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Eleanor Roosevelt
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 Eleanor
Roosevelt: Volume One 1884-1933 by
Blanche Wiesen Cook
Eleanor Roosevelt is an extensively
researched, revisionist text which sings praises of one of this
century's most revered and least understood women. Eleanor
Roosevelt was born in 1884 into a prominent American family, but
her childhood was often bitter. Her parents could not offer her
the love and security she needed, and they died when she was very
young. Raised by maternal relatives, she studied for a time in
England, then fell in love with her cousin, Franklin Roosevelt.
She seemed destined to be a socialite wife of a wealthy
politician, and that is how her life has most often been
interpreted. But Blanche Cook chronicles Eleanor Roosevelt's real
life: her political agenda - often refreshingly at odds with the
powerful political arena surrounding her husband - and her
lifelong efforts on behalf of women, children, and workers.
Equally compelling is the author's compassionate and revealing
study of this remarkable woman's personal life. Although her
abiding respect and love for her husband and children is central
to her life, it is Eleanor Roosevelt's passionate friendships with
the independent and sometimes radical women intellectuals of her
time, and in particular, her intense relationship with Lorena
Hickock, which underscore her deep commitment and struggle to
create a separate and fulfilling life for herself. We are left in
awe of this woman, this freethinking iconoclast who bucks
tradition, and of Blanche Cook's inspired telling of Eleanor
Roosevelt's first fifty years. -- From
500
Great Books by Women; review by Rebecca Sullivan
 Eleanor
Roosevelt : Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938 by
Blanche Wiesen Cook
With its gripping tale of a privileged ugly
duckling turned socially conscious swan with the help of strong
female friends--many of whom were lesbians and one of whom was
probably her lover--the first volume of Blanche Wiesen Cook's
biography of Eleanor Roosevelt won awards and made headlines. That
book followed its subject from her birth in 1884 through her
husband Franklin's election to the presidency in 1933. Volume 2,
which chronicles Roosevelt's first six years as America's most
controversial first lady (Hillary Clinton doesn't even come
close), maps her contributions to the New Deal, which Cook
convincingly argues was primarily the fulfillment of a political
agenda promoted by female reformers as early as 1912. Eleanor's
turbulent relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok gets more
space here than it probably deserves, and the story isn't as
inherently exciting as the first volume's drama of a woman's
coming of age. Nonetheless, Cook's subtle analyses of everything
from Roosevelt's exceedingly complex marriage to her role as
warm-up act for the New Deal's most radical programs are bracingly
intelligent, her evocation of a remarkable personality rivetingly
vivid. Eleanor emerges as neither the liberals' saint nor the
conservatives' Satan, but an entirely human bundle of
contradictions: warm-hearted, yet ice-cold when hurt; happiest in
the public arena, yet needing the comfort of private
relationships. --Wendy Smith
"This biography deals with Eleanor's
emotional and love life frankly and honestly. She had an enduring
relationship with Lorena Hickock, the famous AP reporter who gave
up her career to help Eleanor organize during the thirties.
Blanche Weisen Cook, the much-revered author of this biography had
access to the many letters the two women exchanged. The author
documents this rather out-in-the-open relationship through it's
hardships and happinesses. The love and commitment these women
shared is revealed as never before. The two enjoyed each other
both intellectually and physically and worked together to
influence the great social movements and governmental efforts of
the thirties. But, their almost constant separation put tremendous
strain on the relationship..." -- Alice
Stevens for epionions.com
Also Available on Audio Cassette
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In a dramatic and celebrated act of conscience,
Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) when it barred the world-renowned singer Marian
Anderson, an African American, from performing at its Constitution
Hall in Washington, DC. Following this well-publicized
controversy, the federal government invited Anderson to sing at a
public recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter
Sunday, April 9, 1939, some 75,000 people came to hear the free
recital. The incident put both the artist and the issue of racial
discrimination in the national spotlight...
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Excerpt:
As a child, Eleanor Roosevelt was made to feel
that she was an "ugly duckling." After losing both her
parents, she was raised by her stern and proper grandmother, and
her loneliness persisted until she was befriended by the
headmistress at her boarding school. She "came out" into
society, but preferred volunteer work at a settlement house to the
social whirl. In 1905 she married her cousin, Franklin Roosevelt,
a marriage made more complex by her domineering mother-in-law,
Sara. While raising six children, Eleanor Roosevelt gradually
found the determination to abandon traditional roles in favor of
political and reform work...
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"The greatest thing I have learned is how
good it is to come home again," Eleanor Roosevelt once told a
friend. This simple statement expresses her love for the modest
house near the Hudson River she called Val-Kill, the only home
that was ever hers. The only National Historic Site dedicated to a
First Lady, Val-Kill welcomes the visitor as Mrs. Roosevelt
welcomed her many guests. Visitors may tour Mrs. Roosevelt's
Val-Kill Cottage and enjoy the lovely gardens and grounds on the
site...
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An in-depth look at Eleanor Roosevelt, one of
the 20th century's most influential-- and admired-women.
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Eleanor Roosevelt regarded the Universal
Declaration as her greatest accomplishment. "Where, after
all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to
home - so close and so small...
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Cliff Arnesen on Eleanor
Roosevelt
Excerpt:
Then, in 1n 1928, Mrs. Roosevelt met a woman named Lorena
Hickok and carried on a loving relationship for many years, to
which the following quotes will testify:
On March 9, 1933, Eleanor wrote from the White House to Lorena:
"My Pictures are nearly all up & I have you in my sitting
room where I can look at you most of my waking hours! I can't kiss
you [in person] so I kiss your picture good night and good
morning,"
And, on December 5, 1933, Lorena wrote to Eleanor: " Most
clearly I remember your eyes, with a kind of teasing smile in
them, and the feeling of that soft spot just northeast of the
corner of your mouth against my lips."
These two quotes are well documented in the Gay/Lesbian
Almanac, by Jonathan Ned
Katz, and also in the September 1998
issue of "George" magazine...
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The mission of the Roosevelt Institute is to
inform new generations of the ideals and achievements of Franklin
and Eleanor Roosevelt and to inspire the application of their
spirit of optimism and innovation to the solution of current
problems. We believe, as FDR did, that the Four Freedoms are
essential to a flourishing democracy, and we create programs to
encourage those freedoms at home and abroad. The Institute
commemorates the significant events of the Roosevelt years and
works with educators to improve the teaching of that pivotal
period in American history...
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Names Index:
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