The First Lady of Radio (18 page)

GH: Now, do the children who visit the White House have some particular favorite, Mrs. Roosevelt?

ER: I think of late the children like best the room where the president exhibits the collection of things which are sent to him personally. This exhibit, which is constantly changed, includes ship models and many other curios. Some of them are really beautiful.

GH: What about yourself, Mrs. Roosevelt? Is there some feature of the White House which you find most interesting?

ER: That is hard to decide, Mrs. Herrick, because the entire house is so fascinating. Perhaps it is the atmosphere of the second floor that
I like best. This part of the house seems somehow to be charged with the personalities of all the great people who have lived there in the past.

GH: I think I know what you mean. I've had the feeling, while visiting some historic places, that the greatness of past deeds and men still lingers. And while we're on the subject, which of the symbols of patriotism in Washington seems to you most representative of our American democracy?

ER: I think perhaps the Washington Monument is the one that most people would mention, because you see it from so many different places when you come to Washington. But the monument from which I get the most inspiration is the Lincoln Memorial. The statue of Lincoln is in itself so beautiful, and his words carved on the wall always deepen my belief in democracy.

GH: Well, it seems like a big jump from the Lincoln Memorial to the problems of housekeeping for the White House, but if I'm to be spokesman for your listeners, I must get back to their questions. Who does all the shopping and marketing for the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt?

ER: Well, Mrs. Herrick, in housekeeping for the White House, there's more than just shopping and marketing. You have to keep the accounts, and those are the most complicated kind of bookkeeping. Everything has to be kept in detail so that you know just what every meal costs per person and you know just where to charge it, because of course, as you know, there is a division between the personal expenses of the president and his family, and state expenses. These are the duties of Mrs. [Henrietta] Nesbitt, the housekeeper.

GH: Now, another of your radio friends wants to know who does all the laundry and the mending required for such a large house, with so many guests.

ER: Many of my own friends have asked me that same question. The White House laundry is done by two women in their own homes. They are regularly employed by the week. One woman takes all the flat
wash and the other takes the body clothes. It is a very large wash, and the mending takes a great deal of time. All the housemaids in the White House work on putting the laundry away, and mending it in their spare time, after the work of looking after the rooms and guests is done. I see you have some more questions, Mrs. Herrick.

GH: Well, we've covered shopping, marketing, laundering, and mending. Now we have a question from a woman who wants to know if all the historic china, which visitors see in the White House, is actually used.

ER: No, not all of it. Much of the historic china, of which you see samples in the china room, has long been out of use because there is not much of it left, and the few remaining pieces are highly prized. There are certain times when some of these pieces are used. For instance, it has been the custom at state receptions to use the beautiful punch bowls which were bought during Mr. Lincoln's administration for lemonade and fruit punch. But for regular White House service, china of recent days is used. Certain portions of the older sets are used when there is enough for the number of guests. Some of the china bought in Mr. Theodore Roosevelt's administration, and some of the salad plates bought in Mr. Cleveland's administration, have been used on such occasions.

GH: That is most interesting to me, Mrs. Roosevelt, because it illustrates so vividly the great historic value of everything in the White House, even to the dishes. I believe it was Dolly Madison who once called Washington “the nation's drawing room.” Thanks in part to you, that narrowly social definition has been greatly expanded. Won't you give us your definition of Washington today?

ER: Washington—or the District of Columbia, as I have been urged to call it—today really represents the center of governmental authority. There was a time when financial authority was more important than governmental authority, but today that is no longer so. One is conscious, in Washington, of being near the really supreme authority of the country.

GH: You just mentioned something that has changed in Washington. Isn't it true, Mrs. Roosevelt, that much remains unchanged? I have often heard people in Washington talk about precedence. Perhaps your radio friends would like to know just what precedence means, and how the problems of precedence at the White House are handled.

GH: I suppose I could refer you to the State Department, Mrs. Herrick, because they are the authority on all rules of precedence. But perhaps I can answer your question. Simply stated, the rules of precedence are traditions handed down which govern the procedure at state ceremonies. Precedence exists in Washington as it exists in no other part of the United States. It is important, first, because the people representing foreign governments are accustomed to a rule of precedence, either because of position or because of birth. Second, because official positions in Washington are also governed by certain rules of precedence.

The State Department handles all of these questions. They seat the people at state dinners, and they advise us just how we should deal with certain problems when important visitors come from other lands. This is a great help, and I have always been grateful that decisions in the very complicated matters of precedence did not lie with me.

GH: While you're discussing the subject of entertaining in the White House, I'm sure you can answer a question that everyone must wonder about. You meet so many people, Mrs. Roosevelt, shake so many hands, don't they all seem alike to you by the time an affair is almost over?

ER: No, indeed, Mrs. Herrick. I make it a point to look at every face, and it's astonishing how interesting the faces are. Of course, after I have shaken hands with several hundred people, I begin to get tired. Sometimes, people blur before my eyes and I can only hope that the smile on my face still expresses my pleasure in seeing them. I think the story which I have repeated many times rather expresses what many of my guests are thinking as they are received. One lady wrote to me, after
I had shaken hands with several hundred people: “Mrs. Roosevelt, do you shake and think, or do you just stand and shake?”

GH: Well, Mrs. Roosevelt, I've finished all the questions I can ask today, but I promise I won't shake hands. I'll just say good-bye and thank you so much for inviting me here today.

ER: You've been a great help, Mrs. Herrick. In fact, it was such a pleasure to have you that I wish you would return on Thursday and continue with the interview. Will you?

GH: Oh, gladly.

ANNOUNCER: Thank you very much, Mrs. Roosevelt and Mrs. Herrick.

20.

“Democracy”

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt's Own Program,
presented by SweetHeart Soap

Thursday, June 20, 1940

ER: Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I have put off until now answering some of the serious questions which have come in because the times are so serious that I felt most of you had enough gloomy things to think about without concentrating on something serious on this program. I notice, however, that in our family, we discuss these serious problems around the table, and every member of the family is keenly interested in them. So today we will turn to some of these questions. Many letters have arrived asking me to talk about democracy, to tell how I think everyone in this land can have a satisfying life, how people can live and not die for democracy, how we can share the work, the joys, and the sorrows in this world so that we may all be able to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Well, the first way, of course, is to really try to become a democratic
center in the community, to be a person to whom people will turn with the knowledge that they will have a hearing. In this way, you will really know about your community and serve to interpret the meaning of democracy as a way of life.

A representative democracy such as ours is a government which allows its people to govern through the election of representatives. People here are free to express their convictions through the ballot and, if they exercise their power intelligently, they choose good leaders who really represent them. But self-government does not end with the ballot. It is your duty to follow up with the people you elect to see that they perform their duties. Politically, this is what one should do in a democracy where citizens take their duties seriously.

When an entire community has a sense of responsibility for everyone in it, as well as for the community as a whole, then democracy is more than a word—it is a way of life. Under this democratic way of life, every citizen is assured certain things, namely the right to an adequate return for one's labor in whatever field one is able to contribute it; the right to obtain an education as far as one's ability allows one to pursue it; the right to basic freedoms of the press, of assembly, of speech, and of religion. And to these rights we must add a concern that every individual shall have a decent place in which to live, a decent chance for health, and adequate recreation. Under those circumstances, democracy lives, grows, and has meaning for every citizen.

In a democratic community it is not necessary that everyone shall have the same things, for all people's desires and aspirations are not the same. But under such a government everyone shall have equal opportunity, and it is opportunity which is the lifeblood of democracy. It may be necessary for us to die as well as to live for democracy, but we will die gladly to protect this type of freedom and justice for every individual. Dying will seem preferable to living under certain restraints.

In times such as this, it is necessary for every one of us to reexamine
some of the fundamental concepts of democracy. We must redefine such words as “patriotism.” We must be sure to understand what the American flag stands for. The American flag represents our history and our ideals. We came from thirteen original states and we have grown from these little red and white bars to the forty-eight symbolized by our forty-eight stars. Patriotism is something which makes me think—as I look at an American flag—of the things I love: the country whose soil is dear to me. I think of the ideals for which other Americans have sacrificed themselves.

Not so long ago, I received a letter which included the interesting thought that some Americans who traced their ancestry to the
May-flower
took their freedom for granted. The same writer also points out that many other Americans who have come here more recently sometimes abuse our American freedom. I suppose this is a reference to the groups amongst us that are banded together as Nazis, Fascists, or Communists. These groups are troublesome largely because we do not know how great is their influence. Since we have neglected, in many cases, to translate democracy into a way of life for all the people in the nation, and we fear, therefore, the effect of the promise of better things even when those promises are not backed up by performance.

Another correspondent asks what the ordinary woman with limited time and talents can do to become a better citizen. The question of better citizenship for men and women is tied up today, in their minds, with the world situation. Almost every woman I know is marking time until she can really feel that the government has called upon her to do some specific job into which she can throw all her energies. Perhaps the first thing to do, however, is to see to it that we remain calm, poised, and continue to do the things which are routine daily tasks. For instance, I think it is important today that a child returning from school should find a poised, calm mother to whom to bring joys and sorrows, and not
one who is jittery and frightened and who takes him convulsively in her arms and talks to him of the dangers which lurk on every side.

I think it is vitally important that we face the present world situation with reality, and consider all the possibilities and probabilities of our future. These have been put before us and will be put before us more and more clearly by the president and responsible people in the government. We owe it not only to ourselves but to the world to preserve our democracy and its freedoms, and we can do it by thinking our problems through calmly and sanely. We cannot do it if we become hysterical and frightened. We probably have a Fifth Column in this country and we do not know where it is or who it is. But we cannot all appoint ourselves unofficial agents to persecute people whom we suspect. There is a properly constituted branch of the government—the Department of Justice—to which any citizen, or alien for that matter, can report anxieties and to which they can apply for protection, which our laws have assured us.

We must do all we can to prevent the rise of racial or religious hatred in this country. And I feel that much of this calm assurance of spirit must come from the women. It is obvious to me that this is a long-time job and it will require the cooperation of men, women, and young people all over this country. It may seem to you that a racial or religious prejudice which does not touch you is something about which you need not concern yourself. But unfortunately, these prejudices do not stay within the bounds of any one category. The feeling spreads and one prejudice engenders another, and a people soon find themselves a prey to fears of all kinds.