Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts Eleanor Roosevelts Val-Kill Cottage 20180223

Ci sitting up here as quiet and peaceful as this place was, was a chance for him to, as he put it, recharge my batteries. We continue our look at the presidency of franklin roosevelt. Up next, a tour of Eleanor Roosevelts valkill cottage in hyde park, new york. The retreat is about two miles from the springwood Franklin Family estate. Certainly, this became the very First National Historic Site to be dedicated to a first lady and the only Historic Site dedicated to one first lady. Well, valkill encompasses two major buildings. The first building, the stone cottage, was built in 1925 to initially serve as a retreat for Eleanor Roosevelt and her two political mentors, nancy cook and Marion Dickerman. It was built on the eastern most end of the roosevelt property at the time. It was land that fdr had purchased in 1911 to do forestry experiments on. But he offered to build his wife, eleanor, a Little Cottage here, because by the early 1920s, she was getting very active in political life. And she really needed her own space to bring friends and associates and kind of have a place where she could talk politics and plan political strategy. Fdr realized that the big house really didnt serve Eleanor Roosevelts purposes well because that was her motherinlaws house and she used to say that for 40 years, she was just a visitor there. It was important for her to have her own space where she could really do things that she was interested in and not have to worry about whether or not he have motherinlaw had to give her permission to do this or that in her motherinlaws home. So this was her little space. Now, the building that were in right now, which later became Eleanor Roosevelts home, was really initially built to be a furniture factory that she started because she was very concerned about young people in her community of hyde park were farmers who couldnt make a decent living through farming so she thought by teaching them a trade, they could add to their earnings and have a much better life. So, nancy cook, one of the ladies who shared the cottage with Eleanor Roosevelt, basically ran the valkill industries, and it was a nineyear operation that went from 1927 to 1936, and they made some really nice furniture there, and in this room, all of the wood things that you see, except for the carved trunk, are examples of the valkill furniture that was produced here. They also made pewter products for a while. This was during a time in her life when she was first lady of new york state for a while and then first lady of the nation, and her official duties kept her extremely busy, but her commitment to her community and valkill industries never wavered. However, the Great Depression came along, the furniture was all handmade, pretty pricey, little table like the one in the center of the room could have cost you back then about 125, which was a small fortune during the Great Depression years, and so mrs. Roosevelt used to say that she ended up being the best customer that valkill industries ever had. So, when it became too much for her to really keep on going with it financially, she then, with great reluctance in 1936, shut down the valkill industries, and then remodeled this building into her home. And she called it her cottage of 20 rooms. Well, the outside of the building pretty much looks like a furniture factory. Its stucco over cement block, and its actually kind of, as one child described it, it looks like a whole lot of houses bunched together. The building actually was built in several stages, two separate factory buildings and then a little additions were added on for a showroom and pewter forge and so forth. Inside, its kind of like anyones home. Its nothing elaborate, and people who come here just feel very much at home. The visitors do. But the people who came to visit mrs. Roosevelt also felt very comfortable and are relaxed because her whole point was to have people come here and talk and share ideas and talk about issues of the day and how, perhaps, they could deal with those issues. Eleanor roosevelt, nancy cook, and Marion Dickerman met during the early 1920s. Nancy cook was the executive secretary of the Womens Division of the new york state democr democratic committee. She invited Eleanor Roosevelt to come speak at a luncheon when she was just getting really involved in political activity after fdr had contracted polio and was not able to really keep his name in front of the public, because his dream was to become president of the United States one day, and she wanted to keep his dream alive at a time when he was really feeling pretty down over the fact that he might not be able to walk again. And so, she was going out and trying to keep his ideas in front of the American People. Very good to have this opportunity of greeting the people of Southern California and telling them what a pleasure it is to be here, even for a little while. And thats when she met nancy and marian, when she went to speak at a luncheon of the Womens Division of the new york state democratic committee. And they were two veterans of the political scene. They were very, very active in political life much earlier than Eleanor Roosevelt was. And nancy and marian were life partners. Marian was also very active in politics. In fact, she ran for Political Office in 1919, very early on, after women had gotten the vote, and she garnered quite a few votes. She didnt win, but she did get quite a few votes for that time period. So, basically, nancy and marian became Eleanor Roosevelts political mentors at a time when Eleanor Roosevelt was just Getting Started in political life. We are in a room that originally was a living room and office for Eleanor Roosevelts secretary, melvina thompson, or tommy as she was called. She lived here until her death in the early 50s with Eleanor Roosevelt, and then mrs. Roosevelt took over the use of this area, and this became her office sitting room. This is where she would receive guests. This is where she would work every day. At this desk, which was made at the valkill industries. The interesting thing about the desk is theres a little name plate on there, and its actually her first name is misspelt on that name plate. And this was given to her as a gift by a child, and she obviously noticed right away that her name was misspelt, but she didnt say a word. She said, thank you very much, and she used it from that day to the time of her death. This tells you a lot about Eleanor Roosevelt. I mean, it was not important to her that her name was misspelt. She appreciated the gift that this child had given her. Mrs. Roosevelt wrote a daily column, my day, which was her way of reaching out to the American People and connecting the government to the American People during a time when people were feeling a lot of fear, a lot of despair, after the Great Depression happened and people had lost everything. Their homes, their jobs, their life savings. It was her close friend, lorena, who suggested that she do the my day column, and this was a column that Eleanor Roosevelt wrote six days a week, no matter where she was, that column would be written. She could be traveling or overseas. That column would be written. But many times, that column was written right here at this desk at valkill. The my day column really made people realize that the first lady was more than just a hostess at the white house. That the first lady, at that point, was a partner with the president of the United States. That she was there sharing her thoughts and ideas with the president and even suggesting some of the changes he needed to make to help improve peoples lives. So, people realized they had a very activist first lady in Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor roosevelt and fdr were radio people. This was before television was really produced widely, and Eleanor Roosevelt had her own radio program, very unusual. She was the first first lady to really have a radio program. And when pearl harbor happened, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first person to address the American People about pearl harbor, not the president of the United States, but Eleanor Roosevelt. Im speaking to you tonight at a very serious moment in our history. The cabinet is convening and the leaders in congress are meeting with the president. The state department and army and Navy Officials have been with the president all afternoon. In fact, the japanese ambassador was talking to the president at the very time that japans air ships were bombing our citizens in hawaii and the philippines and sinking one of our transports loaded with lumber on its way to hawaii. By tomorrow morning, the members of congress will have a full report and be ready for action. In the meantime, we, the people, are already prepared for action. It was the first time that a first lady would have and probably the only time that a first lady would have addressed the nation about a national crisis. So, mrs. Roosevelt had one of the modern inventions of that time period, the television, in her home. Now, she wasnt a television watcher. Maybe shed turn it on to see some Political Convention or an Important News story, but she was a person who used television, again, to get ideas out to the american public. She had her own Television Program called prospects of mankind. But also, she did a commercial for television for a product back then called good luck margarine and back in those days, for a former first lady to do a Television Commercial was considered a scandal. Years ago, most people never dreamed of eating margarine. But times have changed. Nowadays, you can get a margarine like the new good luck, which really tastes delicious. Thats what ive spread on my toast. Good luck. I thoroughly enjoy it. So, after she did that Television Commercial, and she did it not to make money for herself, but she wanted to use that money to help feed poor people overseas. So, she wrote to her daughter, anna, and she said, when i got when i had completed that commercial for television, i got tons and tons of letters here commenting on it. And she told her daughter, anna, that it was kind of divided. Half the people who wrote to me were sad i ruined my reputation, and half the people who wrote to me were happy that i ruined my reputation. We are now entering Eleanor Roosevelts living room. And this is where, after meals, people would gather and sit and talk about issues that they perhaps had started talking about during the meal here in the dining room. Mrs. Roosevelt usually sat in this chair. This was her favorite chair, and then everyone would gather in these other chairs to sit. Sometimes, she had such a huge group it was almost literally wall to wall people, people even seated on the floors. But one of her friends said, her hobby in life was people. She collected them. And she definitely did that here at valkill. This is a place where she loved to have conversation. Over here, in this area, she had a little library, and she was an avid reader. She read books on almost any topic you can imagine, both fiction and nonfiction. She loved reading poetry out loud. And quite often, when her grandchildren visited her here in the summer, she would have them here and she would read aloud to them. On a nice day, shed be reading to them outside, but shed always spend time every single day when she was here reading to her grandchildren, and one of her grandchildren told us that the moment they arrived, their grandmother would hand them a suggested Summer Reading list. They didnt really appreciate it. But she did this because she wanted them to at least read a book during their visit here, which she felt was very educational and important to them. But this alcove really had a very important part in the story here at valkill. Its a bit historic. Because she and john kennedy, then senator john kennedy, met in this little alcove. Now, the meeting happened because john kennedy was then running for the presidency of the United States in august of 1960. He wanted Eleanor Roosevelts support. She had been a backer of adelai stevenson, but the Democratic Convention had nominated john kennedy, and she really wasnt especially fond of john kennedy. She felt he was a little bit too young to be president , and she was worried about his commitment to civil rights legislation. But he needed her support, he felt, in order to win what he knew would be a very close election. She was a very powerful woman in the Democratic Party at a time when women didnt have a lot of power in politics, but Eleanor Roosevelt did. She was well respected, and he knew that without her support, he might not win that election. So, he came, literally, here, wanting to get her support, asking her for her support. So, they had a very intense meeting together here. She wanted him to promise that he would support civil rights legislation if he became president. That was a cause very close to her heart. She made him promise that, and when he finally agreed to do that, she did agree to support him. John f. Kennedy came to visit he at hyde park. We talked together, and i learned that he was truly interested in carrying on many of the things which my husband had just begun. Mr. Kennedy is a strong and determined person who, as president , will provide the leadership for greater Social Security benefits, which the social welfare of a civilized nation demands. I urge you to study mr. Kennedys programs, to look at his very remarkable record in congress, and i think you will join me in voting for john f. Kennedy for president. Now, that election was close, but he did win, and there are many people who felt that it was her active support of him that gave him that little extra edge to become president of the United States. Mrs. Eleanor roosevelt arrives in paris, one of the delegates from 58 countries converging on the french capital for the most critical session of the General Assembly in United Nations history. Well, Eleanor Roosevelt became a delegate to the United Nations because once she left the white house, president truman decided that he wanted to do something that fdr had always planned on doing, which was to establish a United Nations in the hope that an organization like that would prevent future wars. Both franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt had lived through two major wars, world war i and world war ii, and they wanted the future to be a peaceful one. President truman felt that Eleanor Roosevelt would be the perfect person to represent the United States at the initial organizing meeting of the United Nations. She was actually the only woman delegate from the u. S. , and she knew that none of the men were too happy to have her as a member of that delegation. She figured that they were trying to find a spot for her where she could do the least damage, as she said, because they felt that she didnt have the qualifications to be a good delegate. So they put her on a committee called committee three, which was going to work on more social kinds of programs, and that would have would end up being the most Important Committee that they had at the United Nations, because her proudest achievement was the universal declaration of human rights. Because in the 30 articles that are in that document, it outlines all of the rights that every human being on this planet should have in order to achieve world peace. And she always felt that that was the one thing that she accomplished that made everything she did prior to that worthwhile. Were on the second floor of mrs. Roosevelts home, and we are now entering her bedroom. And this was a room she probably didnt use a lot during the year, because she was traveling. When she was first lady, she traveled a huge amount of times, and remember, this was a time when airplane flight was fairly new, but she was a woman who liked to try new and unusual things. She loved flying. In fact, even during the war years, mrs. Roosevelt traveled overseas at a time when it was pretty dangerous to be traveling overseas, but she wanted to study what people in europe were doing during the wartime. She went into some really not very safe areas in the pacific because, again, she wanted to report back to the president what was happening during the war. And even after she left the white house, she was traveling on behalf of the United Nations and even after she left the u. N. , she was kind of a goodwill ambassador, talking about the u. N. And the importance of people supporting the United Nations. It is right that we should be gravely concerned with the gaps that still separate us from each other with the problems we have left unsolved. So, off of this bedroom, there was her favorite sleeping area, her sleeping porch, and sleeping porches were added on to houses during a time when airconditioning was not something that most people had. Eleanor roosevelt was a person who loved outdoors. She loved nature. And here at valkill, she would take at least two or three walks every day. She had little scottie dogs who would accompany her and her outdoor time was a time when she could kind of think about things and just relax and enjoy nature, and in her daily column, my day, she would talk about things she could see from her sleeping porch, some of the birds in the trees or the pond or the purple flowers that grew in the pond. She would talk about every year in july and august. She could see a garden from here. She could see the tennis court that was put in for the family to enjoy. And even the outdoor fireplace where barbecues were held during fdrs lifetime as well as during the time Eleanor Roosevelt lived here on her own. Hot dog picnics were a big Roosevelt Way of entertaining guest e guests. Really, valkill was kind of the backyard to the big roosevelt home and during summertime, this was used for parties and picnics. There was a Swimming Pool here too where the president loved to swim, and it was quite a historic pool because people like King George Vi of Great Britain and Winston Churchill both swam in that pool. Eleanor roosevelt passed away in november of 1962, and when she died, this was not given over to the National Park services. Fdrs home was. Her son, john, was living here at the time of her death in the stone cottage. By then, nancy cook and Marian Dickerman had moved away, and he livid here f lived here for a number of years, and then he decided to sell valkill. He did offer it to the National Park service and the federal government in 1970. They were not interested. And so, he sold the property, and he sold Eleanor Roosevelts furniture at public auction. And it was in 1975 that a Grassroots Movement here in hyde park started the movement to save valkill and make it into a National Historic site. Well, Eleanor Roosevelts story is not just the story of a first lady, but its a woman activist who really devoted her life to improving the world. She had always hoped that there would be world peace some day, so shes really an inspiration to women, because she was a woman of great courage who spoke out against issues that really needed to be addressed, like civil rights, and she made a difference in the world, and shes an incredible role model for women, even today. She was a woman who was way ahead of her time. She was a woman who was very important in the 20th century, but her ideas in the 21st century still ring loud today. Heres whats ahead today on cspan3s American History tv. Coming up next, a look at preserving slave houses. And then well take you to the Harriet Tubman underground railroad visitors center. And later, a discussion on the drafting of the u. S. Constitution. And be sure to be with us tonight for American History tv in primetime. From our american artifacts series, well visit the Herbert Hoover president ial library and museum to visit the american president s life portraits exhibit and the henry ford exhibition in michigan to see the president ial vehicles. American history tv is in primetime beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan3. Tonight, book tv is in primetime with a look at afterwords. The son of the Late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia shares speeches by his father. And then linda discusses her book, together we rise. Astronaut scott kelly talks about his voyages into space in his book, endurance. Book tv all this week in primetime on cspan2. Tonight, epa administrator scott pruitt and Fox News Channel host janeane address the plug action conference. Well have live coverage on that on cspan. And state governors from across the country are gathering in washington, d. C. , this weekend for their annual winter meeting and throughout the day saturday, the National Governors association, one of those panels to talk about jobs, the opioid crisis, as well as the future of agriculture and food availability. Cspans live coverage begins tomorrow at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on our companion network, cspan. Join us saturday at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. At the American Civil War museum in richmond, virginia, for live coverage of the civil wars impact on americans. Speakers include peter car michael, director at Gettysburg College civil war institute, james robertson, author of the untold civil war. Jane schultz, author of women at the front and amy taylor, author of the divided family in civil war america. At 8 00 p. M. , on lectures in history, from the Georgetown University law center, guest speaker thomas west talks about his book, the political theory of the american founding. In a republican form of government, namely based on consent, elections, virtue is needed in more than more than in any other form of government, because in a republic, the