“I am so overwhelmed”: Keiler, Marian Anderson, 181–217; Arsenault, Sound of Freedom; Jessye Norman, Stand Up Straight and Sing, 135–45; New York Times, 10 April 1939.
the segregated, and ongoing: Real change did not occur until President Dwight Eisenhower integrated all federal spaces by executive order in 1954. Despite Ickes’s commitment to the NAACP on racial justice, his efforts were curiously limited. When a delegation of “Washington Negroes” urged him to open “all playgrounds, golf courses, parks, and swimming pools . . . to Negroes and whites alike,” he said there were adequate separate facilities for recreation and urged them to go slow. It was, he explained, a terrible time “to move too fast,” given the prejudices of the moment. Ickes, Secret Diary, 2:561–62.
“will sing for them”: Article on the concert, Time, 17 April 1939.
“No matter how many times”: ER on childbirth and love, My Day, 1 April 1939.
“Anna is doing very well”: ER to Lape and Read, 2 April 1939, Arizona Collection.
tragedy struck at: Ruby Black, ER: Biography, 121; ER II to author; “Daniel S. Roosevelt Killed,” 19 April 1939; Raymond Daniel, “Harvard Nephew . . . Killed with Classmate,” New York Times, 19 April 1939; “Mrs. FDR at Nephew’s Funeral,” 23 April 1939; Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 488.
Chapter Two: “You Cannot Just Sit and Talk About It, You Have to Do Something”
“every other woman”: Cook, ER, 1:233.
“at the council table”: FDR to Hitler, 14 April 1939, in Hunt, Essential FDR, 152–55.
two-hour Reichstag rant: Shirer, Berlin Diary, 165–67.
Hungary, ethnically diverse: Enmity among Central European states was enduring. Béla Kun’s Communist Hungary might have survived had it not been for an Allied blockade and the intervention of Romanian troops with French support. In 1920 irredentist Hungarians, led by ex-king Charles of Hapsburg sought a resurrected empire that would absorb Slovakia, Transylvania (from Romania), areas of Yugoslavia, and Austria. Consequently, the First World War bled into the Second with all borders at risk. Crystal Eastman, “In Communist Hungary,” in Cook, On Women and Revolution, 315–28, esp. 321, 325; and Crane and Crane, Czechoslovakia, 66–69.
“do nothing that would entail”: FDR to Norman Davis.
“the full co-operation of Russia”: Churchill’s 4 May speech in Churchill, Gathering Storm, 327, 337, 374–77.
“I fear this terribly”: Nicolson, Diaries and Letters, 4 May 1939, 1:401. Perhaps because he had negotiated the first trade agreements with Denmark, Norway, and Weimar Germany, which ended the blockade against the Soviet Union, Litvinov was not liquidated as so many of Stalin’s former allies had been during the dreadful purges of 1937. Subsequently, in November 1940, he was named ambassador to the United States.
“costumes and accessories”: “World of Tomorrow Dress Design,” New York Times, 22 April 1939.
“profusion of beauty”: My Day, 9 June 1939. ER was close to William Reeves, “a delightful man” who had been the White House’s head gardener since Theodore Roosevelt’s administration. ER, Autobiography, 73.
“a tempest in a teapot”: ER on Herbert Hoover, My Day, 3 February 1939.
“both unconventional and unpredictable”: Charles Hurd, “Rugged Roosevelt Individualists,” New York Times, 23 April 1939.
“Where is foreign policy made”: Time, 17 April 1939. This piece represented only the first departure from “Luce’s past coverage of Eleanor.” Subsequently Time announced that My Day was “required reading” for Wall Streeters and sided with ER against Westbrook Pegler; see Time, 3 March 1941. For ER’s speech on U.S. economic needs, see Time, 6 March 1939.
She deplored scholar-politicians: 18 March 1939.
bigotry, race hatred: New York Times, 13 January 1939; Crisis, February 1939, 54.
“Divorce is necessary and right”: Time, 14 March 1938.
“the insane dogma”: Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland, 53; Robert Proctor, Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis, 123.
“I have been a long time”: ER to Mrs. Charles A. Goetting, 28 March 1938, in box 1459; New York Times, 17 January 1940.
“get the whole thing”: “Roman Catholics and Birth Control,” Churchman, 15 March, 15 April, 15 May, and 17 June 1941, sent to ER by Mary Lasker.
“Like your many other”: Rev. Maurice Sheehy to ER, 13 February 1939, in box 1525; ER to Sheehy, 15 February 1939. See esp. Ellen Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992, 2007). For Margaret Sanger and ER’s correspondence, see 339–44, 387–90, afterword passim.
“The president was in top”: Katherine Littell to Anna, 23 March 1940, Anna Roosevelt Halsted Papers, box 36.
“I wonder if you realize”: Hick to ER, 27 January 1939, Hickok, box 6.
“It is magnificent!”: Hick to ER, 15 March 1939, Hickok, box 6.
“Many a soldier has told me”: “Conquer Fear and You Will Enjoy Living,” Look, 23 May 1939.
“a curious feeling”: “ER Reveals Ghosts,” New York Times, 19 March 1939.
“There is nothing discomforting”: “White House Shadows,” New York Times, 20 March 1939.
“laughingly admitted at”: New York Times, 18 March 1939.
“Any good things”: New York Times, 13 March 1939.
“I think my own real objection”: ER to Roy V. Peel, 20 March 1939, box 1519.
“Why do nations go to war”: Photoplay, undated ms. in Hickok, box 6.
“Your valentine came”: Hick to ER, 15 February 1939, Hickok Papers.
“Living—just going on living”: Hick to ER, 19 January 1939.
“Please take the 100”: ER to Hick, 9 March 1939.
“I’ll not even pretend”: Hick to ER, 24 January 1939.
“I’m getting two more books”: Hick to ER, 13 April 1939.
“Things are a little better”: “human dynamo,” Hick to ER, 22 April 1939.
of “government extravagance”: ER, graduation ms. April 1939.
“Do you know, my dear”: Hick to ER, 26–27 April 1939.
“in a costume of printed silk”: Kathleen McLaughlin, “Many Feminine Touches Revealed,” New York Times, 1 May 1939. Over five thousand women volunteers representing forty-eight states were at the reception, McLaughlin reported, observing that women “unconditionally and instantly loved the Fair.”
“as a symbol of peace”: FDR, speech opening World’s Fair, 30 April 1939, was the first televised speech, New York Times, May 1939.
“its formal bow”: New York Times, 1 May 1939.
Chapter Three: Tea and Hot Dogs: The Royal Visit
“Each American family must snap”: “Headlines from Headliners,” Democratic Digest, March 1939.
“private non-profit religious”: See Ira Katz-Nelson, Fear Itself, for the congressional war against the New Deal.
“all services and supplies”: Virginia Cocalis, “Medical Care for Farmers,” Democratic Digest, February 1939; “New Deal in Health,” Democratic Digest, February 1939.
“Of all the programs”: See Genevieve Forbes Herrick, “Congress Will Consider,” Democratic Digest, January 1939; FDR’s $525 million defense program, Democratic Digest, February 1939; Ellen S. Woodward, “Next Steps in Social Security,” Democratic Digest, February 1939; “Congress Considers/Congress Enacts,” Democratic Digest, April 1939; “Farm Poverty Giving Way to Security,” Democratic Digest, January 1939; Wagner on Housing, “Headlines from Headliners,” Democratic Digest, April 1939.
“human side of government”: “Mrs. R Counsels Women,” January 1939, ER’s Jackson Day speech, in Democratic Digest.
dictator Anastasio Somoza: TIR, 182; Cook, ER, 1:365; Congressional Record, 5 May 1939, 5163–64; Gregorio Selser, Sandino, passim; and Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions
, passim. FDR biographers generally ignored Somoza’s visit, which curiously is referred to almost nowhere.
In a published photo: George Black, The Good Neighbor, 71–72.
“Just received wire”: ER to FDR, 1 April 1939, and FDR to ER, 1 April 1939, in FDR: Personal Letters, 4:875.
“The truth is”: ER to Nan Honeyman, 14 February 1939, Nan Honeyman to ER, 11 February 1939; Cordell Hull to Honeyman constituent rescuer, Robert Auxier, 8 December 1938, ER Papers, box 1505. Honeyman and ER agreed to meet at Anna’s during her spring visit.
“It can happen here”: Congressional Record, debate on Hobbs bill, HR 5643, 5 May 1939, 5161–92; O’Day on 5164.
“the American people do not want”: Ibid., Marcantonio on 5167; Dickstein on 5171; Ludlow and Celler on 5172; list of nations on 5180.
“the big thing we talked about”: FDR to Bernard Baruch, 18 April 1939, in FDR: Personal Letters, 4:879–80.
“of all faiths and nationalities”: Baruch’s plan was endorsed by FDR’s friends, and enemies, notably Sam Rosenman who, like Baruch, sought an alternative to a “world ghetto” for Jews. Hamilton Fish, although a fervent isolationist, campaigned for Baruch’s plan in 1939. Baruch, My Own Story, 2:273–74; Jordan Schwarz, The Speculator, 564.
“national home for the Jewish”: FDR to Cordell Hull, 17 May 1939, in FDR: Personal Letters, 4:885–86. For the Balfour Declaration, see esp. Peter Grose, Israel in the Mind of America, 65.
“I have been admonishing”: ER to Hick, 20 May 1939.
behaved . . . “as though”: TIR, 184. See also Davis, FDR: Into the Storm, 446–49.
“Pa was annoyed”: ER to Anna, 31 May 1939, Asbell, 118.
“air our minds”: Cook, ER, 2:73.
“sense of humor”: TIR, 185.
“we should give”: ER, press conferences, 5 May, 22 May, and 29 May 1939, in Beasley, ER Press Conferences; TIR, 187.
discuss than “etiquette”: ER, press conference, ibid., 111–15.
“Hyde Park is no castle”: “Hyde Park,” Life, 29 May 1939.
“British men of war”: New York Times, 4 March 1939, 4; “Hyde Park,” Life, 29 May 1939; Time, 15 May 1939; “FDR Checks Home for Royalty,” New York Times, 28 May 1939. For decisions over protocol, see Davis, FDR: Into the Storm, 145, and TIR, 184.
celebrated her “energy”: S. J. Woolf, “Energy: Mrs. Roosevelt Tells How She Conserves It,” New York Times, 28 May 1939.
radio press dispatches: There were also strikes, forest fires, and baseball scores. Johnstown won the Kentucky Derby, and public health replaced education as the foremost issue of concern among U.S. foundations. In Washington, Congress reconsidered the Neutrality Act, and there was hope that FDR would receive “more discretionary power” to sell arms on a “cash and carry” basis. Radio Press News, 8 May 1939, Tully Papers.
“in the tropic heat”: “Unwanted Refugees,” New York Times, 4 June 1939, reported travail of SS St. Louis.
The stirring speech: ER, press conference, 29 May 1939, in Beasley, ER Press Conferences, 114–15; “News of Week,” New York Times, 4 June 1939.
“Like all other disappointments”: My Day, 3 June 1939.
“mourning the loss”: Mollie Somerville, Eleanor As I Knew Her, 37.
been “carefully coached”: My Day, 6 and 7 June 1939. The story of Billy Nelson and King Albert is in Cook, ER, 2:205–6. Carl Sharsmith and Elizabeth Stone O’Neill to author.
“If you want a press conference”: ER, press conference, 7 June 1939, in Beasley, ER Press Conferences, 118–21.
“Delegates from all parts”: ER’s speech to Workers’ Alliance, New York Times, 8 June 1939. Arthur Krock condemned ER’s speech; see “The Non-Recoverable Relief Bill,” New York Times, 9 June 1939.
“At last I greet you”: FDR, Time, 19 June 1939. According to Time, five hundred people collapsed in the heat along the royal route. Sixty Girl Scouts were also felled by the heat as they waited for the procession at the White House gates, My Day, 8 June 1939. For Ickes’s account of the royals’ Washington visit, see Secret Diary, 2:642–51.
“It was a gay and happy”: ER, My Day, 8 June 1939.
“According to press stories”: Anna to Missy LeHand, 11 June 1939, Glenn Horowitz Collection.
“a few harrowing moments”: TIR, 191; Ickes, Secret Diary, 2:646–47; Tommy wrote Esther Lape that there were no mishaps in Washington, although some tension between the royal staff and the White House staff arose—since “the King’s valet was all prepared to get well saturated with W.H. whiskey, and the Q’s maid requisitioned three quarts of gin in two days.” Tommy to Lape, 13 June 1939, Arizona Collection.
“Well, one day is over”: ER to Hick, 8 June 1939.
“The Queen seems to be”: ER, press conference, 9 June 1939, in Beasley, ER Press Conferences, 122–25; My Day, 9 June 1939; Arlington, My Day, 13 June 1939.
“crown and scepter”: My Day, 9 June 1939; TIR, 195.
“There are a lot of them”: ER, press conference, 9 June 1939, in Beasley, ER Press Conferences.
“I was not the only one”: My Day, 12 June 1939; New York Times, 13 June 1939; TIR, 193.
“Dearest, This day”: ER to Hick, 8, 9 June 1939.
“You know, Anna”: Jane Ickes to Anna, 14–15 June 1939, Anna Roosevelt Halsted Papers, box 32; Ickes on dinner and Garner, Secret Diary, 2:642–51.
“My husband always loved”: My Day, New York Times, 13 June 1939, TIR.
“heard that the White House butlers”: TIR, 196; My Day, 14 June 1939; New York Times, 13 June 1939.
Meanwhile the king and queen: Swift, Roosevelts and Royals, 130–31; “British Genealogist Finds Queen Is Kin to Washington and Lee,” New York Times, 15 June 1939.
Nicholas Murray Butler: Time, 19 June 1939.
“We sat in the library”: TIR, 195–96.
“I must tell you first”: Tommy to Lape.
“Mama tried in the best”: TIR, 196.
“fell down the two steps”: Ibid., 196–97.
“their Majesties remained”: My Day, 14 June 1939.
“Why don’t my ministers”: TIR, 197.
“I think the service”: FDR to Henry St. George Tucker, 16 June 1939, in FDR: Personal Letters, 4:897.
“cannot run the risk”: TIR, 197; My Day, 13–14 June 1939.
After a quiet dinner: Missy LeHand, Laura Delano, and Tracy Dows, FDR’s aunt, were also at SDR’s farewell dinner for twenty-one; New York Times, 12 June 1939; My Day, 12 June 1939; New York Times, 14 June 1939.
“a very heavy thunderstorm”: My Day, 13 June 1939.
As they departed: Time, 19 June 1939; TIR, 198; My Day, 12 June 1939; New York Times, 12 and 14 June.
“Such fun yesterday”: Harold Nicolson, Diaries and Letters, 14 June 1939, 1:403–5; 23 June 1939, 1:405.
“the changed conditions”: My Day, 13 June 1939.
“this country will have”: Ibid.
“FDR was satisfied”: ER to Hick, 12 June 1939.
“your father particularly”: Norman Littell to Anna, 21 June 1939, Anna Roosevelt Halsted Papers, box 36.
“are very delightful”: FDR to Nicholas Roosevelt, 15 June 1939, in FDR: Personal Letters, 4:893. The quoted phrase is a reference to Elizabeth Dilling’s 1934 screed The Red Network, filled with vitriol against liberals.
The Liesel, with: Joseph Levy, “906 Seized in Palestine,” New York Times, 2 June 1939.
“to the President and Congress”: 1 June, 2 June 1939, New York Times. Daily through June details of ships afloat were published in newspapers across the United States.
“appeal to President Roosevelt”: New York Times, 7 June 1939.
The State Department rejected: New York Times, l and 2 June 1939.
“could see the shimmering towers”: “The Saddest
Ship Afloat Today,” New York Times, 8 June 1939.
inaction and cruelty: See especially “Man’s Inhumanity” (editorial), New York Times, 9 June 1939; “Victims of a Plague,” Baltimore Sun, 3 June 1939, “There is something hideously wrong with a world in which there is no longer any sanctuary for the oppressed.”
referred to that event: Earl Miller to Joseph Lash, 1968, Lash Papers and Earl Miller in Miriam Abelow Papers, FDRL; daily New York Times coverage of the SS St. Louis continued from 6–21 June.
“to leave or go”: New York Times, 11 June 1939. On the St. Louis, see Morse, While Six Million Died, 219–34; Morse, “Voyage to Doom,” Look, 28 November 1967; and Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, Voyage of the Damned. On the fiftieth (1989) and seventieth (2009) anniversaries of the voyage, ceremonies were held at Eden Roc, Miami; see survivors’ interviews at www.stlouislegacyproject.org, notably that of Herbert Karliner.
“the inviolability of the right”: On 20 June the French steamer Flandre was allowed to land in France with 97 refugees, including 20 children. They had been “barred by Cuba and Mexico” and had been afloat since 16 May. On arrival they “danced down the gang plank, weeping for joy. . . . The majority of the men were shopkeepers, lawyers, doctors and engineers in their old homes,” New York Times, 21 June 1939.
China announced plans: China’s community was to be built with support from Jacob Berglas and the Chinese central government in Chungking. New York Times, 21 June 1939.
“all parts of the world”: Morse, While Six Million Died, 262–300.
Chapter Four: “We Must Think of the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number”
“by Jane H. Todd, Republican”: My Day, 14 June 1939.
fifty-fifty rules: Dorothy McAllister, “Fifty-Fifty—The First Step for ’40,” Democratic Digest, February 1939, 22.
“basic right of”: My Day, 16 June 1939.
“as soon as you discriminate”: ER at Town Hall forum, New York Times, 3 February 1936, ban “fascistic,” New York Times, 20 June 1939; 25 July 1939; My Day, 14 June 1939; Helen Rogers Reid, New York Times, 3 June 1939.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3 Page 74
