Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 19 “Franklin’s Second War Trip and My Third: Teheran and the Caribbean”

Dave — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:16:12 +0000

Many of the other boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. The gallantry of youth, bearing handicaps which will be a cross all their lives, seems to me a theme for some great poet. Though the war had to be fought to preserve our freedom, their full reward for their suffering is not yet in sight. To see that it is paid in full measure is an obligation which all of us who lived through the war owe to the thousands who fought it. If we do not achieve the real ends for which they sacrificed — a peaceful world in which there exists freedom from fear both of aggression and want — we have failed. This is the challenge presented to the citizens of our democracy by the last war and we shall not have paid our debt until these ends are achieved.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 19 “Franklin’s Second War Trip and My Third: Teheran and the Caribbean”

In her compiled 1961 Autobiography, Part 2, ch. 26 "Teheran and the Caribbean," this is rendered:

Many of the boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. If we do not achieve the ends for which they sacrificed — a peaceful world in which there exists freedom from fear of both aggression and want — we have failed. We shall not have paid our debt until these ends are achieved.

WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 19 “Franklin’s Second War Trip and My Third: Teheran and the Caribbean”