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[[image - black and white photograph of Ralph Bunche with Eleanor Roosevelt]]

[[caption]] UN mediator Ralph Bunche became close friend of Mrs. Roosevelt through work at United Nations. She has often been present at occasions honoring Bunche for his work in settling Palestine war. She calls him "one of the grandest people I know." [[/caption]]

himself transferred to the State Department as a messenger on order from Louis McHenry Howe, the President's chief of staff, and the one who practically ran the government prior to his death. Walter White never got to see the President.

Walter then went to work on Mrs. McDuffie who remained in her job as maid to Mrs. Roosevelt.

Mrs. McDuffie was a professional dramatic reader. A profession which flourished during the depression years, especially among women who wanted to augment their husband's income. Walter White, aware of her ability as a platform speaker, would invite Mrs. Roosevelt's maid to various rallies being held by Negroes in protest of one thing or another. Invariably, Mrs. McDuffie would accept and would be given a seat of honor on the platform. WAlter, presiding, would always save her for the last speaker, and would introduce her by saying:

"And now I bring to you the piece d'resistence, who needs no introduction, I give to you Mrs. Elizabeth McDuffie, of the White House."

Mrs. McDuffie would respond by saying she was bringing greetings from Mrs. Roosevelt, who, when she told her that morning where she was going that night, had told her to assure the meeting that "she believes in your cause."

After a series of these meetings, starring "that lady from the White House," Mrs. McDuffie was found a job in the mail room of one of the Government agencies.

By the time Roosevelt's first term was drawing toa close and he was stepping up activity looking forward to his second campaign, Mrs. Bethune had welded together a political force second to none. There was no "Big Four" any longer. Only Dr. Thompkins remained. There was no Hatch Act prohibiting Government employees from participating in political activity. Mrs. Bethune, throughout the previous years, had sent her Black Cabinet members to every nook and cranny in the land expounding the virtues of the New Deal and what it meant to Negroes. It didn't take much selling. The Negro knew. Having voted the Republican ticket all their lives, they were now ready to shelve the Republicans for the Democrats who had fed them.

One old lady described her benefits under the New Deal, in referring to Roosevelt, said: "He tuck my feets out of the mirey clay, and put them on the solid rock of the WPA."

And so for the first time since the Revolution, Negroes had deserted the Party which they believed had freed them, and voted almost solidly for the Party "that feeds them." Freedom without Freedom was no good.

Roosevelt, after his landslide election for the second time, was inaugurated with greater splendor. The depression was over, the country was back on its feet, the economy was solvent, and Negroes were coming into their own. But the town of Washington, District of Columbia, situated between Virginia and Maryland, still was not ready for Negro participation on what they called a "social equality basis." And Roosevelt was not about to rock the boat. 

Roosevelt was good at playing Dick Tracy and digging up old Negroes

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