Grandmère

by David B. Roosevelt

  Pandemonium had broken loose in the convention hall. You couldn’t hear yourself speak. The noise was something terrible. I went forward and stood and, to my surprise and everyone else’s, I imagine, there was silence in a very short time.4

  “Delegates to the convention,” she began. “This is no ordinary time. You cannot treat it as you would treat an ordinary nomination in an ordinary time.” Whoever became president, she told the hushed audience, faced:

  … a heavier responsibility, perhaps, than any man has ever faced before in this country. This is no ordinary time… So each and every one of you who give him this responsibility, in giving it to him assume for yourselves a very grave responsibility because you will make the campaign. You will have to rise above considerations which are narrow and partisan. This is a time when it is the United States we fight for.5

  She talked briefly, directly, and without notes, even though she had prepared her speech carefully. In her quiet, understated way, Grandmère was electric. She brought everyone up to face the extreme difficulties that would unfold before the country, and yet promised to renew her and her husband’s bond to Americans, pulling everyone together in a joint effort toward peace and safety. She concluded her speech by sealing the ancient promise of the Roosevelts to the people:

  No man who is candidate or who is President can carry this situation alone. This is only carried by a united people who love their country.6

  As the United States came closer to joining the war, Grandmère concentrated on her work with the Office of Civilian Defense, and is photographed here at a rally of OCD volunteers.

  The hall erupted in tumultuous applause. They agreed on Franklin’s choice of running mate and approved of a third term of his presidency. As she finished her speech the hall became absolutely still, petty rancor and political rivalries melted away by her prophetic words.

  Months later, in November, the Roosevelt family met at Springwood to listen to the results of the election, clustering around radios in the Big House. Grandmère, as usual, made everyone feel comfortable, served scrambled eggs—by now an expected if not altogether welcomed family tradition—and considered quietly what another four years at the White House would do to her, to Franklin, and to their children. Could she face it? As news of his victory poured in, Franklin, Harry Hopkins, and others went out on the front lawn to be cheered by the crowds of reporters and neighbors who had gathered in the night. Franklin gave a little speech, went back indoors, and then headed out again for more rejoicing. My uncle Franklin Jr. went to retrieve Grandmère and told her, “Mother, they want you. There are seven hundred people still standing there in the dark, asking for you. You’ll have to go to them.” For the citizens of the country, Eleanor now counted as much as if not more than her husband.

  Joining the Allied Forces

  At the inauguration of the third term, Grandmère’s heart was laden with unanswerable questions. “I looked at my children, at the President’s mother, and then at the President himself,” she later wrote in her journal, “and wondered what each one was feeling down in his heart of hearts.” Eleanor knew only too well the process of searching deep in times of crisis to find the resilience one needs to pull through. However, this was a time of crisis for everyone, not just for her: Her three boys would most probably be conscripted, and Franklin would need all his strength and courage to guide the country through the war while simultaneously working to repair the deep cuts of the Depression. These were trying times.

  Until then Grandmère had been patron of innumerable causes, but now, with England beset daily by Hitler’s Luftwaffe and the whole world locked in the inferno of war, she concentrated on two causes: enabling in every way she could the State Department to issue visas to the United States to the thousands of refugees from Europe, and helping New York City’s mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to manage the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD).

  Albert Einstein had remarked to Eleanor that the State Department seemed to have built a “wall of bureaucratic measures” between victims of fascist cruelty in Europe and safety in the United States. Grandmère, outraged because she knew that even a few weeks could mean the difference between life and death for many of the refugees, used her influence to impose a degree of urgency on the department so that as many people as possible would be able to reach safety in the States. The OCD would function as a hub between government departments and agencies to join forces and establish an ambitious national program of civil defense. This would be the equivalent of the British Home Front, fondly nicknamed “Dad’s Army,” which became a crucial part of the war effort and in which everyone’s participation—women, the elderly, and even children—was needed. The OCD would educate American citizens on the basics of civil defense in a national effort for preparedness, and Eleanor was inspired by the example set by Britain, where even young princess Elizabeth was photographed in mechanics’ overalls, changing a truck’s tires.

  My father interviewing Albert Einstein, who often expressed strong views on the immigration policies of the United States that limited access of victims of fascism.

  On September 7, 1941, Sara Delano Roosevelt passed away, and with her an era during which families like the Roosevelts could live peacefully in their large country estates, protected from the chaos of the world. Now, her son the president and his whole family were directly involved with the biggest conflict the world had ever known. Grandmère described Sara’s last hours in a letter to her friend Maude Gray:

  She had been somewhat of an invalid all summer but was home from Campo, enjoyed Franklin’s day at home tho’ she had a slight temperature. About Sat. midnight a clot in the lung caused a circulatory collapse & she became unconscious & remained so until her breathing stopped at noon last Sunday. I think Franklin will forget all the irritations & remember only pleasant things which is just as well. The endless details, clothes to go through, check books, paper. I began on Sat.7

  Grandmère and “Granny” (Sara) at Campobello awaiting FDR’s arrival on the yacht “Sewanna.”.

  ER, Frederic Delano, and Sara at FDR’s “Message to Congress,” January 1939.

  Four generations: Sara and FDR, with FDR, Jr. and baby FDR III, 1940.

  Grandmère had struggled in the relationship with Sara for thirty-six years and so felt perhaps no great sense of loss. But Franklin was grieving deeply, and despite previous promises to the contrary, he told his family that Springwood would not be changed at all and that he planned to leave the house exactly as his mother had had it. This painfully confirmed once more to Grandmère that Springwood had been and would always be Sara and Franklin’s home, not hers. No sooner had she begun sorting through Sara’s belongings than she was called to the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, where her brother Hall Roosevelt was struggling in his last few days. After the death of his son Danny, Hall had lapsed back into alcoholism and unhappiness, and his liver had not been able to bear the burden. As Grandmère wrote,

  My idea of hell, if I believed in it, would be to sit or stand & watch someone breathing hard, struggling for words when a gleam of consciousness returns & thinking “this was once the little boy I played with & scolded, he could have been so much & this is what he is.” It is a bitter thing & in spite of everything I’ve loved Hall, perhaps somewhat remissibly of late, but he is part of me. I do have a quieting effect on him & so I stood by his bed & held his hand & stroked his forehead & Zena (Hall’s wife) stood by me for hours. She won’t give up hope of his recovery & keeps asking me if I don’t think he’s strong enough to pull through till I could weep.

  With Fiorello LaGuardia at the Office of Civilian Defense in 1941. Much to the chagrin of her detractors, Grandmère played an important initial role in this wartime agency.

  This photo was taken on a visit to California just prior to my uncle Jim joining the US Marine Corps.

  That September had been emotionally grueling for Grandmère but two days later she was back at work at the headquarters of OCD, lending the country all her support
.

  Grandmère spent the afternoon and early evening of December 6, 1941, in her sitting room with Judge Justine Polier and Paul Kellogg working on OCD business, then took her two guests to bid the president good night. Franklin greeted them with the announcement that he had just sent the emperor of Japan a last plea of peace between their two countries. The next day Eleanor was expecting Franklin to attend a large lunch at the White House, but when he didn’t turn up and she went to check on him she was faced by the most devastating news: The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, sealing America’s fate with the Allied Forces. Overnight, America was in tumult and Washington a changed city. She found her sons James and Elliott already in uniform, and her heart ached when James announced that he wanted to serve active duty with the Marines.

  All of ER’s sons immediately joined the war effort. Here my father with my mother, sister, and brother at just about the time he shipped overseas with the Army Air Corps.

  Now more than ever the OCD would have to perform with absolute efficiency. A number of criticisms had been hurled at Fiorello LaGuardia and Eleanor for the shortcomings of an organization that was attempting to mobilize an entire country. Eleanor, feeling that anything she was personally involved with and that came under critical fire would reflect negatively on the president, decided with LaGuardia that the OCD needed new leadership in these critical times, and so both resigned their positions. LaGuardia was replaced with James W. Landis, who proved a far more efficient administrator in time of crisis.

  Uncle James went to the West Coast to train with the Marine Raiders Battalion, while my father was about to joint a bomber squadron in the Army Air Corps. Grandmère knew her sons would have to set the example for all the sons of the nation, but the thought did not prevent her from sobbing every time she recalled how hard it had been to say good-bye. She carried a prayer in her purse, a reassurance perhaps that this was one of those times when war was necessary and as such we all had to make ourselves worthy of the sacrifice of those who died for our cause:

  Dear Lord,

  Lest I continue

  My complacent way,

  Help me to remember,

  Somehow out there

  A man died for me today.

  As long as there be war,

  I then must

  Ask and answer

  Am I worth dying for?

  Grandmère and Tommy replied to every letter that was sent to them by all the young men and women working at the OCD or being sent away to war: These were not formal replies, but personal and individual letters encouraging each to stand strong in these grave times; it was as though she were writing to her own children.

  Shortly after US troops had been deployed to Britain Grandmère made an important trip to strengthen our nation’s commitment. Here she was visiting the British Royal Family at Buckingham Palace.

  By September of the following year, 1942, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth extended an invitation for Grandmère to visit Britain and to stay at Buckingham Palace. Franklin encouraged closer relationships both with the British monarchs and with the new Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine. Eleanor would also have an opportunity to see my father, who was stationed seventy miles outside of London, and to lend support to the homesick American troops.

  Eleanor was to travel in extreme secrecy, accompanied only by Tommy. When they arrived at Buckingham Palace, they were given a set of rooms so large that my father, who joined them at the royal residence, calculated that his room alone was the equivalent of the long corridor at the White House. She had tea with the king and queen, and met princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. She then spent days traipsing up and down the country talking to the Americans stationed there to help in the war effort. She journeyed to Chequers, the PM’s country residence, and spent time with the brilliant but somewhat irascible Winston Churchill (whose famous words before his afternoon nap were always “Bugger them all”). Her visit was extremely well reported in the American and British presses, and she did truly help boost the morale of both countries. In between the inspections and official lunches, she met the king of Greece, the president of Poland, Belgian Premier Pierlot, Mary the Queen Mother, the king of Norway and Crown Prince Olav, and gave a speech at the BBC that was listened to by 51 percent of the British population, one of the highest ratings ever awarded.

  Winston Churchill had likewise been captivated by Grandmère’s grace, presence, and work; shortly before she left he sent her a handwritten note saying, “You certainly have left golden footprints behind you.” And Chalmers Robert, head of the War Information Office in London, reported to FDR, “Mrs. Roosevelt has done more to bring a real understanding of the spirit of the United States to the people of Britain than any other single American who has ever visited these islands.” From then on and for the remainder of the war, Winston Churchill established a close relationship with FDR, sometimes moving with his butler into a set of rooms in the White House for weeks at a time.

  On this same trip, Grandmère met with my father and homesick US troops at their posting in England.

  What would happen after the war was the question on everyone’s minds. Churchill pressed for a world order based on Anglo-American supremacy that would reflect the glory of the foundations he and FDR would set. Eleanor, however, voiced her support for a postwar organization that should include all people who believed in democracy. Military monopoly in the hands of Britain and the United States, she felt, would only be the cause for further eruptions after the war. Her view included all people and all races, for she saw that continuing to submit supinely to the same doctrine was a grave mistake. The related protests Americans were raising on the inclusion of black soldiers in the war effort also angered her, especially when some Southerners insisted that she and the president were stirring up the black population on purpose:

  Churchill frequent wartime visitor in Washington, shown with FDR during a period of relaxation, fishing at the presidential retreat “Shangri-La” (now Camp David).

  What you do not seem to realize is that no one is “stirring up” the colored people in this country. The whole world is faced with the same situation, the domination of the white race is being challenged. We have ten percent of our population, in large majority, denied their rights as citizens. In other countries you have seen the results of white domination, Burma, Singapore, et cetera. You have seen the intelligent handling in the Philippines.

  She felt strongly that she should help people understand that the effort to diminish human suffering could only be successful if people would transcend color and race barriers. She tirelessly confronted men and women in power to face up to their moral obligations and work through issues in the most enlightened, progressive way. Eleanor Roosevelt’s views were never just theoretical, and she sought to put her principles in practice whenever she could.

  Grandmère became a close friend and an admirer of the young, beautiful, and tireless Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

  Throughout the war years Grandmère’s concern with domestic issues never wavered. While many in the Administration were preoccupied with international affairs, she increased her outspokenness and possibly became even more controversial in her domestic advocacy. She would, for instance, plant the seed for the eventual integration and equality of African Americans in the armed services. She also pushed for more rights and services for women who were now so critical to America’s wartime economy. Grandmère’s role as guardian on all domestic issues had never been more essential, and at the same time her activities on the international front continued.

  On February 17, 1943, Mme. Chiang Kai-shek arrived at the White House for a two-week stay. Eleanor immediately felt a great rapport with this most unusual First Lady, whose character resembled that of a dragon disguised as a butterfly. Mme. Chiang had come to appeal to the president and to Americans to regard Japan as equal an enemy as Germany and to heed the pleas of her country. Grandmère was deeply impressed by this petite woman with porcelain skin and dark e
yes that flashed fire and ice, wrapped in the most exquisite silks. Mme. Chiang repeatedly extended an invitation to Eleanor to visit her in China, urging her to persuade Franklin to let her go, but the president always thought that a state visit by the First Lady to China would be too controversial at this delicate juncture in the war effort, and never gave his consent. Mme. Chiang captivated Eleanor thoroughly, though some people at the White House, such as Tommy and Harry Hopkins considered her imperious, spoiled, and ruthless in her quest to have China’s interests adhered to in the great discussions for the next world order.

  Unable to go and be with Mme. Chiang, Grandmère prepared to visit the GIs in the South Pacific. From Honolulu her first stop was Christmas Island, a coral atoll where the commanding officer assured her there were no snakes, something that terrified her. She was horrified, however, when she found the floor of her bedroom that night crawling with tropical bugs. “I might have screamed if I had not been the only women on the Island and I knew a feminine scream would have attracted a great deal of attention,” she quipped. On her next stop, the Cook Islands, she was astonished to find just how much bigotry pervaded the attitudes of some soldiers and commanders in their relationships with each other and women of the Maori race: