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

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LONDON—Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, who died last week, is remembered here in Britain as the instigator of the witch-hunt against the Communists in the United States.

I feel sorry for anyone who has that particular activity as his only claim to fame abroad. But I am quite sure that Senator McCarthy was sincere in his feeling that in the U.S. there was a great danger from hidden Communist influence and that he was doing a great good in trying to point the accusing finger at the Communists.

We must give the late Senator credit for doing what he felt was important. At the same time, however, one cannot help regret that a Senator of the U.S. should have had so little faith in the ability of his people to believe in democracy strongly enough so that even the Communist promises would have no great effect upon them.

Senator McCarthy's influence now has been removed. But there are others, probably just as genuine in their fears, whom I hope will eventually realize that a better understanding of democracy is a safer shield against Communism than the repression and fear engendered by the work of the Un-American Activities Committee.

Last week Miss Corr, my secretary, and I left New York's Idlewild Airport for London. But before we left I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon at which the Albert and Mary Lasker awards were given for the best articles and publicity on medical subjects during the past year.

It is so difficult to get good articles written on these subjects, and getting them published is almost as difficult as finding writers to do the necessary research. I was particularly glad to find the New York Herald Tribune and Look magazine among those who had the interest to inform the public on these subjects.

On our departure from Idlewild the weather was beautiful and we anticipated no delay, but we were told that we would be forced to stop at Sydney, Nova Scotia, for refueling because of the plane's heavy load.

By the time we reached Sydney the weather was so bad that we proceeded to Goose Bay, Labrador. Our stop there was short, but we arrived in London so many hours late that Lady Reading unfortunately was obliged to cancel an engagement for me to meet with the Minister of Education at lunch.

The Youth Aliyah group, for whom I have come here to make three speeches, met me at the airport with Lady Reading. The press met with me briefly and I had two short interviews on radio before we got away from the airport, so it was after 3 p.m. before we reached London.

My only other commitment in the afternoon was a short television interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation network. In the evening I had the pleasure of dining with Lord Elibank, who was an old and dear friend of my husband.

E.R.

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


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 6, 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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