labor groups in this country and from Governor Richard Casey of Bengal. Now they must appeal to the people of this country to give month by month what they feel are the absolute necessities for the people of India. I hope that local community chests throughout our country will be asked to give grants out of their collections, in this way representing the whole people of our communities.

India seems very far away, but that sense of distance is just what we must somehow surmount in our thinking. Many of our men are fighting in India today and will come home and tell us of the people there and their difficulties. Very few of us here have any conception of the problems which the people of India face in the development of unity in their nation, nor do we understand what problems the British Government and the people of India will eventually have to work out. The more we know, the more helpful we can be, and as our men come home from there they can tell us many things.

* * *

I have received a number of notices that people have given blood donations, at Red Cross centers, in memory of my husband. I am very grateful for this, and I am glad also that with the end of the war in Europe some of our blood donor centers are going to be closed, since the armed forces will not need quite as large a supply. That is a step forward which gives a lift to our hearts.

E. R.

(COPYRIGHT 1945 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 11, 1945

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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