Make Democracy Work for All, Mrs. Roosevelt Urges Parley of B’nai B’rith Women

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt today urged that Americans make sure their democracy “works for everyone,” addressing the first anniversary luncheon of the Women’s Auxiliary of Argo Lodge of B’nai B’rith today.

The First Lady’s address followed that of Henry Monsky, B’nai B’rith president, who pledged his organization to “full devotion to the cause of peace in America.”

Mrs. Roosevelt was cheered by the 1,100 women attending the luncheon as she asked that Americans “jealously guard” their democracy. Declaring that the humanitarian work of the B’nai B’rith auxiliary should be an example for many other organizations, she said:

“I have a feeling that anything done to help any individual, no matter what his race or creed, also helps everyone in the United States. Many of us have been deeply troubled by the things that have happened in other nations. Some of us wonder how civilization can produce such results. We must guard against such things happening here. We all hope and pray for peace, but in our hearts we must determine to correct in our own country the causes which brought certain results in other places. Study our democracy and make sure our democracy works for everyone, jealously guarding the rights of everyone else.”

Pointing out that there were “a good many people in America to whom democracy doesn’t mean a great deal,” Mrs. Roosevelt urged the women to so perfect democracy in this country that when peace comes “we will have something really good to offer the world. She cautioned her listeners to “keep fear out of our own country and guard the rights of all the people.”

Monsky declared that B’nai B’rith “is relentlessly opposed to all foreign isms.” He asserted:

“Our peace and security are menaced by sinister forces which must never be permitted to invade this land of freedom and equality. We who live in America can well appreciate the blessings of democracy. Any propaganda, whether racketeer sponsored or stimulated in the attempt to spread foreign ideologies which endeavor to drive a wedge of discord between our citizens, to set class against class, group against group, religion against religion, threatens our unity and our vitality.”

He praised an address by the Most Rev. Bernard Sheil, Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, who said: “No man can be both honest and intelligent if he professes to want to safeguard peace in America at the same time he preaches the kind of racial hatred which has destroyed peace everywhere else in the world.”

Monsky concluded: “We realize the blessing of peace and the tragic consequences of war, and the B’nai B’rith in America joins with the great mass of the American public in the fervent prayer and hope that our country may be kept out of war.”