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

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NEW YORK—All of us have been watching the governmental crisis in Jordan with a great deal of interest. It seems as though young King Hussein must have a great deal of courage to stand up against the threat of Soviet influences, even with the threat of a Syrian invasion hanging over him.

The economy drive being carried on by so many lawmakers in Congress seems to have succeeded fairly well.

There is no question that people feel that there has been waste in the way Federal money has been spent. I believe everyone is willing to pay taxes when he feels his money is being used for constructive and useful purposes.

But this must be explained to them, and that is one reason, I believe, so many people are opposed to foreign aid. For the most part, they do not understand the value foreign aid has for us as Americans, how vitally important it is in the war we constantly wage against the ideas of the Soviet government.

Without foreign economic aid, this battle might be lost, and I would rather see us give that economic aid through the United Nations so we do not at any time make people feel that we expect them to accept our domination, political or economic.

Something quite extraordinary is happening in this country this month. Two million volunteers are engaged in a drive by the American Cancer Society for $30 million.

They are asking the public to contribute this sum for research, for service and for a cancer educational program. Education already has cut death by cancer considerably, and research speeds the process of finally finding a preventative for this most dreaded of diseases.

The American Cancer Society is made up of local units from every part of the country and even extends into Alaska. I think we should be proud that we have a volunteer for every 60 American citizens.

When we fight cancer, we, of course, have the advantage of knowing that we are, at the same time, developing drugs and side information which will help in the research on other diseases.

Cancer kills 250,000 persons in this country every year, and the American Cancer Society feels that at least 75,000 of these died needlessly, so we cannot do too much to improve research, education and the services that can cut this needless loss of life.

I have just returned from meetings of the American Association for the United Nations in Los Angeles. I flew out Friday night, and after meetings on Saturday and Sunday, I took a plane back to New York. But before getting my plane, I had a pleasant visit with my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hershey Martin.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1957, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 18, 1957

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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