Lady. Stephen smith is very wellpositioned to examine and analyze this work. Many of you know him as the executive editor and host of american radio works in an acclaimed documentary series from American Public media. He has covered a wide range of issues including human rights, science and health, and american history. They have been awarded this and please join me in welcoming them to the reading festival. [applause] and good afternoon, everyone. And we have this radio documentary on franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and pioneering broadcasters and this is a commercially sponsored thing while she was first lady. It is about first family of radio. And especially what had happened with loads of the Radio Broadcasts. We have a documentary about as well. And so a show of hands, im not saying how many have heard the original of the radio broadcast and how many have of the commercial radio broadcast and so we have some things to learn about until we have a clip of the speech that was not a broadcast by the speech. But it gives you an idea of what she was up against [inaudible] and he never had any training according to Eleanor Roosevelt and he seemed to understand how to work a microphone and the thing that she quickly learned is that if they work this very differently than they do if they are on a stage in front of a lot of people. Radio has just begun and it is the first truly mass medium that everyone could listen to at the same time because there had not been National Networks of radio programs until the late 30s. Previous individuals had been using this as a technology. Especially when youre yelling at a big crowd. So no first lady had used any mass medium like Eleanor Roosevelt. In addition to being on radio she had her popular column that was syndicated across the country. And she gave thousands of speeches and eventually better than the one we started out with and eventually she was a pioneer of television. So she touched them all. And so when franklin was elected in 1942 and this was in march the following year. In the following winter of 1932, we are going to hear an actress read recording to provide for this particular radio broadcast including reading a little bit by Eleanor Roosevelt. And so let me just read you a little bit more. And no one was certain what we would find american culture. The year that he was first elected president , 65 are over the radio. And he spent more than four hours a day listening to radio broadcast. Franklin roosevelt was the consummate broadcaster but eleanor was a radio professional. During her years she made 300 radio appearances and for dozens of those broadcast she got handsome fees by advertisers. Back then the radio programs were actually produced and created by the advertising companies. Its very different today. The programs that were produced by the network that did not have those sponsors were called sustaining programs which tended to be the stuff we see on public tv or public radio. Her shows were sponsored by the makers of cold cream, typewriter, Building Materials and beauty. It was a novel and controversial career and she was criticized for commercializing her white house role and for meddling in Public Affairs left to her husband. But she was also praised for making thoughtful observations on world events and helping unify the nation during the depression and world war ii and bringing americans into more intimate contact with the president ial family. So here is the first broadcast. From december 9, 1932. And the democratic platform had run on repealing and she supported this and she was speaking to a National Audience on topics about women. Very few drink anything beyond a glass of wine at home. But this seems to have changed back to a certain extent. The girl today faces the problem of learning young how much she can drink like whiskey engine and sticking to the proper quantity. That causes a national outcry. Thousands and 10 thousands of letters pouring into the white house. How dare you say that theres any possible amount of a whiskey or gin that a girl should drink. Then theres a bunch of others that say good for you, we have to get out of this staff and thank you for knocking sense into the heads of the American People. She felt like, and those people didnt hear this radio broadcast, a lot of the response was to newspaper accounts about what she had said. Like any good politician she said that she was misquoted. Were that they didnt quote her in full, which is true. So she never went back and tried to fight them. That was something that she would not do. But occasionally she would fight critics on the radio. But in this case she developed a form letter that she took back to many of the people that wrote in, saying this is what i really meant to say is that no one should have to do this but prohibition kind of forced us to deal with things that we are too young for her. So its very controversial when she started doing these commercial broadcasts. She was paid more for a single appearance, about 3000, then the average American Made all year long. The equivalent that i put into one of these would be 50,000 for what was usually a 15 or 30 minute appearance. I would be happy if he cspan2 wanted to pay me back for this. Im kidding. But she donated the proceeds of this work to charity mostly to mineworkers which was a Relief Community that she sponsored and was very engaged with. Then we will hear mrs. Roosevelts actual voice and this is what a q a session sounded like, its very scripted. She invited the American People to write to her. And here she is with Genevieve Harris talking about the most single requested information, which is what its like inside the white house. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] one woman takes all of that flatware and the other takes the other. [inaudible] i can see that you have more questions and we will get to them in a moment. You know that there is a tremendous difference. It is in a custom ovalshaped that its goodlooking and is only one of the big advantages. It has changed a bit. This is the extent to which they kind of did invite the country into this and this includes the knowledge of how to use the various mediums, they made the white house more personal. And i think that radio was a critical part of it. And there is a lot of interference, and he really had to get close to be able to hear them. That is where all the classic photos of people gathering. They are gathered around the radio and it was the first electronic firestorm. These are some of the most important Radio Broadcasts as the nation has gotten ready for war in the early 19 worries him as she was hired by the pan American Coffee bureau, which is a coalition of seven countries that were friendly neighbors with the United States and for a Primetime Program on nbc and she spoke to a lot of serious issues that were developing at the time. At this when she was speaking about isolationists. And she never really went after and they are the ones who didnt like and she was kind of needling the administration, where she was endorsing things. She was helping to prepare the nation for war in the runup had been going up for a while and kind of a homeland isolation. Could even come as you had said. I was in michigan and i think that this is probably one of the strongest things. Because of the leadership and partially because its hard to visualize any attack and youre telling me that some did it take this threat to security very seriously. And this includes superimposing russia and our own right. [inaudible] [inaudible] mrs. Roosevelt, what would be your answer to be geographically secure from europe or asia. And they are able to do the whole of europe including great britain. That includes the ability to produce this far beyond our own ability to do so. She goes on to talk about how with the longrange bombers the idea of the war in the middle of the country also takes on a brandnew sensibility and we are now accustomed to an informality and part of the problem is that they also needed to end on time. And so that is her with the isolationist speech. The next one im going to play as the most important of her career, which is december 7, 1941. Its a sunday morning. Franklin roosevelt working on having some coffee with one of his aides who was a friend. And that is not the usual. Shortly before 2 00 oclock the white house and the president gets a call. And it doesnt go over and talk to them because there could be all kinds of officials and cabinet members pouring in. He starts working both on what the response will be in the broadcast that he is going to make the next day to a joint session of congress. And we have coffee cups programs at 6 45 a. M. , so what to do remap what she does and we talk about it. He will get on and just to deal with this upfront. She reaches over, she helps him kind of like put this on his script. And, you know, she goes over here. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am speaking at a very serious moment in the cabinet is convening. The state department and the army and Navy Officials are part of this all afternoon. And in the meantime, we are already prepared for action. And preparation [inaudible] and there is no more uncertainty. We know what we have to face, and we know that we are ready to face it. I would like to say a word to the women in the country tonight, for all i know, he may be on his way to the pacific. Two of my children are in coastal cities on the pacific. Many of you in this country have voice in the services who are now called upon to go into action. You have friends and families who have finally become part of this danger zone. You cannot escape the clutch of it and yet i hope that the certainty of what we have to meet will make you rise above these fears. This includes the ordinary things that we are doing as well as we can and we found a way to do anything more in our community to help others and to build morale us and give us security and we must do it. But i am sure that we can accomplish it. We are the free and unconquerable people of the United States of america. To the young people of the nation, i must speak the words tonight. You are going to have a great opportunity and it will be high moments. I have faith in you. I feel as though i was standing upon a rock and that rock is my faith and my fellow citizens. Now we will go back to the program which we had arranged. Okay, so imagine on 9 11 that the nation heard first from laura bush instead of the president. It was just a different time and it also reflect upon the incredible Political Partnership between eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. She said that she never asked her to change anything except for one script in which one word was suggested would be a slightly less incendiary word. He claimed that he would never prove anything and im a little bit skeptical that perhaps anything that the communication staff or anyone else in the white house should be a part of this. But she was never prevented from really saying anything and i believe her. And the other thing is that she wrote all of her own material. She would get scripts that had prewritten stuff and you could kind of tell because as wonderful as she was, she wasnt the worlds most amazing wordsmith. She produced a lot of material and words and were Franklin Roosevelt and the team would work and his script writers would work for a couple of days or a week, she was just turning it out. And that is the last that i will be able to play for you. I just want to reflect a little bit more here. These broadcasts were not always from our perspective singing the right note were the right tune and she was certainly hated by a lot of people at the time. But she went on to do a broadcast endorsing the internment of japaneseamericans and she was dense with the policy when it was being discussed. Once it was endorsed, it went on the radio and she said that we need for the safety of ourselves and these people to have them put in an organized place and we really need to make sure that we dont let them read their gardens before they go because we dont want to waste their effort so that they can plant their gardens and have food to eat and help us support the war effort. Later on in her life she says that she regretted this position, that it was not something that she formally apologized for to my knowledge. And so over the course of her time in the white house, she made about more than 300 radio appearances and it is impossible to count them all. There is no central repository. Upwards of 300 is keeping the count, the same is true of fdr, his central is the Roosevelt Library is, its not a comprehensive list and most of the broadcast was not commercial. Then she stays on the air, she stays off the air for the rest of world war ii when she finishes the coffee cups programs, she makes many broadcasts, but shes not doing commercial work until the end of the war and then she goes back on the air and broadcasts with some of her children. In the later a series of broadcasts where radio has really changed in this timeframe after the war. Television is taking over. Before long all of the stuff that people did on television including talk shows, interview shows, variety shows and etc. , it ends up on radio and radio becomes a jeep box. So shes always had to the scene and shes on tv that were either programs of her own or that she appeared upon, like whats my line. If you havent seen it, i encourage you to go to your favorite browser and type in Eleanor Roosevelt and frank sonata 1959. It is the most charming Television Show where Eleanor Roosevelt is there. She is like the queen and the peoples first lady and Everything Else and franklin is kind of fawning over i mean, frank sonata. And so as i said, her radio career has largely been forgotten because historians have not paid a lot of attention. Television kind of took over with the importance and the vast power of radio in the first part of the media has been a little bit underdeveloped at the top is a topic. And the other problem is that the majority of her broadcasts were not recorded. The reason that you couldnt hear her talk about the squirrel of today in 1932 is that they didnt start doing regular recordings until the late 1930s and part of that was because of technology, part of that was because it was expensive. Part of it is they were ever recorded, that is also part of why the story was lost and misplaced a little bit. What it reflects in my view is that Eleanor Roosevelt has an extraordinary desire to be heard. As well as to do meaningful work and speak for the people who have fewer advantages in america. I would like to remind you that if you would like to hear the full broadcast of the first family where you want to hear anymore of her recorded broadcast, you can go to our website anytime. Thank you. [applause] if you have any questions, please step up to the microphone and i will try to take it. I am wondering if in your research if you have come across any information in terms of the commercial broadcast what the interaction is, as its truly controlled in radio. And was there anything that you saw like that. And also what were the ratings like for a commercial broadcast, when she continually being dropped or were they successful enough that she maintained the same sponsor for a long time remap. She would go on and off the air depending on what was happening in politics. It it is hard to put together by virtue of when the shows were repeated. In 1936 she didnt do any broadcasts because of the election year. The advertising agencies were happy with her because they kept signing her up and paying her more money. And the correspondence between the agencies and mrs. Roosevelt, there wasnt any that i could recall sort of a discussion that you should do this or that. And they did send her a proposed script on whatever topic it was that they had mutually agreed upon to do. But she really took them, she took them and rewrote them in her own voice. I was not able to find any existent ratings or any other ratings, but i think that the ratings are in the repeated element. Sometimes during the week, but often this is what it was like. Did you go through a lot of sponsors . You know, she went through Issue Company sponsor her at one point. Which led to the final stanza of anything goes. [inaudible] if they can broadcast this, franklin knows, anything goes. [laughter] thank you. Thank you for the help. [laughter] [applause] any chance that your work could end up as an audio book . It is sort of an audio book. The companion to this book which i did does have an audio book version. The problem is that again we didnt use any actresses for the scripts, scripps, we didnt think that that made any sense. So the number of speeches that are available do not really get very satisfying to the late 1930s. But it does have a lot of them from the 1930s through the 40s. How did she get from that first to her later voice . And i know in albany, she was coached and he told her to smile. So how did that happen reign. You know, i think that he also told her not to giggle because she had kind of a squeaky giggle that told her they can get away from her. She hired voice coaches for at least the first 12 years of her time in the white house she worked with professional voice coaches and i also think that she listened to her husband and i think that she got a good deal of practice. If you heard me when i was a reporter on the radio, you know, it was practice being on the air. And i think becoming more comfortable with her place and role in the world. Having said that, she was always mocked until the day she died. She was mocked for her voice and i once met a guy who said oh, we all had accents that we liked to do. We would do foghorn leghorn and Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. My other question is during did she broadcast during those days as well remapped. She was on the radio, but she was not doing it as a host. She appealed for the