Eleanor roosevelt wings that were built in 1972. But even after the Library First opened, fdr started catching with ended up being the structure here to incorporate eleanors papers because he was telling her that we really need to have your papers that the library. When the archivist said, do you think theyll give it to you . The fdr said you can never tell what my mrs. Is going to do. Which i think is a true statement about Eleanor Roosevelt. How many of you are members here today . Look at that. Thank you so much. Your support makes programs like this possible. We really do appreciate everything you do for us. The library is a federally funded institution, but obviously we rely on private donations to allow us to do many of the non federal funded programs and exhibits like that. Today, we have with us a very special friend and guest. She spent many many days a year when she was working on the Eleanor Roosevelt papers with George Washington university which is really a tremendous resource. She is now with the George Mason University out and virginia. She has put together this book that looks at the advice Eleanor Roosevelt gave. I think it is amazing how relevant so many of the questions were, even though theyre 50 years old almost. How relevant they are taurus aside he today and the questions we are asking today. Her advice remains, inspiring and practical at the same time. I think it is something that we can all use right now. Some advice that will help us get through our daily lives. Please welcome married show binker. applause thank you. Im delighted to be here with you today. There is no place that i enjoy being more than in height park and in the hudson valley. It is a great treat to be with you. Im here to talk about my new book if you ask me. Essential advice from Eleanor Roosevelt. Here, this is the top half of a page from one of the columns of 1953. This is a magazine column that she wrote for 21 years from 1941 to hurt death in 1962. She wrote it for two womens magazine. First of all, the ladies home journal from 1945, 41 excuse me, until 1949, and then in 1949 she moved over to my calls and was with mcconnells until her death in 1962. In the beginning, if you ask me, was an idea before it was a column. The editors of the ladies home journal originally envisioned it as a way for a first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt to combat the rumors innuendos and backstairs gossip about the white house. As well as a way to answer other queries about which the public, rightly or wrongly, thinks it has to know. More practically, the editors thought that a question and answer column would be easier to edit, because they did not think Eleanor Roosevelt was a very good writer. That was the plan. But it did not work out that way. Eleanor roosevelt and her readers soon turned the column into a twoway conversation about almost every aspect of american life. Unlike my book which is organized thematically, i have organized this top chronologically. Starting with the white house in world war ii, and i thought what we could do today, wed be to kind of eavesdrop on the conversation that eleanor had with her readers. So, when the column first began in 1941, Franklin Roosevelt was beginning an unprecedented third term. Europe was at war and the Great Depression was ending, as america geared up to become the arsenal of democracy. It was a tense and difficult time. And americans were jittery and afraid. By the spring of 1941, eleanorwf the best known women in the united states. Millions of americans had seen her, heard her on the radio, or read her syndicated newspaper column, my day. She was both widely admired and roundly criticized for her support of minorities, women and young people. It is worth noting that many of fdrs political opponent in the 1940 president ial campaign had worn Campaign Buttons that said, we do not want eleanor either. By the time, if you ask me began, Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Public had established a relationship which made writing to her seem natural and ordinary. Many of those first columns dealt with the military and home front issues. Here are some of those questions. The first one, comes from a military wife. Can you tell me why a soldier can get a furlough to see his dog while my husband cannot get a furlough for the first time to see his 14 month old son . Eleanor answers this way. My dear lady, it just happened that the soldier who went to see his dog was due for a furlough and someone made a good newspaper story out of it. Im quite sure that no man would be given a furlough unless he was entitled to it, and the military needs of the area were such that he could be allowed to leave at that particular time. The paramount consideration and granting any furloughs is the need of the military services, not the pleasure of the individual involved. The next one comes from a worried citizen. And the citizen is worried about his money. What assurance have people that the fence bonds are safe . Under weak and unsound leadership, the bonds may not be redeemable leader. Eleanor says, you must have faith in your own ability and that of the rest of the people of the country to choose sound leadership. There is certainly nothing else which you can rely upon, except the judgment of the people as a whole to make your government efficient. Incidentally, if u. S. Bonds are not good, neither is anything else in the world. He might as well reconcile yourself to it. This one comes from a military mother. Why cant mothers know where their sons and daughters are . What harm couldnt do if our enemies did know built shows was in alaska or australia . Eleanor replies, if you and your children would use a little ingenuity, you would probably be able to keep and shudder informed as to your whereabouts. If it were openly done, it might be harmful, not because the enemy would know that bill johns was in alaska or australia, but because the enemy would be able to find out what group build jones belonged to, and from that, might discover what type of opposition they were facing, and the number of men, probably involved. This is a great question. This is a reader asking about a rumor. Is it true that soldiers from midwestern states, which are normally republican, are sent into combat zones before soldiers from democratic states . Eleanor replies, i have never heard anything so idiotic. As your question. No soldier is asked what his politics are, and they would be so mixed in the units, it would be utterly impossible to separate them. Anyone who believes such a statement as this should go at once to a psychiatrist. Here is a question about ration, which was a very big deal on the home front. Dont you think courses should be classed as necessary, despite the rubber shortage . Eleanors of the replies, no, i imagine we will find some kind of substitute which will serve to keep us and finally, do you think women are wrong to have babies in these times . Eleanor replies briskly, certainly not. If you have faith in the future of our civilization, you must be willing to still do your share to populate the earth. So now, we move on to the early post war period, which began for eleanor, with franklins death in april of 1945. As you know, world war ii came to an end shortly thereafter. Peace was at hand, with the dropping of the ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷e soviet union did not inspire confidence in the future. Closer to home, americans were concerned that the wartime prosperity would collapse without a stimulus of military production. Housing was in short supply and inflation was rampant. Politically, fdr successor harry truman and his liberal supporters were trying to extend the new deal while the conservatives and both parties were trying to rein in what they called the socialist stick excesses of the new deal. Social change added to the chaos. Women had left home to work in the factories or join the military. African americans who had served in the military were coming home to segregation and discrimination. Other minorities were also facing poor working and living conditions. Like millions of other americans, Eleanor Roosevelt had to adjust to both her new status and life in post war america. She moved back here to her home at valley kill, intending to continue writing and lecturing as a private citizen. Harry truman, however had other ideas. In december of 1945, he appointed her to the first u. S. Delegation, to the inaugurals session of the United Nations general assembly. It was a job she would hold for six years. And led to her becoming chair of the United Nations humans rights commission, and one of the principal architects of the universal declaration of human rights. Here are some of the questions from that period. The first one comes from a reader worried about the economy. On every hand you hear that our country is heading into a bad depression. Do you think this is true . What should be done to avoid it . Eleanor says, i do not think we need to have a bad depression. If our industrialists and economists learn their lesson in the 1930s, it cannot be prevented by greedy men. It must be prevented by men of wide and unselfish vision who see that no group can garner unto itself great resources and leave the mass of people without their fair share. The next question has particular relevance. Do you think equal pay two women who fill mens jobs is economically justified . Eleanor replies, certainly. If women do the same work, i have always believed that they should receive the same pay. Heres another one. A perennial problem from a male reader this time. I love and admire my wife. But there is one subject on which we can never agree she thinks i should help with the dishes. Do you think this is a husbands work . Eleanor replies. I think anything connected with the home is as much the husbands work as the wifes. This silly idea that there is a division in house work seems to me foolish. When very often, the wife earns money outside the home when as well as the husband. Certainly if there are children, the wife has two jobs. The one of being a mother and the other of being a wife. The kind of man who thinks that helping women with the dishes is beneath him will also thinking that helping with the baby is beneath him. And then he certainly is not going to be a very successful father. The next question comes from a wife whose political views differ from her husbands. My husband says the Truman Administration is a cesspool of corruption. How can i answer him . Eleanor says, you can tell your husband if any government is a cesspool of corruption, every individual citizen is responsible. When the government is a republic, governments do not become corrupt unless their citizens have allowed those standards to exist. If you live in a democracy, you set the standards as the individual citizen. You elect your representatives and the government belongs to you. You and i have to correct anything that is wrong and we can always be heard. If anything is wrong, the blame is hours. Children often wrote to eleanor. Here is a question from a concerned younger citizen. I am in the sixth grade. What can i do to make the world more peaceful . You can learn to live harmoniously with people of your own age. Even though they might be of different races and different religions. If you do that you will be preparing your generation to live better and more peacefully in the world as a whole. Not every question questioner was so polite. Here is one with the niche. Our newspaper published an amazing picture of you. Smiling all sweetness and light, as you shook hands with russias ambassador at the recent opening of the un. Who are you kidding . Eleanor did not miss a beat. I did not know i was kidding anyone. I was preserving the amenities. When you shake hands, you usually smile. To reach our seats in the general assembly, we have to pass directly in front of the russian and United Kingdom delegates. I have known the ambassador for a long time. And the newspaper photographers, who are always on the alert, insisted on taking a photograph. I believe as long as we serve in the general assembly, or anywhere in the United Nations, we must be polite to one another. And we must be able to talk to one another. In the hope that someday, this bridge will be used for the benefit of a peaceful settlement of our difficulties. Many of eleanors replies were much briefer than the one i just read to you. Consider this question. What do you think is the greatest single cause of misunderstanding between the nations of the world . Both great and small. Eleanor had a one word answer. Fear. The next era begins early in the 19 fifties after Dwight Eisenhower has been elected president and Eleanor Roosevelt has returned to private life. The prosperity of the 19 fifties eased americans financial worries while at the same time heightening their social. Those as young people hurried to exchange vows before shipping off to combat or married as soon as they returned. These young couples also head more children. The nations birth rate rose from fewer than 20,000 births fewer than 20 births per thousand in the 19 thirties to more than 25 births retired 4000 in 1947. The increased birth rates and the rise of the youth culture, characterized by discontent and rebelliousness, and concerns about juvenile delinquency made child rearing questions more urgent. At the same time divorce rates spiked leading to uncertainty. Americans may have been more prosperous, but politically they were uneasy about possible communist subversion in american life. Some people even began to fear their neighbors along with many other suspect groups that often included career public servants, activists in the labor and civil rights movements, educators, clergymen, librarians and individuals working in the media. Civil liberties contracted as the belief took hold that the rights of the accused could be ignored because the threat of communism was so severe. By 1953, Eleanor Roosevelt had returned to private life. But biden, she had firmly established herself as a trusted source and confidant for many americans. Here is some typical questions from this period. We will start with a question from a marriage minded reader. What do you consider the three most important qualifications of a good husband . Eleanor says, that he shall be honest. Not only in material things but in intellectual things. That he shall be capable of real love and that he shall find the world and increasingly interesting place in which to live every day of his life. Here is one on Birth Control which, in the 19 fifties, was still a controversial topic. Do you believe in planned parenthood . Eleanor does not mince words. Yes i do. If it is not used as an excuse to shirk having a family. I believe that every married couple should have children if they are able to do so. But i believe they should use intelligence so that the children will be healthy and the mother not visibly exhausted. Of course if this is against your religious believe, this is a different matter. But outside of that, it would seem sensible to plan intelligently for the Family Health and happiness. This one is probably one of my favorite of all questions. My husband wants our son to play football and i do not. Dont you think that bodily Contact Sports as he calls them, are necessary to the development of a boys character . Eleanor says i dont know that bodily Contact Sports are necessary to the development of a mans character. But i do know if a boy wants to play football and for any reason you keep him from it, you will probably find that his character or his temper at least will not improve. He will probably align him self with his father and you will be left on the outside. So i advise you not to be too vocal about your feelings. I can tell you i took this advice and shes absolutely right. Heres one that is actually very contemporary. My son and his wife are republicans. But my daughter recently married a man who favors the democrats. No matter how hard i try, i cant keep the two couples from getting into nasty political arguments. It ruins all our visits. Tell me please, how do you handle political differences in your family . Eleanor replies, i try to make them using. We have vast differences in our family. All of them love to argue. They can argue passionately about things they do not care about. And anyone who did not know them would think they were about to kill one another. What i find a little laughter and teasing, and if necessary, arbitrarily changing the subject make our family gatherings rather entertaining. Here is another one that comes straight out of todays headlines. How do you feel about wiretapping . Is it justifiable when used against criminals, spies and potential traders . Eleanor says, the only time i think it is justifiable is if the authorities know or have reason to suspect that they must use it to find potential spies, or traders. And then it should be used only by the most responsible authorities. Wiretapping for any other reasons, whatsoever, should never be allowed. Eleanor roosevelts association with many liberal groups led many people to assume that she was a communist sympathizer. Here is a question from one of those readers. What is your answer to people who accuse you of being pro communist . A very simple one she says, i have never been a communist nor in favor of communism at home or abroad. But i have never been afraid to come in contact with communists and i think it would be a port democrat, small the democrat, who could not stand up and meet the communists and their theories. And lastly, men like he we long and senator joe mccarthy have a rest fears of a man on horseback in the united states. Under what circumstances would we stand in danger of a dictatorship . And what would be the best ways for citizens to recognize the potential danger and oppose it . Eleanor says, men who have the instincts for dictatorship are always a danger in any society. Free citizens must be constantly alert to preserve their liberties in the united states, it is easy to discover a demagogue. But its sometimes requires courage to stand up immediately and say you do not agree with certain methods and certain ideas. However, if we want to preserve our liberties, we had better show that courage. It is the only way i know of to remain a free people. The final era coincides with the last years of eleanors life. By the late 19 fifties, a growing restlessness was simmering under the seemingly placid surface of american life. The cold war, the burgeoning civil rights movement, the increasing this ability of poverty and the rising frustrations of women and other marginalized groups were becoming more apparent. Nevertheless, the 19 sixties open on a note of hopeful optimism inspired in part by the election of a youthful president. John f. Kennedy. By the early 19 Eleanor Roosevelt was well into her seventies but still maintaining a hectic schedule. She was still riding, but less. She was still riding its traveling extensively and teaching. She added a monthly Television Program to his schedule. At president kennedys request, she had also become the chair of the president s commission on the status of women. She continued to be active in the civil rights and labor movements and the democratic party. And she was still