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

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HYDE PARK, Thursday—I am surprised to find that some of our newspapers approve the attack of the South Korean Foreign Minister, Mr. Y.T. Pyun, on India. He called wanting India to sit at the peace table "appeasement, treachery, pandering, betraying and scheming" and wanted India to be seated on the Communist side.

Why must we have sides? Why can't we have a round table conference in which everyone is interested in finding peaceful solutions to the questions that face us in Asia? Certainly, India with her 350 million people is a key nation in helping us solve these problems. There must be ways in which we could find some solution which would not be quite as bad as actually voting against India as a member of the conference.

Perhaps we could limit the first conference and arrange for a second to be held at a definite date in which all interested parties would be included. It seems to me that what we are doing now is forcing India to side with the Communists and so far she has had no desire to be aligned with them. Great Britain does not want to further the Communist cause. She is trying to keep India and Red China from turning completely to the Soviet Union because they have no hope of consideration from the United States.

I have always felt we could not in any way compromise with the People's Republic of China as long as they were at war with the United Nations, but when the war ceases and we try to make peace in Asia, we must consider all of the people on that continent.

We found it impossible not to resume diplomatic relations with the Spanish Government, though the U.S. had not approved of Franco's actions in accepting help from Germany and Italy in order to gain possession of that government. We saw, however, that the Spanish people could not be ignored and that their government as it continued to exist must be dealt with in the diplomatic field. That seems to have set a precedent for further action.

After a warm day in the country on Tuesday, during which we had a wonderful birthday celebration for little Joan Roosevelt, who is one year old, I went to New York by an evening train for an even warmer day there. I had to be up early Wednesday morning for a breakfast radio program with Tex and Jinx. I was glad I had had my breakfast before I reached the Waldorf, since I think it would have been very difficult to concentrate on the questions asked and eat at the same time!

I enjoyed the program very much and all the guests they had were anxious to ask questions when Tex and Jinx gave them an opportunity. What charm those two young people have.

Sometimes I think that a kindly spirit and interest in other people gives a warmth which can be felt even over the radio.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
  • Franco, Francisco, 1892-1975 [ index ]
         Spanish military leader and dictator; Caudillo of Spain from 1936 to 1975
         [ LC | VIAF | Wikidata | SNAC ]
  • Pyun, Y.T., 1892-1969 [ index ]
         South Korean politician; foreign minister
         [ ISNI | VIAF ]
  • Schoonmaker, Joan Roosevelt, 1952- [ index ]
         ER's and FDR's granddaugher
         [ LC | ISNI | VIAF ]
Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, August 28, 1953

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)
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  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
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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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