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

      

NEW YORK, Thursday—The story of the riot staged by veterans in Brussels, Belgium, around the Parliament building, while the deputies were debating the budget for national defense, is one of the sad stories which brings home to us that, when soldiers return to their own country and cease being soldiers, there is a need to learn that at all times a man is a citizen first. The same thing which is happening in Belgium might happen here unless our veterans remember the important fact that they have to live in the land they have saved, and that only by promoting the welfare of all the people can their own welfare be secure.

I am glad to note that not only the President but a number of the influential writers in this country are emphasizing that we have to accept our moral obligations in the United Nations and redeem them in hard cash, regardless of all of our money-saving desires. I can well understand the desire of Congress to begin to pay off the national debt and to balance the budget, and I am in no position to judge where savings should be made. I feel quite sure, however, that they cannot be made at the expense of people who have suffered all that human beings can endure, and who must still build up their countries in order that we may all return to normal economic activities.

* * *

One of my newspaper friends has written to ask me to settle a question which keeps coming up in newspaper offices and also when I am introduced on speaking engagements. Do I want to be called Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt or Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt? Of course, I want to be called the latter.

I have been called that ever since I was married and it would seem very odd to change. I understand perfectly well that a professional or business woman who has made a name for herself may find it difficult and confusing to change her name professionally when she marries, but that does not happen to be my situation. I have never made any name for myself, and as I have always been known as Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, it seems to me simpler and more correct to be called that.

* * *

The young pianist, William Kapell, who played with the Philadelphia Orchestra here in New York the other evening really performed in a most distinguished manner. His technique is extraordinary. The program told us that he is a product of our settlement music schools, which I think should make us proud. I have always felt that the music and art work done at Greenwich House in this city was outstanding and of great value to the young people in the neighborhood. In the case of Mr. Kapell, a musician of great talent has been developed.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1947, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR PART PROHIBITED.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, February 28, 1947

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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