Letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON March 25, 1948 My dear Mrs. Roosevelt: I have read with deep concern and not without anxiety your letter of March together with copy of your letter to the Secretary of State of the sane date. It would be impossible for me to mininize the importance of support of the United Nations with every resource at our command. It is the world's best if not its sole hope for peace. If the United Nations fails all is chaos in a world already beset with suspicion, divisions, enmities and jealousies. Since you were good enough to let me see the text of your letter to General Marshall I asked him for a copy of his reply, which is before me as I write. I hope sincerely that the conversations which you are scheduled to have with Mr. Bohlen tomorrow will dispel at least some of your doubts and misgivings and that there may be a further clarification if you are able to see Dean Rusk. I should deplore as calamitous your withdrawal from the work of the United Nations at this critical time. Such a step is unthinkable. The United Nations, our own Nation, indeed the world, needs the counsel and leadership which you can bring to its deliberations. The United Nations' trusteeship proposed to the Security Council is intended only as a temporary measure, not as a substitute for the partition plan -- merely an effort to fill the vacuun which termination of the mandate will create in the middle of May. I sought to clarify our position in a statement issued today. Although I an sure you have read it, or heard it, I enclose a copy for your convenient reference. May I appeal to you with the utmost sincerity to abandon any thought of relinquishing the post which you hold and for which you have unique qualificati There is no one who could, at this time, exercise the influence which you can exert on the side of peace. And peace and the avoidance of further bloodshed in the Holy Land are our sole objectives. May God bless you and protect you as you set out to fulfill so honored a mission to London. Very sincerely yours, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 29 Washington Square, West, Apt. 15-A, New York 11, N. Y. Houghtunes