Eleanor Roosevelt

by Blanche Wiesen Cook

  440 ER at Barnard College: NYT, 23 Oct. 1935.

  440 By 1938, eating, and amalgamation: Augusta Conrad to ER, 31 Aug. 1938, ER to Augusta Conrad, 7 Sept. 1938, 100, Box 1453.

  440 Lynching, ER to FDR, “even one step”: 19 Mar. 1936; White to ER, 9 Apr. 37; Scheider to White, 12 Apr., 100, box 1446. ER’s East Coast travels took her through New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. She visited her cousins Corinne and Joseph Alsop at Avon, and spoke at Hartford and Scranton, Democratic Digest, June 1937.

  440–43 Wagner-Gavagan debate: Congressional Record on HR 1507, beginning p. 3423; Fish, 13 Apr. 1937, pp. 3430–32; Caroline O’Day: CR, 13 Apr. 1937, v 81, pt 3, p. 3448; Emmanuel Celler, on Winona lynching: CR, p. 3434; John Marshall Robison: CR, pp. 3439–43.

  443 President “not familiar enough”: ER to White, 22 May 1937, 100, Box 1446; see also, Zangrando, pp. 142–46.

  443 FDR’s neutrality: See “The Cash and Carry Compromise of 1937,” in Robert Divine, The Illusion of Neutrality: FDR and the Struggle Over the Arms Embargo (Quadrangle Books; 1962), pp. 190–99.

  443 Only legislative initiative, renewal of Neutrality Act of 1935: See FDR to Hull, to study possible copper and steel embargo, 21 Apr. 1937, pp. 674–75. The study never materialized.

  443–44 Henry Stimson, Allen Dulles, and Hamilton Fish Armstrong: Allen Guttmann, The Wound in the Heart: America and the Spanish Civil War (Free Press, 1962), pp. 88–93; Wayne Cole, Senator Gerald P. Nye and American Foreign Relations (University of Minnesota Press, 1962).

  444 Guernica bombed, 26 April: headline, NYT, 7 May 1937.

  444 U.S. “ranked first in value of exports”: Arnold Offner, “Appeasement Revisited: U.S., Britain, Germany, 1933–1940,” JAH (Sept. 1977), pp. 373ff; stats, p. 374; Watson, p. 376. Standard Oil, General Motors, and Du Pont maintained secret and illegal agreements with German firms, on restricted items of chemicals, rubber, aviation fuel; and enabled stockpiling of strategic materials. Despite the embargo against Spain, Franco’s forces received U.S. oil. On 18 July 1936 Texaco’s Thorkild Rieber diverted 5 oil tankers to Franco-controlled ports in Spain, in violation of Texaco’s long-term contract to supply the Spanish government’s oil monopoly, CAMPSA. “Texaco supplied Franco fuel on credit until the civil war’s end….” See Ed Doerr in The Nation, January 1997; Arthur Landis, Spain! The Unfinished Revolution, pp. 206–8; and Herbert Feis, The Spanish Story, pp. 269–71.

  445 ER haunted by Guernica: My Day, May 1937, p. 141; on Basque children, June columns, 145–149.

  445 “like a child”: Tommy to Anna, 14 Apr. 1937, ARH, 75.

  445 “Germany Admits Guilt Over Guernica,” NYT, 28 Apr. 1997. See Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (Harper Colophon, 1961), pp. 419–23.

  445–46 ER and Anna broadcast transcript: Halsted, Box 62, 5 May 1937.

  446–47 autobiographies should be done “anonymously”: Hick to ER, 5 May 1937.

  447 “Infidelity need not ruin”: Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, p. 432.

  447 most traveled first lady in history: NYT, 16 May 1937.

  447 Tommy to Anna, n.d., May 1937, ARH, 75; fees in Beasley, ER and the Media, p. 113.

  447 ER liked Earl’s current companion, and encouraged Roberta Jonay to study with Irene Lewisohn at the Neighborhood Playhouse; and subsequentiy tried to get her a job with the WPA.

  448 ER on John Golden: My Day, Mar. 1937, pp. 124–25.

  448 ER to Golden, 2 Nov. 1937; original letter in author’s collection, a gift from Elizabeth Harlan, 20 Apr. 1991.

  448 disagreed about WPA theater: Golden, quoted by Flanagan in Arena, p. 40.

  448–49 Federal Theatre part of a great democratic movement: Flanagan to ER, 21 May 1937, ER’s office to Flanagan, 25 May; with attachment for ER, including Wilson Whitman, “Job for Jumbo,” reprinted from Stage, Mar. 1937, a celebration of WPA theatre projects, with NY audience and national facts. 70, Box 710; ER’s 1 June s1937 broadcast quoted in Arena, p. 206.

  449 “zealous” communists: Frank Banks, NYT, 16 May 1937.

  449 ER opposed to Dunnigan bill: My Day, May 1937, pp. 140–41.

  449 criticized only one play: ER in Democratic Digest, July 1937; My Day, 13 May 1937.

  449 Playwrights especially: in Edward Robb Ellis, A Nation in Torment: The Great Depression, 1929–1939 (Capricorn Books, 1971), pp. 518–19.

  450 “rather ruthless” about The Women: ER to Esther Lape, 21 June 1937, Arizona collection.

  450–51 “royal Bengal tiger”: Hick to ER, 24 May 1937. Hick also reported that Martha Gellhorn returned from Spain, parked herself at the Lewisohns’ apartment on Park Avenue to write about all the terrible things she witnessed.

  451 On 27 May, ER invited Gellhorn to Washington for lunch with Elinor Morgenthau and others so they could hear about Spain. ER was impressed by her new maturity and arranged a day with Gellhorn and her companeros, Ernest Hemingway and filmmaker Joris Ivens at Hyde Park so FDR could see their documentary, The Spanish Earth, ER to Hick, 27 May 1937.

  451 “Some bad days ahead”: Also a gratifying visit with Bernard Baruch, and they “settled many things,” ER to Hick, 25 May 1937.

  451 Memorial Day massacre: Philip Foner, Women and the American Labor Movement (Free Press, 1979), pp. 330–31; Art Preis, Labor’s Giant Step: Twenty Years of the CIO (Pathfinder Press, 1972), pp. 67–70; see also Mary Heaton Vorse in Dee Garrison. To Grief, ER to Hick, 30 May 1937.

  24: This Is My Story

  452 “Dorothy Thompson’s ‘The Dilemma of a Pacifist’ “: My Day, June 1937, pp. 147–48.

  452 “500 kids are waiting”: Martha Gellhorn to ER, n.d., June 1937.

  453 ER supported: Malvina Scheider to Clarence Pickett, 24 June 1937, 70, box 718; see also Luis Galvan, 13 Aug. 1937, re ER’s support published in NYT; he opposed ER’s aid to communism; 70, box 711.

  453–54 “Emotionally”: ER to Gellhorn, 14 June 1937; Martha Gellhorn to ER, “not divisible”: “I can never forget about the other people,… in Madrid or the unemployed or the dead strikers in Chicago or the woman who sells pencils in the subway….” June 1937; ER encouraged Gellhorn: 24 June 1937.

  454 “annoyed me … hair shirt”: This I Remember, pp. 161–62.

  454 Cordell Hull and James Clement Dunn quoted in Ted Morgan, p. 439.

  455 FDR’s 24 Aug. 1936 agreement with J. Edgar Hoover to investigate subversives was between the two of them, and it was allegedly confirmed by a written memo placed in the White House safe. Ted Morgan, p. 439.

  That memo authorizing Hoover’s domestic surveillance has yet to be found. The only source is J. Edgar Hoover’s 24 Aug. 1936 confidential memo of his White House meeting with FDR, concerning communist activities within the U.S. Hoover told the president that Harry Bridges’s Longshoremen’s Union, John L. Lewis’s United Mine Workers (CIO), and Heywood Broun’s Newspaper Guild were all communist-involved, and “the Communists had planned to get control of these three groups … so they would be able at any time to paralyze the country.” They could “stop all shipping in and out …; stop the operation of industry …; and stop publication of any newspapers….” Also, the Communist Internationale in Moscow “issued instructions for all Communists in the U.S. to vote for President Roosevelt …”

  FDR replied that he was “considerably concerned about the movements of Communists and of Fascism … and the Secret Service of the Treasury Department had assured him that they had informants in every Communist group.” But FDR believed they were limited to plots on his life, and he was now “interested in obtaining a broad picture of the general movement.” An agreement to obtain “general intelligence information” was thereupon made, with State Department support. They met next day with Cordell Hull, so that all would be coordinated with Military and Naval Intelligence services. Confidential Memo, Hoover, 25 Aug. 1935, in Athan Theoharis, ed., From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover (Ivan Dee, 1993), pp. 180–82. See also Frank Donner, Age of Surveillance (Knopf, 1980), p. 53; Kenneth O’Reilly, “A New Deal for the FBI: T
he Roosevelt Administration, Crime Control and National Security,” Journal of American History (Dec. 1982); Richard Gid Powers, Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover (Free Press, 1987), pp. 228–31.

  On 28 Aug., Hoover’s aide Ed Tamm submitted a tentative outline of procedure, which included surveillance of the “maritime, steel, coal, clothing, garment and fur industries; the newspaper field; government affairs; the armed forces; educational institutions; communist and affiliated organizations; Fascist and anti-Fascist movements.” Hoover considered it a “good beginning.” See also Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets (Norton, 1991), pp. 207–8.

  455 government of Juan Negrin: Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (Harper Colophon, 1961), pp. 443–56.

  455 “should have been a warning”: Armstrong, pp. 475–76.

  455 “saw Anna Louise Strong at the Writers’ Congress”: Gellhorn to ER, n.d., June, 1937.

  455–56 On 29 May 1937, ER wrote a My Day column on Gellhorn, who was convinced that “the Spanish people are a glorious people and something is happening in Spain which may mean much to the rest of the world.”

  456 “You really did like,” The Spanish Earth: Martha Gellhorn to ER, 18 July 1937.

  456 FDR never considered changing his policy: After 4 Mar. 1937, all U.S. passports were stamped “NOT VALID for Travel in Spain.” This resulted in treks across the Pyrenees for many of the 3,000 U.S. volunteers in the International Brigades. Over time, there were 35,000 volunteers from 50 nations. See Robin D. G. Kelley, “This Ain’t Ethiopia, But It’ll Do: African-Americans and the Spanish Civil War,” in Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (Free Press, 1996); and William Loren Katz and Marc Crawford, The Lincoln Brigade (Atheneum, 1989).

  456 “How men hate a woman in a position of real power”: ER to Hick, 28 June 1937; for Perkins and the CIO, see esp. Sidney Fine, Sit-Down: The General Motors Strike of 1936–1937 (University of Michigan Press, 1970).

  456–57 “I am particularly happy today”: My Day, 24 July 1937; women and work: It’s Up to the Women, pp. 142–52; ER’s broadcast with Rose Schneiderman: NYT, 13 May 1937.

  457 While all New Deal efforts remained suspended by the Court controversy, FDR compounded congressional bitterness by declaring war on tax dodgers. He promised to publish the names of cheaters, and pursue them. As surprised as anyone, ER wrote Hick, 1 June 1937: “What do you think of the new tax thing? I’m more troubled over Europe, tho the tax excitement does take people’s mind off the court.” Ironically, ER was plunged into the fray, accused of being a “tax dodger.” She told her press conference: “On every penny of income I have ever received, I’ve paid my full tax.” But the accusations caused her to pay her taxes first, and make her AFSC contributions with whatever remained. NYT, 15 June 1937.

  457–58 du Pont wedding, “I’m immune”: ER to Hick, 24 June 1937.

  457 “Well, it’s over”: ER to Hick, 1 July 1937; broadcast: NYT, 1 July 1937, p. 22; see also Democratic Digest, Aug. 1937.

  457–58 “was there much drinking?”: Hick to ER, 6 July 1937; “all you surmised”: ER to Hick, 7 July; FDR particularly gay: James Roosevelt, with Sidney Shalett, Affectionately, FDR (Harcourt Brace, 1959), pp. 304–5.

  458–59 Amelia Earhart: ER to Anna, 3 July 1937; day she left: My Day, 8 June 1937; cf. 9 June and 22 June 1937, when AE in Java, and told monsoons would ground her for three months in India.

  459 Brisbane’s attack Bess Furman to ER Jan. 1935; ER to “Dear Bess”, 17 Jan. 1935, 100, Box 1338. According to Susan Butler, Eugene Vidal, Gore Vidal’s father, was AE’s lover. Butler suggests that because Gene Vidal was “no longer at the Bureau of Air Commerce” when Earhart disappeared there was no one to ask the right questions about radio frequencies, time, weather, location. See Earhart to ER, 15 Sept. 1936, 17 Sept. 1936; Butler, pp. 350–51; 397.

  459 grateful, Howland: George Putnam to ER 19 Jan. 1937, 100, Box 1437; after disappearance: Putnam to ER, 5 Aug. 1937, in hand, 100, 1437; also Missy’s attachment of ER’s words about Amelia, sent to Putnam and returned to ER.

  459 “Courage is the price”: My Day, 23 July 1937; see also My Day on Amelia Earhart, 7, 8, 14 July 1937.

  459 A year later, Amelia’s mother wanted to reopen the search. Amy Earhart to ER, 16 Mar. 1938; ER from Warm Springs, Ga., 30 Mar. 1938, 100, Box 1457 to Amy Earhart. ER wrote Paul Mantz on 14 May 1938: “I have made inquiries about the search which was made for Amelia Earhart and both the President and I are satisfied from the information which we have received that everything possible was done. We are sure that a very thorough search was made.”

  460 paid many tributes: Hurst and Cochran, at Floyd Bennett Field, where 200 gathered to praise Earhart’s dauntless courage. NYT, 22 Nov. 1937.

  460 NAACP was horrified by the prospect of Robinson: White to ER, 10 June 1937; White had toured America with Gavagan, and was gratified by the public enthusiasm for the antilynching bill. ER was “glad your trip was successful,” and FDR would call, 16 June 1937. On 24 June 1937 the Judiciary Committee of the Senate reported the Gavagan-Wagner-Van Nuys bill (1507) out, 13–3 (Cormally, Borah, Pittman against). Connally at first said there would be no filibuster; than changed his mind. White to ER, 24 June 1937.

  461 “grossest and meanest discrimination”: William Pickens to ER, 12 June 1937, with Pickens to Ickes, 6 June; 12 June 1937; Charles West to ER, 25 June 1937, 70, Box 718; for Ickes’s actions, see T. H. Watkins, p. 647.

  461 Fleeson and O’Donnell: “Capitol Stuff,” NY Daily News, 15 June 1937.

  461 Burton Wheeler: quoted in Davis, p. 93.

  461 ER on Robinson and funeral: Democratic Digest, see also ER to Elinor Morgenthau, July 1937. On the Supreme Court fight, see especially William Leuchtenberg, “FDR’s Supreme Court Packing Plan,” in Melvyn Dubofcky, ed., The New Deal: Conflicting Interpretations and Shifting Perspectives (Garland, 1992), pp. 271–304.

  462 ER disapproved, “wise and unwise economies”: My Day, 17 Aug., 1937.

  462 The Wagner-Steagall Act resulted in a power struggle between John Ihlder and Nathan Straus, New York’s Housing Commissioner. ER was deeply involved in the controversy and, ultimately, supported Straus who had a more expansive vision of modern planned neighborhoods than Ihlder and wanted to see comfortable dwellings enforced by new building codes and zoning laws. See Kessner, La Guardia, pp. 333–35; Ihlder to ER 2 June 1937, with Anson Phelps Stokes to Robert Wagner, 17 May 1937.

  462–63 See Alinskey, pp. 156–59; “right psychology”: FDR to Jack Garner, who left on a fishing trip peeved by FDR’s silence about the strikers, urging him to return to Washington, 7 July 1937, III, pp. 692–93.

  463 ER at the Brouns’, hailed Flanagan’s Living Newspaper, at Val-Kill: June and July detailed in Democratic Digest, Sept. and Oct. 1937.

  463 “zest in life”: My Day, 10 Aug. 1937.

  463–64 not purged, but: Lape to ER 4 July 1937; ER to Lape, 8 July, 100, Box 1430.

  464–65 “need to be alone”: Hick to ER, 16 June; 7 July 1937; “unfit”: 16 July; “Pigs!”: 20 July 1937.

  465 “so simple, so dull”: ER to Hick, 3 July; 8 July 1937.

  465 ER also worried: 15, 19 July 1937; “enjoyed every minute, black goggles”: ER to Hick, 22,25 July; ER was so pleased with her caper in her open car, she also wrote Anna, 30 July 1937.

  465 “unmitigated ass”: ER to Hick, 27 July 1937; “perhaps he’s right”: ER to Hick, 8 Aug. 1937.

  466 “Labor’s cause is just”: Lewis in Alinskey, pp. 159–60.

  466 close Camp Jane Addams: NYT, 16 Aug. 1937; ER’s contribution, $3,300, in 11 checks of $300 each. Hers was the only name on the column of private contributions, 14 July 1937; NYT, 17 Aug. 1937.

  466 ER to Hick, quotations, 22 July, 30 July; Hall “free to flit”: ER to Anna, 5 Aug. 1937.

  466–67 “swell” to write honestly about immigrants: ER to Anna, 5 Aug. 1937.

  467 “so little work”: ER to Anna, 12 Aug.; re SDR, “amusing stories,”
17 Aug. 1937.

  467 According to James: James R., Affectionately, FDR, p. 302; Tea with Duke and Duchess, ER to Hick, 27 July 1937; hated papers: ER to Hick, 25 Aug. 1937.

  468 ER marveled at FDR’s spirits: My Day, Aug. 1937, pp. 171–73.

  468 “all dried up”: Hick to ER, 27 Aug. 1937; letters of advice: ER to Hick, 27–30 Aug. 1937; feared “drifting apart”: Hick to ER, 8 Sept. 1937.

  468–69 “can’t happen”: ER to Hick 9, Sept. 1937; “don’t much like your gypsy life”: 20 Mar. 1937; but had drifted apart, “you can scarcely realize”: floating letter, no date, Wednesday, on the train. Streitmatter, without evidence, dates this 20 Feb. 1935.

  469 “I’m really not unhappy”: ER to Hick, 9 Sept. 1937.

  469–70 “for the night and breakfast at least”: ER to Hick, 12 Sept. 1937; “send me the peace article … My love to you—always”: Hick to ER, 21 Sept. 1937.

  470 Baruch returned: ER to Hick, 11 Sept. 1937; “Hall thinks”: ER to Hick 8 Sept. 1937.

  470 For the devastation in China in 1937, see esp. Dorothy Borg, The U.S. and the Far Eastern Crisis of 1933–1938 (Harvard University Press, 1964); Winston Churchill, “do you not tremble”; Gilbert, p. 545.

  471 “It is a horrible thing”: Churchill, 21 Dec. 1937, in Gilbert, p. 585.

  471 turned to Sumner Welles: See Irwin Gellman, Secret Affairs: FDR, Hull, and Sumner Welles (Johns Hopkins University, 1995), p. 59; Benjamin Welles, Sumner Welles: FDR’s Global Strategist, A Biography by His Son (St. Martin’s Press, 1997), pp. 196–200.

  471 rearmament, arms trade: Divine, The Illusion of Neutrality, 205–9.

  472 “say exactly what you think”: Hick to ER, 9 Sept. 1937.