A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Research Collections in Women's Studies General Editors Dr. Anne Firor Scott and Dr. Ellen F. Fitzpatrick The Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945-1952, from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Part 1: General Correspondence, 1945-1947 Cover: Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. Research Collections in Women's Studies General Editors Dr. Anne Firor Scott and Dr. Ellen F. Fitzpatrick The Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945-1952, from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Part 1: General Correspondence, 1945-1947 Consulting Editor and Introduction by Allida C. Black Editor Robert E. Lester Guide compiled by Ariel W. Simmons Microfilmed from the holdings of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945-1952 [microform]: from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library/editor, Robert E. Lester. microfilm reels.--(Research collections in women's studies) "Microfilmed from the holdings of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park,NewYork." Accompanied by a printed guide compiled by Ariel W. Simmons, entitled: A guide to the microfilm edition of the Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945-1952. Contents: pt. 1. General correspondence, 1945-1947 ISBN1-55655-950-X. 1. Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962.2. Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962--Correspondence. 3. Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962--Political and social views. 4. Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962--Friends and associates. I. Lester, Robert. II. Simmons, Ariel W., 1978- . III. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. IV. University Publications of America (Firm) V. Series. E807.1.R48 973.917'092--dc22 2003066018 CIP TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction v Scope and Content Note xi Source Note xiii Editorial Note xiii Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xv Reel Index Correspondence, 1945 Reel 1 Abi-Gul 1 Reel 2 Hackett, Henry T.-NAACP 5 Reel 3 National Assoc. of: S-Tha 9 Reel 4 Tho-Zi 12 Correspondence, 1946 Acheson, Dean-Buba, Joy and Margaret 14 Reel 5 Burk-Gugler, Eric 16 Reel 6 Hackett, Henry T.-Law 20 Reel 7 Leah-Q 24 Reel 8 Raa-Union 28 Reel 9 Unit-Zw 32 Correspondence, 1947 Acheson, Dean-American: M 35 Reel 10 American: P-Catt, Carrie Chapman 35 Reel 11 Ces-Dr 39 Reel 12 Dubinsky, David-Gromyko, Andrei 42 Reel 13 Grosse-Juliana (Queen) 46 Reel 14 Julius Rosenwald Fund-Lot 50 Reel 15 Lou-NAACP, Negroes 53 Reel 16 National Committee-Richmond, Ted 55 Reel 17 Rico-Swo 59 Reel 18 Swope, Herbert Bayard-WFDR 63 Reel 19 Whalen, Grover A.-Zw 66 Principal Correspondents Index 69 Subject Index 83 INTRODUCTION Eleanor Roosevelt confronted more than sadness when Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. She had to deal with the vast outpouring of condolences from citizens and leaders around the world, the legal intricacies involved in closing her husband's estate, and the imbroglios surrounding the placement and design of a memorial to FDR. She had to assess her own financial health, decide whether or not she should accept a congressional pension, make a home of her own, and decide how she would live her life alone. At the same time, she knew that she was now the symbol of the Roosevelt legacy and would be called upon to represent the policies and hopes associated with the Roosevelt administration. And perhaps most important, she faced one of the biggest challenges of her political life--how to continue to influence American politics and diplomacy when she no longer had the White House for a platform or a variety of executive branch staff members sympathetic to her viewpoints and predisposed to act upon her requests. The documents reproduced on the nineteen reels included in this collection reveal how she addressed these often conflicting pressures. These documents are the record Eleanor Roosevelt left to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and represent her legacy to the nation's archive. The letters, reports, news clippings, articles, memoranda, cards, and telegrams reproduced here provide one of the greatest (albeit incomplete) written records of Eleanor Roosevelt's work and the public reaction to it. They show us the tremendous amount of requests she received from the general public--for help with financial matters, job placement, and immigration visas; for advice on how to deal with family issues, personal problems, and business opportunities; for recommendations on colleges and professional schools; and heartfelt solicitations for endorsements, contributions, and public statements on a variety of public and private matters. Also included are letters she received from the general public reacting to positions she promoted in her "My Day" columns, aired during interviews, or expressed in speeches. As the guide to the microfilm details, the correspondence is filed in alphabetical order and arranged chronologically within each folder. If ER responded to correspondence, frequently her correspondence leads the packet, with the incoming material eliciting the correspondence immediately following. Yet readers should be cautioned that many of Eleanor Roosevelt's responses are missing from this collection. In 1945, the remarkably efficient Malvina ("Tommy") Thompson provided Eleanor Roosevelt's only full-time secretarial assistance. Such a small personal staff, no matter how devoted and resourceful, could not keep track of the huge mountains of material their boss received and generated. Consequently, carbon copies were not kept for every typed outgoing letter nor were copies made of outgoing handwritten material. Often the only indication of Eleanor Roosevelt's response to the material are almost illegible notes jotted in the margins or drafts of points she dictated to Thompson that were then placed in the file. Nevertheless, the collection is a rich resource for anyone interested in the early postwar years and how Eleanor Roosevelt responded to the personal and professional challenges 1945, 1946, and 1947 presented her.1 The same frenzied pace affected the filing of documents. Sometimes material is filed under the name of the author, other times under the name of the organization the author represented. Readers interested in Walter White, for example, should also check files for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Conference on Human Welfare, and other civil rights organizations, as well as the file for Columbia, Tennessee. If Eleanor Roosevelt forwarded the letter to another person or agency and had that letter returned, the document could just as often be filed under the name of the third party who read and returned it. In short, anyone who uses this material must cast a wide net to find all material relevant to their interests. Eleanor Roosevelt began her "years alone" allocating her husband's possessions to the Roosevelt Library and distributing specifically willed items to her children and colleagues. As her correspondence with Felix Frankfurter, Esther Lape, Estes Kefauver, and Basil O'Connor details, she tried to balance congressional wishes to commemorate her husband's legacy against his specific desires for a simple memorial placed outside the National Archives. Her correspondence with Harold Ickes reveals her efforts to support the library and museum, the legal procedures necessary to turn her husband's family home over to the government, and her reluctance to engage in any grand memorial decisions until the estate had been settled. She debated whether or nor to accept a federal pension and how to manage her income with family attorney Henry Hooker. She also kept a sharp eye on American politics and diplomacy. Her letters to her aunt Maude Gray and Secretary of State Edward Stettinius express her concerns as to how the San Francisco conference, charged with creating the United Nations, handled the seating of delegates, especially those for Poland and Argentina. Letters to Mary McLeod Bethune, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Walter White respond to their proposals suggesting ways the American delegation could address racial discrimination and establish a just protocol for the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) to follow. She exchanged letters with Bernard Baruch on matters ranging from the disarmament of Germany to regulation of atomic energy to the financial backing of individual congressional candidates. Nor did ER limit her concern to the development of the United Nations, Truman's decisions at Potsdam, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She supported the Freeland League and George Marshall's efforts on behalf of prisoners of war. When FDR's correspondence with King Ibn Saud was released, she argued forcefully that the president neither abandoned Jewish desires for a homeland nor engaged in diplomatic duplicity. And as she watched Stalin continue the Soviet advance, correspondence with both famous and average Americans depicted her gradual movement into the cold war camp. The correspondence in this collection reveals how persistent her attention to domestic politics and policy was.2 ER corresponded with labor leaders David Dubinsky, Walter Reuther, and Rose Schneiderman about wage and price controls, strikes and the hardships they imposed on striking workers, inflation, and the Equal Rights Amendment. Her correspondence with Democratic Party leader Ed Flynn detailed her desire to unite completely unattached liberals and Republicans with the state party and also detailed her fierce opposition to third-party candidates at all levels (even in mayoral elections). Her early correspondence with Henry Wallace encouraged him to carry the New Deal's banner in the Truman administration. Her devotion to a Democratic victory is even more detailed in her letter to Robert Hannegan in which she argued that large margins of victory in New York City elections were essential to blocking a Thomas Dewey victory in 1946 and 1948. Her steady comments encouraged allies (Harold Ickes, Sidney Hillman, C. B. Baldwin) to attempt to draft her for a variety of political offices, all of which she firmly refused.