And growing up with seeing dont mess with texas signs everywhere and the appreciation for the bluebonnets there and just what that means into no that she and her world as first lady influenced all of that in a way that was quite subtle and not necessarily understood at the time but that we now do understand. Now carl im going to ask you because you are a scholar of the full breadth of first ladies. Dolley madison because she was one of the first who had a real sense of duty to his constituency meaning the country. It was unusual for a woman back then too perceived as part of her proper role a sense of duty and connection to the general public to people she didnt know. Shackling candidate very strongly because of her sense of where the u. S. Was in the cold war how democracy could be presented in a way that it hadnt and in a sense america had come of age and have as much dignity and had a right to maintain that dignity on the world stage. And betty ford by taking very personal and really emotional issues and not losing that power up that using that to help others. I think its those like Michelle Obama very much Eleanor Roosevelt and i have to agree it is Eleanor Roosevelt but they realize time is ticking. Anything could happen in a moment. Your husband could die, be shot, resign, anything. You have this opportunity make a change. People are going to like you and hate you no matter what. They will like you and hate you because of the way you look, because what you say because of everything. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] s youre watching book tv on cspan2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Book tv, television for serious readers. From politics and prose bookstore mark pfizer and Timothy Dwyer examine the tumultuous relationship. The authors report that led to women. 8 months and 20 blocks apart in new york city where social and political opposites the publicly debated the issues of the day. Cal opposites who publicly debated the issues of the day thanks to all of you for being here this evening. We are delighted to be here. A big thank you to the crew for making us feel so welcome so welcome. I want to give a big thank you to the publisher. In answering the most common question that weekend which is who was Alice Roosevelt and i realize in this crowd a lot of you were her neighbors. Nonetheless, what i am going to do is try to set a little bit of the context for the reading is going to do in a few minutes. Make sure they cover up some of these details. What we do you will see behind me a family tree. Its a simplified version of the actual one because we start out with the american founder. He quite literally has tens of thousands at this point so we are here to highlight the story and we have provided you with the two branches, the Hyde Park Branch and oyster bay they become symbolically very important in the story. They have a very big influence on the remarkable children. And theodore had his daughter alice and two days after alex was born his wife died from complications and in that same day his mother also died so theodore had a different psychological blow, and the impact of that played throughout her life and its one of those remarkable things in the complicated relationship ended a relationship that in many ways she had to compete for his attention and as we discussed in the book even when she was in her 90s and she was talking a lot about how complicated relationship with her father was. But the short story is that she adored him and very much wanted to protect the legacy. Her uncle elliot had a daughter who was born the same year. One of them was was any in a sense or friend because her father gave her over to the grace of being a widow and pretty much disappeared from her life for the first three and a half years or so. Eleanor was famous by the time she was ten she had a tragic and very sad childhood and she lost in the space of a little over two years she lost her brother and her mother and her father who she adored and unfortunately drink himself to death. Alcoholism imo one of the challenges that runs through both sides of the family tree. And her father was a tragic and very public example of that. So eleanor was left in the care of her grandmother who lived upstate new york and coincidentally just a few miles from the hyde park state where the distant cousins lived and really the only happy times in her childhood was in the summertime when she would get the opportunity to spend time with uncle teddy and he has since remarried and started another family and alice was brought back at that point. That always to talk about how she felt a little bit like the odd man out. They were raised like sisters at least for the time they were together. The more important holiday event is when they were 14yearsold at a dance in new jersey and alice was dancing away. They were standing in the corner trying to be ignored and its when there were 14 that alice was dancing with one of her cousins and then whispered something in his ear and of course the distant cousin was franklin so one of the things was to introduce them as teenagers. But they didnt have a strong connection. In fact her name was Eleanor Roosevelt and a little bit like european royalty. But in fact, the relationship as you see from this family tree coming from this side they were fifth cousins and this is a simplified tree. There were thousands of people more closely related to each of them than franklin and eleanor so its not quite the european royalty concept of the second cousin. In fact im on the people more closely related to Eleanor Roosevelt so his third cousin was actually ulysses s. Grant so that just gives you an idea. It was extraordinary. They are not the only examples of cousins marrying each other in the family. He had a daughter that married in as well and i think my example of the remarkable coincidence. They were traveling over to europe and asked him to be the godfather of their child so eleanors father was the godfather of her future husband. [laughter] so the interconnections are kind of over the place and that is just the short version. Im not going to recap the presidency other than to say analysts took full advantage of being on center stage and became famous for tobacco in the white house and when being challenged about her behavior i can either run the country or control analyst terry i cant do both. [laughter] and she liked to do things like being told she wasnt allowed to smoke under his roof so she would go to the white house and smoke their so she had early signs of being someone who didnt like the color between the lines. He would eventually become the speaker of the house and they had a very. Of us to the point when her daughter who now is widely understood wasnt fathered by Nicholas Roosevelt but by a senator from idaho and alice once again illustrates her sense of humor when she suggested that the child would be named in and her family prevailed upon her not to do that but she continued to be a real celebrity. She made the cover of the magazine in 1927 long before anyone had heard of eleanor so she had a long time brewing the social circuit in washington. At the same time she became increasingly politically active and during the Wilson Administration or husband wanted to imitate so he lobbied to become the secretary of the navy and to a large extent, the Oyster Bay Branch and take them too seriously. They thought it was a little pathetic that this guy was trying to pretend to be like the famous gigantic roosevelt then he suddenly died in january of 1919 and everyone had been expecting him to run for president again said there was a void in the american political spectrum and what happens in 1920 the democrats reach out to the assistant secretary of the navy and nominate him. This horrifies the branch his family because they thought the political legacy of their father belonged to teddy junior who was a war hero just coming back from france. They campaigned very vigorously and very nasty against franklin in 1920 election and this starts up the cousins because now you have a competition for his crown if you will and so 1920 the Oyster Bay Branch campaigned against franklin. 1924 theodore is running for governor in new york state which was another one of the stepping stones that hed taken to the white house. Franklin is now followed by polio so eleanor steps in and organizes looking back on its it now a wonderfully dirty trick of creating the singing a teapot. Theodore had been assistant secretary during the teapot scandal so when running for the governorship the democrats decided to target with oil so eleanor had a large papiermache teapot on top of the car that had steam and it went through new york state and so she was very proud of the fact giving herself as being the architect campaigning for truth and had a bunch of suffragettes and the press loved the idea that one cousin was campaigning against another so looking back she admitted this was a rough start and apologized for it by the the Oyster Bay Branch never did forget her. Then we jump ahead and franklin now is running for the white house in 1932 and once again they come out very vigorously campaigning against him. Even the famous edith who believes that a womans job to appear in the paper was just when youre born, when you marry and when you die and even she came out and started to take public appearances including one at Madison Square garden at the republican rallies. She was so desperate to keep roosevelt out of the white house so that brings us to the reading end and the reading that you are going to hear is from march of 1933 and this is the evening he franklin has been inaugurated and they are facing their first day in the white house that to a large extent alice very much believes belongs to her and her family. With that i will turn over to my coauthor who will give you a bit of fun of her chapters. I dont read out of the actual book because im an editor by heart and ive edited my own book. [laughter] we are on the evening of the inauguration. The president might have insisted that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself but he forgot to check with his wife first. Eleanor was a nervous wreck on her first Inauguration Day as the first lady. She stood shivering as he leaned on their sons shoulder from the east capital to the center of the moderation platform 146 feet away. While his landmark speech took only 15 minutes, they stretched for 6 miles and several hours. The crowds were so tremendous she felt they would do were to do anything if only someone told them what to do. It was very solemn and a little terrifying. The president would end by john tell the marching bands had went by that but she had to leave early to get back to the white house to greet the guests invited over for afternoon tea and sandwiches although 3,000 showed up. Later that night to the woman that had the dreaded dances all her life would slip on her silver down and leave franklin behind to attend the inaugural ball. That was the easy part of the day. A few hours earlier she had extended the roosevelt family to arrive to celebrate the white house triumph. There were 75 and all for the dinner and not a drop to drink. Prohibition wasnt appealed until the december. The invitation list was drawn up by fdrs mother who sat near franklin in the small dining room is full of pride and expensive jewelry waiting to welcome the guests. Eleanor discarded the usual first lady protocol and greeted the visitors herself at the door. Among them cousins and Archie Roosevelt from her side cousin laura uncle and then came cousin alice. At first no one knew exactly how to react. After all this was a party for a victory she tried to snuff out the gate kitchen fire. They chatted and alice had the good sense to limit her conversation to praise the current president roosevelt as opposed to the previous one. Then she walked over to eleanor. Alice thought her cousin could use a few pointers. He will be able you will be able to learn after a while how to handle this. I will hope you if you like. Mother expressed her say and nervousness mounting under her cousins patronage. Almost two years had done nothing to curb her style or compulsion. Her lifetime claim on the white house was as strong as ever. She didnt only drop by on the first day that shed been there the day before. She said she wanted to take her 8yearold daughter over to say goodbye to her old friend but there was a dose of curiosity in her motivation. They look like figures they look so im alive. That was the third of march. The next night dinner at the white house. It couldnt have been a more incredible contrast. They showed up to see the extended family wasnt shocking though given the support of the republican ticket was a little like a player from the losing Super Bowl Team dropping by the locker room. Paste in the reality of being out she had two options for dealing with the rise of her high park relatives. Or take a bow of ice cold hostility. Naturally she chose both options. She cursed every one of the policies and mocked eleanor all the while accepting every invitation they offered. The more belligerent members were disgusted by her willingness to associate with the white house. I couldnt help thinking that it was like behaving that alice is the devoted brother ted. For her part she was expected to speak softly like the previous first ladies. I knew what should lie before me. Ive watched mrs. Theodore roosevelt and have seen what it meant to be the wife of the president and i cannot say that i was pleased by the prospect. The bow lasted exactly for two days. On the monday after the moderation, eleanor conducted a press conference in the red room eleanor added a twist in the mail of female reporters to attend. It was her form of affirmative action in a way to underscore the disadvantages women face in more professions including the media. The first conference attracted 35 female reporters some of whom had to sit on the floor because there were not enough chairs. Eleanor arrived carrying fruit and passed around as it around as if she were hosting a neighborhood bridge party. She focused on topics she felt with interest women which she insisted with the president s realm. When she seemed to stray too close to an issue it was the women themselves with caution by yelling out you better put that off the record. Its no wonder that his old friend and the editor of the home journal soon got her to enter the press corps herself. He commissioned her to write an article called the ideal both occasions of the president s wife. Who all would be better to break it to them the girl that smoked on top of the white house roof. She took a poke or two at her cousin wrote in a sort of invisible ink focusing on her means an obsession with saving the world rather than what her actual policy choices. If eleanor was overstepping her boundaries as the president s wife alice wasnt going to say so directly even as she reminded them that the first lady was still fair game. Theres always a possibility there is always a possibility that people will say we didnt elect her. What is she here for. That hardly stop her. In 1933 she made the cover of Time Magazine more than six years after alice earned the honor. The time cover had been published to coincide the book of essays called its up to the women and audit backs of platitude. For every normal human being fresh air is a sensual. And an impassioned argument in the country and the world. Yet again she was on her cousins coattails. The same week that the book was released alice published her autobiography the arrived in large part alice had written for the ladies home journal and it was a bloodless political memoir. Still the book sold well in large part because alice said so little in the record. Crowded hours was at the top of the nonfiction bestseller list for every city east of the mississippi on november 3, 1933 area that was the week eleanors book hit the stands. Its up to the one and only made the top of the list in washington where it beat crowded hours of the top spot. As it turned out to the books were on the introduction to what became the long meeting. The next round was touched off by will rogers the famous actor writer. He was a handful of prominent people who was a friend to alice and eleanor equally. In august 1945 to 55yearold was touring alaska when his plane crashed upon takeoff telling him. His column had been a fixture by 40 Million People a day. They needed another informed phil rogers space. The editors of the United Feature Syndicate or eager for, to compete. Naturally eleanors name was on the short list. At the time of its launch only 25 papers that the column which was called my day. We focused on washington politics and the dance of legislation. A broader and softer report on the people and events that will through their active life. If alice spent one day squatting my cabinet secretaries fighting for their share of wpa funds from the same day eleanor might recover trip to the district of Columbia Training School board liquid girls. School for delinquent girls. Does that place exist anymore . Alice wag a cynic to eleanor the same roles they played since they were teenagers. Im trying terribly hard to be impartial and mall lent left e lent. She said when her columnday buieed. When i think of frank and eleanor in the white house could grind my teeth to powder and blow them out my nose. Alice was perhaps the only person on the planet who referred to the president as frank. Naturally she was more formal to his face. I called him franklin, she said. He would wince as if he preferred to have me call him mr. President. That would annoy him but we had very good time together. She certainly rarely pulled her punches. For instance, she attacked the administration relentlessly over the plan to take the United States off the Gold Standard. She saw it as yet another example of franklins power mongering, in her columns she took to referring to him as an economic royalist. Alice lost that argument. President roosevelt signed the gold reserve act into law in january 1934. Had the pleasure of sitting by mrs. Alice longworth in the Senate Gallery when the bill passed will rogers wrote to a friend. Alice tooking right on the chin and smiled. But she also had the last laugh once again. A few days later on he next visit to a former white house function she showed up wearing a blue velvet gown, an