Grandmère

by David B. Roosevelt

  One of the most remarkable qualities I remember was her ability to listen, to draw others out and extend an invitation for them to talk about things that really mattered to them. She did this with everyone, from heads of state to friends, family members, and most certainly her grandchildren. We were all made to feel important—no concern was too trivial; no point of view too childish or insignificant. Despite the extraordinarily busy schedule she kept until nearly the end, she always wanted to have her grandchildren around her at Val-Kill, in her apartment in New York City, or even on some of her official and nonofficial visits abroad. Watching us grow and spending time with us was one of the nourishing springs of her life, and with twenty-two of us she was possibly the busiest grandmother in the world!

  One of the many roles Grandmère fulfilled for the nation and for the world at large was as a teacher. She taught women to take action and participate in politics and social change. She taught Americans self-confidence during the years of the Great Depression. She taught Franklin that the circumstance and the individual were as important in the game of world politics as the grand and far-reaching. With her family and grandchildren she taught by example, eliciting in us a thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn about others as well as ourselves.

  Grandmère’s life was a dramatic statement of self-transformation. From insecure beginnings she grew into one of the most famous women in the world. Ever inquisitive and always curious, she never stopped learning from others: about people, events, and life itself. In public as in private, my grandmother was forever a student of life.

  Perhaps the greatest quality Grandmère displayed again and again was the ability to be absolutely ordinary, and in that simplicity to be most extraordinary. In my eyes, Grandmère will always be greatly beloved and will exert her continuing influence in our lives and in the lives of our children. This is perhaps the greatest testament to her life.

  The End of an Extraordinary Life

  The end of my grandmother’s life did not come quickly or easily. She was diagnosed with aplastic anemia as early as 1958, but David Gurewitsch, her personal doctor and dear friend, was sworn to secrecy. She was determined to persevere, as she had throughout her seventy-plus years in the face of so many other obstacles, and I think she truly believed that “when you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.” Grandmère was not yet ready to die; she had not finished her work on this earth. But by the end of 1960 the deterioration of her health became more rapid, more visible, and certainly more pronounced. For Grandmère, life had become exhausting; she felt a guilt that she was now to become a burden for others. Finally, by mid-1962, the end was in sight. She entered the hospital in July, and as her dear friend Trude Lash would recall

  There was only suffering for Mrs. Roosevelt from the first day in July when she was taken to the hospital for the first time. There was no moment of serenity. There was only anger, helpless anger at the doctors and nurses and the world who tried to keep her alive… She was completely alone and felt betrayed and persecuted by all of us… She was not afraid of death at all. She welcomed it. She was so weary and so infinitely exhausted, it seemed as though she had to suffer every human indignity, every weakness, every failure that she had resisted and conquered so daringly during her whole life—as though she was being punished…

  She did not want even those closest to her to see her as an invalid, and when Adlai Stevenson tried to visit her toward the early weeks in October he was summarily turned away by Dr. Gurewitsch. “Dearest Eleanor,” Adlai would write, “… I pray it won’t be long before I can come to see you… I love you dearly—and so does the whole world!” At the insistence of family, he finally had the opportunity for that last visit, just days before her death, but it is unlikely that she recognized him. Adlai was devastated by what he saw, unable to believe that his dear friend had reached the end. On October 25 her disease was at last correctly diagnosed as a rare form of bone-marrow tuberculosis, which she had likely contracted initially as far back as 1919. As she would make clear to those around her, Grandmère was ready and determined to die.

  This is the last photograph of Grandmère and my father, about five months before she died.

  She thought of herself as an ugly duckling, but she walked in beauty in the ghettos of the world… And wherever she walked, beauty was there forever.

  Finally, on November 7, 1962, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt died.

  Three days later they were all there: President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline, Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird, former presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, heads of state, ambassadors, governors, senators and congressmen, family, friends and neighbors, and just plain folk. They were there to pay tribute to the end of an era and to say good-bye to a friend, and I my Grandmère. All she ever really wanted was to be loved and to give love in return. She succeeded.

  And so the story of Eleanor Roosevelt ended; her incredible life concluded. But for me and my family and children—as for so many others whose lives were nurtured by her example—the life of Grandmère continues. She gave so much to so many and asked so little in return. There will come the day, I know, when the word Grandmère will pass the lips of my own grandchildren as easily as it does my own, and they will share the legacy of this fascinating human—that part of their heritage, Grandmère—with all others whose lives are encouraged by her example. It is, I think, an endless story.

  Bibliographical References

  Part One

  Grandmère

  [1] Bassanese, Lynn A. and Metreaud, Michelle S., ed. Her Star Still Shines. Hyde Park, NY: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, 1995

  [2] Herhan, Stella K. The Candles She Lit. Eleanor Roosevelt Study Center, Hyde Park, New York, 2000

  [3] Ibid.

  [4] Bassanese, Lynn A. and Metreaud, Michelle S., ed. Her Star Still Shines. Hyde Park, NY: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, 1955

  Part Two

  Born in Another Era

  [1] Teague, Michael. Mrs. L. New York: Doubleday, 1981, pp. 18-19

  [2] Roosevelt, Eleanor. Strength and Energy. ER’s papers, Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [3] Roosevelt, Robert. Quoted in Miller, Nathan. The Roosevelt Chronicles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1979

  [4] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews, Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [5] Roosevelt, Eleanor. This is My New York City, 1959. ER Papers. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [6] Roosevelt, Elliott. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, June 20, 1979

  [7] Teague, Michael. Mrs. L. New York: Doubleday, 1981, pp. 19-20

  [8] Eleanor Roosevelt’s My Day: Her Acclaimed Columns 1936-1945. Edited by Rochelle Chadakoff with an introduction by Martha Gellhorn. New York: Pharoze Books, 1989. And Volume II: The Post War Years. Her Acclaimed Columns 1945-1952. Edited by David Emblidge with an introduction by Pamela C. Harriman, 1990

  [9] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 3

  [10] Roosevelt Lindsley, Chandler. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, June 20, 1979

  [11] Roosevelt Gibson, Nina. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, August 13, 1979

  [12] Halstead Collection, Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [13] Wiesen Cook, Blanche. Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume I: 1884-1933. New York, London, Sydney, Toronto, and Auckland: Penguin Books, 1992, p. 23

  [14] Ibid. p. 46

  [15] Eleanor Roosevelt’s My Day: Her Acclaimed Columns 1936-1945. Edited by Rochelle Chadakoff with an introduction by Martha Gellhorn. New York: Pharoze Books, 1989. And Volume II: The Post War Years. Her Acclaimed Columns 1945-1952. Edited by David Emblidge with an introduction by Pamela C. Harriman, 1990

  [16] Teague, Michael. Mrs. L. New York: Doubleday, 1981, p. 151

  [17] Teague, Michael. Mrs. L. New York: Doubleday, 1981, p. 151

  [18] Roosevelt, Eleanor Anna, ed. Hunting Big
Game in the Eighties: The Letters of Elliott Roosevelt, Sportsman. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933.

  [19] ER Papers, Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [20] Collier, Peter with David Horowitz. The Roosevelts: An American Saga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994

  [21] Ibid. p. 233.

  [22] Wiesen Cook, Blanche. Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume I: 1884-1933. New York, London, Sydney, Toronto, and Auckland: Penguin Books, 1992, p. 81

  [23] Ibid. p. 84

  [24] Teague, Michael. Mrs. L. New York: Doubleday, 1981, p. 154

  [25] Letter from Mlle. Souvreste. ER Papers. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  Part Three

  Franklin

  [1] Collier, Peter with David Horowitz. The Roosevelts: An American Saga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994, p. 121

  [2] Lash, Joseph P. Interview with Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [3] Notes for article in Reader’s Digest, 1957. ER Archives, Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [4] Miller, Nathan. The Roosevelt Chronicles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1979, p. 246

  [5] Ibid. p. 185

  [6] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 117

  [7] Ibid. p. 117

  [8] Roosevelt, Franklin D. “The Roosevelt Family in New York Before the Revolution.” Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [9] Roosevelt, Elliott, ed. FDR: His Personal Letters. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1948.

  A Very Close Partnership

  [1] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [2], [3], [4], [5] Ibid.

  [6] Roosevelt, Elliott. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, June 20, 1979

  [7] Teague, Michael. Mrs. L. New York: Doubleday, 1981

  [8] Roosevelt, Elliott. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, June 20, 1979

  [9] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [10] Roosevelt, Elliott. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, June 20, 1979

  [11] Ibid.

  [12] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [13] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [14] Poughkeepsie Eagle News, July 16, 1920

  [15] Roosevelt, Franklin Delano III. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY November 1, 1979

  [16] Roosevelt, Elliott, Jr. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, June 20, 1979

  Part Four

  It’s Up to the Women

  [1] Article on Strength and Energy. ER Papers. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [2] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [3] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 280

  [4] Speeches and Articles. Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [5] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [6] Roosevelt, James with Bill Libby. My Parents. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1976

  [7] Asbell, Bernard. Mother & Daughter. The Letters of Eleanor & Anna Roosevelt. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghan, 1982

  [8] Ibid.

  [9] Gahan Douglas, Helen. The Eleanor Roosevelt We Remember. New York: Hill & Wang, 1963

  First Lady

  [1] Roosevelt, Eleanor. Problems of the Next First Lady. Redbook, 1960. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [2] Ibid.

  [3] Kearns Goodwin, Doris. No Ordinary Time. New York: Touchstone Books, 1995

  [4] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 359

  [5] Ibid. p. 359

  [6] Ibid. p. 359

  [7] Ibid. p. 363

  [8] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [9] Beard, Mary R. Review of It’s Up to the Women by Eleanor Roosevelt in The New York Herald Tribune Books, November 13, 1933

  [10] Interview with Mrs. Amyas Ames in Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 377

  [11] Rosenmann, pp. 134-135. FD Roosevelt. Public Papers, cited 1936, pp. 566-73

  [12] Hopkins, Harry. Memorandum. January 19, 1945. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [13] Hopkins Halstead, Diana. Oral Histories. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, May 15, 1979

  The War Years

  [1] Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [2] Letter from Malvina Thompson Scheider to Emma Bugbee, January 10, 1940

  [3] PBS Special, The American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt

  [4] Ibid.

  [5] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 623

  [6] Ibid.

  [7] Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Maude Gray, September 14, 1941. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [8] Letters from Eleanor Roosevelt to Malvina Thompson, August 19, 22, 23, and 25, 1943. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  [9] Halsey, William F. and J. Bryan. Admiral Halsey’s Story. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1947

  [10] Eleanor Roosevelt’s Radio Broadcast for War Bonds, September 27, 1943

  [11] Bernard Asbell. Mother & Daughter. The Letters of Eleanor & Anna Roosevelt. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghan, 1982, p. 186

  [12] and [13] Ibid. p. 186

  [14] Kearns Goodwin, Doris. No Ordinary Time. New York: Touchstone Books, 1995

  [15] Asbell, Bernard. When F. D. R. Died. New York: Henry Holt, 1961

  Part Five

  Strength, Courage, Confidence

  [1] New York Times, May 7, 1934

  [2] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 532

  [3] Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Journey. Edited by Jess Flemion and Colleen O’ Connor. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 1987

  [4] Lash, Joseph. Eleanor: The Years Alone. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1972

  [5] Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1971, p. 723

  [6] Miller, Nathan. The Roosevelt Chronicles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1979, p. 338

  [7] Interview with Mike Wallace, 1957

  A Legacy in Her Own Right

  [1] Lash, Joseph. Eleanor: The Years Alone. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1972, p. 37

  [2] Ibid. p. 56

  [3] Ibid. p. 65

  So Many Things To Do!

  [1] Lash, Joseph. Eleanor: The Years Alone. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1972, p. 168

  [2] Ibid. p. 169

  [3] Ibid. p. 237

  [4] Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Journey. Edited by Jess Flemion and Colleen O’ Connor. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 1987

  Campobello

  [1] Nolan, Allen. Campobello, The Outer Island. Toronto and Vancouver: Clark Irwin & Co, 1975, p. 117

  [2] Ibid. p. 327

  Epilogue

  [1] Lash, Joseph P. Interviews with Anna Roosevelt Halstead. Franklin D Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY

  Acknowledgments

  I AM NOT AT ALL CERTAIN HOW ONE MANAGES TO adequately acknowledge all of those who have been so vital to the preparation of this book. There being no logical beginning, I’ll simply start with Melissa Shaw, who performed an almost impossible task in the initial selection of images, culling from thousands of photographs of my grandmother. And while speaking of photographs, my sincere thanks to Mark Renovitch of the FDR Library for his knowledge of the archives, guidance, and above all patience with our project. I would be remiss to forge
t my friend Dr. David Woolner of the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, who read early manuscript drafts, made critical observations of the relationship between FDR and Grandmère, and provided constant encouragement every step of the way.

  No book is possible, of course, without the publisher, and I couldn’t possibly say enough about the incredible team at Warner Books who have been so supportive of my efforts: Maureen Egen, who believed in a concept and convinced me that it could be done; my publisher, Jamie Raab, who must surely have wondered if this wasn’t a perpetual “work in progress”; the incredible marketing and sales team of Jimmy Franco, Martha Otis, Karen Torres, and Bruce Paonessa, all of whom believed that this was a worthwhile work for others to enjoy, and, finally, the efficiency and proficiency of Jim Spivey who oversaw the production. For a first-time author, I could never have hoped for the talents of not one, but two unbelievably perceptive editors: Jackie Joiner spent over two years providing endless support, hand-holding, giving critical counsel, and guiding me along that sometimes treacherous path toward becoming a writer, but who, just months before a completed manuscript, followed her heart into marriage; and Jessica Papin, who stepped into Jackie’s position and never missed a beat, gently guiding, at times pushing, me toward the end. To Jackie and Jessica I owe a never-ending debt of gratitude.

  There are those who inevitably pay a price when a project like this begins, and my family most certainly paid that price in my lack of attention at times, periods of frustration, if not downright grumpiness, but they were always there with words of support, understanding, and patience. And when it came to a need for some familial approval of my work, I turned to those I knew I could trust to be honestly critical of what I’d written—my sister Chandler and brother Tony. Thank you all, because without your belief I would not have reached this point.