Read The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt Online
Authors: Eleanor Roosevelt
Many of these girls were working in hospitals where water was sometimes almost impossible to get; one cupful to a patient a day had to do for drinking and washing. The mud was so deep at times that even with the GI boots and trousers tucked into the tops it was difficult to get around. But I never heard any of them really complain.
It was in Australia, in a Red Cross club, that I had an interesting talk with some young men. They were mostly air force boys, some of them from West Virginia, and the discussion turned to John Lewis and the coal strike. I told them of a boy in a hospital who had said: “I come from West Virginia. I’m a miner. It isn’t the miners who are wrong; they’ve got a real grievance and they don’t understand about us. You know that.”
I was glad I knew mining areas well enough to realize that it was not even entirely John Lewis’ fault. It was the fault of all of us, who should have paid attention long ago to the conditions under which the miners worked and not have left it to John Lewis to get for them the only benefits they had received up to that time. But the boys who had been miners themselves, or whose fathers were miners, had a difficult time trying to explain to their companions that there was any justification for a coal strike in wartime.
Back at Noumea, I still did not know whether I was to be allowed to go to Guadalcanal or was starting homeward. The last evening, after I had spent the day doing all the things that had been arranged for me by Admiral Halsey, he announced that I was to be ready to leave the next morning at eight o’clock for Efate. I was not to mention the name of the island because the Japs had never bombed it and we had some of our biggest hospitals there. He hoped that they did not know we were established there. From Efate I would go to Espiritu Santo and then on to Guadalcanal.
My diary may be worthy quoting:
By six a.m. we were on Guadalcanal where we had breakfast with the commanding officer on the airfield; he is a great friend of Admiral Halsey’s. At one point he was lost and everyone turned out to find him, including the admiral himself.
Then the army officers came to get me, and as we drove off the trucks with the men who were working on the field were just coming in. Coletta Ryan and I leaned out to wave. At first there was complete surprise on the faces of the men, and then one boy in stentorian tones said: “Gosh, there’s Eleanor.” I am never quite sure whether to take this as a compliment or to be a little ashamed of it, but they were so evidently pleased to see women, we had to laugh and go on waving. The commanding officer was plainly horrified to have me treated with such levity, so I tried to make believe I considered it a great compliment.
I visited all the improvements which have been made since this part of the island came into our possession. There are thought to be some Japs still on the other side of the island and there are still air raids.
One of the things which I shall never forget on Guadalcanal is my visit to the cemetery. The little church there was built by the natives and given to the soldiers, they even made an altar and the altar vessels, carving them beautifully and decorating the church with symbols which have special meanings for them—fishes of various kind which mean long life, eternity, etc. It was very moving to walk among the graves and to realize how united these boys had been in spite of differences in religion and background. The boy’s messkit or sometimes his helmet hung on the cross which some friend would have carved with the appropriate symbol of the Jewish or Catholic or Protestant faith. Words that came from the heart were carved on the base, such as “He was a grand guy”—“Best buddy ever.”
At 5:30 I went to the dinner that had been arranged and then back to the hospital to finish the wards. There was an air-raid alert just as we were driving in, which meant that we had to take to the shelter in the hospital grounds, with all the patients who could walk. For a short time there was a rather tense atmosphere, but somebody started to sing and we all joined in. When the allclear sounded I went through the wards I had not covered before. I was much interested to see what the effects of the alert would be on those who could not leave their beds and go to the shelter. I saw only two men who were badly affected. . . .
The return trip to Hawaii was again made by way of Christmas Island because an attack was being made on the route we originally planned to take and it was thought not safe for me to go that way. My time on Christmas Island was short and I visited only one boy, about whom the doctor was very much worried. At the hospital I made him promise that he would try to get well if I would try to see his mother on my return. I did see her, and fortunately he recovered and came to see me when he got back to the United States.
This time I stayed some days in Hawaii, where I saw the training given under actual fire—and was greatly impressed by it—visited a great number of hospitals, and a New York State regiment. Judith Anderson met me at luncheon at one of the hospitals. She and Maurice Evans were giving Shakespearean plays on the islands in this group—
Macbeth
at the time—and it was a wild success. She told me with satisfaction that some of the boys would wait outside and ask her “who this guy Shakespeare” was and tell her it was the first time they had seen a real play with living people in it, and ask to be allowed to come again the next night because they did not think they got everything there was in the play. They were audiences such as few actors and actresses ever meet and I think repaid fully everything which Miss Anderson and Mr. Evans put into their trip.
Finally I took off for home. I have a lasting recollection of landing in California and having to sit in the plane while all the outer air was shut off and we were squirted thoroughly with disinfectant.
I had been to Hawaii, Christmas Island, Penryhn Island, Bora Bora, Aitutaki, Tutuila, Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia; Auckland, Wellington, and Rotorua in New Zealand; Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Rockhampton, Cairns, Brisbane in Australia; Efate, Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal and Wallis.
War trip number two was over.
HAVING TOLD
the story of my two trips to parts of the world where actual war was going on and where, of necessity, one saw the results of the war in the hospitals, I think I should say something of the impressions these trips left with me.
At first I could hardly bear the hospitals. There was, of course, a certain amount of pure physical fatigue from walking miles of hospital wards day after day; but that was nothing in comparison with the horrible consciousness of waste and feeling of resentment that burned within me as I wondered why men could not sit down around a table and settle their differences before an infinite number of the youth of many nations had to suffer.
The most horrifying hospitals were those in which the men who had been mentally affected by the experiences they had been through were treated. I could tell myself, of course, that these men would probably have broken under other circumstances, that there must be something wrong with our civilization when our young people were so vulnerable to mental illness and that we must work to discover the reasons and try to change them; nevertheless, my horror at seeing people who had broken mentally and emotionally made me lie awake nights.
There were times in the other hospitals when it was hard to accept the gallantry of the men themselves without showing how deeply sorry I was for them. I knew that that was the last thing they wanted and that their brave front of casual cheerfulness was put on to prevent people from showing that they were sorry.
Many of the boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. If we do not achieve the ends for which they sacrificed—a peaceful world in which there exists freedom from fear of both aggression and want—we have failed. We shall not have paid our debt until these ends are achieved.
One development gives me great hope for the future. Women have always come to the fore in wartime, but I think in World War II they took responsibility in more fields than ever before—in factories, on the farms, in business, and in the military services. They were an indispensable part of the life of the country. This was true in Great Britain, in Australia, in New Zealand, in France, in all occupied countries in Europe, in Russia, and in the United States. Women have become conscious also of the need to take part in the political life of their country. In the European countries more women are today playing an active role in public life than would have been possible before the war; and I am sure we are going to see great developments in the Asiatic area too. This, to me, is a hopeful sign, for women will work for peace as hard as they worked for the war.
On November 9, 1943, forty-four nations signed the agreements for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The first administrator was former Governor Herbert H. Lehman of New York. Mr. Lehman proved by the way he set up his organization and conducted the work that he was a good organizer and had the patience of Job.
On November 11 Franklin left for his second war trip. He was to meet the Generalissimo and Madame Chiang in Cairo. This would be his first meeting with the Generalissimo, and Madame Chiang was to act as interpreter. Mr. Churchill met Franklin in Cairo and the talks went well.
Because at that time the U.S.S.R. was not at war with Japan, Marshal Stalin was reluctant to meet with the head of the Chinese government; consequently, when the talks in Cairo were over, Mr. Churchill and Franklin went on to Teheran to meet Marshal Stalin. This was the first meeting between Marshal Stalin and my husband. Franklin went to it with the determination that, if possible, there was going to be good will and understanding between them. I knew he was going to exert himself to the utmost to win the confidence of Stalin and to establish a better relationship between our two governments.
After Franklin had been in Teheran for only a day, Stalin insisted that, because of the rumors of unrest among the native people of Iran, the president must move into the same area of the city that he was in. Mr. Churchill was next door and the Russian soldiers could more easily protect them all.
Afterwards my husband told me that he felt there was a great distrust on the part of Marshal Stalin when they first met, and he had no idea, on leaving, whether he had been able to dissipate any of it or not. He added that he intended to see that we kept our promises to the letter. He hoped that Great Britain would be able to also, and said he would do all he could to help them do it. He felt that by keeping our word we could build the confidence of this leader whose people, though fighting on our side, still did not trust us completely. The U.S.S.R. needed all the help that we, with our great power of production, could give, while we were more than grateful for the fact that fighting in the U.S.S.R. kept so many German divisions busy.
In 1933 my husband had recognized the U.S.S.R., which had been isolated since 1918, and I am sure that at Teheran he made Marshal Stalin feel that his good will was genuine. After this meeting the co-operation among the three men grew steadily closer.
Franklin returned to Washington on December 17, exhilarated by the trip, full of new interests and seemingly in better health. Because of his keen interest in everything he saw and everyone he met, each trip seemed to have this effect on him.
Back in Washington, in January, 1944, we welcomed John’s wife, Anne, and Haven and the baby, Nina, for an indefinite visit. Johnny had gone off with his ship on her trial trip and wanted Anne to settle the children in the White House so she would feel free to join him wherever he might put into port, if only for a day.
This visit was the occasion of one of the stories that we always enjoyed in the family. Franklin liked it so much that he continued to embellish it every time he told it. Johnny called me one evening just before Anne and the children were to come. I was out, so he talked to his father. First he told him when Anne would arrive and then proceeded to tell him about the various things that must be ordered and prepared for their arrival. Finally he said, “Be sure to order the diaper service.” Franklin, who had never heard of it, said, “What did you say?” Johnny replied, “The diaper service.” This bewildered his father who asked, “Is there anything wrong with the baby? We always boiled ours.”
In February Anna arrived for an indefinite stay with little Johnny because her husband expected to be stationed in Washington for a while. Her two older children were in boarding school. Anna’s presence was the greatest possible help to my husband. She saw and talked to people whom Franklin was too busy to see and then gave him a digest of the conversations. She also took over the supervision of his food. In fact, she helped him in innumerable ways. Everything she did was done capably and she brought to all her contacts a gaiety and buoyancy that made everybody feel happier because she was around.
On the 4th of March Tommy and I left for our 13,000-mile plane trip in the Caribbean area. My husband had insisted that I take this trip. Because the war had receded in that area, the men stationed there felt they were in a backwater and chafed to be where they could do what they considered a more important job. Nevertheless, we had to have men there to guard and watch for submarines, because there was so much traffic to Europe, Asia and Africa. Franklin wanted the men to realize that he knew and understood the whole picture and believed they were doing a vital job—that they were not forgotten, even though they were not on the front line.
I was getting a little weary of the criticism heaped on me for taking these trips, but because my husband insisted that my visit to the South Pacific had been a success in that it had accomplished what he had hoped for, I decided to make this tour. He mapped it out, and I took Miss Thompson with me. The entire trip, from March 4 to March 28, was by air, and in that period we visited Guantánamo, Cuba; Jamaica; Puerto Rico; Virgin Islands; Antigua; St. Lucia; Trinidad; Paramaribo; Belém, Natal and Recife in Brazil; La Guaira; Caracas; Curaçao; Aruba; Barranquilla; Canal Zone; Salinas; Galápagos Islands; Guatemala; Havana, Cuba. From Havana we flew straight home.