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{
    "localId": "4708670",
    "label": "Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry S. Truman, accompanied by a copy of a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Robert Hannegan",
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{
    "id": "4708670",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry S. Truman, accompanied by a copy of a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Robert Hannegan",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708670",
    "identifierLocal": "hst19450603",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Personal Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Democratic Party (U.S.)",
        "Pendergast, Tom, 1870-1945",
        "Dewey, Thomas E. (Thomas Edmund), 1902-1971",
        "Marshall, George C. (George Catlett), 1880-1959",
        "Chaplin, W. W. (William Watts), 1895-1978",
        "Kelly, Edward J. (Edward Joseph), 1876-1950",
        "Hannegan, Robert E. (Robert Emmet), 1903-1949",
        "Fitzpatrick, Paul (Paul Early), 1897-1977",
        "Perkins, Frances, 1882-1965",
        "Women in politics",
        "Domestic affairs"
    ],
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    "seq": 6,
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    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "Hyde Park\nDutchess County, New York\nJune 3, 1945\nis\nTRUMAN\nMARRY\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nLIBRARY\nDear Mr. President:\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nI am enclosing a copy of a letter\nwhich I have just sent to Mr. Hannegan, as\nI have doing a lot of thinking along these\nlines since I have been back in New York\nState.\nI feel I have an obligation to\nsend this to you as well as to Mr. Hannegan.\nYou will know, I am sure, that I\nhave written out of genuine interest in the\nAdministration and in the Party, and above\neverything else, out of interest in the\ncountry.\nI have no idea whether you agree\nwith me or not, but all I can do is to send\nyou the results of my observations and my\nconversations with people in the last few\nweeks.\nI should also like to bring to\nyour attention, in case you missed it, a\nbroadcast which came from overseas in\nGermany the morning of June 2nd, shortly\nafter midnight. I listened because I\nknow Bill Chaplin, the AP reporter who\nwas.one of the speakers. I know he is an\nHyde Park\nDutchess County, New York\nhonest and reliable reporter. This was\nthe last apparently of three reports from\nGermany but it was the first I heard and\nit horrified me. I think it would be\nworth your while to get it and read it.\nIt came over WEAF in New York City. If\nsuch conditions actually exist in Germany\nI think the people of this country have\na right to feel outraged and I gather\nfrom letters I received from boys now\nin Germany that these conditions are not\nexaggerated by this reporter. I am quite\nsure that both the Secretary of War and\nGeneral Marshall as well as you yourself\nshould read these broadcasts.\nPlease do not bothuto answer this\nletter. I simply felt that I had an\nobligation to write to you.\nVery cordially yours,\nHEADER AND LIARA my\n5.\nGOVERNMENT\nJune 3, 1945\nU.S. SERVICE\" RECORDSAND S. LIBRARY\nGOVERNMENT\nDear Mr. Hannegan:\nI have been thinking a good deal about the political\nsituation as I view it from New York State. I know that my\nhusband felt very strongly that we have to carry the Congressional\nelection in 1946 in order to win in 1948. If Governor Dewey\nis not defeated the chances are that we will be defeated in\n1948, 80 what happens to him is vitally important.\nI notice a number of things. Governor Dewey certainly\nlearned from the last campaign that he could not ignore the\ncolored vote and, at the expense of some of his most conservative\nsupport, he is now playing up very strongly to the minority\ngroups in this State and also to the liberals.\nOn the other hand, the impression is spreading that the\nDemocratic Party as far as President Truman is concerned, is\ndoing a good job from the liberal point of view in most of the\nthings which he has done, but that in Congress, particularly in\nthe Senate, we are still going to have a strong fight by the\nconservative southern Democratic Senators on our hands. If they\nfilibuster on the FEPC and on the Poll Tax, I think we will have\na big group of people feeling that there is a chance even though\nthere is a conservative monied power in the Republic Party, that\nthe Republican Party may be more liberal from the point of view\nof racial and religious questions, and We may lose a certain\nnumber of people to that party who would ordinarily be Democrats,\nbut who want to serve notice that there is one issue on which\nthey will vote with the party which they consider is doing the\nright thing on that issue.\nYou may find others who will feel that neither party\nwith the conservative elements can be trusted and that both\nparties are controlled by these elements, and the time has come\nto form a third party. That third party, of course, will not\nwin, but on the other hand it will defeat the Democratic Party\nbecause we know the Democratic Party can not win unless it has\nthe liberal vote and some liberal Republican elements voting\nwith it.\nI know that you feel strongly, and I know that Mr.\nFitzpatrick in New York feels strongly, that we must build up\nthe Democratic Party organization throughout the country. I am\nentirely in agreement with this because we have to have people\nto put on campaigns and to do the work not only of the campaigns\nbut the in-between campaign work. However, the day when\nan organization such as Tammany in New York and Prendegast in\nKansas City could really swing elections has gone by. The\npeople want to know what the things are for which the party\nstands, and they want to be convinced that those are going to\nbe put through. Mr. Kelly in Chicago has a good organization,\nbut if Mr. Kelly had not played fair with a great many people\nhe would not hold his organization. That holds good of\npractically all of your Democratic Party groups today. So while\nthese organizations are vitally important to the Party, I think\nyou have to add something which has often been neglected, namely,\na program which meets the needs and wins the approval of the\nrank and file of the voters.\nAt the present time, that would include many things\nconcerning veterans, health, social security, education, and\nabove all, the sense that we are moving forward in our foreign\npolicy to a peaceful world and in our economic policy to a\nrealization of responsibility for ecenomic situations throughout\nthe world which would affect our own in the long run.\nI know, of course, it is rather presumptuous of me to\ntalk to you about the general political situation which you and\nthe others must have considered already, probably in much more\ndetail and with far better powers of observation than I can\npossibly bring to it at the present time.\nThere is one phase of the whole picture with which\nI think I am more familiar and more closely connected than many\nof the people whom you know well, namely, the situation of the\nwomen who are not the regular party workers, but who are the\nwomen you have to have with you to win in campaigns. Many of\nthem are feeling that while Miss Perkins was not particularly\npopular during the last few years as Secretary of Labor, still\nshe was a woman in the Cabinet. There will be no woman in\nthe Cabinet and there has been no suggestion so far of any woman\nor women in comparably important positions. Most of the women\nwhom you have to have with you to win elections, do not expect\npositions, but they like to feel that some women are in the\npolicy making positions and I think that they must feel that\nthis is not just for a brief time but permanently.\nI know many men are made a little uncomfortable by\nhaving women in these positions, but I think the time has come\nto face the fact that you have to win as many women's votes as\nyou do men's votes and that the Democratic Party probably has\nmore strength among women if it stands as the liberal party\nand the party of human rights than it has among the men.\nFrom the point of view of doing something for our\nbiggest minority group - the colored people - I think you will\nhave to make some good appointments to commissions where you\nchoose a man because he is a good man and has ability, and\nit just happens he is colored which you forget about in the\nwork which he does.\nI think the administration will have to try to get\nthe FEPC and the Poll Tax vote out on the floor of the Senate\nand not allow it to be killed by a filibuster. If you can\nget a vote on these two issues, it is one step forward and\nthe men who vote against them are known and their position\nis out in the open. A fight can be made on them on their\nrecord in voting. If these two issues are killed without a\nrecord vote and then there is discrimination in employment\nand the economic situation becomes unfair to racial and\nreligious groups, I think we will be in danger of creating\na lack of unity in the nation as a whole which will affect\nthe Democratic Party more than it will affect the Republican\nParty.\nI will be interested to know what you think of these\npoints because, of course, I am interested in the success of\nthe Democratic Party, and I am equally interested in the\nprogress of our nation which transcends party lines.\nVery sincerely yours,\nis\nTRUMAN\nAUDVR\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nRECORDS\nLIBRARY\n:\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT"
}