Eleanor Roosevelt Writes About Her Visit to North Carolina, 1945

From Eleanor Roosevelt’s “My Day” column, published in various newspapers on March 14, 1945. She wrote about her visit to North Carolina in this column.

MONTREAT, N.C., Tuesday—The Hon. Josephus Daniels gave us such a warm welcome yesterday that it was heart-warming to be with him, and he arranged our day so that we had some rest in spite of doing many things.

We left his house at a quarter before 11 and went to the Governor's Mansion, which is a very beautiful old house, with thick walls and beautifully proportioned, high-ceilinged rooms. There Mrs. Cherry, the Governor's wife, greeted us at a morning coffee hour given by the Business and Professional Women's Club and the Altrusa Club. A few minutes after 12 we started back to Mr. Daniels' house, where at 12:30 I was interviewed for 15 minutes over the local broadcasting station.

At one o'clock Mr. Daniels gave a lunch, and from 2:45 to 3:15 I met with the women of the State Legislative Council of North Carolina. This group of women represents the heads of many women's organizations. It has a legislative program, and over the period of years during which it has existed much has been accomplished. This year they are trying to get the school attendance age raised to 16. They are working on hospital care for mentally defective and spastic children. They are interested in getting their state laws to cooperate more fully with the federal Social Security laws in the matter of old age pensions, and, finally, they are studying their county and city jails.

At 3:30 I spoke to a legislative assembly in the lovely old state Capitol. Then we had an hour's rest at Mr. Daniels' house before going to speak to the Girl Scouts at 5:30. Afterwards we had dinner with the members of the Institute on Religion, who invited me to come and make their closing address in the auditorium in the evening. There were various groups studying for an hour after dinner, so I attended the Youth Group session, where four high school youngsters discussed certain problems before an audience in which there were many of their own contemporaries as well as many of their elders. At 8:30 we went to the auditorium, which was packed; and I particularly enjoyed the singing of the Raleigh High School Glee club.

We left there at a few minutes before 10 and had time to pack and change our clothes before taking the night train which brought us to Black Mountain, North Carolina, at 8:30 this morning. Here we are in the Montreat Inn, which housed the families of some of the German and Japanese diplomats before they returned to their native lands.

E. R.

(COPYRIGHT 1945 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)