My Day in the South Pacific

Until last week Australians and New Zealanders could truthfully say that they had a good idea of what the U.S. citizen was like: they had met him, in good season and bad, in all his types--from Admiral William Halsey Jr. and General Douglas MacArthur to the G.I.s in the bars. But last week they met another U.S. citizen as different and astonishing to them as the koala, platypus, kiwi, wombat and dingo had been to their forbears.

She was a forthright, energetic, middle-aged lady and she was more exciting than anything the antipodes had seen in many a down-under moon. Eleanor Roosevelt, the first lady of the U.S., leaving New Zealand breathless and charmed by her energetic gusto, flew on to Australia.

Eight thousand miles from Washington, she told of a conversation between herself and her husband one night in the White House elevator:

Said Franklin Roosevelt: "I think it would be well for you to go to the islands and Australia."

Said Eleanor Roosevelt: "When?"

Said the President: "I haven't decided yet."

If Franklin Roosevelt was looking for a U.S. ambassador of good will, he could have made no better selection. Indefatigable Eleanor Roosevelt attended receptions, teas, dinners, visited U.S. servicemen in hospitals and clubs, saw noted Pohutu Geyser at Rotorua, N.Z., autographed a wounded marine's leg bandage, got christened "Queen of the Great Democracy" by Maori chieftains, won friends and influenced people everywhere by her untiring kindness.

Unofficial or not, overactive (as many U.S. citizens believe) or not, Eleanor Roosevelt proved herself top-flight in the business of making the U.S. liked by the world.

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