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{
    "localId": "4708700",
    "label": "Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry S. Truman accompanied by a copy of a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to George C. Marshall",
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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 George C. Marshall",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4708700",
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        "Personal Files"
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    "subjects": [
        "United Nations",
        "Arab-Israeli relations",
        "International relations"
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            "day": 17,
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    "seq": 4,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/7087/4708700/content/arcmedia/nlhst/eleanor/hst05-17-1948a.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "APARTMENT 15-A\n29 WASHINGTON SQUARE, WEST\nNEW YORK 11, N. Y.\nHARRY ARCHIVES s 'NATIONAL REC TRUMAM RDS AND LIBERTY\nMay 17, 1948\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nDear Mr. President:\nI am enclosing a copy of a letter\nnotenclosed\nwhich I just sent to the Secretary of\nState.\nYou will begin to find me such a\nnuisance you will wish I would go home and\nstay there! However this question of\nhaving the foreign policy integrated with\nthe work of the United Nations seems to\nme of paramount importance.\nVery sincerely yours,\nTheres Prosents\n709\nApartment 15-A\n29 Washington Square, West\nNew York 11, New York\nHARRY\nARCHIVESALD RECORDS\nLIBRARY\nE.S.\nGOVERNMENT\nMay 16, 1948\nDear Mr. Secretary:\nHaving written you before what I had heard on the subject of\nthe recognition of Palestine, I feel I should write you again.\nThe way in which the recognition of Palestine came about has\ncreated complete consternation in the United Nations.\nAs you know, I never wanted us to change our original stand.\nWhen I wrote to the President and to you the other day what I had\nheard, I thought, of course, that you would weigh it against the reports\nwhich you were getting from the United Nations. Much as I wanted\nthe Palestine State recognized, I would not have wanted it done with-\nout the knowledge of our representatives in the United Nations who\nhad been fighting for our changed position. I would have felt that they\nhad to know the reason and I would also have felt that there had to be\na very clear understanding beforehand with such nations as we\nexpected would follow our lead.\nSeveral of the representatives of other governments have been\nto talk to me since, and have stated quite frankly that they do not\nsee how they could ever follow the United States' lead because the\nUnited States changed so often without any consultation. There seems\nto be no sense of interlocking information between the United States\ndelegate and the State Department on the policy making level. This\nis serious because our acts which should strengthen the United Nations\nonly result in weakening our influence within the United Nations and\nin weakening the United Nations itself.\nMore and more the other delegates seem to believe that our\nwhole policy is based on antagonism to Russia and that we think in\nterms of going it alone rather than in terms of building up a leader-\nship within the United Nations.\nThis seems to me a very serious defect and I do not see how\nwe can expect to have any real leadership if,\n1 - We do not consult our people in the\nUnited Nations on what we are going\nto do, and\n1\n-2-\nEARCHIVES AN U.S. GOVERNMENT SERVICE\" RECORDS TROMAN LIBRARY\n2 - If we do not line up our following\nbefore we do the things, rather than\ntrusting to influencing them afterwards.\nI can not imagine that major considerations on policies such\nas this are taken at such short notice that there is not time to\nthink through every consequence and inform all those who should\nbe informed.\nI have seldom seen a more bitter, puzzled, discouraged group\nof people than some of those whom I saw on Saturday. Some of them\nI know are favorable to the rights of the Jews in Palestine, but they\nare just nonplused by the way in which we do things.\nI thought I had to tell you this because I had written you before\nand as you know, I believe that it is the Administration's desire to\nstrengthen the United Nations, but we do not always achieve it\nbecause, apparently, there is a lack of contact on the higher levels.\nWith deep concern, I am,\nVery sincerely yours,\n(Signed) ELEANOR ROOSEVELT\nA true copy. of\nthe signed Yorig-\nCopy\nBKS"
}