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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 7/31/1942

Waging War on the Homefront

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WASHINGTON, D.C., Thursday—The other members of Mr. Hopkins'1 family arrived yesterday, including little Diana,2 who, with the new Mrs. Hopkins' niece3 and nephew,4 is having an interesting time investigating every corner of the White House.

My only appointment this morning was with Mr. Edward H. Cooley5 and Mr. William T. Frary.6 Their interest is in the fisheries industry, and they want me to come down to the pier when I am in Boston to visit the fishermen who happen to be ashore. Like many other industries, this one has its wartime problems.

Since there is a shortage of meat, we should eat more fish, and this is the time when much of our education on the food value of fish should bear fruit, but the Navy has requisitioned many fishing boats, so that with prices better, and people wanting more fish, the industry can produce only about half of its usual quota.

This balancing of essential things, one against the other, is a constant puzzle, but I hope that something can be done to help the fishermen. I have a sympathetic interest in these men, due, perhaps, to the summers I have spent on the coast of Maine, where fishermen abound.

At noon, we gathered in my husband's study for the simple wedding ceremony which made Mrs. Macy Mrs. Hopkins.7 I am sure that everybody in the room wished wholeheartedly that happiness and good fortune will come to both Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hopkins.

After the wedding breakfast, everybody scattered, and I devoted the afternoon to work on my mail, as I had no appointments until five o'clock.

A Swiss newspaper, published on the West Coast, has been sent to me, in which there is an article by Maria Allen Bazzi,8 an Anglo-Swiss actress and writer. A poem by her which they printed, entitled "War Mother," has one verse which I should like to quote here:

"Remember, son, a mother's love

Has no flag, no frontier, no hate.

We all have suffered the same pains,

No matter what our race.

The cannon's cry is the Devil's laugh

That jeers at the mother's heart."

The women of the world should remember that. Without it, the effort required to build for peace in the future will never be made by the women. I have an idea that they are the ones who must carry on this Crusade.

E. R.

Copyright, 1942, by United Feature Syndicate

Footnotes & Resources

  1. Harry Lloyd Hopkins, 1890-1946, New Deal administrator, Secretary of Commerce (1938-1940), presidential advisor and diplomat
  2. Diana Hopkins Halsted, 1932-?, Daughter of Harry Hopkins and his second wife, Barbara Duncan who lived in the White House from 1940-1942
  3. Merloyd Ludington Lawrence, Niece of Louise Macy Hopkins Gates (mentioned indirectly)
  4. Nicholas Saltus Ludington, Jr., Nephew of Louise Macy Hopkins Gates (mentioned indirectly)
  5. Edward H. (Edward Henry) Cooley, b. 1888, Met with ER and William T. Frary
  6. Baron William Theobald Frary von Blomberg, Public relations executive
  7. Louise Macy Hopkins Gates, 1906-1963, Fashion journalist and third wife of Franklin Roosevelt's adviser, Harry Hopkins
  8. Maria Allen Bazzi, 1898-1959, Anglo-Swiss actress and writer

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