National Affairs: The Epistolary Art

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In the late summer of 1946, when she wrote to North Dakota's Senator Milton R. Young, Mrs. Matt Fischer was in what she described as "a desperate situation." She was seven months pregnant with her second child and her husband, an Army staff sergeant, was stationed in Vienna. If she had to have her child at home in Bismarck, N. Dak., it would "take something very vital from [her] marriage." She wanted to join her husband in Vienna.

Deeply touched, the Senator sent letters and telegrams in all directions—to Matt Fischer's C.O. in Austria, to the Department of State, to the War Department—and Mrs. Fischer's "faith in men and angels" was restored. The Army allowed her to fly to Vienna; the baby was born two days after she arrived.

Two months ago, the Senator heard from Mrs. Fischer again. Nothing vital, apparently, had gone out of her marriage. She was pregnant for the fifth time. This time she was in Junction City, Kans. and Matt was at Wyton Air Base, 60 miles from London. Her baby was due in December, and she didn't think the Army was going to get her to England while she was still able to travel. She hoped that the Senator remembered her and that he could do something to make it "possible ... to catch a ride on a plane going directly to Wyton Air Base."

"I can well remember your case," answered Senator Young, "as you always write such nice letters." Once again he went to work for Mrs. Fischer. The Army said that Mrs. Fischer would have to wait her turn along with other dependents of servicemen. Senator Young sent a long and persuasive letter to Assistant Defense Secretary Anna M. Rosenberg. The letter did the trick.

Some two weeks later, ahead of 200 other dependents waiting to get to Wyton, Rozella Fischer and her four children flew to England in an Air Force plane.