Three TLSs from Eleanor Roosevelt, four total pages, ranging in size from 6 x 8.25 to 8 x 10.5, with each containing subject matter relative to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The first letter, addressed to Ernest A. Gross, the Legal Adviser of the Department of State, two pages, Val-Kill Cottages letterhead, dated December 22, 1947, in part: “I want to thank you for having Miss Marjorie Whiteman made available as my advisor during the second session of the Commission on Human Rights. As had been anticipated, a great deal of the Commission’s work was highly technical in nature and I should have been at a loss without the vast background and ability in the field of international law which Miss Whiteman (as you well know) possesses. This was particularly valuable to me when we came to detailed discussion on the legally binding effect of the covenant. It was through Miss Whiteman’s careful planning that we secured the elimination of a highly undesirable clause stating that the covenant was an expression of international law. Miss Whiteman pointed out that the effects of this provision would presumably give non-signatory members the advantage of being able to invoke the provisions of the covenant without as a matter of practical fact being subject to the same extent as participating states, to the convention’s burdens. This point, disregarded by the British in the covenant carried the day in the full Commission.”
The second letter, addressed to Miss Whiteman, United States Mission to the United Nations letterhead, dated June 28, 1948, in full: “Thank you for the wise counsel you gave me during the session of the Human Right Commission and its Drafting Committee. The results obtained speak for themselves.” The third letter, also addressed to Whiteman, personal letterhead, dated June 16, 1952, in full: “I want to thank you very much for the very able and devoted service you rendered during the 1952 session of the Human Rights Commission. Your advice was of great value and as usual I enjoyed working with you.” Also included are two unsigned copies of letters from Roosevelt, addressed to Gross and to U.S. Solicitor General Philip Perlman, offering thanks to both for the assignment and help of Marjorie Whiteman. In overall fine condition, with some staple holes and rusty paperclip impressions.
Marjorie M. Whiteman (1898-1986) was an expert on international law and the author of a fifteen-volume Digest of International Law, known as the ‘Whiteman Digest.’ She served in the U.S. State Department for over 40 years and was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1979. From 1945 to 1951 she acted as an advisor to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, then serving as the United States representative to the United Nations General Assembly, and assisted in drafting the charter of the United Nations in 1945 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights three years later.
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