"Mrs. Roosevelt Says U.S. Must Forget Fears"

New Haven Evening Register 10 October 1945

Another great war cannot be avoided unless the United States as a world leader forgets her fears of other nations and learns to understand their problems, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt said yesterday. She spoke before an overflow audience of nearly 700 men and women at a luncheon meeting of the Connecticut Federation of Democratic Women's Clubs at the Hotel Taft.

The secret of the atomic bomb cannot be kept by this country as long as men think in other parts of the world, Mrs. Roosevelt said. If there is a next war, "it will be easier for nomadic Arabs and the cowboy in the West to escape bombs than it will be for New York or New Haven. We have to have peace or gradually all people and all highly concentrated centers of civilization will be destroyed."

Many Americans are afraid of Russia or Great Britain, Mrs. Roosevelt said. "With such fear we can never arrive at an understanding or at real co-operation. We must not let ourselves indulge in suspicion of other peoples or judge them without taking into consideration the conditions they face."

Although Americans had many inconveniences during the war, "quite honestly, we never did wonder when the enemy was going to land on our shores. The end of the war left us much less tired than the other peoples of the world. We have initiative, strength, and courage and a tremendous sense of confidence in ourselves. I hope it is justified."

The United States must be an example to other nations, Mrs. Roosevelt said. Other nations will say, "if the United States cannot solve its economic problems, how can we; if they cannot learn to live with others, how can we?" America has the most wealth and strength now; other nations will be envious and wary of her intentions.

America's leadership is the responsibility of the people of the nation. "We are the Government of this country and we assume responsibility for the actions of our representatives. We cannot shovel off this responsibility on anyone else. We must make many fundamental changes in our thinking although many of us are a little disconcerted about this change, about the necessity of beginning peace in a stranger and newer world than we had expected."

Mrs. Roosevelt warned the audience against sinking back into the apathy that characterized the end of the last war. "If we do, we may wake up some morning to find that scientists have been thinking in some other part of the world. There will be no more declared wars; the only advantage in the next war will be—who acts first."

"We should not be discouraged," Mrs. Roosevelt said, "by the results of the failure of the Foreign Ministers to reach an understanding. The failure of the meeting as almost a foregone conclusion. When three men knew each other's background and temperament as little as did Mr. Byrnes, Mr. Bevin⁵ and Mr. Molotoff, they could not reach agreement. We must learn to have great patience and to view world problems through the eyes of other nations. But we should not be discouraged by one failure. If we really mean business, we will have peace in this world where peace is imperative."

PNews AERP, FDRL

Winchell, while professing his support for ER, continued to address the controversy, telling his radio audience October 21 that although ER had written him to object to his "inaccurate" reporting and to state for the record that she "had no intention of criticizing Secretary Byrnes," as much as he would be "glad" to retract his report, "page 22 of the current issue of Time, that's 'Time Magazine,' … practically confirms what I reported Sunday night. Time's report calls Mrs. Roosevelt's speech 'an outspoken blast.'"⁶