The Woman the World Loves

An American magazine put a question to its readers, in these words: "Which of your fellow citizens, man or lady, is the person you love best?" And when the answers were counted, Mrs. Roosevelt outranked General Eisenhower and General Marshall and even President Truman himself!

What is the secret that raises this woman up and seats her in so lofty a place, not in the hearts of Americans alone, but in the hearts of the whole world? It is her nearness to almost all classes of the peoples, through her guiding writings in the magazines and newspapers, and through her continual talks over hundreds of broadcasting stations in the United States... this in addition to her constant contact with people and with people's problems, and in addition, too, to the great work to which she has devoted herself — namely, her work in the United Nations organization.

Mrs. Roosevelt is a conservative lady, close to six feet in height; she does not smoke, and of drink she takes nothing beyond a single glass of vintage wine... She hates the game of bridge and detests chewing gum, and most of the time her face wears a cast of seriousness in which there is much serenity and self-confidence.

She is, on the other hand, a lady like other ladies. She washes her stockings herself, rides the tramcar and the public motor-buses, and looks after her five children and her seventeen grandchildren! And it is quite an ordinary thing for people to meet her in the open street and stop her to consult her on the solving of their family problems...

Although Signora Roosevelt was born into a family of ample wealth and eminent standing, nothing appeared in this lady's childhood to suggest that she would one day become the greatest woman in the world. She was a sensitive girl who loved solitude; and as she wrote in her book This Is My Story:

"What most worried my mother, where I was concerned, was the plainness of my face, and so she tried to make up for the defect by insisting on my manners and my morals! But her attempts did not bring the result she intended; they only left me prey to the feeling that I was not beautiful!"

People supposed that her activity would slacken after her husband's death in 1945, but their supposition proved the very opposite; and behold, Signora Roosevelt shone in every field of journalism and humanitarian service and national and international affairs — which led President Truman to choose her as a member of the United Nations organization, where she has given proof of a rare ability in the important international debates, especially in opposing Professor Pavlov, the Soviet delegate.

Mrs. Roosevelt has an extraordinary vitality, and a capacity for doing more than one thing at the same time. She sorts her private mail, for instance, while taking her meals, and dictates articles to her secretary while she bathes! And she answers important letters herself... Mrs. Roosevelt speaks French, Italian, and German, alongside English; and when she was asked to address a gathering of German women doctors, she insisted on speaking nothing but German. The newspapers wrote of this: "It is the first time in history that the victor has addressed the vanquished in the vanquished's own tongue. That, upon my life, is free democracy!"

Mrs. Roosevelt was asked recently: "Why do you wear yourself out with all this work?" She answered: "It seems to me that one task leads to another. I often remember the days of my girlhood, when I could sit and read or sew! How I long now for that time — but how can I have it? I cannot give up a single one of my many occupations, as you see!"

— From Reader's Digest —