343 Anna Louise Strong: see Cedric Belfrage and James Aronson, Something to Guard: The Stormy Life of the National Guardian, 1948–1967 (Columbia, 1978), p. 87; Ella Winter, And Not to Yield: An Autobiography (Harcourt, 1963), p. 118. Tracy Strong and Helene Keyssar, Right in Her Soul: The Life of Anna Louise Strong (Random House, 1983); ER to Hick, [12] Feb. 1936; Strong to ER, 13 Feb. 1936.
343 “so very, Very sorry”: ER to Hick, 18 Feb. 1936.
344 ER’s friends argued for a more liberal immigration policy. During her visit in May 1935 Jane Addams pointed out to FDR that the low price of wheat would be adjusted by new immigration. According to Perkins she said: “I figured it out the other day, Mr. President. It is just about what a million new immigrants a year would have eaten up. I think it is active population that is needed.” Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew, p. 348.
344 Individual cases: Jurkowitz to Scheider, 28 Aug. 1935; Commissioner MacCormack to Perkins, 6 May 1935. Charles Milgram to ER re. two rabbis; ER to FP, 13 Oct. 1936; FP to ER, 20 Oct. 1936; ER, 70.
344 ER and Hick spent some part of Hick’s birthday week together, and then ER began a new series of well-paid lectures arranged and managed by the Colston Leigh Agency. Her first stop was Grand Rapids, Michigan, where ER finally met Alicent (Alix) Holt, “a charming person with a lovely face and I was so glad to see her.”
345 3,500 Southern Democrats met in Macon: NYT, 30 Jan. 1936. In April, the Senate Lobby Committee, chaired by Senator Hugo Black, which investigated the Macon “grassroots” convention, announced that it was supported primarily by the Liberty League: John J. Raskob, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Pierre du Pont were the principal backers of the 29 Jan. meeting, and donated $5,000 each. NYT, 17 Apr. 1936; Crisis editorial, Mar. 1936, p. 81.
While the South rallied against ER, she was pleased to note: “I do like Ishbell Ross”: ER to Hick, 18 Apr. 1936;
345 Walter White on Talmadge to ER, n.d., 1934, 100, box 1325.
345–46 Democratic women irate: Dewson to ER, 5 Nov. 1935, 100. ER to James Farley, 18 Apr. 1936.
346 Campaign details, ER to Farley, 18 Apr. 1936; Dewson to Farley, 15 Apr., with Leah Pollock’s offending letter; cf. ER to Tugwell, 18 Apr. 1936, 70, Box 700.
346 on Omlie and Vidal: ER to Farley; and cf. Amelia Earhart to ER, 15 Sept. 1936; and Vidal to Dewson, in Sue Butler, pp. 348–52.
346 Farley assured ER: ER to Farley, n.d., May 1936; Farley to ER, 9 May 1936, 70, Box 680.
347 WTUL: Rose Schneiderman to ER, 16 Apr. 1936, 100; RS reported that Max Zaritsky was to join David Dubinsky in his “courageous” resignation from the Socialist Party to be free to work for FDR; see also Pauline Newman to ER, 27 May 1936, Box 5, Schlesinger; Pauline Newman quoted in Orlick, pp. 158–59; cf. ER, Democratic Digest, July 1936.
347 ER and country women: NYT, 2, 3 June 1936.
370 Ishbel Ross, on ER and Hick, Ladies of the Press (Harper Brothers, 1936), pp. 311–22.
348–49 The April 1936 conference “On Better Housing Among Negroes” afternoon sessions featured noted black architect Hilyard Robinson; Nannie Burroughs, chair of the National Committee on Negro Housing; white activists John Ihlder and Anson Phelps Stokes; and Ethel Roberson Stephens, Department of Home Economics, Howard University. There were also panels on housing and health, the family, recreation, and education. Conference Schedule, 18 Apr. 1936, at Miner Teachers’ College, box 701; Florence Stewart to Scheider, 20 Apr. 1936, Box 698; Scheider to Stewart, 22 Apr.; Campbell Johnson, chair Conference Committee, to ER, 23 Apr. 1936, box 701: statistics on attendance and “the cttee on reports and records” will send your statement / to make revisions / since proceedings to be printed. But ER’s remarks seem to have disappeared, and were nowhere quoted. Minutes/ 29 May 1936.
349 As if in direct retaliation: Minutes of Emergency Meeting, 8 May 1936/Box 701.
349 Langston Project saved for African-Americans: Minutes, 29 May 1936.
349 FDR to Mac, 12 May 1936; Ihlder to ER, 9 May; 70, Box 687; the Wagner-Ellenbogen Housing Bill was delayed until after the election.
350 ER stunned by Howe’s death: ER to Hick, 19 Apr. 1936. 350 Howe’s funeral and burial: NYT, 20, 21, 22, 23 Apr. 1936.
350 On the train to Howe’s burial at Fall River, Massachusetts, ER wrote: “Death should be calm and serene when work is done and well done. There is nothing to regret, either for those who go, or for those who stay behind….” My Day, pp. 32–35.
350 ate at table, and Louis Howe Rasputin: Leila Styles, p. 224; Fannie Hurst’s colored glasses: Styles, pp. 169–71.
350–51 ER on Howe: TIR, 144–45; Autobiography, pp. 195–96; “Rabbit is the one”: ER to Hick, 20 Apr. 1936.
351 “He always wanted to ‘make’ me President when FDR was through, and insisted he could do it”: ER to Hick, 15 Nov. 1940. Louis Howe’s essay in Dewson, FDRL, Box 2.
18: The Roosevelt Hearth, After Howe
353 ER “loved him”: Frances Perkins, Columbia Oral History, vol. 2, p. 553.
354 Betsey Cushing Roosevelt awakened at 3:30 A.M.: Ted Morgan, p. 209. For Betsey Cushing as “rough,” “imperious,” “rivalrous with anybody,” see Sally Bedell Smith, In All His Glory: The Life of William S. Paley (Simon & Schuster, 1990) p. 248. ER liked “to lead:” Betsey to Ted Morgan, p. 448.
354 James Roosevelt, My Parents, pp. 106, 223–24, passim; “Staffing My Father’s Presidency: A Personal Reminiscence,” reprinted in “In Memoriam: James Roosevelt: 23 Dec. 1907–13 Aug. 1991,” Presidential Studies Quarterly (Fall 1991), pp. 845–46.
355 Tugwell and Barbara Hopkins: ER to Hick, 20 Apr. 1936.
356 Jeannette Bryce and “these men are naive!”: ER to Hick, 2, 5 May 1936.
356 Vineyard Shore School: See Hilda Smith to ER, 6 Feb. 1936; ER to Smith, 12 Feb. 1936.
357 “Reds Rule FERA Schools”: Washington Herald, 24 Feb. 1935; other clips, including a NY Post, 11 May 1935, criticizing the NYC School for Workers at the Henry Street Settlement; ER defended Smith.
357–58 “landscaping”: ER to Lieut. Francis A. Maloney, 2 Mar. 1936; Maloney to ER, 26 Feb. 1936, 100; “we have you …to thank”: Smith to ER, 21 Apr. 1936; see esp. Smith, Box 18, Schlesinger. Despite the 1934–35 Red Scare Hilda Smith had ER’s endorsement, and Hopkins agreed. See Scheider to Smith, 5 June 1935; Smith to ER, 2 Aug. 1935: “You will be glad to know … that the plan for educational camps for women has been approved,” and will be under the NYA. Aubrey Williams authorized 100 camps. ER to Smith, 25 Sept. 1935/ 70. Smith to ER, 23 May 1936; cf. correspondence re camp for delinquent girls, Knoxville, Tenn., Apr.-May 1936. Advisory Committee Meeting, 13 Apr. 1936, including Louise Stanley, Elizabeth Wickenden, Josephine Brown, others, Smith, chair. Smith to ER, plans for summer camps, 4 May 1936; summer 1936 statistics: Smith to ER, 23 Sept. 1936.
358 “Camp Jane Addams assailed as Red”: NYT, 3 July 1936; NYA camp not Red: ER, 9 July 1936; cf. ER’s correspondence with Mark McCloskey, and via Scheider, n.d., July 1936; re Sarah Rosenberg’s 25 June 1936 letter on Workers’ Alliance letterhead.
McCloskey to ER re new camp director, Mills removed, replaced by Bernice Miller, 4 Feb. 1936; cf. in March there was a meeting of the advisory committee to register “Negro girls,” and it was agreed that Cecilia Saunders of Harlem’s YWCA would be brought in to advise regarding “the right kind of Negro girl.” As for stipends: “It was decided that they should be given 50 cents a week.” McCloskey to ER, with minutes, 11 Mar. 1936.
358–59 garden party for National Training School for Girls: NYT, 16 May 1936, My Day, 8 May 1936.
359 unemployment “throbbing with human pain”: My Day, Apr. 1936, p. 37.
359–60 Hick’s report was immediately assailed by industrialists, and ER defended it. In June FDR sent a memo to ER that he had received statistics “to show that the figures which interested you and me so much were almost wholly incorrect.” ER replied that the facts came from “the Chamber of Commerce of Youngstown…. I wonder if any figures are accur
ate; everyone colors to please themselves….” ER to FDR, 16 June 1936, family, Box 594; the next year Hick’s report was entirely vindicated. Hick to ER, 17 Mar. 1937.
360 If you mind: ER to Hick, 6, 7 May 1936.
360 ER on SDR: My Day, May 1936, p. 41.
361 Dickerman lamented: Davis, Invincible Summer, p. 145.
361 FDR “upset”: ER to Hick, 28 May 1936; FDR to Robert Bingham, 4 May 1936, Letters, p. 587.
362 Val-Kill, and “I wonder where you are”: ER to Hick, 30–31 May 1936.
19: The Election of 1936
363 ER told press conference: NYT, 5 Feb. 1936.
364 Various deaths contributed to ER’s gloom in early June. ER to Hick, 1–6 June 1936. Her cousin Bobby Delano committed suicide, and then Joseph Byrns, the Speaker of the House died suddenly.
364 wearied “of cheering crowds”: ER to Hick, 10, 11 June 1936.
364 ER’s spirits, 10–16 June 1936.
364–65 Dionne quintuplets: ER to Hick, 13 June 1936.
365–66 ER at Val-Kill: ER to Hick, 19–21 June 1936.
366 Alice Hamilton and Alderson: ER to Hick, 24 June 1936.
366 listened on the radio, and future dates: ER to Hick, 25 June 1936.
366 Molly Dewson’s breakfasts: Furman, p. 241.
366–67 “I might get myself into trouble!”: ER to Dewson, 22 June; Dewson to ER, 20 May 1936.
367 “undignified and meaningless”: ER to Hick, 27 June 1936.
367 Perkins’s speech on ER: NYT, 25 June 1936; cf. Bess Furman. The next day Fannie Hurst also presented a praisesong for ER, who “is more than a pioneer.”.
367 women in Philadelphia “made history”: Furman, pp. 240, 227.
368 Daisy Harriman and Alice Longworth: Furman, p. 240.
368–69 KKK violence and Red Scare again on agenda: In 1935 Dewson, who sought to protect FDR, was not prepared to tackle the race issue directly. Dewson, Women’s Division, Box 118.
369 Emma Guffey Miller championed ER in her speech on 16 June. See NYT 17 June 1936; On their split, see Dewson to Alice Disbrow, 11 June, Box 118; Furman, pp. 242–45.
369–71 largest political rally: Furman, pp. 245–46; speech quoted in The Essential FDR, pp. 113–19.
369–70 Arthur Schlesinger, The Politics of Upheaval, pp. 582–85.
371 ER on FDR’s speech: My Day, 28 June 1936; Ickes, pp. 626–27; ER wanted rhetoric transformed: Democratic Digest, Aug. 1936, p. 3; ER’s advice to women in political life: Democratic Digest, July 1936, p. 3.
372 “Hate myself”: ER to Hick, 27 June, 28 June 1936.
373 coordinated activities: ER and Dewson, 15 July 1936, list and plans, Women’s Committee, Box 117; meetings: see Ruby Black, p. 138.
373 Kathleen McLaughlin: “Mrs. R. Goes Her Way…,” NYT, 5 July 1936.
373–74 “I’m an idiot”: ER to Hick, 8 July 1936.
374 from Lake Superior: Hick to ER, 27,28 June 1936.
374 no plans to see each other: ER to Hick, 8, 9 July 1936.
374–75 in Chicago with Kruger: Hick to ER, 11 July 1936.
375 aboard the Potomac: Ickes, p. 629.
375 That weekend, ER and Esther rode together, but “Esther couldn’t hold Pal, so we had an exciting ride.” ER to Hick, 11–12 July 1936.
375–76 Ickes’s party: Ickes, pp. 634–35.
377 “While FDR smiles and fishes”: Ickes, pp. 639–40, 18 July 1936.
377 Ickes despaired: Ickes, pp. 643–46.
377 the women were organized: See Ickes, Agnes Leach to Virginia Rishel, 14 May, Women’s Division, 118; Molly Dewson to Ruth Bryan Owen, 31 Mar. 1936.
377 Owen to Dewson on Phoebe Omlie, 28 Apr. 1936, Dewson, Box 3.
378 Owen/Rohde wedding: Bess Furman: pp. 247–48.
378–79 ER’s memo, 16 July 1936: FDR Letters pp. 598–601. In addition, ER sent Farley a more specific letter about “zealous” fund-raising practices. Also, she wanted Farley to give Ed Flynn “some definite responsibility.”
Jim Farley replied with a ten page single-spaced point-by-point answer. Zealous solicitations would be watched by Forbes Morgan. Ed Flynn would be brought into headquarters. In addition to Will Alexander and Sidney Hillman, Sam Ray-burn would run the speakers’ bureau; Leon Henderson would be in charge of research. Sol Rosenblatt was named chair of the Motion Picture Division. He promised to send her all significant reports, throughout “the entire campaign,” as well as “all letters which in my judgment carry information that you should have….” ER to Farley, 16 July; Farley to ER, 25 July 1936, 70. Farley’s upset over FDR’s purge efforts, and Walter George, in James Farley, Jim Farley’s Story (McGraw-Hill, 1948), p. 128. See Mary White Ovington to ER, 28 May 1924, NAACP Papers, LC, Box C-70. I am grateful to Clare Coss for this reference.
380 “Cotton Ed” Smith: William Leuchtenberg, The FDR Years (Columbia University Press, 1995), p. 130.
380 “for the purpose of permissive ravishment”: Arthur Schlesinger, p. 522; for the ditty see Leonard Dinnerstien, p. 109.
381 Almost nonchalantly: ER to Hick re TIMS, 22 July 1936.
382 ” ‘Where’s his hat?’ “: Wald’s ice story was later used by FDR in a momentous speech, against Liberty Leaguers and businessmen who lost his top hat, with great effect. Lillian Wald, “Why I Am for Roosevelt,” Women’s Democratic News, Aug. 1936, pp. 2, 4, 13.
382 ER on Wald: My Day, 21 Aug. 1936. Wald told ER she was convinced that college students had achieved a new interest in world affairs because of her activities. It was, she wrote ER, “largely due to you” that the situation turned around. Constance Cummer for LDW to ER, 12 Mar. 1935; 100, Box 1361; Wald to ER, 7 Aug. 1936.
382 FDR rushed to her bedside: NYT, 19 Sept. 1936.
383 Frances Perkins to ER, n.d.; Scheider’s note of thanks, 19 Sept. 1936; 70.
383 Wald to ER, 21 Sept. 1936; ER to LDW, 23 Sept. 1936.
383 Aubrey Williams to ER, 22 Sept. 1936, with 23 Sept. 1936 speech; ER to Williams, 25 Sept., 70; Hilda Smith to ER, 18 Sept. 1936; ER to Smith, 23 Sept. 1936. See also My Day, 18 Sept., 21 Sept. 1936.
383 “Terrifying reading”: My Day, 25 Sept. 1936.
384 “We read daily”: My Day, 9 Dec. 1936.
384 “victory rode the rails”: Bess Furman, p. 249; also birthday, p. 251.
384 In 1920, “glad for my husband”: TIMS, p. 311.
385 ER on Howe: TIMS, pp. 314–19; see ER, vol. I.
385 ER’s stereotypic words on race: for example, TIMS, pp. 295–96.
385 “wrung his neck”: ER to Anna, 12 Oct. 1936, Box 56; Mark McCloskey to ER, 19 Oct. 1936.
385 “Mollycoddle”: My Day, 5 Oct. 1936.
386 ER in Providence: Providence Journal, 22 Oct. 1936.
387 Providence Journal: FDR shared headlines with “Russia Prepares to Help Madrid with Warplanes:” Stalin convinced Europe at war’s brink, plans to end neutrality pact so that Spain will not become “another Rightist dictatorship similar … to Italy and Germany.”
387 “I have not sought” FDR in Syracuse: Burns, pp. 279–80.
387 FDR’s Madison Square Garden speech: Burns, pp. 282–83; Davis, pp. 644–45.
387 Ended an era: Moley, p. 352.
388 ER quoted: NYT, 1 Nov. 36.
388 The family voted: NYT, 4 Nov. 1936.
388 Election results: Davis, p. 647.
388 ER told reporters: NYT, 8 Nov. 1936.
388 ER at Temple University: NYT, 9 Nov. 1936.
20: Postelection Missions
389 “Just written Pa”: ER to Anna, 14 Nov. 1936.
389 “catarrh … a pest”: ER to Hick, 10 Nov. 1936; cf. NYT, 10 Nov.
389 speech went “well but very hectically”: ER to FDR, 11 Nov. 1936; and ER to Hick, 12 Nov. 1936.
390 N.Y. Fair job: ER to Hick, 10 Sept. 36; Hick to ER 11 Nov. 1936.
390 “For my sake?”: Hick to ER, 8 Nov. 1936.
391 “love Milwaukee”: Hick to ER, 9 Nov.; ER to Hick, 12 Nov. 1936.
391 in Milwaukee, no audienc
e because communist: ER to Hick, 11 Nov.; Hick to ER 12 Nov. 1936.
392 ER enjoyed meeting Hick’s friends: particularly Tom and Clarissa Dillon. ER to Hick, 21 Nov. 1936.
392–93 visits with friends: 11, 12 Nov.; Hick to ER, 10 Nov., re her interview; ER to Hick 10, 11, 13 Nov. 1936.
393 Bye and Leigh ecstatic: Hick to ER, 13 Nov.; ER to Hick, 14 Nov. 1936.
393 Hall and Buick: ER to Hick, 17 Nov. 1936.
393–94 Ernestine Schumann-Heink, “happy in Valhalla!”: Hick to ER, 18 Nov. 1936.
394 wear her ring: ER to Hick, 20 Nov. 1936. This exchange has been misinterpreted as a “careless blow” representing a cruel reflection of their diminished friendship, Faber, p. 227; also Rodger Streitmatter, p. 198.
394 “She grouses”: ER to Gellhorn, 30 Nov. 1936, 100, Box 1380.
394 correspondence over World’s Fair publicity job: ER to Hick, 14, 16, 18 Nov.; Hick to ER, 17 Nov. 1936.
394 “I don’t approve”: ER to Hick, 20 Nov. 1936.
394 Anna and John to Seattle: Curiously, in 1936, ER wrote that Phoebe Hearst, Hearst’s mother whom she admired (and who died in 1919) traveled across country from Kansas City by stagecoach, with her six children. ER had six children, but Phoebe Hearst had only one, William Randolph—then in the process of absorbing the lives of several of her children. TIMS, pp. 221–22.
395 “John and Anna are blissful”: ER to Hick, 19 Nov. 36; ER to FDR, 22 Nov.; 27 Nov. 1936.
395 Hearst “slobbered”: Ickes, pp. 704–5.
396 Budget cuts: Davis, p. 663; ER agonized, to Anna: 10 Dec. 1936, Halstead, Box 56.
396 Hick’s reaction mixed: to ER, 20 Nov. 1936.
396 ER “an ogre”: ER to Anna, 16 Nov. 1936.
397 “You sound very jolly”: ER to FDR from Massachusetts General Hospital, 27 Nov. 1936.
397 “Survive all that gossip”: ER to FDR, 22 Nov. 1936; ER to Hick, 26 Nov. 1936.
397 confided her divided heart: ER to Elinor Morgenthau, 26 Nov. 1936, E. Morgenthau Papers, FDRL.
397 ER seen to “munch” and game: NYT, 29 Nov. 1936; to Elinor Morgenthau; ER to FDR, 27 Nov. 1936.
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