Eleanor Roosevelt to William Jansen

21 November 1948 [Paris]

My dear Dr. Jansen:

I received your statement on the banning of the Nation and I have also seen some of the answers which have been sent in.⁵

I was hesitant about joining Mr. MacLeish's group and signing the statement because I felt the article in question had some rather prejudiced statements in it, but on going into it more deeply, I decided that these were things which individuals should be allowed to read and decide on. They could reject them or accept them, and young people of high school age are quite able to do this.

All questions of censorship I dislike very much and I think to remove a magazine from the rolls which has served the public as honestly as has the Nation is a great mistake. I do not always agree with the stands that the magazine takes, but I nevertheless think that the public as a whole has a right to have that point of view before them and I think it is highly unwise for the schools to keep the older children from contacts which they are bound some day to meet.

                                      Very sincerely yours,

TLc AERP, FDRL

1. Murray Illson, "Superintendents Ban the Nation from Schools as Anti-Catholic," NYT, 24 June 1948, 1.

2. "Ban on The Nation in Schools Fought," NYT, 9 July 1948, 17; "School Ban on Nation Reaffirmed; Open Hearing with Mayor Sought," NYT, 20 July 1948, 1. For information on MacLeish, see Biographical Portraits.

3. MD, 26 July 1948; "School Ban on Nation Reaffirmed; Open Hearing by Mayor Is Sought," NYT, 20 July 1948, 1.

4. William Jansen, "Should Religious Beliefs Be Studied and Criticized in an American Public High School?" AERP; "Jansen Stresses The American Way," NYT, 11 September 1948, 17; "Ban on the Nation Upheld by Jansen," NYT, 12 October 1948, 23.

5. ER reviewed a letter Jansen received from Erwin Griswold, dean of Harvard Law School, and a statement issued by NYU professor George Axtelle, chair of the Departments of History and Education (AERP).