The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers: The Human Rights Years, 1945-1948

by Eleanor Roosevelt, Allida Black

Overview

"Eleanor Roosevelt once asked, ‘Where do human rights begin? In small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.’ As the Chair of the United Nations commission drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt worked tirelessly from 1946 to 1948.... Through Volume 1 of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, we honor her work, her legacy, her timeless values and ideals, and her commitment to imagining a better future for all people. As you read through this volume, I hope her words will be a call to action."—from the foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Eleanor Roosevelt walked out of the White House more than the president's widow. As a nationally syndicated columnist, popular lecturer, author, party leader, and social activist, Roosevelt assured her friends that "my voice will not be silent." Vowing not to be a "workless worker in a world of work," Roosevelt dedicated her unstinting energy to "winning the peace."

The 410 documents in The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Volume 1: The Human Rights Years, 1945-1948, collected from 263 archives in 50 states and 9 nations, chronicle not only Roosevelt's impact on American politics and the United Nations, but also the serious treatment she received from those in power. They disclose the inner workings of Truman's first administration, the United Nations, and the major social and political movements of the postwar world. They also reveal the intense struggles Roosevelt's correspondents and advisors had confronting a war-scarred world, the conflicting advice they gave her, and the material Roosevelt reviewed and the people she consulted while determining her own course of action.

Using a wide variety of material—letters, speeches, columns, debates, committee transcripts, telegrams, and diary entries—this first of five volumes presents a representative selection of the actions Eleanor Roosevelt took to define, implement, and promote human rights and the impact her work had at home and abroad. Readers may disagree over various decisions she made, language that she used, or the priorities she established. Yet her influence is unquestioned.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813929248
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	03/01/2010
Series:	Eleanor Roosevelt Papers , #1
Pages:	1200
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Allida Black, Research Professor of History and International Affairs at The George Washington University, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, the Center for New Deal Studies, and the National Coalition for History. Her publications include Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism, What I Hope to Leave Behind: The Essential Essays of Eleanor Roosevelt, and Courage in a Dangerous World: The Political Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xxv
Foreword     xxxi
Introduction     xxxv
Editorial Principles and Practices     xlv
Chronology     li
Abbreviations     lix
1945: April-December
Introduction: "We have to start again under our own momentum and wonder what we can achieve."     1
Leaving the White House
Eleanor Roosevelt to Lorena Hickok 19 April 1945     13
On Starting Over
My Day 19 April 1945     15
On FDR and the Founding of the United Nations
My Day 25 April 1945     18
On Germans and the Holocaust
My Day 28 April 1945     21
On the Dangers of Racial Superiority
My Day 30 April 1945     23
If You Ask Me [excerpt] May 1945     25
On Churchill, Stalin, and the German Surrender
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 10 May 1945     27
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 14 May 1945     28
On the Bretton Woods Accords
My Day 21 May 1945     33
On ER's Political Future
Harold Ickes to Eleanor Roosevelt 21 May 1945     35
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harold Ickes 26 May 1945     36
On the Importance of Unions
My Day 26 May 1945     39
On Stettinius and the San Francisco Conference
My Day 31 May 1945     41
My Day 1 June 1945     42
Eleanor Roosevelt and Democratic Party Politics
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 3 June 1945     46
Eleanor Roosevelt to Robert Hannegan 3 June 1945     47
Eleanor Roosevelt to Edward Flynn 8 June 1945     49
On Earl Browder and the Communist Party of the United States
My Day 9 June 1945     53
My Day 22 June 1945     54
"Tolerance Is an Ugly Word" July 1945     56
On Being a Correspondent in Russia
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 2 July 1945     57
On Argentina, Poland, and the United Nations
Edward Stettinius to Eleanor Roosevelt 10 July 1945     59
Edward Stettinius to Eleanor Roosevelt 26 July 1945     60
Eleanor Roosevelt and the National Citizens Political Action Committee
Eleanor Roosevelt to C. B. Baldwin 19 July 1945     63
Eleanor Roosevelt to Sidney Hillman 27 July 1945     64
"From the Melting Pot-An American Race" 14 July 1945     66
On Martin Niemoller, Part 1
My Day 7 August 1945     70
Ben L. Rose to Eleanor Roosevelt 4 September 1945     71
Eleanor Roosevelt to Ben L. Rose 20 September 1945     72
Trude Lash to Eleanor Roosevelt 1 October 1945     72
On the New York City Mayoral Race
My Day 9 August 1945     76
David Dubinsky to Eleanor Roosevelt 24 August 1945     77
Eleanor Roosevelt to David Dubinsky 27 August 1945     79
Eleanor Roosevelt to David Dubinsky 24 September 1945     80
On the Atomic Bomb
My Day 11 August 1945     85
On the Japanese Surrender
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 15 August 1945     87
Eleanor Roosevelt and Trusteeship Politics
Charles Taussig Conversation wth Eleanor Roosevelt 27 August 1945     91
Eleanor Roosevelt and United Feature Syndicate's Russian Assignment
Eleanor Roosevelt to James Byrnes 30 August 1945     96
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 14 September 1945     97
On Full Employment
My Day 30 August 1945     99
If You Ask Me [excerpt] September 1945     101
"Public Health" September 1945     102
On the Pearl Harbor Commission and Congress
My Day 1 September 1945     104
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 1 September 1945     105
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 7 September 1945     106
On the UAW Strike Against General Motors
My Day 19 September 1945     108
"Suspicion as Peace Bar Feared by Mrs. Roosevelt" 2 October 1945     111
Rebutting Walter Winchell
"Mrs. Roosevelt Says U.S. Must Forget Fears" 10 October 1945     114
"Mrs. Roosevelt Speaks Out" [excerpt] 22 October 1945     115
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter Winchell 22 October 1945     115
On Hazel Scott, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Constitution Hall
My Day 15 October 1945     118
Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Auto Workers Strike
Walter Reuther to Eleanor Roosevelt 15 October 1945     120
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter Reuther 25 October 1945     120
On FDR, King Ibn Saud, and a Jewish State in Palestine
My Day 25 October 1945     123
Campaigning for the National Citizens Political Action Committee
"Mrs. Roosevelt in PAC Talk Here" 1 November 1945     125
Pushing for Full Employment
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 1 November 1945     130
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 6 November 1945     131
Interceding for Refugee Aid
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dean Acheson 15 November 1945     134
On Winning the Peace
Founders' Day Dinner Address, Roosevelt College 16 November 1945     136
Assessing the Truman Administration
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 20 November 1945     139
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 26 November 1945     141
On Truman's National Health Insurance Proposal
My Day [excerpt] 24 November 1945     145
"Mrs. Roosevelt Hits Mme. Chiang" 5 December 1945     147
On the United Auto Workers Strike
My Day 8 December 1945     149
Walter Reuther to Eleanor Roosevelt 14 December 1945     150
On Funding the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
My Day 18 December 1945     154
On Discrimination against Japanese Americans
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 21 December 1945     156
Eleanor Roosevelt Accepts Appointment to the United Nations
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 21 December 1945     158
My Day 22 December 1945     159
Archibald MacLeish to Eleanor Roosevelt 27 December 1945     160
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 December 1945     161
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 December 1945     162
On the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief
Eleanor Roosevelt to Orson Welles 30 December 1945     168
1946: January-May
Introduction: "When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?"     171
"I Can Say Just What I Want"
Memorandum of Press Conference 3 January 1946     182
Eleanor Roosevelt's London Diary
London Diary 6 January 1946     193
London Diary 7 January 1946     194
London Diary 9 January 1946     195
Drafting the US Position on Refugees
Minutes of Meeting of Committee 3 Group 10 January 1946     202
Fielding Questions on the United Nations
Memorandum of Press Conference 15 January 1946     207
Eleanor Roosevelt's London Diary
London Diary 16 January 1946     213
On Hopes for the United Nations
Albert Hall Speech 17 January 1946     216
On Jews, Relocation, and Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs. Lafayette A. Goldstone 18 January 1946     219
Eleanor Roosevelt's London Diary
London Diary 23 January 1946     221
London Diary 27 January 1946     221
The Madison Square Garden Rally for the FEPC
A. Philip Randolph to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 January 1946     228
Opposing Refugee Repatriation
Speech before the Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs 28 January 1946     230
On Argentina and Other Matters
Eleanor Roosevelt to Joseph Lash 3 February 1946     234
Eleanor Roosevelt's London Diary
London Diary 6 February 1946     238
Recapping the UN's First Session
My Day 11 February 1946     242
Debating Vyshinsky and United Nations Refugee Policy, Part 1
Andrei Vyshinsky's Speech in the General Assembly 12 February 1946     244
Eleanor Roosevelt's Response 12 February 1946     246
Eleanor Roosevelt to Joseph Lash 13 February 1946     248
On Refugees and Postwar Germany
My Day 16 February 1946     252
My Day 18 February 1946     253
Speech before Women's Division of the United Jewish Appeal 20 February 1946     255
If You Ask Me [excerpt] March 1946     262
On Postwar Europe, Soviet Posturing, and Presidential Cronyism
Memorandum for the President 1 March 1946     264
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 7 March 1946     267
"The Heavy Cost of Peace"
Address to the "Women's Joint Congressional Committee 14 March 1946     271
On Winston Churchill
Arthur Murray to Eleanor Roosevelt 19 March 1946     280
Eleanor Roosevelt to Arthur Murray 13 April 1946     280
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Columbia, Tennessee, Riot
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 19 March 1946     283
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White 22 March 1946     283
Mary McLeod Bethune to Eleanor Roosevelt 23 March 1946     283
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 25 March 1946     284
Minutes of the National Committee for Defense of Columbia, Tennessee "Riot" Victims 4 April 1946     286
Creating a Machinery for Peace
"Mrs. Roosevelt Speaks" 29 March 1946     290
Rebutting Jim Crow
Eleanor Roosevelt to Allen Smith 24 April 1946     293
On Immigration to Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to James McDonald 28 April 1946     295
Instructing the Nuclear Commission on Human Rights
Commission on Human Rights Summary Record [excerpt] 2 May 1946     298
On Preventing World War III
My Day 7 May 1946     303
On the Proposed UN Subcommission on the Status of Women
Carrie Chapman Catt to Eleanor Roosevelt 7 May 1946     305
On Intermarriage
James Evans to Eleanor Roosevelt 7 May 1946     309
Eleanor Roosevelt to James Evans 13 May 1946     310
On the Railroad Strike and the Children's Bureau
My Day 25 May 1946     312
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 27 May 1946     313
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 10 June 1946     314
On the National Committee for Justice in Columbia, Tennessee
Fund-raising Letter 29 May 1946     318
1946: June-December
Introduction: "In our haste to get back to the business of normal living, have we forgotten to be the great people we that we were expected to be?"     321
If You Ask Me [excerpt] June 1946     328
On Women, Equal Rights, and the United Nations
My Day 1 June 1946     329
On Stettinius's Resignation
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 1 June 1946     332
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 4 June 1946     333
On United States Policy on Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to James Byrnes 5 June 1946     335
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 12 June 1946     335
On Refugees and Displaced Persons
Katherine, Duchess of Atholl, to Eleanor Roosevelt 14 June 1946     338
Eleanor Roosevelt to Katherine Atholl 19 June 1946      339
Refuting Anti-Semitism
Eleanor Roosevelt to Peggie Wingard 14 June 1946     341
On Bernard Baruch and Atomic Energy
My Day 17 June 1946     342
Rebutting the British Position on Palestine
My Day 22 June 1946     345
Challenging the Columbia Grand Jury
Statement by the National Committee for Justice in Columbia, Tennessee 26 June 1946     347
On Invoking FDR's Name
Eleanor Roosevelt to Stephen Feeley 27 June 1946     349
Eleanor Roosevelt and Conscientious Objectors, Part 1
Eleanor Roosevelt to Malcolm Parker and Friends 27 June 1946     352
Eleanor Roosevelt to Tom Clark 27 June 1946     352
Tom Clark to Eleanor Roosevelt 29 July 1946     352
Women and the Truman Administration
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 30 June 1946     356
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 8 July 1946     357
Declining, Once Again
"Why I Do Not Choose To Run" 9 July 1946     359
On the Equal Rights Amendment
Eleanor Roosevelt to Florence Kitchelt 23 July 1946     362
On Faith and Governance
My Day 8 August 1946     363
On American Values and Foreign Aid
My Day 23 August 1946     365
On the Irgun, Bevin, and the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
Eleanor Roosevelt to Stella Reading 23 August 1946     368
Stella Reading to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 August 1946      369
Critiquing Dewey, Challenging the Party
Keynote Speech, Democratic State Convention 3 September 1946     371
On the Partition of Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Van Horn Moseley 5 September 1946     378
Offering Campaign Advice
Eleanor Roosevelt to William Schafer 8 September 1946     380
Baruch and Wallace on the Atomic Bomb
Telephone Message from Bernard Baruch for Eleanor Roosevelt [18?] September 1946     382
On Truman, Stalin, and Churchill
Eleanor Roosevelt to Arthur Murray 10 October 1946     384
Following Up on the Columbia, Tennessee, Riot
Thurgood Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 October 1946     386
Tom Clark to Eleanor Roosevelt 26 November 1946     388
On Strikes, Big Labor, and Wage Controls
Eleanor Roosevelt to Hugh Sanford 30 October 1946     390
On Faith and Prejudice
"The Minorities Question" November 1946     392
Debating Vyshinsky and United Nations Refugee Policy, Part 2
Statement, U.S. Position on International Refugee Organization 8 November 1946     396
On the Republican Sweep in 1946
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 8 November 1946     402
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 14 November 1946     402
Women, Equal Rights, and the United Nations
Nora Stanton Barney to Eleanor Roosevelt 11 November 1946     404
Eleanor Roosevelt to Nora Stanton Barney 25 November 1946     405
Eleanor Roosevelt and Conscientious Objectors, Part 2
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 2 December 1946     407
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 6 December 1946     407
A Proposed International Congress of Women
Eleanor Roosevelt to Louise Grant Smith 3 December 1946     409
On Recognizing Franco
Freda Kirchwey to Eleanor Roosevelt 3 December 1946     411
Eleanor Roosevelt to Freda Kirchwey 4 December 1946     412
Freda Kirchwey to Eleanor Roosevelt 11 December 1946     412
Eleanor Roosevelt to Freda Kirchwey [?] December 1946     413
On Martin Niemoller, Part 2
Eleanor Roosevelt to G. Bromley Oxnam 6 December 1946     418
Eleanor Roosevelt to G. Bromley Oxnam 21 December 1946     419
Interceding for Refugees
Jan Masaryk to Eleanor Roosevelt 13 December 1946     421
On the International Refugee Organization and UNICEF
My Day 13 December 1946     423
Speech to the General Assembly on the International Refugee Organization 15 December 1946     424
Eleanor Roosevelt to Edward Flynn 17 December 1946     426
Eleanor Roosevelt to Clarence Pickett 17 December 1946     427
Responding to a Vehement Critic
Eleanor Roosevelt to Vincent Burns [?] December 1946     431
On Franco and Stalin
Eleanor Roosevelt to Catherine Gallagher 21 December 1946     434
On the Progressive Citizens of America
Eleanor Roosevelt to C. B. Baldwin 29 December 1946     438
C. B. Baldwin to Eleanor Roosevelt 13 January 1947     438
Eleanor Roosevelt to C.B. Baldwin 16 January 1947     439
1947: January-June
Introduction: "I feel very keenly the importance of this Commission"     441
If You Ask Me [excerpt] January 1947     448
Eleanor Roosevelt and Americans for Democratic Action, Part 1
"Liberals Look Ahead for Gains under Democratic Action" 4 January 1947     450
Eleanor Roosevelt to Helen Bush 16 January 1947     452
Bipartisanship and Foreign Policy
Eleanor Roosevelt to Arthur Vandenberg 6 January 1947     455
Arthur Vandenberg to Eleanor Roosevelt 9 January 1947     456
Interceding for Illegal Immigrants
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 7 January 1947     459
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 16 January 1947     459
On the Proposed Women's International Information Service
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dean Acheson 8 January 1947     462
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 19 February 1947     463
Eleanor Roosevelt to Stella Reading 26 May 1947     464
Answering a College Student's Questions
Eleanor Roosevelt to Peter Lucas 11 January 1947     467
On American Relief for Greek Democracy
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Boardman 11 January 1947     468
Answering a High School Student's Questions
Beatrice Hauser to Eleanor Roosevelt 13 January 1947     470
Eleanor Roosevelt to Beatrice Hauser January 1947     470
On Communism, Fascism, and Americans for Democratic Action
Eleanor Roosevelt to Max Lerner 19 January 1947     473
Max Lerner to Eleanor Roosevelt 22 January 1947     473
Eleanor Roosevelt to Max Lerner 28 January 1947     474
On Common Cause
Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs. Wales Latham 19 January 1947     476
Eleanor Roosevelt and Americans for Democratic Action, Part 2
"Mrs. Roosevelt's Position" 23 January 1947     478
Eleanor Roosevelt to James Loeb, Jr. January 1947     479
Refusing to Speak in Toronto
Eleanor Roosevelt to Faye McLean 23 January 1947     481
Eleanor Roosevelt to Faye McLean 23 February 1947     481
On the Rehabilitation of Germany and the IRO
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 27 January 1947     484
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 4 February 1947     485
Determining the HRC Position on Petitions
Verbatim Report, Commission on Human Rights [excerpt] 27 January 1947     489
On Braden, Messersmith, Peron, and US Policy toward Argentina
Eleanor Roosevelt to Sumner Welles 2 February 1947     492
Sumner Welles to Eleanor Roosevelt 5 February 1947     493
Eleanor Roosevelt to Sumner Welles 12 February 1947     495
Sumner Welles to Eleanor Roosevelt 17 February 1947     496
Eleanor Roosevelt to Sumner Welles 23 February 1947     498
Proposing Ground Rules for Committee Debates on Human Rights
Commission on Human Rights, Verbatim Record [excerpt] 4 February 1947     506
Diplomacy, Soviet Style
"The Russians Are Tough" 18 February 1947     511
Questioning the Administration's Policy on Greece
Memorandum of Conversation between Eleanor Roosevelt and Thomas Powers, Jr. 25 March 1947     516
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 11 April 1947     517
Questioning the Truman Doctrine, Part 1
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dean Acheson 26 March 1947     519
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 15 April 1947     520
On the Call for a Third Party
Fiorello La Guardia to Eleanor Roosevelt 2 April 1947     522
Eleanor Roosevelt to Fiorello La Guardia 11 April 1947     524
Progressive Citizens of America
Eleanor Roosevelt to Nedra Dalmann 11 April 1947     527
On Aid to Yugoslavia, Part 1
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dean Acheson 11 April 1947     529
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 April 1947     530
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dean Acheson 16 April 1947     531
Dean Acheson to Eleanor Roosevelt 7 May 1947     531
Questioning the Truman Doctrine, Part 2
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 17 April 1947     533
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 7 May 1947     534
On Wallace's European Lecture Tour
Eleanor Roosevelt to C. B. Baldwin 17 April 1947     540
On Aid to Yugoslavia, Part 2
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 19 May 1947     541
The US, Great Britain, Russia, and the Rehabilitation of Germany
Eleanor Roosevelt to John Foster Dulles 21 May 1947     544
John Foster Dulles to Eleanor Roosevelt 26 May 1947     545
Eleanor Roosevelt to John Foster Dulles 3 June 1947     546
Education and the Perfection of Democracy
Address, Roosevelt College 24 May 1947     548
On the Violence in Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 26 May 1947     552
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 20 June 1947     552
If You Ask Me [excerpt] June 1947     555
Preparing to Draft the Declaration
James Hendrick Memorandum of Conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt 3 June 1947     556
Draft Eisenhower and the California Jackson Day Dinner
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 7 June 1947     560
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 16 June 1947     561
Eleanor Roosevelt to James Roosevelt 26 June 1947     562
Criticizing Taft-Hartley and John L. Lewis
Eleanor Roosevelt to A. F. Whitney 17 June 1947     565
Debating Cassin's Draft Declaration
Verbatim Record of the Drafting Committee of the Commission on Human Rights [excerpt] 20 June 1947     567
On Negotiating with Russia
Eleanor Roosevelt to Chester Bryant 28 June 1947     575
1947: July-December
Introduction: "Either we are strong enough to live as a free people or we will become a police state."     577
If You Ask Me [excerpt] July 1947     586
Eleanor Roosevelt, Warren Austin, and the Proposed Covenants on Human Rights
James Hendrick Memorandum of Conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt 3 July 1947     587
Assessing the Marshall Plan
Eleanor Roosevelt to Mary Ester R. Hill 6 July 1947     590
On Faith, Political Stewardship, and Racial Violence
Dorothy Tilly to Eleanor Roosevelt 14 July 1947     592
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dorothy Tilly 31 July 1947     593
The United Nations and the Marshall Plan
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 18 July 1947     597
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 22 July 1947     597
The Stratton Bill and US Refugee Policy
My Day 23 July 1947     599
On Jewish War Orphans
Eleanor Roosevelt to James Hendrick 31 July 1947     602
James Hendrick to Eleanor Roosevelt 15 October 1947     603
On Prejudice and American Fascism
My Day 13 August 1947      605
On Federal Aid to Parochial Schools
Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs. Philip McMahon 18 August 1947     607
Lobbying for the Exodus
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 21 August 1947     609
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 23 August 1947     610
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 30 August 1947     610
Mobilizing to Support the Stratton Bill
Eleanor Roosevelt to Charl Williams 24 August 1947     613
On Taft-Hartley
My Day 25 August 1947     614
Albert Harris to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 August 1947     615
Eleanor Roosevelt to Albert Harris 8 September 1947     616
If You Ask Me [excerpt] September 1947     619
Selecting the Party's Chairman
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 3 September 1947     620
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 29 September 1947     620
On Humanitarian Aid for Germany
Eleanor Roosevelt to W. D. Kuenzli 8 September 1947     622
Assessing Protestantism, Wallace, and the Truman Doctrine
Eleanor Roosevelt to E. Ralph Wiborg 21 September 1947     624
HUAC and the Hanns Eisler Case
Sumner Welles to Eleanor Roosevelt 29 September 1947     626
Eleanor Roosevelt to Sumner Welles 6 October 1947     627
The Plight of the Navajo
My Day 30 September 1947     629
On the NAACP Motion to United Nations, Part 1
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 20 October 1947     632
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 21 October 1947     633
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White 22 October 1947     634
Assessing Vyshinsky
My Day 23 October 1947     636
Defending Secretary Marshall and the State Department
Eleanor Roosevelt to J. Marshall Cooper 24 October 1947     638
On Military Training
Eleanor Roosevelt to Alma Sue Emrick 24 October 1947     641
Defending Freedom of the Press
Remarks by Eleanor Roosevelt, Meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly 28 October 1947     644
On HUAC and the Hollywood Ten
My Day 29 October 1947     649
On Religious Freedom in Yugoslavia
My Day 4 November 1947     652
On the Rights of Displaced Persons
United States Mission to the United Nations Press Release 6 November 1947     655
"Mrs. Roosevelt Puts Future Up to Women"
Eleanor Roberts Interviews Eleanor Roosevelt 9 November 1947     658
Youthful Inquiry into UN Decision-Making
Louis Darabant to Eleanor Roosevelt 12 November 1947     663
Eleanor Roosevelt to Louis Darabant 27 November 1947     663
On Loyalty Oaths
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 13 November 1947     665
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 26 November 1947     666
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 13 November 1947     667
Robert Lovett to Eleanor Roosevelt 22 November 1947     668
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 26 November 1947     669
On Religion in Yugoslavia and Allegations of Anti-Catholic Bias
Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs. H. Kinerk 17 November 1947     673
On Truman's Foreign Aid Appropriation
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 25 November 1947     676
On the PCA and Taking a Stand Against Communism
Eleanor Roosevelt to Nina Dexter [1 December ?] 1947     678
On the NAACP Petition to United Nations, Part 2
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 28 November 1947     680
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White 8 December 1947     681
Walter White to Eleanor Roosevelt 9 December 1947     682
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White 12 December 1947     682
Presenting the US Position on Drafting the Declaration and Covenants
Commission on Human Rights, Summary Record, Meeting [excerpt] 2 December 1947     685
Reviewing the Commission's Work with the Press
"U.S. Doubts Scored by Mrs. Roosevelt" 14 December 1947     687
Reviewing the Commission's Work with the Public
My Day 18 December 1947     689
"We Are Living in a Transitory Period"
Eleanor Roosevelt to Frank Hawkins 29 December 1947     691
On Wallace, the Progressive Party, and Political Ineptitude
My Day 31 December 1947      695
1948: January-June
Introduction: "Needless to say, this issue is of deep concern to me."     697
Lobbying for a Covenant on Human Rights
Memorandum of Conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt and Others 14 January 1948     709
Eleanor Roosevelt to Robert Lovett 16 January 1948     711
On Anna Rosenberg and Truman's Congressional Agenda
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 16 January 1948     714
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 19 January 1948     714
The NAACP Petition to the UN, Part 3
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White 20 January 1948     718
Defending Truman, Responding to a Young Critic
Eleanor Roosevelt to Larry McEvitt 30 January 1948     720
Eleanor Roosevelt and the US Policy on Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 28 January 1948     722
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 29 January 1948     724
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 16 February 1948     724
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall February 1948     725
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 2 February 1948     726
On Wallace, the PCA, and American Communists
Eleanor Roosevelt to Curtis MacDougall 30 January 1948     731
On "The American Way of Life"
Eleanor Roosevelt to Elsa Marcussen 2 February 1948     733
On Civil Rights and Social Equality
My Day 9 February 1948     734
L. C. Christian to Eleanor Roosevelt 21 February 1948     736
Eleanor Roosevelt to L. C. Christian 26 February 1948     737
On Arab Leadership and the Crisis in Palestine
My Day 13 February 1948     739
On Karl Propper, Southern Democrats, and Electoral Politics
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 20 February 1948     741
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 27 February 1948     742
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 4 March 1948     743
On Traveling as a "Private Citizen" and the Marshall Plan
Eleanor Roosevelt to Juliana von Nassau 24 February 1948     746
Defending the UN Partition Plan for Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to Lydia Bacon 27 February 1948     748
Explaining Her Vote, Countering Soviet Propaganda, and Correcting the Press
Eleanor Roosevelt to Alice Balassa 27 February 1948     750
If You Ask Me [excerpt] March 1948     752
On Lovett and Social and Economic Rights
Memorandum of Conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt 4 March 1948     754
On African Americans and the Democratic Vote
Eleanor Roosevelt to J. Howard McGrath 6 March 1948     757
"The Situation Abroad Seems to Me to Be Deteriorating Rapidly"
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 13 March 1948     759
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 13 March 1948     760
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 16 March 1948      761
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 17 March 1948     762
Preventing World War III
My Day 17 March 1948     767
Greece, Spain, and the Promotion of Democracy
Eleanor Roosevelt to Martha Mathiasen 18 March 1948     769
"Moral Force" and Universal Military Training
Eleanor Roosevelt to John Gurney 18 March 1948     771
Criticizing the US Position on the UN Partition Plan
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 22 March 1948     774
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 22 March 1948     775
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 24 March 1948     776
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 25 March 1948     777
My Day 26 March 1948     777
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 27 March 1948     778
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 26 March 1948     780
My Day 27 March 1948     780
If You Ask Me [excerpt] April 1948     788
"Our Democratic Ideals"
Address, the Pilgrim Society Dinner 12 April 1948     790
Promoting the Marshall Plan
Address, Utrecht University 20 April 1948     794
"A Rather Difficult Position"
Eleanor Roosevelt to Adlai Stevenson 28 April 1948     798
Criticizing Wallace, Defending Truman, and Defining Force
Eleanor Roosevelt to Alice Balassa 30 April 1948     800
If You Ask Me [excerpt] May 1948      802
Drafting a Covenant and Recognizing a Jewish State
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 11 May 1948     804
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 11 May 1948     805
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 19 May 1948     806
On Conscientious Objectors
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 13 May 1948     810
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt, with Attached Memorandum by Tom Clark to Harry Truman 25 May 1948     812
On ER, Truman, and Drew Pearson's Projections
Charl Williams to Eleanor Roosevelt 13 May 1948     815
Responding to Arab Criticism
Eleanor Roosevelt to Wadad Dabbagh 13 May 1948     818
Wadad Dabbagh to Eleanor Roosevelt 30 June 1948     819
Eleanor Roosevelt to Wadad Dabbagh 10 July 1948     820
Wadad Dabbagh to Eleanor Roosevelt 11 August 1948     820
The US, the UN, and the Recognition of Israe1
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 16 May 1948     823
George Marshall to Eleanor Roosevelt 18 May 1948     824
Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt 20 May 1948     825
Steering the Human Rights Commission
Statement on Purpose of Universal Declaration of Human Rights 26 May 1948     826
Responding to Wallace
"Liberals in This Year of Decision" June 1948     828
Refuting the Mundt-Nixon Bill
My Day 1 June 1948      833
The Chair as Delegate
Commission on Human Rights Summary Record of the Sixty-Fourth Meeting [excerpt] 8 June 1948     835
Strategizing for the Declaration and a Covenant
John Foster Dulles to Eleanor Roosevelt 15 June 1948     838
Memorandum of Conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt 16 June 1948     839
Summarizing the Drafting Process
Press Statement by Eleanor Roosevelt 18 June 1948     841
Eisenhower, Truman, and Presidential Politics
Chester Bowles to Eleanor Roosevelt 18 June 1948     844
Eleanor Roosevelt to Chester Bowles 23 June 1948     845
1948: July-December
Introduction: "I have come this evening to talk with you on one of the greatest issues of our time-that is the preservation of human freedom"     847
If You Ask Me [excerpt] July 1948     859
On the African Americans Vote
Proposed Article for Negro Digest [? July] 1948     860
Du Bois Meets with ER
W. E. B. Du Bois to Walter White 1 July 1948     862
On James Hendrick's Resignation from the United Nations
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter Kotschnig 2 July 1948     865
Dean Rusk to Eleanor Roosevelt 12 July 1948     866
Eleanor Roosevelt to Dean Rusk 13 July 1948     867
On Wallace, the PCA, and the Mundt-Nixon Bill
Eleanor Roosevelt to Roy Lokken 10 July 1948     870
On Returning the Ruhr to Germany
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 23 July 1948     873
On Currie, Hiss, and the House Un-American Activities Committee
Lauchlin Currie to Eleanor Roosevelt 16 August 1948     876
My Day 19 August 1948     877
Advising the Democratic National Committee
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 19 August 1948     883
Bernadotte and the Palestinian Refugee Crisis
My Day 21 August 1948     885
Conferring with the State Department
Memorandum of Conversation 24 August 1948     887
On the Kosenkina Controversy and the Dean of Canterbury
Eleanor Roosevelt to Irving Flamm 27 August 1948     892
On Loyalty Oaths and Government Service
My Day 31 August 1948     895
Eleanor Roosevelt to Sabra Holbrook [?] September 1948     896
The Struggle for Human Rights"
Address, the Sorbonne, Paris 28 September 1948     900
On the Russians, Atomic Energy, and Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to Bernard Baruch 4 October 1948     911
Bernard Baruch to Eleanor Roosevelt 15 October 1948     912
Eleanor Roosevelt to Bernard Baruch 19 October 1948     914
Endorsing Truman
Eleanor Roosevelt to Frances Perkins 4 October 1948     918
Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Truman 4 October 1948     919
Finalizing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 1
My Day 9 October 1948     921
Women and Postwar Germany
Address at Stuttgart, Germany 23 October 1948     924
On "Truce Enforcement" in Palestine
Eleanor Roosevelt to George Marshall 3 November 1948     929
On Truman, Wallace, and the Dixiecrats
Eleanor Roosevelt to Edward Flynn 6 November 1948     931
Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Radio Program [excerpt] 8 November 1948     932
On Being Called a Communist
Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Radio Program [excerpt] 17 November 1948     936
Finalizing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 2
My Day 18 November 1948     939
My Day 19 November 1948     940
The Nation, Anti-Catholicism, and New York City Schools
Eleanor Roosevelt to William Jansen 21 November 1948     945
Finalizing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 3
My Day 22 November 1948     946
My Day 23 November 1948     947
My Day 24 November 1948     949
My Day 26 November 1948     951
My Day 27 November 1948     953
My Day 29 November 1948     955
My Day 30 November 1948     957
My Day 2 December 1948     959
My Day 4 December 1948     962
My Day 6 December 1948     964
My Day 7 December 1948     966
My Day 9 December 1948     968
My Day 10 December 1948     969
Statement before General Assembly 9 December 1948     972
Rebutting the Ku Klux Klan
Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Radio Program 22 December 1948     975
Laurence Duggan, Karl Mundt, and HUAC
My Day 24 December 1948     980
Assessing Russia, Europe, and Palestine
Memorandum for the President 28 December 1948     982
Biographical Portraits     987
Credits     1019
Bibliography     1027
Index     1043

Preface

"Eleanor Roosevelt once asked, 'Where do human rights begin? In small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.' As the Chair of the United Nations commission drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt worked tirelessly from 1946 to 1948.... Through Volume 1 of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, we honor her work, her legacy, her timeless values and ideals, and her commitment to imagining a better future for all people. As you read through this volume, I hope her words will be a call to action." -- from the foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Editorial Reviews

This publication of the first volume of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project (ERPP), edited by Allida Black and her associates at George Washington University, is an event of the utmost significance to documentary editors and historians alike.

Journal of American History

Nothing like this pathbreaking volume exists in ER literature, and this resource will forever change the research landscape. This volume stands for documentary editing at its best.

Documentary Editing

In allowing us to study her own words, in letters, speeches, columns, and diary entries, a different portrait of the much-lionized woman emerges—one of a pragmatic, savvy politician. While she is remembered as a saintly, long-suffering figure, we can forget she was an indefatigable, disciplined activist—as historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote, a ‘tough and salty old lady’—who resisted stereotyping when she was alive, and constantly protested she was not interested in power while vigorously pursuing it.

Newsweek

After 1945, with over 50 million dead, and the world riven by terror and suffering, Eleanor Roosevelt was in the leadership of those who wanted World War II to be ‘the last civil war to tear humanity apart.’ That required human rights—dignity, security, respect for all people; and diplomatic justice between nations, including economic stability to protect the earth's resources and the needs of humanity. Allida Black and her diligent, generous staff's remarkable collection of ER's papers—her letters and columns, memos of meetings and conversations, brilliantly edited and profoundly learned—gift us with the history we need most urgently now as we again confront a dangerous future. ER's life was dedicated to the eradication of poverty and racism, war and despair. This splendid and important volume—generously illustrated, filled with dazzling insights and stunning surprises—is a gift of hope and courage.

author of Eleanor Roosevelt: A Biography - Blanche Wiesen Cook