http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1940&_f=md055465
MY DAY - By Eleanor Roosevelt
WASHINGTON, Monday—We had a very pleasant dinner last night, after which Miss Cornelia Stabler gave us some delightful monologues. Her long one on “The Refugee” was particularly touching. I think all of us were glad to have it followed by a very light-hearted comparison of a girl saying good night to her mother after a party in the 80’s or 90’s, and a present day girl doing the same thing in quite a different way.
Afterward, Mr. Pare Lorenz showed us a movie which he has written and directed and which is taken from Dr. Paul de Kruif’s book, “Fight for life.” I found the picture interesting, but I doubt whether it will have a great popular appeal. However, for the sake of the interest which we should all have in this subject of maternity and infant care, I sincerely hope that large audiences see it.
When the President offered his annual toast to the United States on the stroke of midnight, many of us drank a little private toast, I think, in gratitude to a kindly Providence which has seen fit to spare the nation from participation in war and, therefore, in mass tragedy. Personally, I was grateful for two fairly narrow escapes in our own family. Ethel is practically well again, though she is still hobbling a little about the house, and Franklin, Jr., who acquired a little cold to add to his discomfort, is still more or less an invalid. Both of them, however, will look quite presentable in the course of the next few days and feel much more like themselves.
Our party here is beginning to break up. Major Hooker left this morning. Johnny and Anne are going back on the night train to Boston. Anna and John are taking the midnight train and going to work in New York City. The family is growing smaller, though some of them remain and return off and on, and the grandchildren will be with us for some time.
I must tell you of a number of interesting books which have come to me within the last few days. One of them is particularly delightful and has impressed me because of my necessity to think a good deal about food. This is a small book called: “Honor Among Cooks,” with some recipes in it which I have been anxious to obtain for some time. Then, to jump to something entirely different, there is a new Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, which should be extremely interesting to anyone wanting authoritative information on the Jewish people and their religion.
E.R.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jan40/f02jan40.htm
Red Army fights for Finnish positions
Tuesday, January 2, 1940 www.onwar.com
The Winter War... Heavy Soviet attacks on the Karelian Isthmus are noted. Soviet forces launch a major offensive. The Battle of Salla begins: Finns make unsuccessful attempts to encircle the Soviet 122nd Division in the “Waist” of the front.
In Britain... The blackout is said to have established the importance of Vitamin A for good eyesight in the dark. A survey indicates that one in five persons have had an accident in the blackout. Furthermore, deaths by road accidents in the four months since the blackout began exceed 2000, about 1700 more than the average for the period in peacetime. People are advised to take Cod-liver oil capsules.
In Prague... Journalists and officers of the former Czechoslovakian armed forces are rounded up in a new wave of arrests by the Nazis.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/02.htm
January 2nd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
The blackout is said to have established the importance of Vitamin A for good eyesight in the dark. Experiments have shown that it improves the ability of the eyes to adjust quickly in going from light to dark - as happens on going outdoors in the blackout. Cod-liver oil is recommended.
Surveys also reveal that 1 in 5 Britons have had an accident in the blackout. Road deaths exceed 2000, 1,700 more than the same period in peacetime. Most of the victims are pedestrians. Things may get better though. There are fewer cars due to petrol rationing and motorists have to paint the bumpers and running boards white. Kerbs and tree trunks are also being whitened. From February a 20 mph speed limit is to be introduced and British Summer Time will begin on February 25th.
RAF Bomber Command: North Sea reconnaissance. Three German aircraft destroyed; two British aircraft lost.
AA cruiser HMS Coventry damaged in a German air attack on the Shetland Islands. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-555, U-556, U-751 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Prague: Journalists and ex-army officers are rounded up in a new wave of arrests by the Nazis.
OK, I'll bite. What was this all about? Anyone?