The Wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt

Donald Wigal

• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780806540214
• eBook ISBN: 9780806540214
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

The men and women who shaped our world—in their own words.
 
The Wisdom Library invites you on a journey through the lives and works of the world's greatest thinkers and leaders.  Compiled by scholars, this series presents excerpts from the most important and revealing writings of the most remarkable minds of all time.
 
                                    THE WISDOM OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
 
"We must join in an effort to use all knowledge for the good of all human beings. When we do that we shall have nothing to fear."
 
John F. Kennedy described Eleanor Roosevelt as "one of the great ladies in the history of this country." A role model for generations of women, Mrs. Roosevelt made an indelible mark as First Lady. Although painfully shy, she never hesitated to publicly champion the poor, minorities, women and other victims of discrimination. She was among the twentieth century's most active civil rights pioneers, compelling her husband to sign a series of Executive Orders barring discrimination in the administration of various New Deal projects, and supporting desegregation of the armed forces.  Her groundbreaking column, "My Day," ran in national newspapers for twenty-six years.   During her tenure as U.S. delegate to the United Nations, she was the principal author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She also maintained close friendships and correspondences with notable statespeople, including her husband's successor, Harry S. Truman, who declared her "First Lady of the World."  With revealing excerpts from her letters and published work, The Wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt delves into the passions and concerns that drove this exceptional humanitarian. Here is a fascinating and essential tribute to a woman ahead of her time, whose actions truly conveyed her words, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."  

1940–1949

Time Line

1940 Mrs. Roosevelt writes the introductions to three books about American youth, as well as over thirty magazine articles on a wide range of topics, including three for Good Housekeeping magazine on “Women in Politics.”

1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japan. The U.S. enters World War II. The war continues till 1945. FDR’s mother dies. A few weeks later Mrs. Roosevelt’s brother dies. She notes “it was like losing a child.”

1941–1944 Mrs. Roosevelt serves as Assistant Director of Civilian Defense with New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

1942 Mrs. Roosevelt reviews The American Presidency by Harold Laski for the Harvard Law Review.

1943 To boost military troop morale, Mrs. Roosevelt secretly travels to military bases in the South Pacific.

1944 Mrs. Roosevelt writes the foreword to Women in the Postwar World for the Journal of Educational Sociology.

1945 Ms. Roosevelt joins the NAACP. While at a benefit, Mrs. Roosevelt is called and asked to come home at once. She senses correctly that FDR has died. “Somehow in emergencies one moves automatically,” she later notes. She personally informs Vice President Harry Truman.

1945 President Truman asks Mrs. Roosevelt to be a U.S. delegate to the United Nations, a responsibility which she kept till 1952, and again from 1961 to 1962. Her nomination is confirmed by the Senate. “I accepted in fear and trembling,” she later recalls. She writes the introduction to the White House Conference on Rural Education. She works to open the ranks of the Army Nurse Corps to black women.

1946 Mrs. Roosevelt writes the foreword to her son Elliott’s recollections of FDR in As He Saw It. (See 1948 for a related foreword.)

1947 Mrs. Roosevelt is elected chairperson of the United National Human Rights Commission. She begins drafting the Declaration of Human Rights. She initiates a drive to create Americans for Democratic Action.

1948 Mrs. Roosevelt manages to get the United Nations General Assembly to approve the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She writes the foreword to F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, edited by her son Elliott and James Rosenau. A second volume, also with an introduction by Mrs. Roosevelt, will appear in 1950.

1949 Mrs. Roosevelt’s This 1 Remember is published in seven installments in McCall’s Magazine. She writes the introduction to Freedom’s Character: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by O. Frederick Nolde. Also, she writes the foreword to Mark Twain and F.D.R. by Cyril Clemens.

Quotations

68. [ … ] I am hoping in this little book to be able to give a clearer definition of the thinking of one citizen in a Democracy. By so doing it may be possible to stimulate the thoughts of many people so that they will force themselves to decide what Democracy means to them—whether they can believe in it as fervently as they can in their personal religion; whether it is worth a sacrifice to them, and what they consider that sacrifice must be.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

69. Leaders of religious thought have tried for generations to make us understand that religion is a way of life which develops the spirit. Perhaps, because of the circumstances which face us today, the youth of this generation may make this type of religion a reality. I think they might thus develop for the future of this country and of the world a conception of success which will change our whole attitude toward life and civilization.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

70. The citizens of Democracy must model themselves on the best and most unselfish life we have known in history. They may not all believe in Christ’s divinity, though many will; but His life is important simply because it becomes a shining beacon of what success means. If we once establish this human standard as a measure of success, the future of Democracy is secure.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

71. If human beings can be changed to fit a Nazi or Fascist pattern or a Communist pattern, certainly we should not lose heart at the thought of changing human nature to fit a democratic way of life. [ … ]

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

72. Each man may have his own religion; the church is merely the outward and visible symbol of the longing of the human soul for something to which he can aspire and which he desires beyond his own strength to achieve. If human beings can be trained for cruelty and greed and a belief in power which comes through hate and fear and forces, certainly we can train equally well for gentleness and mercy and the power of love which come because of the strength of the good qualities to be found in the soul of every individual human being.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

73. We live under a Democracy, under a form of government which above all other forms should make us conscious of the need we all have for this spiritual moral awakening.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

74. Real Democracy cannot be stable and it cannot go forward to its fullest development and growth if this type of individual responsibility does not exist, not only in the leaders but in the people as a whole.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

75. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice of all is the necessity which Democracy imposes on every individual to make himself decide in what he believes.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

76. Our neighbors, of course, do not include only the people whom we know; they include, also, all those who live anywhere within the range of our knowledge.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

77. We cannot remove sorrow and disappointment from the lives of human beings, but we can give them an opportunity to free themselves from mass restrictions made by man. There is nothing more exciting in the world than to be conscious of inwardly achieving something new; and anyone who puts into practice the life of Christ on earth, cannot fail to feel the growth in his own mastery over self.

1940, “The Moral Basis of Democracy.”

78. [… ] nobody knows what they may face when the world is going through a cataclysm. I could agree with you right this minute that I don’t want war, but I don’t know what you might say under different conditions six months from now.

January 1940 Press Conference.

79. [ … ] the use of the word “autobiography” seems to me completely misleading. An autobiography is something that the person himself had written and taking father’s own words to show a certain trend of mind is still not an autobiography because he did not write with that purpose in mind.

February 23, 1940, “My Day.”

80. When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.

February 23, 1940, “My Day.”

81. You will find women divided in the same grouping that have divided men, and they approach any question before the electorate in much the same way. There are liberals and conservatives among the women as well as among the men. As far as I can judge, only one thing stands out—namely, that on the whole, during the last twenty years, government has been taking increasing cognizance of humanitarian questions, things that deal with the happiness of human beings, such as health, education, security. There is nothing, of course, to prove that this is entirely because of the women’s interests, and yet I think it is significant that this change has come about during the period when women have been exercising their franchise. It makes me surmise that women who do take an interest in public questions have thrust these interests to the fore, and obliged their fellow citizens to consider them. Whereas in the past these human problems have remained more or less in the background, today they are discussed by every governing body.

April 1940, “Women in Politics.”

82. We have had, of course, a few failures among women who have taken office either because men have urged them to do so, or because they have followed in their husbands’ footsteps. When a woman fails, it is much more serious than when a man fails, because the average person attributes the failure not to the individual, but to the fact that she is a woman.

April 1940, “Women in Politics.”

83. It is perfectly obvious that women are not all alike. They do not think alike, nor do they feel alike on many subjects. Therefore, you can no more unite all women on a great variety of subjects than you can unite all men.

April 1940, “Women in Politics.”

84. There is no reason, of course, why we should expect any woman to have the support of all women just because of her sex; but neither should women be prejudiced against women as such. We must learn to judge other women’s work just as we would judge men’s work, to evaluate it and to be sure that we understand and know the facts before we pass judgment.

April 1940, “Women in Politics.”

85. It will always take all kinds of women to make up a world, and only now and then will they unite their interests. When they do, I think it is ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Sources
• 1884-1939
• 1940-1949
• 1950-1959
• 1960-1962
• “My Day”
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Eleanor Roosevelt's Obituary
• A Reader's Guide
• Copyright Page