Hawaii. By tomorrow morning, the members of congress will have a full report, and be ready for action. And youve been listening to some of onerous votes radio address hours after the attack on pearl harbor in 1941. In fact, she gave that address before her husband, fdr, even spoke to the nation. For the next two hours, we are going to get to know this transformational first lady. Shes consistently ranked first in historians polls on first ladies. And we are going to look at her life, her relationships, and her time in the white house from 1933 to 1945. Well, good evening and welcome to cspans first ladies influence and image series. Joining us this evening to talk about owners about, allida black, who is the editor of the unnerves votes paper project at George Washington university, and a historian. Another historian, Doug Brinkley, whos also an author from rice university. Thank you both for being here with us this evening. Doug brinkley, its march 1933, the roosevelts are being inaugurated, the entered the white house. What are they walking into . What was the country like . Well, fdr didnt get to walk in. He came in on a wheelchair. The very fact that somebody was crippled from in the lower half, said we have nothing to fear but fear itself, and thats, perhaps, the most famous phrase out of any inauguration. And what people were hearing was unemployment, chaos, hoovervilles, agricultural anguished, topsoil had blown all over, dust bowls, the october 1929 crash of the stock market. So, our country was really in tatters. And there is Franklin Roosevelt, this man who is overcome such odds in his personal life, overcoming polio and being sidelined from politics, now ushering in a new progressive era and offering 100 days of the new deal programs right off the bat, what people call the alphabet soup of the new deal, trying to get banks to run properly, starting a civilian conservation corps that would plant two billion trees, starting to create you know the wpa at workers progress, get unemployment backup, jobs, jobs, jobs. A little black, in that first hundred days, what was eleanor was about doing and how did she define her role . Eleanor struggled to define her role because she was exceedingly active before she went into the white house. She was a party operative. She edited basically all of the National Democratic publications. As well as a new york state publications, covertly. She was on the board of labor union. Shes on the board of social reform organizations. She taught civics, history, literature, at a girl school. She was a Major Political force in her own right. So much so, that during the campaign, all of the major newspapers and United States would run full page stories on her own political career, and her own ambitions. That, when she comes into the white house, fdr says, you have to resign or your positions, you have to stay really, and be the traditional first lady. She tells a friend that the thought of living in the white house fills her with the greatest sense possible dread that, you know, that the white house eats women, that she fears a lifetime of white glove tests, you know . Where she is running her gloves down banister, to see if the dust has been taken off. And so, she says to fdr, let me help you with your mail. He says no. She says, well, let me help you with your calendar. He says no. So, shes like, well let me go out to be your eyes and ears, he says no. So, shes in the white house, desolate, just saying, you know, she loves her husband, she wants him to be happy, we but what has happened to my life . What has happened to my heart one independents . And so, literally, from the first day shes in the white house, shes trying to figure out how to resurrect her own voice in a way that will give her the tattooed she needs to be herself, while at the same time, not undercut her husbands agenda. Very quickly, Doug Brinkley, what were some of the issues that she got involved with. Oh, well, shes the great first lady as harry truman said, the first lady of the world. But she afraid she hated. Hated, yeah. Civil rights. She got involved with getting African Americans more equal rights, working in West Virginia with coal miners, and the working people of america. The forgotten people, the down trodden, and also, which im sure we will talk about a lot, womens issues, getting women into the forefront of american political life. She had no role model as first lady. She created this roll on her own, which is theres really nobody quite like. Or as he or she is in 1933, on the radio, talking to women about their need to volunteer. If that women are willing to do things because its going to help their neighbors, i think well win out, well win out not because of a government, not even because of our leaders, but because, as a people, weve had a vision and weve worked for it and weve seen it through. Allida black, she spent a a lot of time on the radio. Absolutely, she did. She was on the radio before fdr, she had her own radio show, she will have become her own syndicated columnist in 1935, beginning 1936. By the end of her life, shell right over 8000 columns, more than 500 articles, more than 27 books, gives 75 speeches a year, and write an average of 150 letters a day, all without a ghost writer. But if i could go back and piggyback on dug for a little bit, i mean, eleanor hit the ground running on policy in ways that we dont really think about. I mean, eleanor doesnt hit the ground on race. Eleanor doesnt hit the ground on education. Eleanor hits the ground on employment first. The second day of the roosevelt administration, the day i mean, im sorry, the day after fdr closes the banks, he sends the economy act to congress, which is going to cut federal employment by 25 , right . People are freaking out. The Unemployment Rate the official on obliterate is 25 . Anybody with a brain over squashed p will know that its really about 40, because its the first time that weve really started taking the Unemployment Rate, and it doesnt take into account the 20 years that depression has hit the south and the west. And so, to take 25 of the federal payroll out in the middle of the depression, and to say, to federally employed women, that you are going to lose your job if youre married to a federally employed man, eleanor hits the roof. And she issues, in this first week of her husbands presidency, her own opinion piece, saying this legislation is wrong. And so, fdr and fdr and eleanor have dueling editorials in the paper, dueling editorials in all of the Democratic Party press over the injustice of this act, and she does win out, which is why shes so intense about women in that speech. True, but its something that fdr and the white house staff doesnt like, and Eleanor Roosevelt is very, very cognizant that you just cant be on wrong message with your husband all the time, that you are going to find common ground. Otherwise, you are going to create just a shambles of things. And she did a marvelous job of kind of holding her own, writing letters to herald achilles at interior, harry options she was close with. But trying to say, will you look into this one case for me . And so, she handled, i think, very well, but shes mentioned the one time they caught a bit of a crossed wire early out of the gate, but she fell in line well. I think we could give the program good friends who respect each other can disagree. I will argue that fdr knew that she was going to do this. The correspondence shows that. And so, what they were trying to do is to bring this issue front and center, you know, and by support and curtail some of the backlash. I mean, that same day, fdr feeds her information about 3. 2 beer being served in the white house right after prohibition, right there in the white house. And so, he feeds this to eleanor in her own press conferences to release this. So, they coordinate. You know, and they and when they go at each other, they go at each other deliberately to get the country engaged, i think. So, before we and the snapshot, and go back and look at ellen a response life, at what point did fdr and his inner circle learn to use her as his eyes and ears and as an asset . Well, i dont think its just a one day or a one particular point. It depends on who it was. I think smart people like Harry Hopkins knew that she was important, and she had the president s ear, and that what she said mattered. Same week with ickes, who i mentioned before. She represented the liberal wing of the new deal. Fdr had to win over southern democrat conservatives. Fdr was very scared on issues of race during his presidency, because he had to run for reelection, was worried about things owners about really pioneered in an ability to people to be with African Americans, talk to them, be in photo ops, and in that way, youre right, she helped fdr in a lot, and theyre working in unity, but she was a force to be reckoned with. Wherever she went, i think of it and world war ii, when she got to go to europe, and went to london, and britain, and everybody just love seeing her. And then she went to the pacific, we and bowl the just said we had never had somebody who was so beloved by the troops quite like her before. She became an ambassador for the president , and whenever she would just walk in, there was a new yorker cartoon that was famous of showing a coal miner we underground and saying whats Eleanor Roosevelt doing here . Many ways a stalking horse for some of his policies, putting up trial balloons and things of that nature. Well, i would disagree. I would say that the reason that eleanor, for example, got to go to the pacific, because she had been arguing to go to the pacific for several years, because she wanted to cover the pacific the way that we ernie pyle had covered all of the military that was fighting in the atlantic. And the kept turning her down because holesy didnt want her to go. He will later say that his biggest mistake in the war. Henry in his diary rights they turned her down in europe because she wanted to go the red cross there, and if you kidnapped Eleanor Roosevelt, its a disaster. So, you dont we dont want to exaggerate Eleanor Roosevelt here. I do want to say just the one thing, since doug brought up the trip to the pacific. Its very clear on. This Henry Wallace writes in his diary, that mrs. R finally gets to go to the pacific because the knee grows situation is too high. She goes right after the race riots, and detroit where she is blamed for this race riots. I think, for our audience to really understand the progression, you know, we need to look at eleanor before she really starts race because eleanor really doesnt start race until 35 and 36. Thats what we are going to do. We are going to go back and we will come back to the war as we go on this evening. We have to our stock well on arrival in her influence an image. We will put the phone numbers on the screen. If your are regular rupture of cnn, you know that all of our programs are interactive programs. We want to hear from you. We want your participation. 202 is the area code, 5853380 if you live in the Eastern Central time zone. 5853881 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones. You can also put a comment on facebook at facebook. Com cspan, you will see the first ladies section right there, reagan sent us a tweet firstladies or firstladies, and we will get to as many of those as we can. Professor Doug Brinkley, what kind of world was Eleanor Roosevelt born into in 1884 . Who were hurt people . Well, she was born in new york city. Part of that social swirl, social society. Those built name is as good a name as you are going to get, and of course her father is elliott roosevelt, the brother of Theodore Roosevelt. Elliott was quite a character in his own right. He had problems with alcohol, opiates, and the leg, but he was a Great Outdoors person, a great hunter, a great bon vivant, and something owners felt loved madly. Her father, even he was absentee quite a bit, and her mother, i think the key thing for onerous vote was they both died quite when she was young. She loses her mother and loses her father, and thats quite dramatic. Beyond that, if she moves up to tivoli, in the hudson river valley, hudson is a great story in america from the bay of new york, and all of the transpired along the river, you know, whether its in George Washington and newburgh, or the steamboat, it was currier and ives world along the hudson river and she was born grew up just down the road from spring would, the home of Franklin Roosevelt, her distant cousin. Did she have a happy childhood . Now. Well, the only place that she ever felt safe in typically it was climbing at the top of a there is significant evidencez that some of her uncles who are alcoholics to hotshots hotter out of windows. The thing that is very remarkable about owners wealth is to the extent to which she is able to transcend that sadness. She writes a young boy in the fifties, when he severely beaten in a school, a young boy, six or seven years old, and he goes up to a water fountain to get a little cone, you know, like one of those plastic cups, paper cups. And, i mean, hes really hes been so badly, he bleeds on the cup. And he writes her. And he says, you know, basically, im in school, and now im terrified. You know, what do i do . Young africanamerican boy. And she writes him back, and he sends her the cup, ive held a cup in my hand, and she writes him this extraordinary letter that says that she can only imagine how violated he must feel, because school is supposed to be a safe place. But she understands a painful childhood. She understands disappointment, and she understands violence. And the only advice that you can offer him is what shes told herself, and that is, courage is more exhilarating than fear. And in a long run, it is easier. All we have to have is the courage to look ourselves in the mirror, and take one step better the time. And so, in many ways, what Eleanor Roosevelt is doing, not in the same sense of engaging in psycho history by any means, but she is expanding her circle of family, and learns through a series of ups and downs that family is, really, what you construct for yourself. We who was Marie Souvestre in her education . Well, Marie Souvestre was the head mistress of allenswood academy, and eleanor goes to london when she is 14. This is after her parents died . This is after her parents died. Shes our friend at ten. Her mother dies when she six. Her father dies and shes ten. And so shes living in shes dividing her time between tivoli with her maternal grandmother, who loves her, but whos very strict and is, you know, wont let her play a lot. And really is doesnt see to her education, so much so that eleanor becomes an embarrassment, her lack of education, to other members of the family. And so, her mothers sister says to her grandmother, well, we promised anna, owners mother, that we would send her to allens would. She goes to allenswood academy, which is basically her center court walton today, a school of 33 girls and she works with mademoiselle souvestre who she later calls a closet bolshevik. And mademoiselle souvestre sees an eleanor this spunk and this mine that nobody has seen. She teaches her that the only way to really be sure about what you think is to be able to argue both sides of an issue with equal conviction. And so, eleanor writes in her diary, shouldnt keep her diary, but sometimes she would just write notes to herself, said i finally learned that i have a brain. I have argued the war with mademoiselle, and i have won each time. She doesnt want to go home. I mean, who would want to go home when you have this . So, shes days in the summer with mademoiselle, and in 15 seconds, if you will, mademoiselle system or you can stay with me, but you have to learn to be independent. We can travel, but you must set a budget. You have to learn to make reservations. And when you go to places, remember that you are a guest, and you dont just do the opera, you dont just shop, you also work in the settlement houses, you volunteer in hospitals, and you try to learn the language of the community that you are in. And so, when eleanor leaves allenswood at 18, mademoiselle souvestre writes a letter that owner will carry with her for the rest of her life, that says of course, you must go home, and make your debut. You, after all, our roosevelt. And teddy is now president of the United States. But first and foremost, you are my eleanor, and i expect great things from you in your own right in this world. Owes her relationship with president Teddy Roosevelt . Well, he loved her. He would say that needs an uncle, right . Yeah, and he loved her. I think he was pretty hard on her father, elliott, when he started he had gotten a one pregnant that was working in a house, and he was angry. He called him a kind of blundering swine. My own brother, hes embarrassed the family. And to our could be very hard if you broke propriety in the things. So, he beat up some on his brother. He loved his brother, tremendously, in fact. Theodore is whats great is time early in his life was going hunting in western iowa with the father. But when he commit suicide, i think tea are felt a real special kinship to eleanor, but just as nicely said, eleanor had a great sparkle in her eye, and a great intelligence. She developed her courage over a period of time, and i think Theodore Roosevelt admired that about her, so he was there to give them away when she married Franklin Roosevelt in new york city on st. Patricks day. We and it was tr who was arranged to to be a part of two roosevelts getting married. And it sounds like, at this point in her life, she developed some sense of what social issues were important to her. Well, she had an exposure to. Him she hadnt interest. But she is still very hot between two world. Shes caught between the world in london, that she loves, and wants to stay in. She wants to teach, she wants to live there, she doesnt want to come home. And so, shes caught between the demands of being the daughter of the most beautiful debutante in new york, as New York Times repeatedly called her mother, and the social expectations of the needs and we have the president. Shes trying to figure out that. Dance and theater roosevelt became bigger than life figure and shes carrying the name in that relationship and the connection to it so hes a big influence on her. And later, i always found it very interesting, when i think in like 1936 or some like that, she edited a volume of her fathers big game hunting, letters or she kept at valkill, her home, a tiger skin of her father. The reason i find it interesting, she had everything to be angry at her dad. He was a bit of a deadbeat father. But she never really held any angst against him. She had a forgiving nature in the end. We are talking very early 20th century here, and it was a 1905 though, that she met fdr, or when they got married. They become reacquainted, yeah. Right, when they got married. They met when they were apparently young, a little bit, at spring wood, and they were cognizant of each other, but they met on a train ride to tivoli, and started a romantic interlude through letters, and seeing each other. And its a snowball. From 1905 through the 1920s, it was a very busy time in the roosevelts life, but they want to live at spring would, at hyde park with Franklin Roosevelts mother. We visited spring would. Here is a little video. When she fell off with Franklin Roosevelt back in 1905, when they got married, they would move into with franklins mother sarah dylan roosevelt. She operated this home and estate referred to a spring would, since the 19 hundreds, when sarah ali husband mr. Roosevelt who fathered franklin, had passed away. Because this was saras home, she made the decisions here. She also handle the finances of the family, and was most definitely the matriarch of the family. This is where the family gathered for their daily meals, the activities in this room are important because it reflects the interaction of the family Sara Delano Roosevelt sat sat at the head of the table, Franklin Roosevelt at the other end, and owners about would find whichever seat was comfortable for her. She did not have an assigned seat at this table. This is the bedroom that franklin and eleanor shared as adults, up until 19 ateam, one infidelity was discovered within the marriage. From that point on, mrs. Roosevelt insisted on not sharing the same bed with Franklin Roosevelt. At that time, mrs. Roosevelt chose the bedroom right next to this room, and has a doorway coming right in. This was an area where she could be by herself. It was a bit of a private space for her. The furniture in this room was used by mrs. Roosevelt, one of the few areas in this house where she could get some privacy. When mrs. Roosevelt was in hyde park, and Franklin Roosevelt was also here, it was a given that they would both sleep here in the big house. If, for some reason, franklin it was not in hyde park, mrs. Roosevelt, here on her own, which used to spend her time at valkill, which is only a couple short miles away from the site. In this direction, we have the entrance to Sara Delano Roosevelts the durham, and as you can see, mrs. Roosevelts bedroom is sandwiched between them sara and her husband, franklin. The same as, and her lifetime, she herself was sandwiched between franklin and his mother, sara. A little bit of talk there about her mother in law. What was Sara Delano Roosevelt like . Well, first off, franklin was around the child. Fdr had half brother, rosy, and his father was a fine, upstanding man. He died when he was a freshman at harvard in 1900, so sara was left meeting after lost his father in 100, and he was born in 19 but sara could be domineering. Issues very overprotective franklin in a good way. He is to go play, and go birdwatching, which was a big avocation of his, join the american ornithological union, used to climb trees on the grounds, and she kept a very tight eye on him, there even photos of fdr wearing kind of a dress, and having long hair, being mummified to a very large degree. But i think she was a good mother, in the sense of loving and taught him well, and really kept her eye on her husband. I feel bad historians opera feel bad for owner roosevelt having to deal here from out of the gate, but his mother, she was, i think, very, very intensely loving and caring. Fdr cared the world about her. He was seam and has to be happiest when she was around, he kind of always had to operate the pieces behind are back. In fact, he she was opposed to their marriage, sara, very much so, and said, please, you are going for the family and shame. Why are doing this . And that was his coming out, really, saying, you know, mother, ive got to marry eleanor, and im going to do this. And she came along to some degree with the wedding and things like that. Allida black, the fdr onerous about story, is it a love story . Yes. But id like to go back to a little bit, and talk about an hour and sara, if i can, for a minute. I think so much of that is sort of as dog has referenced put in like little cookie cutter thing. I mean, owners mother died when she was six. Her mother called her granny, she was so embarrassed by her daughter. And so, the relationship with eleanor and sara it is very intricate, and very intimate, and it changes over time. I mean, when they first one eleanor falls in love with fdr, she very much hopes that sara will be a surrogate mother to her, and so, youll see a lot of overtures to this. And as doug so aptly said, sara created this cocoon of love around fdr, as geoff ward and others have, you know, memorably reconstructed, to see that saras lev for fdr gave him a cushion to really take the risk that he needed to take to lead later on. And so, i think, when they come together, we dont know a lot because Eleanor Burns through there courting letters when she finds out about lucy. And so, we really cant reconstruct that. What we can do is suppose, based on the best evidence that weve got, and i think the record is pretty clear that fdr confided in a leader in his early ambitions. She didnt laugh at him. She saw him as this viral, handsome, charming honk. You know, everybody saw him as a dapper, pretty boy. You know . I mean, you know, he was a honk. I hope the viewers get to see him walking and swimming. And so, what they are, is he made her laugh, he could see in those sparkling, blue eyes, something that was there that other people didnt see. And so, the level of trust thats there, that they Stay Together for a year, despite mamas best intentions to keep them apart, and then we had this very sort of teenage idyllic crush. I mean, they are too young to get married. You know, they have, you know, hormones. Well. They learned to love each other in different ways. Married in 1905, and the next ten years, the add six children, five living to adulthood. And thats important, i mean. She raised, you know, one of the child, Franklin Roosevelt junior, the first one died as an infant, but she ended up raising a lot of boys, and raising a lot of boys is a lot of work. I think sometimes we lose sight of that, because its like we said at the outset, its this remarkable life, but she was also a remarkable, loving mother with her kids, and only had one daughter, but was able after it was an absentee father a lot, and eleanor was the one that kept the unit together. I think kept the rhythm a bit. In fact, when fdr would show up, you know, the kids went crazy for him, but its only because he was gone so much, and shouldnt have to be the disciplinarian. He could be a little bit of the fun playmate typify. Theyre exactly. Well, lets get our audience involved here. Our guests are allida black, who is the editor of the owner roosevelts papers project, George Washington university. And Doug Brinkley, author and historian, as well. Mary in west grove, pennsylvania, please go ahead with your question. Yes, thank you. I was wondering, why is owners well viewed as the most disliked and loved first lady of alltime . And, if she was here today, how would owner deal with the 24 7 media . Oh, i got that one. Okay. Well, eleanor took profoundly controversial stands on the issues of civil rights, on women working, on women traveling on escorted. She spoke out on by the second term on legal and constitutional questions that made people a little nervous, and especially the daughters of the american revolution, who looked at her and called her an on fifth woman, and really did not want her in the white house. But, her poll numbers throughout, and the letters that she received, as well as the hate mail, and the largest fbi file that weve had in American History up until that time, shows the extent to which the American Public really revered her. But the people that dislike her, disliked her intensely. She really was our war shock test for what you thought about democracy, and the social upheaval of time. If you thought it was good for the government to be engaged, if you thought it was good for people who disagreed with her, who didnt look like each other to be at the table, if you thought women should have a strong voice, then you stood with Eleanor Roosevelt. If those things make you uncomfortable, you really didnt. And i agree with all that. I also think the fact she did, as i mentioned earlier, so much with African Americans and as we all know, there is jim crow in the south. There are bigots, and heres owner roosevelt, constantly meeting with African Americans, it angered the right of that period tremendously. But, i think she wouldve done very well on the modern circuit. I mean, after, all right, she wrote my day columns from 1936 to 1962. Six days a week. Six days a week. That sort of what blocking is today, isnt it . She almost was doing it daily, saying this is what i think, this is what i feel, and people like to because she told people what she thought. And i think authenticity comes through in the end, and that is she edginess for that. And shes clear. And the one other thing, if i could piggyback on dog, if the press got it wrong, owner wrote that the press got it wrong in my day, and she held her own press conference about it. So, in a great way, eleanor was her own press secretary, and shaped her own image of news media. And brought women to absolutely. As first, lady said i want women journalists in there. They were all be excluded, sort of one or two. As she had regular press conference for women, and being journalists. I mean, if you are looking today at all the great women foreign correspondents we have, Eleanor Roosevelt, in many ways, is their patron saint because she began saying they are doing just as great as work as the men are. We have a tweet here from jeremy, and we are going to introduce another name that is very formative in the with the results. Did louis howe have much influence in developing owner skills and persona . First of all, who is well, louis howe became became the inhouse result family political advisor, i was, heard an accident member of the family. My friend, julie fenster, recently wrote a book about him. He was able to have howe was able to coach Eleanor Roosevelt in some of the intricacies of american politics, and was able to take her seriously. And basically, howe said look, youre an asset. Dont ever mistake that. She was an asset for president roosevelt. Was this prior to the presidency . Yes. Oh, was he was struck with polio 1921, howe and eleanor was well believed and appears political future, where we sara said, lets you have polio, retire, be a country gentleman, you have money, you love forestry, and you can run your property and all. So, eleanor howe and kind of double team of your and say, lets go. And, so its a tripod, almost, in some ways on the political front. Allida black, two very important years and events in Eleanor Roosevelts life, 1918, lucy mercer, and then 1921, what Doug Brinkley was just mentioning about polio. Very quickly, walk us through those two incidents. Well, eleanor when eleanor discovers that franklin has fallen in love with lucy mercer, in the interest of historical accuracy, we dont know if it was an affair. What we do know, without a doubt, is that they are in love with each other. Emotionally. Emotionally like with each other. And eleanor reads the letters, what she finds when shes unpacking his trunk coming home, and she leaves. She offers him a divorce. She takes the children. And he considers it. And howe says to him, that a, theres never been a divorce president , be, that lucy is catholic, and that the pope will never bless a marriage where a man leaves his wife of five children to marry an other one. His mother says to him, son, if you do this, i will cut you off, and you never have a penny. And so, the roosevelts come back together and they learn to develop a new relationship which gives them space. Space that goes beyond the sort of impacted high school, you know, Julia Roberts crush love story, into adults finding ways to love each other, learn to trust each other in different ways, but live to independent and some what overlapping lives. Polio changes that. 1920 . One in 1921. Because when by that point, eleanor has become exceedingly political. And this is really before howe and eleanor bond on the railroad car. And fdr though is in the state senate at this point, correct . Now, fdr has run for Vice President of the United States, and thats one eleanor and howe spend the most time together. We are on a Campaign Train together, but eleanor is very political before that. Shes very much involved with unions, and so, she is working with the International Ladies garment workers union. Shes working with the National Womens trade union league. Shes working with immigrant groups. Shes already understanding how to lobby, how to petition, how to build coalitions. What she doesnt know how to do is speak in public. And so, howes big first tutelage of her is how to speak without that modulated voice going all over the place. But then, as daca, sadly form an intractable team for fdr, who say to him and this man is so disabled, to talk about the intimacy of their marriage, polio so debilitates him that eleanor has to give him animus. She asked and search a glass catheter into his. She has to lift him up and turn him over, this man who was so incredibly viral, and at the same time, in her mind, she is thinking, i love this man. What is happening to him . We have to keep his spirits up. At the other have, shes thinking, oh, my god, i finally got in my life, and now my life is gone, and im and, you know, and i could be here doing this for the rest of my life. And they figure out how to navigate that, and that is a remarkable testament to both of them. Can i just add to that and maybe for listeners, you know he wins in 1910 the state senate so hes an albany, promoting a lot of different conservation and they are interested in the union, then of course after being in albany, it becomes assistant secretary of the navy, and for the wilson administration, and and d. C. At one point gets through an inspection in europe, and then in 1920, its mentioned that he teams up with james of ohio. We fdr it goes like a banshee Cross Country promoting the league of nations, and will sony in his arm, and they go down in hard defeat. And assures into the 1920s era of the three republican president s, you know, harding, coolidge, and hoover. And fdr is sad. He lost in 20, and now in 21, he gets polio. But i think, which was just intimated, out of with campobello moment, when the day he, you know, we think he contracted the polio from a boy scouts bull and bear mountain, new york, where he picked up the virus and was then one up to maine, and one out actually, putting out a forest fire with his sons, it just had terrible chills, and tamped down to the light, and went to bed with the shakes, and woke up and couldnt feel his lo7tm o7tm o7tm o7tm o7tm or him like nobody else. With that utter hell he was living, that anybody would feel he showed true colors of friendship, loyalty, love in a way that was just described. I think that relied their marriage. After that, i mean, he adored hurt for more reasons. She became somebody who took care of him when he was beyond down. Well, before we move into the white house years, i want to introduce one more character. And this is a tweet from trash. How important was Eleanor Roosevelts friend, Lorena Hickok, in helping her to adjust to her new role as first lady . When did Lorena Hickok and eleanor become friends . Its hard to overestimate the impact of pick as both eleanor in franklin it called hickok. Heck was the leading political journalist of the era. She was the only woman who had right on the front page of newspapers get her on byline. She had been assigned to cover on or, fell in love with eleanor during 1932, and theres an intimate trust that develops between the two and a lot of that develops between the two. Emotional love, or physical of . We dont know, and there is no doubt in my mind that hick was in love with eleanor. We know that eleanor will help hick later, when she falls in love with marion, and they build homes together as marion dies, as hick struggles with diabetes, and other things. Eleanor will support her. You can put these in a box. But what we can say about hick, is that hick taught eleanor how to deal with the press in a way where eleanor could define her own message. And one heck hick when eleanor becomes first lady, hick resigns her position and moves into the white house, and, because shes fall in love with eleanor, and she cant be objected. And eleanor ghost fdr, who also liked hick, to say, you know, i want to send you out and look to investigate what the new deal is doing, and what its not doing. I want you to get the hopes and fears and put your journalist craft on paper and very private reports to us. And so, what we get is the most incredibly honest, and powerful assessment of how the depression is affecting individual people. And hick is involved with that. And eleanor will never make a major career decision without talking to hick. One thing we did mention that she was with the associated press, and so, thats why she was able to get these front page stories. She was very, very good, but she was a lesbian, and Anna Roosevelt was married, and she had responsibility of all the children and olive and becoming first lady, so she had all these lives were so, i think the hick, really, sad fell in love with unearthing. Eleanor left her, but owners will cut a lot of other responsibilities. Owner wasnt really taking care of the kids and. I mean, kids wear. Way no, but mother, i mean loving mom it was really doing that. Owner has her own life. Eleanor and hick vacation together, eleanor and hick traveled together, eleanor and hick taught korean four times a day on the phone. The right voluminously, a lot of those letters were burned. I mean, we dont know. We do know is that hick is in the white house, and she is a person that is respected by fdr, respected by hopkins, respected and trusted by eleanor. And so, its its hicks idea that eleanor should have women only press conferences, because the women would lose their jobs. Its hick that suggests to hopkins some of the components of what will become the wpa. Shes a force. It was a 1932, of course, that fdr got elected. Any mention that Lorena Hickok moved into the white house at one point. We have a map of the second floor of the white house and if you, Doug Brinkley, if you could start. If you could walk us through this, you can see er is an art roosevelt, of course, and you could see it down on the far left, Lorena Hickok has her room across yards room. Er seems to have an up monopoly on half a third of the white house down at the end. Well, yeah, thats a nice map. And of course, the oval office, that term stands getting used by Franklin Roosevelt, because of his wheelchair, and this designed for getting himself easier access. We never want to forget that this man in his wheelchair and all that has to do with his life. And then you could see how close the speech writers are, and how important i think they were to Franklin Roosevelt. He was communicating, you know, radiate was their one kelvin coolidge was president , but its fdr that beams into people s home to the Great Depression and world war ii. And Sara Delano Roosevelt is fdrs mother, correct . On the far right . Is that where she would stay on she was there . Yes. But its important for years to know that this is not a static map. Right. I mean, where the roosevelt boys are, and where Winston Churchill and sara our, there would be filled with guests. The boys were only there when they were home from school, or when they were visiting over the holidays. Churchill only comes in you know, in 40, and 41, when they come home. So, and hopkins moves into the white house in 1937. So, its not like everybody is in these rooms all the time. More importantly, than even that, which is true, but he spent Something Like a quarter of his time at sea cruising all over, fdr, not just going to conferences, but going down to florida, or fishing in the gulf, so he was constantly around. And then he wouldve had his home in warm springs, georgia, where the therapeutic pools were, and he would go down and spent a lot of time in the little white house down there, and then he would get up to spring would as much as he can. So, its not a president sort of stuck in the white house. If your moves around an awful lot. Well, we want to show you some inauguration video from the roosevelts inauguration, as we take this next call from kathy in aurora, colorado. Hi, kathy. Hello, how are you . Good. Thank you so much for your cspan. Ive enjoyed so many of the first ladies, and i wanted to say thank you. My question is a little bit we unanswered already regarding lucy mercer, but i did have a couple more other questions. Did eleanor know about all the other arrangements that was made for lucey and mr. Roosevelt to get together . Did anna have involvement in this . The lucy mercer was she married . I think she was. And did you have any children . And what year did she passed away . And did she have any books that lucy mercer ever wrote regarding a private secretary for mrs. Roosevelt, or anything like that . All right, cathy, thank you. More about lucy mercer. Who wants to start . Well, ill just brieflys we can get on to no suspect intended, but to an important part of the an our story. Eleanor did not know about the arrangements that some of the staff had made for lucy to return to fdrs life. She does marry a wealthy South Carolina businessman winthrop rutherfurd. Eleanor Anna Roosevelt, the daughter that brings lucy back into her fathers life at her fathers request during the war, and lucy is with fdr in warm springs with another cousin the day that fdr dies of a cerebral hemorrhage. And it created some embarrassment for onerous felt that lucy mercer is there, and if we could, if it could go back to that map of the white house very quickly, how much of did the public know about the living arrangements in the Roosevelt White house . Oh, they knew people who are coming and going. Eleanor put it in my day. They knew. Do they know lorena how hickok to permanent room there . Oh, yeah. I mean, it wasnt a permanent room. Remember that shes traveling all over the country. But when shes in washington, she stays there. I mean, they knew hopkins was in there. I mean, the roosevelts this is sort of an a historical analogy but with the forwards, okay, when you come into the white house after watergate, betty and gerald ford opened the white house up, and becomes the home of the American People again, you know . Its no longer the siege. Its no longer the nixonian bunker. Well, the same thing is to other Roosevelt White house in the sense that its not the hoover bunker. And so, it was very clear who was coming and going. Especially when my day starts getting published because eleanor says whos there, who is spending the night, what they talked about, and what he had for dinner. So, and you also would have her own press conferences where she would tell people who the guests were, and who was living there. Eey also, i mean, it waa different era with the press and media. I mean, we dont people wouldnt even take photographs if youre in his wheelchair. We only have a couple of them incapacitated because it was considered could you imagine in our youtube air today . And people didnt start covering Peoples Affairs are dalliances in the way they would be rumored. Things would percolate, but it didnt take on a cast if somebody is watching with the clearance had to deal with during their presidency, on the media it was, you know, dna and reading all of this in gossip columns. People left them somewhat alone. Dennis, heres a tweet from dennis. How did her early years as wife of fdr prepped her for being the white house for being white house first lady . Wow. I think being looked, she came from a famous family. She had theater roosevelt, you know, who was already in the white house. She had been a governor of new york from when she was first lady, or whatever you like to call of new york, from 28 to 32. New york was a big deal back then, being governor. So, she had a lot of scrutiny, and also she shared in these new deal type of programs that fdr started doing when he was governor. Ive been looking at the conservation aspect, and their models thats happening during the model ship shes equipped policy wise for, you know, the difficulties that you might find as being a first lady under all that kind of scrutiny. But they also learn to live separately. The roosevelts are never together for more than six months out of the year, you know. From the time he gets polio, until fdr dies. And so, but she learned through the governorship years, is specifically how to develop her own voice, and her own alliances, and support policies in ways that will get fdr to Pay Attention to them. So, in many ways, you know, the twenties for eleanor was her own Political Laboratory hook. And she used the media quite effectively also. Didnt she . Absolutely. Just to give you a sense of some of the first of onerous belt, here are some of her first. She regularly held press conferences, she had that syndicated column, my day, that weve talked about a couple of times. She had a radio show, she held an official government position, which will talk about in a little bit later, she addressed a National Political convention. Was that in 1940 . 40. She earned money lecturing, and she chaired a white house conference. She traveled solo overseas, and she did she had quite a few bursts. Here is a little bit of the radio dress, if you remember at the beginning of the show, we showed you a portion of the radio address right after the bombing of pearl harbor. Here it is in its entirety from 1941. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Im speaking to you tonight at a very serious moment in our history. The cabinet is convening and the leaders and 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 seeking one of our transports, loaded with lumber on its way to hawaii. By tomorrow morning we, 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. For months now, the knowledge that something of this kind might happen has been hanging over our heads, and yet, it seems impossible to believe, impossible to drop the everyday things of life, and feel that there is only one thing which was important preparation to meet an enemy, no matter where he struck. That is all over now, and there is no more uncertainty. We know what we have to face, and we know what we that we are ready to face it. We i should like to say just a word to the women in the country tonight. We have a boy at sea on a destroyer. For all i know, he may be on his way to the pacific. Two of my children are in coast cities on the pacific. Many of you, all over this country, have boys in the services who will now be called upon to go into action. You have friends and families and what has suddenly become a danger zone. You cannot escape anxiety. You cannot escape a clutch if youre at your heart, and yet, i hope the certainty of what we have to meet will make you rise above these fears. We must go about our daily business, more determined than ever, to do the ordinary things as well as we can, and when we find a way to do7p7p7p7p7p7p7p7p others, to build morale, to give a feeling of security, we must do it. Whatever it is asked of us, i am sure we can accomplish it. We are the free and conquerable people in the america United States. To the young people of the nation, i must speak a word tonight. You are going to have a great opportunity. There will be high moments in which your strength and your ability will be tested. I have faith and you. I feel as though i was standing upon iraq and that rock is my faith in my fellow citizens. We now, we will go back to the program which we had arranged for tonight. Allida black, i want to ask you, first of all, before we get to the substance, her voice changes from 1933 radio address that we heard, to a much more modulated, lower tone. Shes in her own element, and shes now saying what she wants to say. We she very much appreciates the gravity of pearl harbor. She had to battle fronts in world war i. She had seen hundreds of soldiers piled up into piles with their stomachs exploding because they had not been buried yet. She was very much involved in the effort for the league of nations. Fdr, to debate hoover over the worlds court when the Senate Begins to on the legislation. For her this is a defining moment. Shes telling fdr and has told fdr for loose two years prior to that, because they both understood that war was inevitable. They tried hard to stay out of it. But she says to him, we must remember that the lesson of world war i is that we won the war but we lost the piece. What shes trying to do here is not only calm the nation, but to sort of set the stage for which she will begin to say the following day, which is this is no time for hyphen its. We are all americans. Lets go back to your calls. This is renee and los angeles. Rene, this is our first lady series. It is wonderful. Thank you so much for doing it. Its so educational. I would like to know what role eleanor played during the woman Suffrage Movement. Eleanor did not get involved in the Suffrage Movement until fdr came out for suffrage. She was involved in the only progressive Womens Movement in the sense of the living wage maximum hours and minimum wages, sanitation, and to really get and fall intemperance but she was not a suffrage assist until fdr came out for it. Ironically, by 1920, she is very much involved with organizing womens votes and develops candidate training schools. Canvassing clinics for women to become involved, and by 1921, she began to help build the Womens Division of the Democratic Party in new york state. Doug brinkley, if i could, what about criticism of Eleanor Roosevelt and throughout her 12 years this first lady . Were people critical of her . Weve had a little bit of a love affair so far. Of course they were. People do not like fdr. He killed the opposition and 32, 46 and 44. Roosevelt was not an albatross. She was a huge asset. With that said, some people thought pushing labor unions in supporting of coal miners. If you are a coal owner you would not have liked it. In south, as i mentioned, African American issues were controversial. She wrote in one letter to an African American person in chicago. The person wrote her, this African American said, how can you use the word darkie when trying to help African Americans . This was a point where she was trying to pioneer the civil rights. The language of what it meant was not really known yet. With wom was there criticism in congress of Eleanor Roosevelt or within the government . Lets do politics and then will do congress. The First Campaign button that the republicans made in 1936 was, we do not want eleanor either. There is a long history of mocking eleanor in political cartoons. Also, there are a lot of cartoons of eleanor with soot on her face, implying she had black blood. Trying to convey secret meetings of the Senate Judiciary committee to have her declared colored, stripped of her citizenship and sent to light period to live with her people that were colored. The fbi the fbi kept following. Absolutely. When did it become public . In the late 19 eighties. A lot of it is still classified. If i win the lotto, we will get the court sudan will get the rest of the document. Chris from new haven, connecticut. Thank you. I think that everything that Abigail Adams was to john adams and to American History in her day and age, Eleanor Roosevelt was, for the earliest 20th century. Some said she was a ring carnation of her, but im wondering if maybe if shes not agree incarnation of her as well. There are these women who have a place in history, and Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt definitely strike as some. Thank, you chris. Nobody is a reading carnation of anybody else, but Abigail Adams was a great first lady. Her correspondents with her husband is quite remarkable. The fact that abigail was an intellectual. That is what you are seeing with elena roosevelt. This is someone who isnt intellectual person, not just a political wife, or something of this. She has deep and interesting ideas about america, developing not just as first lady, but later. Shes thinking in civil rights in terms of human rights before most people are. Shes thinking about what democracy really means. She is also, mentioning the fbi not liking her of embracing the union movement. The fear of strikes Eleanor Roosevelt often cited with the merck workers of america. Hillary clinton of courses in a category of her own. Eleanor roosevelt never ran for office. That is a big difference between hillary clinton, who was a senator from new york, and has always been talked about as running for president. Some people wanted Eleanor Roosevelt to run for senator or governor of new york after her husband died in 45, but she of course said no to that. We have discussed quite a few times what Eleanor Roosevelt wrote. At the fdr National Historic site. We talked with one of the park rangers about her columns. This is a lenore roosevelts typewriter. It was on this typewriter that misses roosevelt wrote her columns on december 31st 1935. It continued six days a week for 26 years. Lasted almost 8000 columns. She was a prolific writer and wrote books that focused on her interests. Some of her books were about international politics. Some about her time in the white house. Others were of interest to children. Often, miss roosevelt wrote alone or other authors. This book, ladies of courage she wrote with her friend and colleague id like to take you back to archives and show you some of mrs. Roosevelts more significant columns. What i have here are the original drafts of some of the my day columns that i want to share. This one is Eleanor Roosevelts first my day column, appeared in december 31st 1935. It sets the tone for the might a column to follow. This is the day for taking up a more or less regular routine again. The house is filled in and off with guests of the children and the president and i take up for schedules today. At 11 am i met with the ladies of the press. I always enjoy this hour on monday mornings. When she is talking about here is the comings and goings of the white house as they are getting back to the regular schedule after the holiday season. The next one i want to share is from december 7th, 1941. This is my day column is written by mrs. Roosevelt and she is talking about, what is going on in the white house as the attack of pearl harbor and the information that is coming into the white house. With this does is it gives sort of an eyewitness account from the inside of what was going on. As i stepped out of my room, i knew something had happened. All the secretaries were there. To telephones were news. The senior military aides were on the way with messages. I said nothing because the words i overheard on the telephone were quite sufficient to tell me that finally, the blow had fallen and we had been attacked. The next column is from february six 1961. Here, mrs. Roosevelt is talking about how she had just gotten back from her speech would dr. Martin luther king and she says, ive had the opportunity of hearing dr. Kings speech. Hes a very moving speaker because he is simple and direct. The spiritual quality which is made him the leader of non violence in this country touches every speech he makes. So far we have seen the drafts of mrs. Roosevelt my day columns but without it be interesting to show you how they look like when they appeared in the newspaper. This clipping is a my day clipping from november six 1940, election day. In here, mrs. Roosevelt writes about how they had a quiet afternoon. Some of us took a walk and returned to the big house 40. We found johnny and and had arrived from boston. Later on she talks about how it midnight, a larger crowdthanusual came in from high park with a band and torches and wonderful placards. The president went out to greet them. This was a tradition. The roosevelts would come to high park, gather family around and await the election results. When they were announced, the folks from high park with marched down and the president would come out and greet them. Doug, what was your comment while we were watching that . She is such an intellectual, Eleanor Roosevelt. I think that differentiates her from a lot of other first ladies. She was a brilliant writer. When you read no ordinary time. You can see her thinking through the Second World War and her strategy ideas. She wanted to bring in for example world war ii, many more european dislocated people. She later regretted that she could not help more jews emigrating to the United States during that period. She was wide ranging in her interest. Anybody who wrote socially provocative books and literature magazines, but the sheer discipline of doing what she did this is a gold mine. I would like to tell some of the viewers, blanche cook she has done a marvelous job on two volumes of Eleanor Roosevelts wife. If anybody is interested in her needs to read it. She is writing a third on the Second World War. It brings out the intellectual side of eleanor quite well. But you like to add anything to what doug said about the blanche and her volume . I think blanche is extraordinary. She has given us a gift. I think that one of the things that secretary clinton had done, as reintroduce eleanor to a new generation. I would also like to send viewers to the Eleanor Roosevelt papers website, where many of the articles and speeches and books, that jeff transcribed she wrote a marvelous book in 1938. Im sorry, 1939. Called the moral basis of democracy, which Nelson Mandela had smuggled when he was in prison. She wrote, is troubled world, which is a marvelous precannon appeal for containment. There are serious books. They did not sell very well because they were profoundly serious books, but eleanor thought that her job was to really help the American People grasp the information that they needed to have to handle crises and to resurrect their own self respect. So that tone resonates through everything that she writes. Anita black, what was arthur dale it was arthur dale was a homestead Resettlement Community out of West Virginia. It was the poorest spot in the country. Coal miners had lift there. The mines had shut down. There was no electricity. No running water. Very few latrines. Vegetation was so desolate that the kids stayed alive by eating dandy line or poke salad. Eleanor hit an investigative story there. Eleanor rate read about it and was still appalled by which she read, that she drove out there. Its about four hours there outside of washington to see it. She drove up unannounced without secret Service Protection. We will talk about that in a minute. She became passionately committed to arthur dale. In the sense of trying to get housing, develop a Model Community there to get schools for the kids. She worked with a financier and marshall field, the Great Department store magnate from chicago. She tried to get businesses there. While she was able to really help restore this community and really promote it, she did not succeed in attracting businesses to it. But the houses that are there with the indoor toilet. The schools and Community Centers are in use today. Was it a failure . No. It was not a failure . People will say its a failure because she could not attract businesses there. But lets look at the literacy rates. Lets look at the disease rates. Lets look at the construction that is there. Let us look at the morale that is their. The suicide rate, he education rate. It was not a failure. It was not the successive could have been, but it was not a failure. Joel in monroe, michigan. This is the first ladies and Eleanor Roosevelt is our topic and you are on cspan. Thank you very much. I would like to ask you about, what was the relationship like between eleanor and her cousin alice . And also another question. Is it true that when franklin was seeing lucy, that alice use to invite them to her home behind eleanors back . No to the second question. That is part of the folklore that surrounds the franklin and eleanor sort of carrying on, so to speak. There was alice she did not like eleanor. She did not like her. She spread wicked barbed stories about her. She would say, well, you cant help but feel sorry for franklin because he was married to eleanor. She would say that franklin contracted polio because he had syphilis because he was married to eleanor. Alice was, as my mother would say, a piece of work. The way to really conceptualize alice is to imagine that you are walking into her parlor, and you are there for tea. And she will pat the sofa and say, please come sit with me, and there will be a needle pointed pillow on that sofa that says, if you do not have anything nice to say, come sit next to me. Dave posts on our facebook page. What was Teddy Roosevelts reaction of fdrs affair with lucy mercer . And how did Teddy Roosevelt feel about fdr . He loved fdr and admired him a great deal. He wrote a very warm note to him about right when the engagement with the lenore took place and saying that youve got many golden years ahead of you and this is even being president is nothing compared to making a marriage work. And of course, we mentioned before, he came there to preside over the marriage. The Theodore Roosevelt dies in 1919 in january. At that point, fdr had been in the wilson administration, and they are on opposite sides of the equations. I mean, Theodore Roosevelt was a republican, and fdr was a democrat. So they did not get along in that regard at the very end, because, you know, i read recently because im working on a book on Franklin Roosevelt and i read a story when theodore was a belt son would go wherever fdr went in 1920, around the west and speak right after him and dispute everything and say fdr is an embarrassment to my side, the oyster bay side of the family. If i could, just         havent made it clear. We never really developed what val kill is, and we if anybody wants to learn about Eleanor Roosevelt, go to val kill. Its right next to the spring would, were very close, and its her home. And there you can really feel Eleanor Roosevelt. What do you mean its her home . Fdr acquired property in val kill is a creek there in duchess county. And they built this lovely home, eventually developed there was a furniture factory for a while. Its a long story, but this was illinois peace of mind. She could get away. There was a Swimming Pool there which she would swim. Its not part of our National Park service as a standalone home. I mean it is there with the Vanderbilt Estate and fdrs home but i encourage people that care about president ial history, do not just go to the fdr home and see franklin an illinois grave. Visit nearby val kill, because its huge insights into her personality there. She would have inner city kids come there. For people to come and talk she had World Leaders and president s who would visit her there. It is quite a spot. Where was that . Built val kill was built in 1925 and it was built along the fault hill creek. It was built because roosevelts left to picnic away from the main house. That is where they could get away from the mom and just hang with their friends and a lot of the political clone ease that mama did not like. So eleanor marched fdr in the winter that this house side it was that it was there last time that they could picnic this year. They picnicked at that point nancy cook and marion determine, two women with whom eleanor had developed a close political working relationship with. Both of whom were very involved in the Democratic Party. One of whom had run for office. Fdr offers to sell the land to them four and 99 year lease. Give them a 99 year lease. And the three women will each put in the third to build the cottage. And the cottage would be called val kill. And that was an extraordinary place for eleanor but it is also a political experiment because the women built a furniture factory there to help farmers in the hudson valley, learn marketable skills in the winter. The women have a falling out in 1935. All three women . All three women. Nan and marianne and eleanor have a falling out. And in 1937, i think, eleanor buys them out. And so she converts the furniture factory into her own home, and thats what she with that is her only home of her own and her most special place. And she will lived there until she dies. And for this program, we visited valkill. Here is a look inside. Let us go upstairs where the bedrooms are located. We will climb a historically creaky staircase. This room here is Eleanor Roosevelt master bedroom. In this particular room, Franklin Roosevelt takes prime footage over the fireplace area with the largest portrait in the room. Mrs. Roosevelts bed is somewhat interesting and its depiction, and it shows how mrs. Roosevelt preferred her laundry to be delivered by the household staff. Folded and placed upon her bed, and she would place it throughout the cottage. A close examination of the laundry reveals that its all monogrammed. We have mrs. Roosevelts monogram on the main towels here. We also have nancys monogram on some of the linens. Some of the linens are jointly monogrammed with the initials edm and, eleanor marion nancy. That was pretty consistent throughout the valkill operation. It surprises me that the ladies who was born into wealth, that married into wealth, and generated wealth in her lifetime, with live and such a simple fashion. The bed is surely not an elaborate bed for a lady who is five feet 11 inches tall. That she had a simple lifestyle and that stands out. This is Eleanor Roosevelt sleeping porch. This is a very important this is where mrs. Roosevelt would come in the evening at approximately 11 00 after saying goodbye to her guests, and it was private space for her. The little scottish terrier dog named fallacy,w;w;w;w;w;w;w;w;w. Roosevelt to this area and spend the night here with her. This is where she would sit and do some latin lastminute letter of writing and reading. And then retire for the evening. She referred to this area as being like a treehouse. Surrounded with glass screened and areas. She could overlook her property, the fall kill creek, the fireplace where the picnics were held. The tennis and badminton court, the cutting garden, the stone cottage, which was so important in the early years. This is her private space where she could get away from the activities of valkill cottage for a short while and be with herself. Well, there is a little quick look at val kill and kind of her private life there. When she was there, did she have a simple lifestyle . She had people visiting her all the time but she could live so simply. I thought it was very eloquently said. Ive been impressed about how spartan both franklin and eleanor can live. Right next to valkill, was fdr was building his dream house that they would have. No electricity and be on kind of a rustic mountaintop. And if you go to the little white house down in georgia, and youre amazed at this mans willing to live in such stripped down circumstances. It reminds me a lot of jimmy carter. Eleanor roosevelt, and planes and mrs. Lillian, jimmy carters mother was and Eleanor Roosevelt democrat. She just left Eleanor Roosevelt. But the ability to kind of live with furniture thats made there, like carter makes an furniture in his home and east have a furniture factory. Very spartan, they had very warm unpleasant. An emphasis on gardens and the outdoor life, but the bringing of the Natural World and we i cant emphasize enough to i cant emphasize enough to the listeners what a special place that part of the midhudson is and duchess county. And one of and the great 11 friendship of franklin and eleanor, from shared neighbor shared friends shared to le topography, and knowing all the little black roads and things together was a big part of their happiness. Illegal black, did she use that while she was first lady to get away . Yes, that she also use it for her own space to conduct. Business i mean calculus all the norths home and her office. Eleanor was very rarely alone and volatile. I mean victory did an extraordinary job in giving you a sense of the feel that eleanor had and how much she loved it. The little norms that we surrounded by hordes of people. Val kill that she would invite. You know there would be neighbors, there would be dignitaries, there would be france, dont be reporters, there to be painters, thered be performers, there would be Winston Churchill, there would be staying that came to valley kill, poly murray came to val killed, you know i mean so val kill was a hub. It was eleanor was vaults on restricted space. You referred to this a little bit earlier. You intimated that she did not like the secret service. This is the thing. No well see, this is the thing to me. The most extraordinary thing about Eleanor Roosevelt and to a great deal about franklin. I want to go back a little bit to february 1932. Fdr has just finished speaking in an open convertible in a park in miami. He is just unlocked his steel braces so that he could slide back from sitting on the top of the car into the seat. And assassins bullet rings out. It kills the mayor of chicago, who is literally closer to fdr than doug is to me. And they have both been through the attempts on Teddy Roosevelts life. They have a personal conversation we dont know what they said but they both referenced the conversation in different correspondents as with their children about the physical sacrifice that it takes to lead the country when you are in a war. And they both saw the depression as of war on the american spirit and a war on the soul and the economic soul of the United States. And so eleanor absolutely refuses to have secret Service Protection in the white house, because she has said, first of all, it would impede her ability to have a conversation with the American People, and she saw her number one job responsibility as helping bring the government to the people, so that people could understand ]]faith. People could understand and so this woman traveled without secret service from 1933 until 1962. I can document 15 assassination attempts on her life. 17 that i dont have all the information on. We know the ku klux klan place the largest bounty in its history on her head. We know people shot at her. We know they dynamited trees outside clapboard churches where she spoke. We know that they wrapped dynamite around the actuals of her tires. We know that they placed nitro glycerin in lecterns where she stood. And she said that it was her responsibility to be able to have a talk with the people of the United States. She wanted to meet her neighbors. And so anybody that interfered with that interfered with her ability to do her job, and she would have no part of it. How did she protect herself . She had a friend, a new york policeman that was with her sometimes, as a little bit of a one of her closest friends and security. I think the important point is that the roosevelts wanted to meet people. They didnt feel that they were better, that they were an elite family. And thats something they shared. , i was reading fdr the other day taking a going birdwatching in making the secret service have no lights on a road because he wanted a dark to go see particular bird, and they he would just blow them off. The secret service. To take that country. Drives and you know he loved going fast in his automobile, because he could shift it with that no lower half. Im i if i could just say another thing i apologize. Were getting a little heavy on. Time ole, okay. A little light on time here. But when it came to protecting herself she learned how to shoot a gun. Absolutely. Earl miller did not trouble with eleanor when she was in the white house. The deal that she made was that he would she learn to shoot. But eleanor would carry a gun in some circumstances. The blitz were not in. At the bullets were in a separate spot in the car. And for all of the people who are going to email me about this, she had permits and every single space that she went. Two and in speaking of which, that is our featured item this week on the first lady series. If youve been to our website, cspan dot or slash first ladies, youll see that its quite comprehensive and a lot of added material is. There and this week, were featuring her gun permit, which they pulled out of her wallet in 1962 when she died. Thats what featured on our website, cspan. Org slash first. Ladies tanya, in pennsylvania, youve been very patient. Please go ahead with your question. Well thank you so much. My question is complicated. One of the things that i met Eleanor Roosevelt through her work with the junior league. But my question is and douglas, you hit on it earlier could you please tell me or could you tell the listeners about the relationship she had with the Tuskegee Airmen a little bit more, like why was that controversial. And also her relationship with two other African Americans, and thats mary meekly buffoon and then also a philip round off. Thanks. Well, three big topics, in a way. But you know, in world war ii we had 1 million African Americans who served, and Eleanor Roosevelt was very concerned that they were being treated as a secondclass citizen. There are stories of her going into georgia and seeing African Americans in the hospital that had smaller rooms and worse medical condition and would kind of blow her top and say, youre treating African Americans the same. Tuskegee in alabama is a Historic Place where booker tea washington and George Washington carver made famous. And aviation was going to be a big part in the war effort, and there she went down there and not just embrace the Tuskegee Airmen, but gave them the publicity that there were part of, we are together in this. And she went up i forget the exact amount of time that like an hour flight flying over the airspace with an African American pilot. Remember, Theodore Roosevelt got hammered for having booker to washington in the white house. Now Eleanor Roosevelt, his niece is flying with the Tuskegee Airmen, you know, over southern, you know airspace. Ill let you take on the naacp and all. That eleanor had worked very closely when the draft was being put into place to really encourage fdr to support the naacps effort to get African Americans more involved in the war effort. Fdr did not want to fund the tuskegee i mean he did not want the Tuskegee Airmen to fly. The secretary of warwwwwwwm leadership is not embedded in the knee grow race. It was a felony to get plasma that was collected from a person when race to the person of another, race even though plasma was protected by an African American physician. Eleanor roosevelt went down to tuskegee to force fdrs hand. She gets and she goes to the air base and they do not know she is coming. She comes up. She has the camera. She gives the movie camera to the still photographer, i mean the still camera to people on the ground to photograph this and she takes them back to fdr and hooks them on fdrs desk to say, when are you going to do this . Eleanor is blamed for race riots in the United States because of her promotion of housing for some of the 6 million African Americans who have relocated from the south to the north for the defense industry. In fact, the detroit race riot in 1943, when shes blamed for that by the Mississippi Press in the new york press, is why she finally gets to go to the pacific. To answer briefly your collars the questions about the thune and a Philip Randall, lets give sara credit. Sarah dylan know roosevelt is a person who takes mary mcleod britain to meet Eleanor Roosevelt in the twenties, when bethune his founding bethune in the district but its her coal command college. They will become devoted friends. They will both call each other their closest friends in their own age. Groups eleanor will become good friends and colleagues with a philip round, off especially when you begin to work in 1939 over the marion under some concert which is not just about her resignation from the da are so that Marin Anderson could perform in the district, but sterility to say, why curse hitler and support jim crow . Why curse main camp and silence Marion Anderson . So Marion Anderson, a Philip Randall who is really one of the leaders of the march of the Marion Anderson event, as well as the first march on washington, which is planned for to ban to ban to force fdr to ban discrimination in federally im sorry, to ban discrimination in the defense industries. Eleanors right in there with him to. Shes very close. Well, we only have a half hour left and as you mentioned, Eleanor Roosevelt to travel to the pacific in his a speech made to some of the troops. Im feeling very sad and officer found a private feeling very sad, looking very depressed. And he said, whats the matter with . You and he said, oh i just cant go home. I havent shot a chap. And so the officer said, well listen, i will tell you what to do. You go up to that ridge over there and jump up, all of a sudden and say, to help with the hirohito, and theyll jump up, all other people all around, and if you shoot first, youll get a chap. So he became so he came by a little while later and the marine was still looking very gloomy and he said, did you do what i told you to do . And he said, yes sir yes. Iran up there and i just did what you told me to do, and i said to hell with hirohito and they jumped up just as you told me they would, but they all shouted to hell with roosevelt. Doug brinkley, how did did she serve as fdrs eyes and ears during the war, as well . You know but these trips, its a bit like the u. S. So, right . Its about getting the morale up of troops. And the very fact that Eleanor Roosevelt and she writes beautifully about it in my day of going over the pacific but went all the way over there, and how much the soldiers loved her. You know, early on, we were talking in 1993, you had the bonus march of veterans here in washington, right at the time of fdrs inaugural. And, you know, hoover sent the army on a previous bonus march of veterans wanting better rights. Helena roosevelt went and talk to the bonus march soldiers, and she had a lot of veterans and people that in mind her in the military. We are talking a lot about her as a lyft figure and a liberal, but she was very beloved by the admiral,s and particularly, bull hole see, as we mentioned earlier in the pacific. This was a very successful tour in 43 of the pacific. Elite a black, you said during that video, that you want to say the prayer that the wartime prayer. Well you see eleanor walking through here you see her tell that joe. What you do not understand is she flew in uninsulated military aircraft. Im talking there is a shell. There is no pressure. Her eardrums shattered. She goes death in one ear. She will walk 50 miles of hospital corridors in two days. The arches will fall on her feet. She will never be able to stand again without special shoes. The war this trip changes Eleanor Roosevelt. She begins to carry a prayer in her wallet that says, dear lord, lest i continue in my complacent ways, help me to remember that somewhere, someone died for me today. And if there be war, help me to remember to ask and to answer, reels. You do not see her in hospital rooms. You do not see her in foxholes. You do not see her tending to wounded. All she did on this trip. Doug brinkley, april 1945, her final month as first lady. How did she find out about fdrs death . When it got reported, it was unfortunate. She wasnt down there in warm springs with him. There is a wonderful have portrait of fdr when he died, and suddenly it was like everybody said, the moon and stars dropped on her. The wounds of having people down around her that she didnt know about, the beauty was that she ran the Funeral Service so wonderfully at hyde park, and fdr wanted a very simple headstone, his name and his years and eleanor. And it tells you the love of him. He wanted to be rest in eternity. And when she finally dies in 1962, she gets buried there with him. Next call for our guests, lynn in daytona beach, florida, you are on cspan. Im a professor at they taunt to state college, and i did a book about women who became very Close Friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. When she was 17 years old. She fixed her hair and put her clothes out and pressed her close, and eleanor was so impressed with her that she had her do the research on the dumb barton oaks conference. What i wanted to say was that she would go out and work in the garden with the girls and attended some of the classes and would bait pies. And whatever they were doing, that she would be right there beside. Her and she found out that when may walker was trying to get equal pay for black teachers and got her home fire burned, that Eleanor Roosevelt then got her a scholarship at bank street college. And when she taught at the Little Red School house, would go over all the time to the third grade class and take her little dog, fala. So that she kept it on a very personal level and was willing, you know, to trust even a 17 year old girl. And i find that very remarkable for someone who at the time was first lady of the United States. Thank you, lynn. Allida black, she spent 17 years as ex first lady. First of all, how quickly did you get out of the white house in april 1945 . She was that within a week. I mean it was truman said that she could stay longer. She said no, she wanted to get out. She famously said the stories over, but the story was not over, and she knew it would not be. People already lobbying her to run for the senate, to be governor, to be secretary of labor, to be president of one of the major colleges, to run one of the Major Political action organizations in the country. What was her relationship with harry and best truman . If i could have seen one thing in the harry eleanor dance, it wouldve been when she told then Vice President truman that roosevelt had died. Eleanor was three inches taller than harry truman, and with heels, she was seven inches taller than harry truman. And so when he is summoned back from drinking bourbon with sam rayburn into the white house, eleanor stands up to meet him and she puts her hand on his shoulder and she says, harry, the president is dead. And he said, mrs. Roosevelt, oh i am so sorry. Is there anything i can do for . You and she says, that is the wrong question, because youre the one that is in trouble now. Did she move back to valkill at that point . Yes, she moves back to valkill to settle the family estate. Meanwhile, she keeps in a Constant Contact with the First American delegation to the planning meeting of the un and san francisco, and by august, she is so frustrated with truman that she begins a full court press on tremendous politics, so much so that truman appoints her to the First American delegation to the United Nations to get her out of the country. And she lives in new york city a lot. She stays at a place at greenwich village, right in the village, an apartment and then lives out of a certain hotel there for a while, and then back to the village, back to the certain, and then try to get a house in manhattan, but eventually retreats back to valkill. You both have talked about how she used valkill as a political meeting ground. Heres a little bit of the public Eleanor Roosevelt at valkill. This is val kill cottage, the building that operated formally as a furniture factory. After the death of fdr, mrs. Roosevelt turn this into her primary residence, and thats when it was actually named vowed kill cottage. These are the steps in the entranceway that mrs. Roosevelt and numerous world figures, such as john f. Kennedy, a key to khrushchev, Winston Churchill and many other notables would have entered the home with mrs. Roosevelt. The desk here is where she worked on her mind they column. Some of her books, Magazine Articles and tremendous correspondence with the American Public. And of course thats the desk with the miss spelled name tag. The name tag was presented to mrs. Roosevelt by young man in high park. He crafted the item in his shop class, having no idea that he misspell her name. She accepted it as a gift, gave her gracious thank you. It found a home on her desk and state for the duration. Aside from her writing, this is the reception area, so when dinners went on there at the site, this would be where the cocktail hour was enjoyed. The dining room is an important room in the activities here at valkill. A table setting here was derived from an early Magazine Article in the 19 fifties and mccauls magazine, which was titled, how eleanor lives at valkill. It is set up as a buffet, and thats what mrs. Roosevelt would prefer when she had numerous guests here at the site. This is the living room here at valkill cottage. As we look through the room, we noticed an alcove area, very significant in the story, because thats where john f. Kennedy would sit with mrs. Roosevelt. He was seeking her support with his president ial bid, and thats because mrs. Roosevelt was at one time the most powerful women in america, and, of course, the matriarch of the Democratic Party. Eleanor described her very chairs here in the cottage as being representative of her visitors at valkill. Which he was referring to is that they came in different shapes, sizes and colors, but when she grouped them together, they seem to function well hair. We also see the walls decorated with many photographs that were important to mrs. Roosevelt, such as several pictures of louis how are incorporated in this room. There is always a good picture of franklin villain all roosevelt. Well see a picture mrs. Roosevelts motherinlaw, sarah roosevelt. We will see mrs. Roosevelts uncle, Theodore Roosevelt in this room. We will see interesting personalities such as emilia your heart, who would have given mrs. Roosevelt her first flying lesson back in 1933 over the skyline of baltimore, maryland. Valkill was very important to mrs. Roosevelt because it was her first and only home that she owned on her own, and this is where she would start to refer to, it feels so good to be home. And allida black, while we were watching that, you mention something very quickly about the. Chairs in the alcove that victor showed us, to see the picture of illinois and jack kennedy. She switched the chair so that she would look up look down at him, and he would have to look up as she as she argues him to take a specific stance on civil rights and labor unions, which he does take belatedly. You are watching cspans first lady series. Joey and ray, bill louisiana, please go ahead with a question for Doug Brinkley and allida black. Where are the descendants of fdr and eleanor nowadays . And if i may ask another one, what would eleanor think about how the countrys direction is going today . Why dont we stick with the kids instead of trying to channel Eleanor Roosevelt . All of the children are dead. The grandchildren are very much alive and active in the cousins committee. Some of them are involved in great Public Service efforts, and goodwill, and teaching, in rural schools and running Public Health programs. Doug brinkley, once Dwight Eisenhower was elected in 1952, what did Eleanor Roosevelt do until the next Democratic Administration . She was not thrilled that Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States. She was a democrat, illimitable a liberal democrat, and id stevenson democrat. We were talking about truman a little bit ago, but she represented the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Truman was more of the center, center even right and some ways, and she was very disappointed stevenson lost in 52. She got involved with the Stevenson Campaign and 60. She was for him and 56, all three times. Even against kennedy. She loved adelaide stevenson. But she weve probably underplayed the so far. We were talking about the death of fdr. His great legacy in the United Nations. And thats what Franklin Roosevelt, you know was, the kind of what his legacy was going to be. And Eleanor Roosevelt started working very closely with the un and and the post war era, most famously offering the United States declaration of human rights. There is no figure more synonymous with human rights than Eleanor Roosevelt. And here she is at the un, talking about it. We stand today at the threshold of a great event, both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This universal declaration of human rights may well become the international maga carlotta of all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation of the declaration of the rights of man by the french people in 1789, the adoption of the bill of rights by the people of the United States, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries. And that was a lenore roosevelt in 1948. Allida black . I eleanor was we would not have the universal declaration of human rights without Eleanor Roosevelt. She was not only chair of the human rights commission, she was chair of the drafting commission. Now, i want to ask your viewers to imagine one thing. You have 18 people sitting around a table. You dont agree on god. We dont agree on whether there is a god. You dont agree on private property or with a private property exists. With marriages, what labor is, what citizenship is, with the purpose of government is, and you have the governments constantly changing with the negotiators are in those 18 seats. And you have a small window in which to come up with a vision that will stand up in opposition to the horrors of the holocaust, the atomic bomb, and the fear that another world war may start in ten years. Without Eleanor Roosevelt negotiating skills, none of those people would have stayed at the table. Everybody would have to solved into conflict and there would have been a great block opposing the declaration, rather than having the declaration passed unanimously. It took 300 meetings of more than 3000 hours. I just want to say one thing. Its interesting also you said it marvelously but she also kind of the human declaration of human rights kind of outed the soviet union for not caring about soviet bloc countries did not want anything to do with human rights. They didnt you know, and so in her own way, she was a cold warrior in a sense, by exposing the soviet union for what they were, and also she was a great friend of israel. And you know, shes still beloved there today, and had a great sympathy for the plight of the jewish people, particularly after all the footage of the holocaust came in. Someone who tweets is sheldon cooper. He tweets in tonight, how do the nation reaction when eleanor passed away november seven 1962 . Oh, deep an incredible morning. All the ex president s, president kennedy came to the funeral, and Dwight Eisenhower came, and harry truman came, and everybody else you can think of. It was its a Little Village there, the town of hyde park, and all the world kind of came to be there. She had to come to beloved and as a champion of the underdog and the under class. If there is anybody who should have won a Nobel Peace Prize who didnt, it was Eleanor Roosevelt for her work with human rights. She had now an International Following and World Leaders descended to pay homage to her. Allida black, did she have any relationship with lou hoover . They met. They certainly were not friends. They did not hang out together. They were cordial. But we have this picture of Eleanor Roosevelt, best truman, and Edith Roosevelt all standing together. What is the context of that picture . Are you familiar with that one . I have seen it but i cannot i have seen inbut i cannot its been labeled as being so many different events that whatever i say is going to be. Wrong nancy from new mexico please go ahead with your question. Yes, i dont have a question. I just wanted to make a point that my father had corresponded with mrs. Roosevelt based on her my day column, and she was very impressed with him, and then she invited our entire family it was 11 years old, to come to our town house in manhattan on palm sunday, and we had pleasant under glass. We had pheasant under glass. She insists that we had to eat the pheasant without our fingers because it was the only way to do it. Nancy, what year was . This 1953. Thank you. And that, some are she had is come up to hide park and spent a week in there with her grandkids in there was a game room on the property where my father and i had to sleep in my mother slept in the house with eleanor with my twoyearold sister. From there i went when i went off to college, eleanor invited my roommate and i to come across the hudson river and spend election eve with her in 1960, and she had numerous guests there while they were waiting to see whether kennedy would get elected or not. And nancy, this was all because your father corresponded with her about my day . Yes. And no political connections on your part or anything . Nope. Happened all the time. Yes. It doesnt surprise either of. Us happened all the time . All the. Time all the time. All the time. Bob in brighten, michigan and you havent Eleanor Roosevelt store you want to share with us as well . Yes, my cousin grew true would was animal, treat georgia, with the da are, and she had invited Eleanor Roosevelt to come down and talk to the women form farmers in the area of mulch, treat your. Gia and i didnt expect that she would accept it, but she did accept it, and she came down and when she was talking, instead of going up on the stage where they had a special seat for her, she just came down to the front row and sat between two African American women farmers. And the da are didnt know what to do about that. Thank you for sharing that story as well. Doug brinkley, you mentioned that you were writing a new book on fdr . I am. Its called the rightful heritage, Frank Franklin de roosevelt and the renewal of america, and im looking at his relationship its really on environmental history of the conservation history of the 19 thirties and forties but how he saved worked to save the eastern forests, but also created and safe places like oak and full okeefe gnocchi, the everglades, you know he would tore out yellowstone and the olympic National Park is one of his joshua tree, the channel islands, on and on. But more significantly, his love of brooding. He created these bird fly ways and created our migratory water fowl and they founded u. S. Fish and wildlife and was the spearheaded the Animal Protection Wildlife Protection movement. Where Rachel Carson worked even in was an fdr idea. He was intensely involved and Soil Conservation and the land and how to rehabilitate land, not just to save wilderness. But how you take all burned out properties and use modern agronomist journals and almond acts and make america. Better allida black, did Eleanor Roosevelt ever function as what we would consider to be a traditional first lady . Sure. I mean she entertain in the white house. She stood in the receiving lines. She had the white house easter egg. You had parties. You had all kinds of private dinner parties where eleanor would bring people in that she thought the president should meet or you know, she served those functions quite well. We have a final tweet, and this is the series is called influence and image. Gary asks, wet with eleanor described as her most important contribution to society . I think that she would say it was the universal declaration of human rights. But i would Say Something else. And ive worked on this woman for 30 years. Ive been to 263 archives in 50 states and nine nations. She has seen everything that is horrible to see about democracy and slaughter and violence, and poverty, and discrimination. And she never gave up. She kept going when people tried to kill her, when they disparaged her husband, when they mocked her children,hlhly and the promise of america and the promise of human rights so profoundly, that she risked everything she had to try to make us get there. And i think that showed an daunting and fierce courage. Doug brinkley . That insulates. I mean we had a wonderful call a minute ago of her going to georgia and then sitting next to an African American and that kind of setting. And how backwards we were on Race Relations in america in the thirties and forties. And it was her voice on a National Level that started bursting through. She has a place of honor in the civil rights movement, and shes in the same pantheon as Martin Luther king and the light for her caring about equality. And finally, on our website, cspan dot oregon slash first ladies, we have a companion book available for the series. And our friend allida black worked very hard on that book. It is available to you as well, at cost. Were not making any money off it. But if youd like to see it at profiles all the first ladies up through michelle obama, and allida black worked on that. We would like to thank our partners in the series, the White House Historical association for their work with us and getting everything together for our programs. Next week, its bess truman. But we are going to leave you this week with a little bit of Eleanor Roosevelt from 1953 talking about a means in her view to be a liberal. We thank Doug Brinkley and allida black. The thank you. Mrs. Roosevelt, this is you have become known as the leader of what is loosely called the liberal movement in this country, or what used to be called the liberal movement in this country, and some people call them do gutters and the rest of it. Could you define a liberal for us . I mean in your words. It is very hard to put in a few words would illiberalism, but i would feel that illiberal was a person who kept an open mind, was willing to meet new questions with new solutions, and felt that you could move forward. He didnt have to always look backwards and be afraid of moving forward. If you enjoyed watching first ladies, pick up a copy of the book first ladies, influence and image. Featuring profiles of the nations first ladies. Through interviews with top historians. Now available in paperback, hardcover or as an ebook