Test. Test test test test test test test test test test test test test test. Doug brinkley, if i could, what about criticism of Eleanor Roosevelt and throughout her 12 years as first lady . Were people critical of her . Weve kind of had a little bit of a love affair so far tonight. Of course, they were, because people didnt like fdr. A very polarizing president. He killed the opposition in 30 and 32 and i promise you eleanor was not an albatross. As i mentioned before, she was a huge asset. With that said, i think some thought her issue of pushing the labor unions and supporting the coal miners. If you were a coal owner, you would not have liked it. In the south, as i mentioned, the africanamerican issue was very controversial. In fact, theres one letter she wrote to an africanamerican person in chicago, the person wrote her because one of her columns, she called black people and this africanamerican rightly said how can you who is helping africanamericans use the word dark, and she said it was kind of a fond old word from my childhood, but this was a period where she was pioneering on civil rights in a way. The language of what it meant wasnt even really known yet. And with womens issues, the speech you gave, we played it there, were all in this together speech. This is no longer democrats versus republicans, liberals and conservatives speech, and not just that on the womens issue in world war ii. She does an africanamerican, a lot of things, she supports the Tuskegee Airmen, even flies in an airplane with one of them and she promotes women working in factories and industrial places, including her first day care for women working in factories and including working in day care. So shes constantly pushing the envelope, and fdr kind of allows it, which is remarkable. And many people, you know, some people if youre real liberal, you preferred Eleanor Roosevelt to fdr because as president , he had to modulate himself in a certain way for votes. Was there criticism in congress of Eleanor Roosevelt or within the government . Well, lets do politics and then well do congress. The First Campaign button that the republicans made in 1936 was we dont want eleanor either. So theres a long history of mocking eleanor in political cartoons. Also, there are lots of cartoons of eleanor coming out of the mine with soot on her face, inferring she had black blood. In fact, j. Edgar hoover was convinced that she had quote unquote colored blood, tried to convene a secret meeting of the Senate Judiciary committee to have her declared colored, stripped of her citizenship, and sent to liberia to live with her people, the colors. So the fbi component of eleanor and race is significant. So the fbi kept a file on her . She had the largest fbi file in American History prior to the assassination when did it become public . In the late 1980s. A lot of it is still classified. If i win the lotto, well get the court sued and get it declassified. Chris in new haven, connecticut. Allida black and Doug Brinkley are our guests. Caller thank you. I think she was everything that Abigail Adams was for john adams and to American History in her day and age. Eleanor roosevelt was for the early 20th century. Its almost as if shes a reincarnation of her. Im wondering if Hillary Clinton is maybe a reincarnation of her too. Its just there are these women who have a place in history, and Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt strike me as ones. Thank you, chris. Doug brinkley, whats your response . Well, nobody is a reincarnation of anybody else, but the caller is right. Abigail adams was a great first lady, and her correspondence with her husband is quite remarkable, and the fact abigail was an intellectual, and thats what youre seeing with Eleanor Roosevelt. This is somebody who is an intellectual, not just a political wife. She has deep and interesting ideas about america that she develops not just as first lady, but later. Shes thinking of civil rights in terms of human rights before most people are, and shes thinking about how we what democracy really means. And shes also we mentioned the fbi not liking her, embracing of the union movement. The fear of strikes and this, and Eleanor Roosevelt often sided with the workers of america. And then Hillary Clinton, of course, is in a category of her own. Eleanor roosevelt never ran for office. Thats a big difference between Hillary Clinton, who was the 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. Weve discussed quite a few times the my day column that Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, up at hyde park at the fdr National Historic site we talked with one of the park rangers about her column. This is Eleanor Roosevelts typewriter. It was on this typewriter that mrs. Roosevelt wrote her my day column, her first one on december 31st, 1935, and continued six days a week for 26 years, amassing almost 8,000 columns. She was a prolific writer and wrote books that focused on her interests. Some of her books were about international politics, some were about her time in the white house, others were of interest to children. Often mrs. Roosevelt wrote alone, but sometimes she would write with other authors. This book ladies of courage she wrote with her friend, lorena hickok. I would like to show you some of the archives now and show you some of her more significant my day columns. I have original drafts of the columns i wanted to share. This first one is Eleanor Roosevelts first my day column and it appears december 31st, 1935, and it sets the tone for the my day columns to follow. This is a 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 ul up if schedules today. At 11 00 a. M. , i met with the ladies of the press. I always enjoy this hour on monday mornings. Shes talking about are the comings and goings in the white house and theyre getting back to the regular schedule after the holiday season. The next one i want to share is from december 7th, 1941. This my day column is written by mrs. Roosevelt and shes talking about whats going on in the white house as the attack of pearl harbor information is coming into the white house. What this does is gives sort of an eyewitness account from the inside of what was going on. As i stepped out of my room, i knew that something had happened. All the secretaries were there, two telephones were in use, the senior military aides were on their 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 6th, 1961. And here, mrs. Roosevelt is talking about how shes just gotten back from a speech with dr. Martin luther king. She says, ive had the opportunity of hearing dr. King speak. Hes a very moving speaker because hes simple and direct. The spiritual quality which has made him the leader of nonviolence in this country touches every speech he makes. So far, we have seen the drafts of mrs. Roosevelts my day columns but we thought it would be interesting to show you what they looked like in the newspapers. This is from november 6ict, 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 for tea where we found johnny and anne and percy arrived from boston. Later on at midnight a larger crowd than unusual from hyde park with a band and wonderful placards and the president went out to create greet them. The roosevelts with would come to hyde park, gather family around and await the election results. When announced the folks from hyde park would march down and the president would come out and greet them. Doug brinkley, what was your comment while we were watching that . Shes such an intellectual, Eleanor Roosevelt, and i think that differentiates her from a lot of other first ladies. She was a brilliant writer. When you read no ordinary times she deals with franklin and eleanor and her thinking through the Second World War and her strategy ideas. She wanted to bring in, for example, in world war ii, many more european dislocated people, and she later regretted she couldnt help more jews immigrate into the United States during that period, but she was wide ranging in her interest, and anybody who wrote socially provocative books and literature magazines, but the sheer discipline of doing what she did, and this is a gold mine. I would like to tell some of the viewers, Blanche Wiesen Cook has done a marvelous job and two volumes on Eleanor Roosevelts life if anybody is interested or needs to read, shes writing a third on the Second World War and brings out the intellectual side of eleanor quite well. Would you like to add anything about blanche weeson cook and her volumes . Shes extraordinary and given us a gift and i think that one of the things that both blanche and to a large extent secretary clinton have done is reintroduced eleanor to a new generation. I would also like to send viewers to the Eleanor Roosevelt papers website where many of the articles of course peachand books that jeff showed, she wrote a marvelous book in 1939 called the moral basis of democracy which Nelson Mandela had smuggled in to robin hyland to read when he was in prison. She wrote this troubled world which is a marvelous appeal for containment. So theyre serious books. They didnt 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. And so that tone resonates through everything that she writes. Allida black, was what arthurdale, West Virginia . Arthurdale was a homestead Resettlement Community out of West Virginia. And it was the poorest spot in the country, coal miners had lived there. The mines had shut down. There was no electricity, no running water. Very few latrines. The vegetation was so desolate that the kids stayed alive by eating dandelions or poke salad, so eleanor hick did an investigative story about it. Eleanor read about it. She was so appalled by what she read, she drove out there, its about four hours then for her to drive outside of washington to see it, she drove up unannounced without secret Service Protection. Well talk about that in a minute. And she became passionately committed to arthurdale. In the sense of trying to get housing, develop a Model Community there, to get schools for the kids. She worked with a financier bernard barook and marshal field, the Great Department store magnate from chicago to try to get businesses there. While she was able to really help restore this community and really promote it, she didnt succeed in attracting businesses to it. But the houses that are there with their indoor toilets, their schools, and their 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 thats there. Lets look at the morale thats there, the suicide rates, the education rates. It was not a failure. It was not the success it 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 youre on cspan. Caller thank you very much. I would like to ask you, what was the relationship like between eleanor and her cousin alice . Also another question, is it true that when franklin was seeing lucy that alice used to invite them to her home behind eleanors back . No, 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 did not like eleanor. I mean, she just did not. She spread wicked barbed stories about her. She would say, well, you know, you cant help but feel sorry for franklin because he was married to eleanor. She said you know, she would say that franklin contracted polio because he had syphilis because he was married to eleanor. So alice was, as my mother would say, a piece of work. And the way to really conceptualize alice is to imagine youre walking into her parlor and youre there for tea and she will pat the sofa and say, please come sit with me, and there will be a needlepointed pillow on the sofa that says if you dont have anything nice to say, come sit next to me. Dave posts on our facebook page, Doug Brinkley, what was Teddy Roosevelts reaction to fdrs affair with lucy mercer, and how did Teddy Roosevelt feel about fdr . Well, he loved fdr, admired him a great deal. Wrote a very warm note to him right when the engagement with eleanor took place, and saying youve got many golden years ahead of you. 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, but Theodore Roosevelt dies in 1919, in january of 1919. At that point, fdr was had been in the wilson administration, and they were on opposite sides of the equations. Theodore roosevelt was a republican and fdr was a democrat. They didnt 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 where one of Theodore Roosevelts sons 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 one other point, because i think we havent made it clear. We never really developed what valkil is. This is, i think if anybody wants to learn about Eleanor Roosevelt go to valkil, its next to springwood or very close and its her home. There you can really feel what do you mean her home . Fdr acquired property, and valkill is a creek there in duchess county. They built this lovely home, eventually developed, there was a furniture factory for a while, but this was eleanors peace of mind, a place to get away, a Swimming Pool where she could swim. Its now part of our National Parks service as a standalone home. Its there with the Vanderbilt Estate and fdrs home, but i encourage people who care about president ial history, dont just go to the fdr home and see franklin and eleanors grave. Visit valkil because its huge insights into her personality there. She would have inner city kids come there, poor people to come and talk. She would have World Leaders and president s would visit her there. Its quite a spot. What year was that built . Valkill was built in 1925 and built along the fall kill creek, and it was built because the roosevelts loved to picnic and picnic away from the main house because thats where they could get away and hang with the friends and a lot of the political cronies that mama didnt like would come up for picnics. So eleanor remarks to fdr in the winter that this was how sad it was it was their last time they could picnic this year. And they picnicked with, at that point, nancy cook and marion bickerman. 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. And so fdr offers to sell the land to them for a 99year lease, well give them a 99year lease. And the three women will each put in a third to build the cottage. And the cottage would be called valkill. And that was an extraordinary place for eleanor. But its also a political experiment because the women build 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. Well, nan and marion and eleanor have a falling out. And in 1937, i think, eleanor buys them out. So she converts the furniture factory into her own home. And thats her only home of her own, and her most special place. And she will live there until she dies. And for this program, we visited valkill. Heres a look inside. Lets go upstairs to where the bedrooms are located, and well climb a historically creaky staircase. This room here is Eleanor Roosevelts master bedroom. 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 in its depiction and it shows how mrs. Roosevelt preferred her laundry to be delivered by the household staff folded and placed upon her bed. She would place it throughout the cottage. A close examination of the laundry reveals its all monogrammed. We have mrs. Roosevelts monogram on the main towels here. We also had nancys monogram on some of the linens. Some of the linens are jointly monogrammed with the initials emn. Eleanor, mary m and nancy. That was pretty consistent throughout valkills operation. When i look through this room, it just surprises me that a lady who was born into wealth, that married into wealth, and generated wealth in her lifetime, would live in such a simple fashion. The bed is surely not an elaborate bed for a lady who was 511 tall. But she had a simple lifestyle. And that stands out. This is Eleanor Roosevelts sleeping porch. Its a very important area here at valkill cottage. This is where mrs. Roosevelt would come in the evening, at approximately 11 00, after saying good night to her guests, and it was private space for her. The little scottish terrier dog that is so famous in the roosevelt story, would accompany mrs. Roosevelt to this area. And spend the night here with her. This is where she would sit, do some lastminute letter writing, maybe some lastminute reading. And then retire for the evening. She referred to this area as being like a tree house. Surrounded with glass, screened in areas. She can overlook her property. The fall kill creek, the fireplace where the picnics were held, the tennis and badminton court, the 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. And we are back live. Theres a little quick look at valkil and kind of her private life there. When she was there, did she have a simple lifestyle . Well, she had people visiting her all the time, but she could live so simply. I thought that was very eloquently said. I have been impressed about how spartan both franklin and eleanor can live, right next to valkill was fdr was building his dream house top cottage that would have no electricity, be on a rustic mountain top. If you go to the little white house in georgia, youre amazed that this man is willing to live in such stripped down circumstances. It reminds me a lot of jimmy carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, and jimmy carters mother was an Eleanor Roosevelt democrat. She loved Eleanor Roosevelt. But the ability to kind of live with furniture thats made there. Carter makes his own furniture in his home and used to have a furniture factory. Very spartan, but warm and pleasant and emphasis on gardens and the outdoor life. The bringing of the natural world. I cant emphasize enough to listeners what a special place that part of the hudson is in duchess county and the great love and friendship of franklin and eleanor, from shared neighbors, shared friends, shared topography and knowing the roads was a big part of their happiness. Allida black, did she use that while she was first lady to get away . Yes, but she also used it as her own space to conduct business. Valkil is eleanors home and her office. Eleanor was very rarely alone at valkil. Victor did an extraordinary job in giving you a sense of the feel that eleanor had and how much she loved it. But eleanor was always surrounded by hordes of people at valkill that she would invite. You know, there would be neighbors, there would be dignitaries, friends, there would be reporters. There would be painters, there would be performers. There would be winston churchill. Steinbeck came to valkil, poly murray came to valkil. Valkil was a hub. It was Eleanor Roosevelts unrestricted space. You referred to this a little bit earlier. You intimated she did not like the secret service. No. See, this is a thing or having them around, i should say. Thats 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. You know, hes just unlocked his steel braces so he could slide back down from sitting on the top of the car into the seat. An assassins bullets ring 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 with their children about the physical sacrifice that it takes to lead the country when theyre in a war. And they both saw the depression as a war on the american spirit and a war on the soul and the economic soul of the United States. And so eleanor absolutely refused to have secret Service Protection in the white house. Because she 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 the people could understand the human phase. 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 placed the largest bounty in history on her head. We know people shot at her, they dynamited trees outside clapboard churches where she spoke. We know that they wrapped dynamite around the axles of her tires. We know that they placed nitroglycerin in lecterns where she stood, and she said it was her responsibility to be able to have a talk with the people of the United States. She wanted to meet her neighbors. 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 . Well, she had a friend, a new york policeman who was with her sometimes. A little bit of one of her closest friends and security. But i think the important point is that the roosevelts wanted to meet people. They didnt feel they were better, that they were an elite family. Thats something that they shared. I was reading fdr the other day, going bird watching and making the secret service have no lights on a road because he wanted it dark to see a particular bird. And he would just blow them off, the secret service, to take country drives. He loved going fast in his automobile because he could shift it. If i might say one other thing, i apologize for getting heavy on time, light on time, but when it came to protecting herself she learned how to shoot a gun . Miller didnt travel with eleanor when she was in the white house. The deal was she would learn to shoot, but eleanor would carry a gun in some circumstances. The bullets were not in it. 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 in every single space that she went to. And in speaking of which, that is our featured item this week on the first ladies series. If you have been to our website, cspan. Org firstladies. Youll see 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 whats featured on our website. Cspan. Org firstlady. Tanya in coatesville, pennsylvania. Youve been very patient. Please go ahead with your question. Caller 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 tell the listeners about the relationship she had with the Tuskegee Airmen, why was that controversial, and her other relationship with two other africanamericans Mary Mccloud Bethune and then also a. Philip randolph. Thanks. Three big topics in a way. In world war ii, we had 1 million africanamericans who served and Eleanor Roosevelt was concerned they were being treated as second class citizens. Their stories of her going into georgia and seeing africanamericans in a hospital that had smaller rooms and worse medical conditions and would kind of blow her top and say youre treating africanamericans the same. Tuskegee in alabama is a Historic Place where booker t. Washington and George Washington carver made famous and aviation was going to be a big part in the war effort and she went down there and not just embraced the Tuskegee Airmen, but gave them the publicity they were part of were in this together. She ent up iing for the exact amount of time but like an hour flight flying over the air space with an africanamerican pilot. Remember, Theodore Roosevelt got hammered for having booker t. Washington in the white house. Now, Eleanor Roosevelt, his niece, is flying with the Tuskegee Airmen over southern air space. Ill let you take on the naacp and all of 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 africanamericans more involved in the war effort. Fdr did not want to fund the Tuskegee Airmen. He did not want the Tuskegee Airmen to fly. The secretary of war, henry stimpson, said leadership is not embedded in the negro race. It was a felony to give plasma that was collected from a person of one race to a person of another race. Even though plasma was perfected by an africanamerican physician. Eleanor roosevelt went down to tuskegee to force fdrs hand. She gets in the she goes to the air base, they do not know shes coming, she comes up, she has the movie camera, she gives the movie camera to and the still photographer i mean the still camera to people on the ground to photograph this and she takes them back to fdr and puts 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 africanamericans 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 and new york press, is why she finally gets to go to the pacific. To answer briefly the questions about bethune and a. Philip randolph, lets give sara credit. Sara Delano Roosevelt is the person who takes mary bethune to meet Eleanor Roosevelt in the 20s when shes founding bethunecookman college. They would 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 randolph, especially when they begin to Work Together in 1939 over the Marian Anderson concert, which is not just about her resignation from the d. A. R. So that Marian Anderson could perform in the district. But its her ability to say, why curse hitler and support jim crowe . Why curse mine camp and silence Marian Anderson . So Marian Anderson, a. Philip randolph, who was really one of the leaders of the march of the Marian Anderson event, as well as the first march on washington which is planned to force fdr to ban discrimination in the defense industries. Eleanors right in there with him, too, so shes very close. We only have a half hour left. As you mentioned, Eleanor Roosevelt did travel to the pacific and heres a speech she made to smo of the troops. Feeling very sad, looking very depressed. Whats the matter with you. He said, oh, i just cant go on. I havent shot a the officer said listen, you go up to that ridge over there and say the hell with and theyll jump up and if you shoot first youll get. So he comes by a little while later still looking gloomy. He said, did you do what i told you to do . He said, yes, sir, yes. I ran up there and i did just what you told me to do and just as you told me to do but they all as fdrs eyes and ears during the war . On these trips, it was like the uso, right . Its about getting the morale up of the troops, and the fact, she writes beautifully about it in my day of going to the pacific. She went all the way over there, and how much the soldiers loved her. Early on, in 1933, you had the bonus march of veterans here in washington, right at the time of fdrs inaugural and hoover sent the army on a previous bonus march, the veterans wanting better rights. Eleanor roosevelt went and talked to the bonus march soldiers. So she had a lot of veterans and people that admired her in the military. Were talking a lot about her as a left figure and a liberal, but she was very beloved by the admirals, and particularly bull hulse, in the pacific. This was a very successful tour in 43 of the pacific. Allida black, you said during that video that you wanted to say the prayer. You see eleanor walking through here. You see her tell that joke. But what you dont understand is what happened to her in the flight going over there. She flew in an uninsulated military aircraft. Im talking, theres a shell, no pressure. Her ear drum shatters. She goes deaf in one ear. She will walk 50 miles of hospital corridors in two days. The arches will fall in 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 remember that somewhere someone died for me today, and if there be war, help me to remember to ask and to answer am i worth dying for . What you see are the news reels. You dont see her in hospital rooms. You dont see her in fox holes. You dont see her tending to wounded, all she did on this trip. Doug brinkley, april, 1945, the 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. Theres a wonderful half portrait of fdr when he died, and suddenly, like everyone said, the moon and stars dropped on her. Whatever 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. He wanted it to be rest in eternity. When she finally dies in 1962, she gets buried there with him. Next call for our guests, lynn in daytona beach, florida, youre on cspan. Caller im a professor at Daytona State College and did a book about a woman 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 clothes, and eleanor was so impressed with her, she had her do the research on the Dumbarton Oaks conference, but she would go out and work in the garden with the girls and attended some of the classes, and would bake pies and whatever they were doing that she would be right there beside her. And when she found out that, when may walker was trying to get equal pay for black patrons and got her home fire burned, Eleanor Roosevelt 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 dog, so she kept it on a personal level, and was willing to trust even a 17yearold girl. I find that very remarkable for someone who at the time was first lady of the United States. Thank you, lynn, for that call. Allida black, i wanted to ask you, she spent 17 years as exfirst lady. First of all, how quickly did she get out of the white house in april 1945 . She was out within a week. I mean, it was truman said she could stay longer. She said, no, she wanted to get out. She famously said the story is over. But the story was not over, and she knew it would not be. People are 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 Harriet Truman . If i could have seen one thing in the harry eleanor dance, it would have 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. 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 she said, mrs. Roosevelt, oh, im so sorry. Is there anything i can do for you . And she says, thats the wrong question, because youre the one thats 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 Constant Contact with the First American delegation to the planning meetings of the u. N. In san francisco. And by august, she is so frustrated with truman that she begins a fullcourt press on trumans politics, so much so that truman appoints her to the First American delegation to the United Nations to get her out of the country. She lives in new york city a lot. She stays in a place in greenwich village, at the Sheraton Hotel for a while, and then back to the village, then back to sheraton, and tried to get a house in manhattan, but eventually retreats back to valkil. 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 valkill cottage, the building that operated formerly as a furniture factory. After the death of fdr, mrs. Roosevelt turned this into her primary residence, and thats when it was actually named valkill cottage. These are the steps in the entrance way that mrs. Roosevelt and numerous world figures such as john f. Kennedy, winston churchill, and many other notables would have entered the home with mrs. Roosevelt. The desk here is where she worked on her my day column, some of her books, Magazine Articles, and tremendous correspondence with the american public. Of course, thats the desk with the misspelled name tag. The name tag was presented to mrs. Roosevelt by a young man in hyde park. He crafted the item in his shop class, having no idea he had misspelled her name. She accepted it as a gift, gave her gracious thank you. It found a home on her desk and stayed for the duration. Aside from her writing, this is the reception area, so when dinners went on here 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. The table setting here was derived from an early Magazine Article in the 1950s, in mccalls magazine, which was titled, how eleanor lives at valkill. Its set up as a buffet. 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 notice 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 woman in america, and of course, the matriarch of the democratic party. Eleanor described her chairs here in the cottage of being representative of her visitors at valkill. What she was referring to is they came in different shapes, sizes, and colors, but when she grouped them together, they seemed to function well together here. We also see the walls decorated with many photographs that were important to mrs. Roosevelt, such as several pictures of louis howe, are incorporated in this room. Theres always a good picture of Franklin Roosevelt. Well see a picture of mrs. Roosevelts motherinlaw, sara roosevelt, well see her uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, in the room. Well see interesting personalities such as amelia earhart, who would have given mrs. Roosevelt her first flying lesson back in 1933 over the skyline of baltimore, maryland. Valkil 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 mentioned something quickly about the chair. In the alcove that victor showed us, you see the picture of eleanor and jack kennedy. She switched the chairs so she would look down at him, and he would have to look up. And she argues him to take a specific stance on civil rights and labor unions, which he does take belatedly. Youre watching cspans first ladies series. Joey in louisiana, please go ahead with your question for Doug Brinkley and allida black. Caller yes, i have a question for both. 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, in goodwill, in teaching in rural schools, in running Public Health programs. Doug brinkley, once Dwight Eisenhower was elected in 1952, what did Eleanor Roosevelt do until the next Democratic Administration . She wasnt thrilled. That Dwight Eisenhower was the president of the United States. She was a democrat, an Adlai Stevenson democrat. We were talking about truman a little bit ago, but she represented the liberal wing of the democratic party. Truman was more the center, center right in some ways. She was very disappointed stevenson lost in 52. She got involved in the campaign in 60 and 56. All three times. She loved stevenson. We prebl underplayed this so far. We were talking about the death of fdr. His legacy is the United Nations. And thats what Franklin Roosevelt, you know, was kind of what his legacy was going to be. And Eleanor Roosevelt started working very closely with the u. N. In the postwar era, most famously authoring the United Nations declaration of human rights. Theres no figure more synonymous with human rights than Eleanor Roosevelt, and here she is at the u. N. Talking about them. 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 magna carta 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 Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948. Allida black. 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 the table. You dont agree on god, you dont agree on whether theres a god. You dont agree on private property or whether private property exists. What marriage is, what labor is, what citizenship is, what the purpose of government is. And you have the government constantly changing who the negotiators are in those 18 seats. And you have a small window in which to come up with a vision that will stand 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 Roosevelts negotiating skills, none of those people would have stayed at the table. Everybody would have dissolved in conflict, and there would have been a great lock opposing the declaration rather than having the declaration passed unanimously. It took 300 meetings of more than 3,000 hours. I want to say one thing. Its interesting also, you said everything together for our programs. Next week, its bess truman. Well leave you this week with a little bit of Eleanor Roosevelt from 1953, talking about what it means in her view to be a liberal. We thank Doug Brinkley and alita black. 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. Some people call them dogooders and the rest of it. Could you define a liberal for us . Ill put in a few words what a liberal is. I would feel a liberal was a person who kept an open mind, was willing to meet new questions with new solutions and felt that you could move forward, you didnt have to always look backwards and be afraid of moving forward. Next on first ladies, william seal and nichol anslober talk about the life and influence of first lady bess truman