Liveblogging World War II: October 27, 1944: Eleanor Roosevelt
On Tuesday evening I attended the rally at the Hotel Willard sponsored by the District of Columbia Democratic Central Committee and the Servicemen's Wives to Re-elect Roosevelt. An original song, dedicated to the President, was sung, and I received an armful of red roses which was one of the most beautiful I have seen in a long time.
This morning, bright and early, two gentlemen came to breakfast with me. It is a wonderful thing to talk to people who have courage about the future. So many people approach the problem of jobs for all with a defeatist attitude. So when you find yourself with two people whose feeling about the economic problems of the future is the same as the country as a whole has felt about winning the war, it gives you a tremendous sense of confidence.
The people of this country accomplished the unbelievable in production during the war. Many of them would have considered it impossible if anyone had told them that they had to provide an army such as we now have in the field; to build as big a navy and merchant marine as they now have built; to produce the number of planes and the amount of war materials which they have now produced. It is therefore not surprising to find that some of our leaders, at the inception of these plans, thought them fantastic.
The same kind of courage and vision will carry us through to full employment in the postwar period, and to a really better life, one hopes, for all the world. But it does require imagination and confidence in ourselves. Whenever I meet people with those two attributes, it gives me a feeling of real inspiration, and it was with this spirit that I started my day.
Another morning visitor was a woman from Liberia, Mrs. Sarah Simpson George, who is here studying kindergartens. Following her was a gentleman who thought he had a plan to help home owners in the future.
I took the noon train to New York on Wednesday, and in the evening went to Public School 194. A new program is being inaugurated there. A community worker is being employed, and the school is planning to be a more useful part of the community as a whole. The evening was extremely instructive to me, and though I did not know much about the details of their plans before, I shall now watch the developments with keen interest.
Today I shall visit the homemaking show at Gimbel's, which is sponsored by the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office, and shall tell you more about it tomorrow.
