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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Eleanor Roosevelt's Column Features Dr. Harriet Elliot, 1947


From Eleanor Roosevelt’s “My Day” column, published in various newspapers on March 15, 1945. She wrote about Dr. Harriet Elliot, who had been “lent” by the University of North Carolina to the U.S. Treasury Department to assist with a campaign to sell War Bonds and Stamps. Dr. Elliot would not make it back to Chapel Hill. She would die in office in August, 1947.
NEW YORK, Friday—Yesterday morning, Miss Alice Nichols, who is in charge of the Victory Food Campaign for the Department of Agriculture, attended my press conference. I was much interested to find that we have had such a splendid response to the appeal made by the Department for more food production. Now they are going to be able to tell us at certain periods what foods we ought to buy and eat fresh, because they are so plentiful on the market.
Dame Nature has had a hand in this, and from now on we should be eating as many Georgia peaches as possible. Young chicken should form a large part of our diet, and even if Englishmen can only get one egg in every three weeks, we may have as many as we want every day and feel patriotic.
Someone brought up the cost of some of these products, which in spite of being plentiful still are fairly expensive. Miss Nichols told us that a number of the chain stores are planning to get together and sell these Victory Food Specials at cost as they are announced month by month.
If peaches are plentiful, there is no reason why even a woman in the city could not buy an additional amount and preserve them, if she has space enough for shelves where her fruit can stand ready for use in the winter months.
On the train to New York City yesterday afternoon, I managed to go through a considerable amount of mail. The evening meeting of the executive committee of the International Student Service was of particular interest, for it covered the plans for the Student Assembly in Washington in September, which promises to be of real interest.
Today the city is gray and cool. I am doing one or two errands, and then attending a luncheon given by Mrs. Lytle Hull for Miss Harriet Elliott and Mrs. Henry Morgenthau, Jr. I am delighted that Miss Elliott has been lent by the University of North Carolina to help the Treasury Department organize the women of the country in the campaign for a wider sale of War Bonds and Stamps. She is not only very able, but one of the best people to work with that I have ever met.
Today is American Heroes Day, and cities throughout the nation will do honor to their war heroes by trying to break their record for War Savings Bonds and Stamps. One million retailers throughout the nation are trying to meet their billion dollar quota, as set by the Treasury Department, before July, and so 750 cities will stage drives today.
In some cities they are carrying on their celebrations for several days. Des Moines, Iowa, for instance, on Saturday will hold a patriotic rally in the Drake University stadium and admissions will be paid in War Bonds and Stamps. The roll of honor will be unveiled, and on Sunday there will be a sunrise religious service to pray for the Des Moines boys. There is no lack of enthusiasm, so this drive will certainly be successful.
E.R.
COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.
 Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day, July 18, 1942," The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Digital Edition (2017), accessed 10/21/2017, https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1942&_f=md056241.

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