Out was roosevelt . [laughter] i realize with this crowd you probably were her neighbor. [laughter] so nonetheless i will try to set the context for the reading that my coauthor coauthor, marc peyser will do. I may be going over the familiar territory but for the sake of the crowd of one to take a minute to make sure i cover up the details. You will see behind me a family tree that appears in the book that is the expanded version and it is actually simplified. The actual line because we start with the american founder of the family neck and was quite literally has tens of thousands of descendants at this point so really we just highlight the story and provide you with the two branches of hyde park and Oyster Bay Branch and those to become symbolically very important in the story. This year roosevelt senior, the father of fear roosevelt was really the person who pioneered that civic minded his of the family and he was a remarkable man who founded hospitals in museums in charitable causes to have a big influence on his for remarkable children being Theodore Roosevelt, who became the president , president , korean, and the and eliot so theodore and elliott were brothers and very competitive he had alice and two days later his wife died from complications of an undiagnosed Kidney Disease the exact same day his mother died so theodore had a difficult psychological blow. The impact of that plays throughout alices life and it is one of the remarkable thing is of a complicated relationship with her father and feeling she had to compete for his attention and as we discuss in the book, even in her nineties she was still talking how complicated her relationship with her father was but the short story is she adored him and very much wanted to protect his legacy perk girl eliot had a daughter eleanor born the same year as alice alice, immediately there is the number of parallels. One of them that alice was orphaned because her father gave her over to her aunt to be reappraised and went off to the badlands and disappeared from her life for the first three and a half years. Eleanor was famously orphaned by the time she was ted and she had an incredibly tragic and sad childhood within the space of two years she lost the in your brother, then her mother then her father whom she adored unfortunately she drank himself to death alcoholism one of the challenges the runs through both sides of the family tree and her father was a tragic and very public and messy a sample of that per car she was left in the care of her maternal grandmother who lives in upstate along the hudson river coincidentally just a few miles from the Hyde Park Estate where the distant cousins lived and the only unhappy times and her childhood was in the summer cyrus she could spend time with uncle teddy he had remarried edith and started another family in dallas was brought back into the family at that point but she talks about how she was the odd man out to be teased to not have the same long as the rest of them so as children they became very good friends and were raised almost like sisters the time there were to gather together. One of the more important Holiday Events at 14 years old there were at a dance at corrine house in new jersey and dallas was dancing as a very vibrant outgoing young woman but eleanor was shy the alternate wallflower trying to be ignored. Weber 14 that powless is dancing with one of her cousins than whispered something in his ear then he walked over to eleanor word you like to dance . Without was franklin purposes she actually introduced the two as teenagers they have met a few times but really had no strong connection. Paul lots is made about the relationship that eleanor married her cousin Franklin Roosevelt so her name was Eleanor RooseveltRoosevelt White european royalty but their relationship to see from the family tree that franklin comes from this side and eleanor descending from this side there were thousands of people more closely related to each of them ben franklin and eleanor so it isnt the european royalty concept. In fact, among the people who are closely related to eleanor was Zachary Taylor in for franklin, his third cousin was ulysses s. Grant to give you how far afield you get talking about this. That being centcom the interconnection of the roosevelt family was extraordinary. It is not the only example of cousins marrying each other but franklins halfbrother had a daughter who married into the Hyde Park Branch im sorry Oyster Bay Branch and what is my favorite example is a coincidence when franklin father before she was born there on their honeymoon traveling to europe ben day to into eliot and asked him to be their godfather of there first child. Think about this. Eleanors father was the godfather of her future husband. [laughter] so that is all over the place in in that business is the shorter version i will not recap the presidency other than alice took full of advantage to be on center stage and she was the famous with irv a celebrity to enjoy the variety and the door famously said when being challenged from her behavior that i can either run the country or her control alice i cannot do both. [laughter] and alice love to do things like she was not allowed to smoke under his roof she would go to the roof rand smoke up there. She had early signs of being someone who didnt want to color between the alliance she married an upandcoming ohio politician who would eventually become speaker of the house they had a stormy and tempestuous and by the end filled with infidelity to the point that alices daughter is widely understood was not bothered by nicholas but the senator from idaho and alice illustrates her sense of humor when she suggested the child would be named to debra and her family prevailed upon her not to do that but she continued to be a celebrity she made the cover of Time Magazine le before anyone had heard of eleanor saw she had a long time to rule that social circuit in the meantime eleanor was increasingly politically active then during the Wilson Administration her husband wanted to imitate Teddy Roosevelts rise so he lobbied to become assistant secretary of the navy and to a large extent most of them did not take him too seriously that this guy was trying to pretend to be like the famous gigantic Teddy Roosevelt but then he dies very suddenly and everyone had been expecting him to run for president again so there is a big for a. What happens . The democrats recharger the assistant secretary of the navy to nominate him for Vice President as horrified as the Oyster Bay Branch because naturally they thought the political legacy poland to teddy, jr. Who was a war hero coming back from france so they campaigned vigorously against franklin in the election that starts the hissing part because now you have a competition for teddys crown so the Oyster Bay Branch campaigns against franklin 1924, a junior runs for governor of new york state which is another stepping stone that teddy took to the white house. Franklin is felled by polio so eleanor steps in to organize now looking back their wonder if the dirty trick to create the singing teapot the door was assistant secretary of the navy during the teapot dome scandal so well running for the governorship of new york state the democrats decided to charge him with the orioles 01 eleanor had a car with a large papiermache teapot point on top of it the steam would come out the spot that wrenched through new york state issue was proud of the fact and issued a press release giving herself as the architect that would campaign for truth with suffragettes including her own daughter in the press love the idea won the campaign against the other. Looking back she admitted it was the rough stunt and apologize but only survey branch never forgave her. Jump ahead to the depression in franklin is running for the white house 1932 iran once again the Oyster Bay Branch comes out vigorously campaigning against him even edith he really believed a womans job to appear and the paper is just when you are bored or married or died even she came around to make public appearances including one at Madison Square garden at republican rallies ever so desperate to keep roosevelt out of the warehouse. That brings us to the reading of you will hear from march 1933 this is the evening franklin has been inaugurated and eleanor and franklin are facing the first day in the warehouse to a large extent powless believes belongs to her and her family so with that i will turn that over to my coauthor to give you a chapter from. I dont read out of a actual book i am an editor at par and have edited my own book. [laughter] reader on a monday evening of the inauguration and the president might have insisted the only thing we have to fear is fear itself but he forgot to check with his wife. Eleanor was of a nervous wreck with her first Inauguration Day as first lady and stood shivering and apprehensive as they walked from the east portico from that inauguration platform. Weld a landmark speech was only 15 minutes the parade was 6 miles and several hours the crowds were so tremendous you felt they would do anything if Somebody Just told them what to do it was very solemn and a little terrifying. The president would not but a gentle the last of the marching bands had filed by vichy had to be for the to get the to breach the 1,000 cast invited for t although 3000 showed up. Then she would slip on her down to the franklin behind again to attend the inaugural ball. That was the easy part a few hours earlier she endured a far more fearsome defense when extended roosevelt family arrived to celebrate the latest trial there were 75 for a buffet dinner with not a drop to drink because prohibition was not repealed and tell that december the guest list was fdrs mother that sat with pride waiting to welcome the guest. Eleanor erred discarded usual protocol to greet them herself up the door cousins teddy and archie and her cousin laura uncle fred did and then a cousin allison first no one knew how to react after all this was the party for a victory she tried to snuff out. They chatted that alice had the good sense to limit the conversation to praise the courage roosevelt then she walked over to eleanor she thought her cousin could use some pointers you can learn how to handle affairs like this. I will help you if you would like not everyone appreciated her condescending brand of goodwill and mother expressed but almost two years of widowhood had done nothing to curb her style or compulsion. For lifetime claim on the white house was as strong as ever she did not obeid drop by on the first day but was there the day before it to visit the previous tenants, the hoover and said she wanted to take the a yearold daughter to say goodbye to her old friend but clearly there was more bed curiosity. They look like figures from waxworks stiff and wounded and bruised that was the third of march the next night dinner at the white house dinner at franklins all of us theyre having a good time. The fact that she even showed up to celebrate was not entirely shocking though given her support for the ticket it was like of player from the losing super bowl team. In the years that followed that alice kept coming back faced with the agreed reality had two options to deal with her hyde park relatives to make peace as her brother did or take a vow of hostility. Naturally she chose both. [laughter] she cursed in nearly every one of his policies and would mock eleanor with every invitation they offered the more belligerent numbers were disgusted by her willingness to associate with white house. The neck could not help feeling it was the enemy to a war. But for her part issue is expected to speak softly just like the previous first ladies for cry know traditionally what should lie before me i watched mrs. Roosevelt and knows what it means to be the wife of a president and i cannot say i was pleased. Her force monotony lasted exactly todays. Monday after the inauguration she conducted a press conference that was notable on its own no first lady held her omaha press conference she only allowed female reporters to attend her form of affirmative action to underscore the disadvantages women faced including the media. The first conference attracted 35 female reporters some had to sit on the floor. Eleanor are arrived carrying candied fruit and passed it around to focus on topics she felt would interest women and would not answer anything political as that was the president s role. If she would go to close to the hotbutton issue the women bush cautioned her to yell out mrs. Roosevelt you better put that off the record. No wonder t hour old friend soon would coax powless to enter the wish Washington Press corps herself and commissioned her to write the a deal position of a president s wife after all food better to opine on tradition and and how to break it then Princess Alice . She took a poke the road to an invisible ink to focus on her means rather than her actual policy choices. If eleanor was overstepping her bare trees allison was a so directly that she was fair game. There is always a possibility that people will say they did not collect her. And in 1933 to recover a Time Magazine so it is entitled eleanor every where. That it is up to the women for every normal human being and but yet again fast on her cousins coattails she has published her autobiography beds is of fairly bloodless political memoir but still is sold well in with the 30 plus years of celebrity for every city east of the mississippi that is the weaker book hit the stands except the women only made the top of the list in washington and became a sparring match then by will rogers. And a handful of prominent people who was a friend to both powless and eleanor equally. The 55 roles was touring alaska when his plane crashed on takeoff killing him. His column will rogers says as a fixture to 40 million per day now they needed it informed wellknown writer to fill his space and Princess Alice was just the person but the trouble is she did not enjoy writing very much herself i shall never write another book. My vocabulary is too limited. But the publisher pursued her and she gave in. More than 75 newspapers bought the column sight unseen when the editors said the United Feature Syndicate period column to compete naturally her name was on the short list but they run not sure she could pull it off. Over the 25 papers bought the column called my day. While she focused on in washington politics hers was abroad and soft report one if alice spent one day to use clock about cabinet secretary on the same day she might recount to the district of Columbia Training School for a delinquent girls. Alice was the senate the roles they played since being a teenager saugh. I am trying hard to be impartial but when i think of frank geller in the white house i could grind my teeth to powder and blow them out my nose. Perhaps the only person on the planet referred to the president does frank naturally she was more formal to his face. But i would call him franklyn the woodwinds he wanted me to call him mr. President. For instance she attacked the administration relentlessly over the plan to take United States off the Gold Standard is on that as another example of his power maundering and in her column she would refer to him as the economic royalist and she lost that argument president roosevelt signed that into law january 1934. And had the pleasure to sit next to Alice Longworth as the bill was passed. Alice and took it on the chin and smiled but she also had the last laugh. A few days later on her next visit to a formal function and she showed up wearing a blue velvet gown along with a collection of well chosen and accessories for for years to shoulder some bloating gold pulled hindu earings shaped like cornice of plenty with a heavy gold chain that dingell a cherokee indian in green gold the watch bracelet was white gold and she even more ever gold site comes in her hair. Eleanor found herself caught in for web things for her genius for mimicry alice lampooned eleanor like a talking horse out of proper finishing school and her act started as a Cocktail Party stunned but was infamous than a gossip columnist would report whenever she added a new feature. Eleanor recalls being a luncheon when she asked alice, i give your impersonation of me now. The old ways self assured seemed briefly in an easy before performing the routine and eleanor laughed if she was hurt she did not give balance the satisfaction of responding. In fact, she said the most helpful criticism that i ever received was a takeoff of me on the radio of my cousin alice. She did it for me one afternoon i cannot help to be amused that it was tetraethyl picture and had many things to correct. Not surprisingly though washington class started to predict powless exile from the white house once and for all programs such shot hot topic at the all female Weekly Press Conference when asked if it was true and eleanor denied it but alice told a different story. Years later she said she dropped a series of hints. When eleanor came to the white house you were always welcome here pretty never feel that you have to come. [laughter] so i went with the enthusiasm it had a lovely malicious time then a little while later i got another communication i am told they were bored and i never want you to be that. So i wrote her a cheerful reply how disagreeable people are trying to make more trouble than theyre over the years i have enjoyed myself denizli the is this to say eleanor would never ask me again. Is true she could test the limits but when eleanor and Franklin Simon james said asian neighbor to a Government Commission fdrs reply was i dont like anything to do with that woman but the invitations kept coming franklin and eleanor invited her february february 12th analysis 50th