1 00:00:04,061 --> 00:00:05,251 And now we come to the special feature 2 00:00:06,030 --> 00:00:08,190 of our program, the appearance of our mystery celebrity. 3 00:00:08,210 --> 00:00:10,210 I would tell you that our guest's voice 4 00:00:10,231 --> 00:00:12,071 is I think so well-known 5 00:00:12,091 --> 00:00:14,171 that I'm going to answer the first few questions... 6 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:17,220 [woman] Would I be likely to recognize this person's voice 7 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:19,071 if it was heard on the radio? 8 00:00:19,170 --> 00:00:22,051 Would you be likely to recognize this person's voice 9 00:00:22,071 --> 00:00:24,161 if it was heard on the radio? I would think you might, yes. 10 00:00:25,071 --> 00:00:27,220 Is our guest famous for travelling? 11 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:28,251 [host] I'm now going to ask, 12 00:00:29,031 --> 00:00:30,181 is our guest famous for travelling? 13 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:31,200 Yes. 14 00:00:31,220 --> 00:00:33,170 Is she also a newspaper columnist? 15 00:00:34,051 --> 00:00:35,021 Yes. 16 00:00:35,130 --> 00:00:39,240 [chuckles] Did she ever occupy the White House? 17 00:00:40,070 --> 00:00:41,111 -[chuckles] Yes. -[laughter] 18 00:00:41,130 --> 00:00:43,081 Is it Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt? 19 00:00:43,100 --> 00:00:45,041 [host] Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt! 20 00:00:45,060 --> 00:00:46,081 [audience applause] 21 00:00:47,121 --> 00:00:48,170 [Susan Quinn] It is extraordinary. 22 00:00:48,191 --> 00:00:51,070 She was like no other first lady. 23 00:00:51,091 --> 00:00:52,081 [crowd cheering] 24 00:00:52,140 --> 00:00:53,191 [Blanche Weisen Cook] Her first love, 25 00:00:53,210 --> 00:00:55,210 her abiding love, is for the people, 26 00:00:56,100 --> 00:00:59,111 people in want, in need, in trouble. 27 00:01:00,130 --> 00:01:03,231 [Anya Luscombe] She was driven by this enormous belief 28 00:01:04,081 --> 00:01:07,130 in human dignity and equality for all people. 29 00:01:08,130 --> 00:01:09,161 [Chris Brick] She's going to reinvent 30 00:01:09,180 --> 00:01:11,231 the role of First Lady of the United States 31 00:01:12,070 --> 00:01:13,100 to suit her own needs. 32 00:01:14,161 --> 00:01:18,150 What she was interested in was, um, changing the world. 33 00:01:20,161 --> 00:01:22,161 [theme music plays] 34 00:01:43,100 --> 00:01:45,130 [FDR] I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 35 00:01:45,150 --> 00:01:47,210 will faithfully execute the office 36 00:01:47,231 --> 00:01:49,250 of President of the United States. 37 00:01:50,030 --> 00:01:52,060 [crowd cheering] 38 00:01:53,111 --> 00:01:54,210 [narrator] Of the thousands cheering 39 00:01:54,231 --> 00:01:55,161 for their new president, 40 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,021 few could have imagined the icon and leader 41 00:01:59,041 --> 00:02:01,031 the president's wife would become 42 00:02:01,051 --> 00:02:02,120 over the next 12 years. 43 00:02:03,070 --> 00:02:05,120 [Anna Eleanor Roosevelt] I think you can describe her as a person 44 00:02:05,141 --> 00:02:08,111 who didn't do what was expected of her. 45 00:02:08,131 --> 00:02:12,021 I guess that's the way heroes are made. 46 00:02:15,090 --> 00:02:18,090 [Eleanor Roosevelt] I was rather a rebellious first lady. 47 00:02:19,141 --> 00:02:23,191 I'm afraid I did some things which were not usual 48 00:02:23,210 --> 00:02:25,191 for a lady in the White House. 49 00:02:26,051 --> 00:02:27,131 The role of the first lady, traditionally, 50 00:02:27,150 --> 00:02:28,191 had been so constricted. 51 00:02:29,051 --> 00:02:31,160 It was about socializing and being a hostess, 52 00:02:31,180 --> 00:02:32,160 and that was it. 53 00:02:32,250 --> 00:02:34,051 And that was not Eleanor's life. 54 00:02:34,180 --> 00:02:36,171 [Allida Black] At that point, she was on the board 55 00:02:36,191 --> 00:02:41,201 of 17 major reform organizations in New York state. 56 00:02:42,081 --> 00:02:44,250 Had her own career as a journalist, 57 00:02:45,030 --> 00:02:46,090 and as a social activist. 58 00:02:46,201 --> 00:02:49,041 [Robin Gerber] She is an absolute powerhouse. 59 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,071 She is writing for the Women's Democratic News 60 00:02:52,090 --> 00:02:53,210 and working for the Democratic Party. 61 00:02:54,100 --> 00:02:59,160 So, leaving all of that to come to the White House and do what? 62 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,220 Hold teas? Pick new china? 63 00:03:03,171 --> 00:03:04,250 This is a privilege, 64 00:03:05,111 --> 00:03:08,071 not to live in the White House and have fancy dinners; 65 00:03:08,141 --> 00:03:10,111 the privilege is, you have 66 00:03:10,131 --> 00:03:13,060 a megaphone to speak to the world, 67 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,131 if you can figure out how to use it. 68 00:03:16,090 --> 00:03:17,090 And that's what she did. 69 00:03:18,191 --> 00:03:21,081 [narrator] Two days after her husband's inauguration, 70 00:03:22,081 --> 00:03:24,030 Eleanor makes her first move. 71 00:03:26,210 --> 00:03:29,120 -[cameras clicking] -[reporters clamoring] 72 00:03:29,141 --> 00:03:30,250 [Allida Black] One of the first actions 73 00:03:31,030 --> 00:03:32,201 Eleanor took as first lady 74 00:03:32,220 --> 00:03:34,210 was to have her own press conferences. 75 00:03:35,060 --> 00:03:37,071 [Eleanor] The calling of journalism is one... 76 00:03:37,090 --> 00:03:39,090 [Robin Gerber] So, she's a little bit nervous. 77 00:03:39,150 --> 00:03:41,231 No first lady had ever held a press conference, 78 00:03:42,090 --> 00:03:45,021 and she plans it for two days 79 00:03:45,041 --> 00:03:48,051 before Franklin's first press conference, by the way. 80 00:03:48,141 --> 00:03:50,120 -[Eleanor] Questions, ladies? -[reporter] Here, in the back. 81 00:03:50,141 --> 00:03:51,171 [Paul Sparrow] Women were not allowed 82 00:03:51,231 --> 00:03:53,100 to cover the president's press conferences. 83 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,090 So, she said, "I will have press conferences 84 00:03:55,111 --> 00:03:56,060 to which only women can come." 85 00:03:57,021 --> 00:03:58,231 Therefore, newspapers had to hire women reporters 86 00:03:58,250 --> 00:03:59,250 to cover her. 87 00:04:00,101 --> 00:04:01,220 [Robin Gerber] To just invite women reporters, 88 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,150 you can imagine this was not going to be taken very well. 89 00:04:05,201 --> 00:04:07,180 Well, the men are watching from the door. 90 00:04:08,041 --> 00:04:09,120 And they say, "Oh, look at them, 91 00:04:09,141 --> 00:04:12,030 they're just a bunch of docile news hens. 92 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,141 This isn't gonna last a month." 93 00:04:16,241 --> 00:04:19,201 [narrator] Almost immediately, the first lady's activities 94 00:04:19,220 --> 00:04:22,181 and opinions fill newspapers across the country. 95 00:04:23,131 --> 00:04:24,241 [Chris Brick] Those press conferences 96 00:04:25,021 --> 00:04:26,131 did not just deal with, 97 00:04:26,150 --> 00:04:28,181 "I had tea with the ambassador's wife." 98 00:04:29,110 --> 00:04:30,191 Uh... [laughs] 99 00:04:30,251 --> 00:04:33,191 They were focused on the work of the new administration: 100 00:04:33,210 --> 00:04:34,210 gender prejudice, 101 00:04:35,071 --> 00:04:38,090 the poor, and her vision for social justice. 102 00:04:39,111 --> 00:04:41,111 [Allida Black] FDR's speech writer 103 00:04:41,131 --> 00:04:44,050 and former law partner joke with one another 104 00:04:44,131 --> 00:04:46,050 that the first thing they have to do 105 00:04:46,071 --> 00:04:49,040 is get the pants off of Eleanor and on to Frank. 106 00:04:49,210 --> 00:04:51,131 [crowd cheering] 107 00:05:01,050 --> 00:05:02,160 [Anna Eleanor Roosevelt] You know, some people say 108 00:05:02,181 --> 00:05:06,100 that Grand-mère wouldn't have been the first lady she was 109 00:05:06,191 --> 00:05:09,110 without the childhood that she had. 110 00:05:11,081 --> 00:05:13,170 [narrator] Eleanor was born in 1884, 111 00:05:13,191 --> 00:05:16,050 into a prominent and wealthy family. 112 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,141 The first child of Anna Hall and Elliot Roosevelt, 113 00:05:22,030 --> 00:05:25,061 the younger brother of President Theodore Roosevelt. 114 00:05:26,210 --> 00:05:29,021 [Eleanor] Oh, my mother was very beautiful 115 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:34,131 and she would occasionally say that in the Hall family, 116 00:05:35,121 --> 00:05:38,030 there were really no ugly ducklings 117 00:05:38,050 --> 00:05:39,220 and I was the exception. 118 00:05:41,150 --> 00:05:43,021 [Susan Quinn] Eleanor disappointed her. 119 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,160 She was plain. Her mother called her "Granny," 120 00:05:45,230 --> 00:05:48,050 which was deeply humiliating for her. 121 00:05:48,180 --> 00:05:51,241 Uh... And, of course, her mother then died when she was eight. 122 00:05:53,081 --> 00:05:56,210 [Allida Black] Her childhood is nothing but disappointment. 123 00:05:57,050 --> 00:06:00,081 Her father who adores her is a drunk and a junkie, 124 00:06:00,170 --> 00:06:03,100 and gets so drunk inside a men's club, 125 00:06:03,121 --> 00:06:07,040 he forgets that she's sitting on the steps outside. 126 00:06:08,141 --> 00:06:09,220 [Blanche Weisen Cook] Her father, 127 00:06:09,241 --> 00:06:11,141 who she loved above all, 128 00:06:12,021 --> 00:06:16,251 dies at the age of 34 of alcoholism. 129 00:06:17,170 --> 00:06:19,100 And one really needs to pause. 130 00:06:19,201 --> 00:06:24,100 How much do you have to drink to die at 34 of alcoholism? 131 00:06:27,121 --> 00:06:30,071 [woman] Eleanor. [speaking in French] 132 00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:32,141 [narrator] Orphaned at ten years old, 133 00:06:32,241 --> 00:06:36,021 Eleanor was sent to live with her maternal grandmother. 134 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:37,030 [speaking in French] 135 00:06:37,251 --> 00:06:40,040 [Susan Quinn] It was a very lonely childhood. 136 00:06:42,241 --> 00:06:46,040 She had a French governess she detested, 137 00:06:46,061 --> 00:06:47,150 who was quite sadistic, I think. 138 00:06:47,170 --> 00:06:50,061 Used to braid her hair and pull it at the same time. 139 00:06:51,030 --> 00:06:54,111 She was raised, really, by servants, mostly, 140 00:06:55,021 --> 00:06:56,160 some of whom were very kind to her. 141 00:06:56,180 --> 00:06:59,111 They would bring her dinner if she was exiled to her room. 142 00:07:01,251 --> 00:07:03,141 And then, when she's 14, 143 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:09,030 we know that three locks suddenly appeared on her door. 144 00:07:10,181 --> 00:07:12,210 A friend comes to visit and she says to her, 145 00:07:13,220 --> 00:07:15,170 "Why are those locks on your door?" 146 00:07:16,170 --> 00:07:18,230 And Eleanor says, "To keep my uncles out." 147 00:07:19,191 --> 00:07:21,191 Was she abused? We can't know for sure, 148 00:07:22,030 --> 00:07:24,110 but she was the classic target for abuse. 149 00:07:25,191 --> 00:07:28,050 She was scared of everything. She writes in her diary, 150 00:07:28,071 --> 00:07:31,220 "I'm scared of the dark, of mice, of other people... 151 00:07:32,220 --> 00:07:34,050 of being alone." 152 00:07:36,191 --> 00:07:38,090 [bells ringing] 153 00:07:41,081 --> 00:07:42,090 [narrator] Her grandmother's decision 154 00:07:42,170 --> 00:07:44,210 to send her to boarding school in England 155 00:07:45,061 --> 00:07:46,241 was Eleanor's salvation. 156 00:07:48,170 --> 00:07:52,100 Allenswood was no ordinary ladies' finishing school. 157 00:07:53,141 --> 00:07:56,061 Allenswood school is being run... 158 00:07:56,210 --> 00:07:59,121 by an absolutely remarkable woman, 159 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:01,110 Marie Souvestre. 160 00:08:02,220 --> 00:08:05,201 She was progressive politically, 161 00:08:05,220 --> 00:08:09,220 and she was running a school that was going to turn out girls 162 00:08:09,241 --> 00:08:11,040 who would be leaders. 163 00:08:11,251 --> 00:08:13,181 Not just turning out girls 164 00:08:13,201 --> 00:08:15,241 who would be good for men to marry... 165 00:08:16,090 --> 00:08:17,141 [teacher] Let us pause here... 166 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,241 ...but she wanted her girls to actually go out 167 00:08:20,090 --> 00:08:22,061 and make change in the world. 168 00:08:23,170 --> 00:08:24,181 [narrator] Eleanor became 169 00:08:24,251 --> 00:08:27,061 Marie Souvestre's favorite student, 170 00:08:28,071 --> 00:08:29,131 the daughter she never had. 171 00:08:30,081 --> 00:08:33,111 [Blanche Weisen Cook] Marie Souvestre emboldens her. 172 00:08:33,131 --> 00:08:35,070 Inspires her. 173 00:08:35,091 --> 00:08:38,200 It was just three of the happiest years of her life. 174 00:08:40,091 --> 00:08:41,141 [giggling] 175 00:08:41,251 --> 00:08:44,221 [narrator] But it wasn't only her teacher who admired Eleanor. 176 00:08:46,021 --> 00:08:48,190 [Robin Gerber] When the girls appreciated another girl 177 00:08:48,211 --> 00:08:50,021 for doing something for them, 178 00:08:50,101 --> 00:08:52,251 they would buy them violets and little books. 179 00:08:54,091 --> 00:08:57,070 Eleanor would come back on Saturdays when they did this 180 00:08:57,091 --> 00:08:58,180 and her bed would just be covered. 181 00:08:59,251 --> 00:09:02,021 Eleanor learns that she can make friends 182 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,190 who can help others, and this feels very good to her 183 00:09:05,211 --> 00:09:08,021 after the kind of childhood that she had. 184 00:09:15,251 --> 00:09:17,251 [Robin Gerber] After she leaves Allenswood, 185 00:09:18,030 --> 00:09:20,070 Mademoiselle writes her letters, 186 00:09:22,021 --> 00:09:25,030 and she says, "Don't be too seduced by the teas 187 00:09:25,050 --> 00:09:26,251 and the balls and the social events. 188 00:09:27,141 --> 00:09:32,021 Remember who you are and what's truly important." 189 00:09:33,060 --> 00:09:34,141 [Blanche Weisen Cook] Marie Souvestre 190 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,170 changes Eleanor Roosevelt's life. 191 00:09:36,190 --> 00:09:41,170 After Allenswood, the shy, damaged child is gone. 192 00:09:42,111 --> 00:09:43,021 There's somebody else. 193 00:09:43,241 --> 00:09:47,141 [Nina Gibson Roosevelt] She began to believe in herself, 194 00:09:47,211 --> 00:09:52,180 as a woman with convictions and with self-confidence, 195 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,170 to go forward and make her mark in the world. 196 00:09:56,190 --> 00:09:59,231 [birds chirping] 197 00:10:12,101 --> 00:10:14,091 [narrator] Twelve years before becoming president, 198 00:10:14,190 --> 00:10:18,111 Franklin Roosevelt, aged 39, contracted polio, 199 00:10:19,070 --> 00:10:21,150 paralyzing him from the waist down. 200 00:10:22,121 --> 00:10:24,050 [interviewer] After the polio attack, 201 00:10:24,180 --> 00:10:25,221 was he actually able to walk? 202 00:10:26,060 --> 00:10:30,040 He could stand with me and a cane, and his braces, 203 00:10:30,170 --> 00:10:32,091 but to walk, he would have had to have 204 00:10:32,111 --> 00:10:34,111 a sturdier arm than mine. 205 00:10:35,131 --> 00:10:36,221 [narrator] Once in the White House, 206 00:10:36,241 --> 00:10:38,241 Eleanor will often stand in for the president. 207 00:10:39,211 --> 00:10:42,060 It's a role that will give her more influence 208 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,231 than any other first lady in history. 209 00:10:46,021 --> 00:10:49,040 [reporter] She is sent on a tour of the country by FDR. 210 00:10:49,211 --> 00:10:52,070 He wants her to serve as his eyes and legs. 211 00:10:52,170 --> 00:10:55,091 "Talk to the people and tell me what they're thinking." 212 00:10:56,141 --> 00:10:57,231 [Eleanor] Franklin often used me 213 00:10:57,251 --> 00:11:00,060 to get the reflection of other people's thinking 214 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,200 because he knew I made it a point 215 00:11:01,221 --> 00:11:04,091 to see and talk with a variety of people. 216 00:11:04,231 --> 00:11:07,241 People describe such a sense of connection with her. 217 00:11:08,030 --> 00:11:11,251 Over and over again, you hear people talking about meeting her 218 00:11:12,030 --> 00:11:14,211 and in a very few moments 219 00:11:14,231 --> 00:11:17,150 feeling that she was truly listening 220 00:11:17,170 --> 00:11:18,141 and truly connected. 221 00:11:19,021 --> 00:11:21,070 [Eleanor] I'm very glad to have this opportunity 222 00:11:21,131 --> 00:11:24,111 of greeting the people of Southern California. 223 00:11:24,131 --> 00:11:27,040 Franklin comes to realize that she's really good at this. 224 00:11:27,060 --> 00:11:30,200 She is the voice that he trusts most. 225 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,021 He would go into cabinet meetings 226 00:11:33,111 --> 00:11:35,060 and say, "My missus says 227 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,050 there isn't enough money in the budget for that. 228 00:11:37,070 --> 00:11:39,060 My missus says that these resources 229 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,040 aren't getting to the places 230 00:11:41,060 --> 00:11:42,160 they're supposed to be getting to." 231 00:11:42,180 --> 00:11:45,101 [Susan Quinn] The men in the Roosevelt administration 232 00:11:45,121 --> 00:11:48,091 came to feel they had to take her seriously, 233 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,021 so, it was a different kind of partnership 234 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:52,101 than people were used to. 235 00:11:53,190 --> 00:11:55,080 [narrator] By the time they reached the White House, 236 00:11:55,101 --> 00:11:57,111 they had been together over 30 years. 237 00:11:58,170 --> 00:11:59,190 Distant cousins, 238 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,021 the couple started courting when Eleanor was only 18. 239 00:12:03,141 --> 00:12:04,190 They fall in love 240 00:12:04,211 --> 00:12:08,040 over a series of meetings and events and balls. 241 00:12:09,050 --> 00:12:12,141 [Blanche Weisen Cook] She was really attracted to FDR, 242 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,160 who was extremely charming and handsome. 243 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,180 [Robin Gerber] I think there was certainly an incredulity 244 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,231 on Eleanor's part that this man could love her. 245 00:12:26,091 --> 00:12:28,211 Probably that anyone could love her like this. 246 00:12:29,101 --> 00:12:30,160 [Anya Luscombe] One of the reasons 247 00:12:30,180 --> 00:12:32,180 Franklin was so intrigued by Eleanor 248 00:12:33,030 --> 00:12:36,131 was because of her work for the settlement movement. 249 00:12:36,150 --> 00:12:39,221 And this was very different than other girls. 250 00:12:40,141 --> 00:12:42,170 [Robin Gerber] She says to him, "I want you to come 251 00:12:42,190 --> 00:12:44,200 and meet one of the girls who I'm helping, 252 00:12:44,221 --> 00:12:47,251 and come to her house, which is a tenement." 253 00:12:48,141 --> 00:12:53,060 Tenements are unsanitary, overcrowded, airless, smelly, 254 00:12:53,190 --> 00:12:55,030 and she takes him there. 255 00:12:55,131 --> 00:12:58,200 FDR just-- he knew there was poverty and that kind of stuff. 256 00:12:58,221 --> 00:13:01,241 But he hadn't really seen it. She showed it to him. 257 00:13:02,070 --> 00:13:05,070 Very famously, Franklin turns to her and says, 258 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:09,211 "My God, I didn't know people live like that." 259 00:13:12,030 --> 00:13:13,251 And to me, this is the moment 260 00:13:14,101 --> 00:13:16,121 when the greatest political partnership 261 00:13:16,141 --> 00:13:18,070 in American history happened. 262 00:13:23,121 --> 00:13:26,170 [narrator] Decades later, FDR launches emergency measures 263 00:13:26,190 --> 00:13:30,170 to ease poverty and hardship caused by the Great Depression. 264 00:13:30,190 --> 00:13:31,241 [inaudible] 265 00:13:34,091 --> 00:13:36,131 [narrator] Eleanor, already an established columnist, 266 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,131 makes a personal appeal to the public. 267 00:13:40,180 --> 00:13:43,211 [Eleanor] I want you to write to me. 268 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,091 I love this. "I want you to write to me." 269 00:13:46,241 --> 00:13:48,030 "I want you to write to me 270 00:13:48,050 --> 00:13:49,241 and tell me what your problems are." 271 00:13:50,111 --> 00:13:51,101 [Eleanor] Your confident... 272 00:13:51,121 --> 00:13:52,150 [Robin Gerber] "But also, 273 00:13:52,170 --> 00:13:54,050 I want you to give me your ideas, 274 00:13:55,060 --> 00:13:57,190 because we don't know everything in Washington." 275 00:13:58,190 --> 00:14:01,131 Well, people so responded to this. 276 00:14:03,241 --> 00:14:05,070 [Paul Sparrow] There were thousands, 277 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,101 tens of thousands of letters that came to the White House 278 00:14:07,121 --> 00:14:08,150 addressed to her every month. 279 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,170 She had such a rapport with the American people 280 00:14:12,021 --> 00:14:13,141 that they felt that they could write to her. 281 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:14,160 It's a different relationship 282 00:14:14,180 --> 00:14:16,160 than any first lady had ever had. 283 00:14:18,050 --> 00:14:19,190 Here's a letter from a young girl. 284 00:14:20,131 --> 00:14:23,101 "Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, I'm a very poor girl. 285 00:14:24,060 --> 00:14:25,241 I'm not able to work. 286 00:14:26,211 --> 00:14:28,030 I haven't got any father. 287 00:14:28,101 --> 00:14:30,211 Would you please send me an overcoat for the winter?" 288 00:14:32,091 --> 00:14:34,070 "Dear Mrs. President." "Dear Mrs. Roosevelt." 289 00:14:34,170 --> 00:14:37,030 "Dear Mrs. President, would you help my daddy 290 00:14:37,050 --> 00:14:38,160 get a good house to live in, 291 00:14:39,070 --> 00:14:41,121 'cause right now, we are living in an old shack." 292 00:14:43,021 --> 00:14:45,180 And of course, Eleanor Roosevelt would often write responses. 293 00:14:46,070 --> 00:14:47,141 She would occasionally put a check in 294 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,050 or try to help people. 295 00:14:50,221 --> 00:14:53,021 The people of America really believed 296 00:14:53,091 --> 00:14:55,141 that the Roosevelts were really going to try help them. 297 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,200 But particularly that Eleanor Roosevelt 298 00:14:57,221 --> 00:14:58,251 was going to help them. 299 00:15:00,221 --> 00:15:03,200 [squawking] 300 00:15:04,251 --> 00:15:06,091 [narrator] Eleanor's country retreat 301 00:15:06,111 --> 00:15:10,111 provides refuge from Washington, but not from work. 302 00:15:17,050 --> 00:15:20,111 [Nina Gibson Roosevelt] It's just such a wonderful room. 303 00:15:21,170 --> 00:15:23,241 This room has so many wonderful memories. 304 00:15:24,121 --> 00:15:26,050 In here, we'd play games, 305 00:15:26,131 --> 00:15:29,241 have pillow fights with the pillows from the couches, 306 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,251 and Grandma would be working away at her desk, 307 00:15:34,131 --> 00:15:37,060 and it was lovely. She'd turn her hearing aids off 308 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:38,091 so she couldn't hear us, 309 00:15:38,111 --> 00:15:40,070 so we could make all the noise we wanted. 310 00:15:40,231 --> 00:15:42,111 She did have a lot of work to do 311 00:15:42,131 --> 00:15:47,150 and she'd answer all her correspondence from this desk. 312 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,021 Where she got the energy or the time from 313 00:15:52,121 --> 00:15:56,170 to answer all these letters, to go on all these travels, 314 00:15:56,190 --> 00:15:58,150 -to give all these speeches... -[speaking indistinctly] 315 00:15:58,170 --> 00:16:00,111 ...how there were enough hours in a day 316 00:16:00,131 --> 00:16:04,170 to do what she did is just phenomenal. 317 00:16:06,050 --> 00:16:08,141 [reporter] She seems to be perpetually on the move. 318 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:11,180 Writes the weary reporter travelling with her, 319 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,070 "Please make Eleanor tired, just for one day." 320 00:16:16,241 --> 00:16:19,040 [narrator] In the first four months as first lady, 321 00:16:19,121 --> 00:16:21,251 Eleanor receives 300,000 letters. 322 00:16:22,221 --> 00:16:25,221 She is especially outraged by the suffering 323 00:16:25,241 --> 00:16:27,251 in a mining town in West Virginia. 324 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,241 [Allida Black] The miners had been unemployed 325 00:16:31,091 --> 00:16:32,111 for 20 years. 326 00:16:32,221 --> 00:16:36,060 There's malnourishment like you have never seen. 327 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,160 It is poverty that is unimaginable 328 00:16:40,180 --> 00:16:41,160 in the United States. 329 00:16:42,021 --> 00:16:43,221 She realizes that she's someone 330 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,170 who has access to the most elite, 331 00:16:48,030 --> 00:16:51,160 most powerful policy-making circles there are, 332 00:16:51,231 --> 00:16:56,180 and that she has the ability to mold public policy. 333 00:16:59,021 --> 00:17:00,160 [narrator] Eleanor pushes Franklin 334 00:17:00,180 --> 00:17:01,211 to put federal funds 335 00:17:02,101 --> 00:17:05,120 into an experimental rehousing project called Arthurdale. 336 00:17:06,130 --> 00:17:08,191 [Allida Black] She throws everything she has 337 00:17:08,251 --> 00:17:12,030 into helping rebuild this community. 338 00:17:12,050 --> 00:17:13,110 [Eleanor] ...already built homes... 339 00:17:13,130 --> 00:17:17,050 She devotes all her political capital to this. 340 00:17:17,251 --> 00:17:21,221 She gets federal funds located there. 341 00:17:22,201 --> 00:17:24,060 Nobody expected a first lady 342 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:27,021 to have the kind of influence she had, politically. 343 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:28,070 [Allida Black] Harold Ickes, 344 00:17:28,090 --> 00:17:30,100 who is Secretary of the Interior, 345 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:32,060 is ballistic. 346 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,130 "Do you know what your wife is doing down there? 347 00:17:35,221 --> 00:17:39,030 She is spending money like a drunken sailor." 348 00:17:39,130 --> 00:17:43,070 [Allida Black] "Why are we giving people refrigerators?" 349 00:17:43,090 --> 00:17:44,140 [Blanche Weisen Cook] "How are we going 350 00:17:44,161 --> 00:17:46,151 to tell the rich from the poor?" 351 00:17:47,181 --> 00:17:50,241 And when FDR repeats that to Eleanor Roosevelt, 352 00:17:51,021 --> 00:17:54,021 she says, “Well, in matters 353 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:58,231 of such simple dignity and decency, 354 00:17:58,251 --> 00:18:00,080 like indoor plumbing, 355 00:18:00,161 --> 00:18:05,070 we should not have to tell the rich from the poor.” 356 00:18:09,201 --> 00:18:12,251 People look at her failure 357 00:18:13,110 --> 00:18:15,251 to bring industry to Arthurdale 358 00:18:16,030 --> 00:18:19,030 and say, "Oh, my God, this is the perfect example 359 00:18:19,100 --> 00:18:22,110 of a liberal imagination run amok." 360 00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:25,120 And I... That is so shortsighted. 361 00:18:26,151 --> 00:18:29,080 The community that comes out of this... 362 00:18:30,021 --> 00:18:32,140 has houses, schools, 363 00:18:33,110 --> 00:18:37,201 medical clinics that are still in use today. 364 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:40,120 [Susan Quinn] Arthurdale was the first 365 00:18:40,140 --> 00:18:42,070 of hundreds and hundreds of communities 366 00:18:42,090 --> 00:18:44,040 that were built all over the country. 367 00:18:44,060 --> 00:18:47,161 It was lifesaving and life-transforming. 368 00:18:49,021 --> 00:18:51,030 [narrator] Eleanor is beginning to appreciate 369 00:18:51,050 --> 00:18:53,241 how much she can achieve as first lady. 370 00:18:54,110 --> 00:18:56,110 [Anya Luscombe] Eleanor cared about the world 371 00:18:56,130 --> 00:18:57,241 and that was her driving force. 372 00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:02,021 And if she wasn't going to do it, then who would? 373 00:19:08,021 --> 00:19:10,060 [reporter] Election night was an evening of triumph. 374 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,100 In Times Square, the celebration went on through the night 375 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:16,070 as tens of thousands screamed themselves hoarse. 376 00:19:16,171 --> 00:19:17,241 They were crowded around... 377 00:19:18,090 --> 00:19:19,201 [narrator] On the arm of his son, 378 00:19:19,221 --> 00:19:21,021 with Eleanor by his side, 379 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:24,151 FDR wins a second term by a landslide. 380 00:19:25,050 --> 00:19:27,070 [Paul Sparrow] Many people think of Eleanor Roosevelt 381 00:19:27,090 --> 00:19:29,181 as the conscience of the Roosevelt administration. 382 00:19:29,201 --> 00:19:32,090 She was the idealist, he was the pragmatist. 383 00:19:32,171 --> 00:19:35,040 As a political team, they were unstoppable. 384 00:19:35,201 --> 00:19:37,050 [narrator] Married in 1905, 385 00:19:37,110 --> 00:19:39,231 the couple have one daughter and five sons, 386 00:19:40,171 --> 00:19:43,050 one of whom tragically died in infancy. 387 00:19:44,130 --> 00:19:47,221 But the Roosevelt partnership almost fell apart. 388 00:19:52,030 --> 00:19:54,251 [narrator] In 1918, Franklin returned 389 00:19:55,030 --> 00:19:58,030 from a European trip gravely ill. 390 00:20:00,021 --> 00:20:01,161 [Robin Gerber] He has double pneumonia, 391 00:20:01,181 --> 00:20:03,070 he is really close to death. 392 00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:05,231 They whisk him off to the house 393 00:20:05,251 --> 00:20:09,110 and Eleanor is left to unpack his trunk. 394 00:20:13,211 --> 00:20:18,080 And when she opens his trunk, there is a packet of letters, 395 00:20:19,221 --> 00:20:22,181 and of course, she recognizes the handwriting. 396 00:20:24,060 --> 00:20:26,130 [narrator] The letters reveal a longstanding affair 397 00:20:26,151 --> 00:20:30,231 between Franklin and Eleanor's own secretary, Lucy Mercer. 398 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:37,181 [Robin Gerber] When we think about this girl 399 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:40,221 who has had so little love in her life... 400 00:20:41,130 --> 00:20:44,191 and thought she had finally found love and security, 401 00:20:45,140 --> 00:20:48,110 and here she sees that he is loving 402 00:20:48,130 --> 00:20:50,241 and he is in love with Lucy. 403 00:20:55,251 --> 00:20:57,090 [Anna Roosevelt] I mean, the whole thing 404 00:20:57,110 --> 00:20:58,110 reads like a play. 405 00:20:58,221 --> 00:21:01,060 I mean, how shocking that must have been. 406 00:21:02,110 --> 00:21:05,090 My grandmother was totally taken by surprise. 407 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:08,211 Of course, that's going to hurt. 408 00:21:11,110 --> 00:21:15,140 He promises that he will never see Lucy again... 409 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:17,070 and they stay married. 410 00:21:17,231 --> 00:21:20,171 But she was terribly depressed. 411 00:21:21,060 --> 00:21:25,181 As she said, the bottom had fallen out of her world. 412 00:21:27,060 --> 00:21:29,021 [Nina Gibson Roosevelt] After the affair, I do believe 413 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,100 they were always in separate bedrooms. 414 00:21:32,060 --> 00:21:33,251 I can remember her saying, 415 00:21:34,130 --> 00:21:35,221 "You know, you forgive. 416 00:21:35,241 --> 00:21:39,151 You don't necessarily forget, but you can forgive." 417 00:21:42,030 --> 00:21:43,040 From then on, 418 00:21:43,060 --> 00:21:46,070 their marriage became a partnership, 419 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:48,231 in a way that freed her up... 420 00:21:49,161 --> 00:21:52,130 to become the woman she became. 421 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:57,021 So, through adversity sometimes we rise 422 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,191 and become things that we never thought we might become. 423 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,080 [indistinct chatter] 424 00:22:06,021 --> 00:22:07,070 [narrator] Over the decades, 425 00:22:07,090 --> 00:22:09,120 Eleanor turned to her friends for support. 426 00:22:10,100 --> 00:22:12,211 Closest among them is Lorena Hickok. 427 00:22:12,231 --> 00:22:14,080 [giggling] 428 00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:18,030 [Allida Black] Hick was a wicked smart journalist, 429 00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:19,120 wicked smart. 430 00:22:19,211 --> 00:22:23,151 She was the only woman reporter in the country 431 00:22:24,090 --> 00:22:27,130 who had her own by-line on the front page, 432 00:22:27,241 --> 00:22:30,080 and she did politics, for Pete's sake! 433 00:22:31,060 --> 00:22:32,120 [narrator] FDR hires Hick 434 00:22:32,140 --> 00:22:34,211 to report on progress of the New Deal. 435 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:36,151 She is moved into a small room 436 00:22:36,171 --> 00:22:38,201 near Eleanor's quarters in the White House. 437 00:22:39,251 --> 00:22:43,241 [Chris Brick] She was a very provocative personality. 438 00:22:44,090 --> 00:22:46,140 She wore men's clothing. 439 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:48,100 She smoked cigars. 440 00:22:48,181 --> 00:22:49,231 She played cards. 441 00:22:50,090 --> 00:22:51,060 She drank bourbon. 442 00:22:51,171 --> 00:22:56,090 Everybody knew that Hick was gay. 443 00:22:56,201 --> 00:22:57,251 [narrator] The women's friendship 444 00:22:58,100 --> 00:23:01,110 grew over the years they spent touring the country 445 00:23:01,130 --> 00:23:03,181 as FDR's eyes and ears. 446 00:23:04,231 --> 00:23:06,201 Hick gave her a lot of ideas and support 447 00:23:06,221 --> 00:23:09,251 in terms of finding a way to be a new kind of first lady. 448 00:23:10,201 --> 00:23:12,151 [Blanche Weisen Cook] It's Hick who says, 449 00:23:12,251 --> 00:23:15,080 "Look at all these daily activities 450 00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:16,201 you're telling me about. 451 00:23:17,050 --> 00:23:21,140 The whole country wants to know how you spend your day." 452 00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:25,060 And it's Hick's suggestion that results 453 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,241 in Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" column. 454 00:23:30,060 --> 00:23:31,241 [Paul Sparrow] She had a style of writing 455 00:23:32,021 --> 00:23:34,050 that was very personal and very informal, 456 00:23:34,070 --> 00:23:35,140 and she could talk about anything, 457 00:23:35,161 --> 00:23:38,090 from a meeting with the king and queen of England, 458 00:23:38,151 --> 00:23:40,171 to literally what she had for breakfast that day. 459 00:23:40,191 --> 00:23:42,231 So, she was the original blogger. 460 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,171 [narrator] By 1938, Eleanor's daily column is wildly popular, 461 00:23:49,030 --> 00:23:52,080 with a readership of over four million Americans. 462 00:23:52,211 --> 00:23:54,231 If Eleanor Roosevelt was alive right now 463 00:23:55,090 --> 00:23:58,100 she'd be tweeting, Facebooking, YouTubing, 464 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:02,080 because every single medium that existed at the time, 465 00:24:02,241 --> 00:24:04,151 she mobilized, 466 00:24:04,171 --> 00:24:07,151 and her public life comes to prominence 467 00:24:07,171 --> 00:24:10,021 at the very beginning of the radio age. 468 00:24:11,030 --> 00:24:12,221 [presenter] For the shave you've always wanted, 469 00:24:12,241 --> 00:24:14,040 reach for the Remington. 470 00:24:14,060 --> 00:24:15,080 ...this is Leon Pearson... 471 00:24:15,171 --> 00:24:16,231 [presenter] ...millions listening throughout... 472 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,021 [Anya Luscombe] There were very few women on the radio. 473 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:20,251 Women were allowed to do 474 00:24:21,030 --> 00:24:23,100 programs about housekeeping or education, 475 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,040 or they would be allowed to sing. 476 00:24:27,021 --> 00:24:28,151 [singing] 477 00:24:28,171 --> 00:24:32,140 But Eleanor is broadcasting in the early 1930s. 478 00:24:32,161 --> 00:24:33,231 Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. 479 00:24:34,090 --> 00:24:36,030 [Eleanor] Good Day, Ladies and Gentlemen. 480 00:24:36,090 --> 00:24:38,021 [clears throat] I attended last night... 481 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:39,201 [Paul Sparrow] People would sit around their living room 482 00:24:39,221 --> 00:24:42,021 and it was like the first lady was talking to you. 483 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,161 [Eleanor Roosevelt] I want to talk to you 484 00:24:43,181 --> 00:24:45,021 about the general question of housing. 485 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:46,221 [Paul Sparrow] It was like she was sitting with you 486 00:24:46,241 --> 00:24:48,021 in your living room 487 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:49,181 with your little Victrola in the corner. 488 00:24:49,201 --> 00:24:50,241 And her voice was there. 489 00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:52,251 [Susan Quinn] Eleanor Roosevelt connected 490 00:24:53,030 --> 00:24:55,241 with ordinary Americans, and it was a remarkable thing 491 00:24:56,021 --> 00:24:59,021 and that really grew out of her relationship with Hick. 492 00:25:02,130 --> 00:25:04,241 [women giggling] 493 00:25:05,021 --> 00:25:07,161 Hick falls deeply, 494 00:25:08,030 --> 00:25:10,211 deeply in love with Eleanor. 495 00:25:11,221 --> 00:25:13,040 [narrator] Over their lifetime, 496 00:25:13,060 --> 00:25:15,211 they write almost 3,000 letters to one another. 497 00:25:16,050 --> 00:25:18,021 [Susan Quinn] They write about missing each other. 498 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,181 You get the feeling of this deep caring between them, 499 00:25:21,211 --> 00:25:23,130 and then there will be specific things 500 00:25:23,151 --> 00:25:25,110 like, you know, "I looked at your photograph 501 00:25:25,130 --> 00:25:26,181 and I kissed you 502 00:25:26,201 --> 00:25:29,040 in the lower right corner of your mouth. 503 00:25:29,211 --> 00:25:32,211 There is some debate about whether it was physical or not, 504 00:25:32,231 --> 00:25:35,110 but I don't think anyone can deny 505 00:25:35,130 --> 00:25:37,030 that it was a deep love. 506 00:25:38,211 --> 00:25:39,231 [Allida Black] As a lesbian, 507 00:25:40,130 --> 00:25:45,060 nothing would make my little political soul happier... 508 00:25:45,241 --> 00:25:51,021 than to think that Eleanor and Hick had this great, 509 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:53,070 passionate affair. 510 00:25:55,221 --> 00:25:59,080 As a historian, I don't care. 511 00:26:02,021 --> 00:26:04,090 I am grateful for Lorena Hickok. 512 00:26:05,140 --> 00:26:08,151 Eleanor loved and was loved in return, 513 00:26:09,181 --> 00:26:13,120 and she was empowered by that relationship. 514 00:26:20,110 --> 00:26:21,161 [reporter] Mrs. Roosevelt 515 00:26:21,181 --> 00:26:23,021 is greeted by microphones, reporters... 516 00:26:23,140 --> 00:26:25,050 [Patricia Bell Scott] Even though Eleanor 517 00:26:25,070 --> 00:26:27,161 frequently said that she was really not a politician, 518 00:26:27,181 --> 00:26:30,050 she had good political instincts, 519 00:26:31,030 --> 00:26:34,090 and at the top of that agenda was civil rights. 520 00:26:39,110 --> 00:26:42,050 [narrator] In the late 1930s, to Eleanor's shame, 521 00:26:42,201 --> 00:26:46,110 African American citizens are still segregated by law, 522 00:26:46,231 --> 00:26:48,080 often denied basic rights 523 00:26:48,151 --> 00:26:51,070 such as jobs, housing and the vote. 524 00:26:53,221 --> 00:26:55,191 [Patricia Bell Scott] She was very much involved 525 00:26:55,211 --> 00:26:58,130 in the struggle to get congress and the president 526 00:26:58,191 --> 00:27:02,021 to move for passing anti-lynching legislation. 527 00:27:02,161 --> 00:27:04,171 Eleanor comes to truly understand 528 00:27:04,191 --> 00:27:09,100 how undermining of our democracy is this idea 529 00:27:09,181 --> 00:27:12,021 that everyone is not being treated equally. 530 00:27:12,171 --> 00:27:14,120 [Chris Brick] So, Eleanor Roosevelt 531 00:27:14,140 --> 00:27:15,221 goes to great lengths 532 00:27:15,241 --> 00:27:18,090 to open the doors of the Roosevelt White House 533 00:27:18,110 --> 00:27:21,040 very wide to people of color. 534 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:23,161 I mean, you see Eleanor bounding 535 00:27:23,181 --> 00:27:27,050 down the White House driveway, very much in public view... 536 00:27:27,171 --> 00:27:30,181 to greet female civil rights advocate, 537 00:27:30,201 --> 00:27:32,100 Mary McLeod Bethune, 538 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:35,231 in a way that Eleanor Roosevelt doesn't greet royalty. 539 00:27:37,100 --> 00:27:39,060 [Patricia Bell Scott] Eleanor Roosevelt was a leader 540 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,050 willing to take a stand, 541 00:27:41,070 --> 00:27:44,030 and she did something that really caught 542 00:27:44,050 --> 00:27:45,231 the attention of the nation. 543 00:27:48,110 --> 00:27:51,171 [narrator] In 1938, defying the Secret Service, 544 00:27:51,251 --> 00:27:53,251 she travels to a civil rights meeting 545 00:27:54,030 --> 00:27:55,171 in Birmingham, Alabama 546 00:27:55,251 --> 00:27:58,231 with her friend, Mary McLeod Bethune. 547 00:28:00,090 --> 00:28:02,151 [Allida Black] Eleanor goes into this meeting, 548 00:28:02,171 --> 00:28:04,030 which is segregated. 549 00:28:04,130 --> 00:28:07,110 Whites on this side, blacks on this side. 550 00:28:11,130 --> 00:28:13,050 [Allida Black] She just trucks down that aisle 551 00:28:13,070 --> 00:28:15,021 and boop! Right by Bethune. 552 00:28:15,100 --> 00:28:16,130 She can't sit there! 553 00:28:17,090 --> 00:28:18,181 [Allida Black] Almost immediately, 554 00:28:18,201 --> 00:28:21,100 a young police officer comes over... 555 00:28:21,171 --> 00:28:22,151 [officer] Ms. Roosevelt... 556 00:28:22,171 --> 00:28:24,161 ...and asks her to move. 557 00:28:26,171 --> 00:28:28,110 The legend is true. 558 00:28:29,171 --> 00:28:31,120 Eleanor does get a chair, 559 00:28:31,231 --> 00:28:33,251 sits in the middle of the aisle... 560 00:28:36,161 --> 00:28:38,171 and straddles segregation. 561 00:28:38,191 --> 00:28:39,251 [applause] 562 00:28:40,100 --> 00:28:43,110 One foot in black, one foot in white. 563 00:28:45,050 --> 00:28:47,050 [Patricia Bell Scott] Local papers picked it up. 564 00:28:47,070 --> 00:28:49,060 Black print press was just delighted. 565 00:28:49,181 --> 00:28:52,211 White press and southern press was really upset. 566 00:28:54,100 --> 00:28:56,070 [Allida Black] Other first ladies had been criticized 567 00:28:56,090 --> 00:29:00,140 but nobody faced the intense venom 568 00:29:00,201 --> 00:29:05,080 in such a consistent, persistent way as Eleanor. 569 00:29:06,070 --> 00:29:07,130 [Robin Gerber] The Ku Klux Klan, 570 00:29:07,151 --> 00:29:08,241 they eventually put a price on her head. 571 00:29:09,100 --> 00:29:12,120 25,000 dollars if you could kill Eleanor Roosevelt. 572 00:29:13,030 --> 00:29:17,030 So, this was criticism on steroids. 573 00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:19,221 [J. Edgar Hoover] We ask every citizen to immediately report 574 00:29:19,241 --> 00:29:22,030 any information regarding espionage... 575 00:29:22,050 --> 00:29:24,110 [narrator] But Eleanor's most powerful opponent 576 00:29:24,191 --> 00:29:26,070 is the head of the FBI. 577 00:29:27,030 --> 00:29:29,211 [Blanche Weisen Cook] The first entry into her FBI file 578 00:29:30,050 --> 00:29:34,161 by J Edgar Hoover, who hated her guts, 579 00:29:34,181 --> 00:29:36,241 is her support for civil rights. 580 00:29:37,021 --> 00:29:39,241 That for him is the most un-American. 581 00:29:40,130 --> 00:29:43,231 [Chris Brick] The file is about 3,500 pages long, 582 00:29:43,251 --> 00:29:46,161 it could fill a whole file cabinet top to bottom. 583 00:29:47,070 --> 00:29:51,191 The earliest document in it is from 1924. 584 00:29:52,070 --> 00:29:55,201 Every word on behalf of justice 585 00:29:55,221 --> 00:29:58,191 for black people was considered communist. 586 00:29:58,211 --> 00:30:01,181 [Chris Brick] J. Edgar Hoover sees Eleanor Roosevelt 587 00:30:01,201 --> 00:30:03,100 the way a lot of people 588 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:08,080 in conservative white America see Eleanor Roosevelt. 589 00:30:09,130 --> 00:30:11,070 Why can't she just shut up? 590 00:30:12,030 --> 00:30:15,070 Why can't she just not rock the boat? 591 00:30:15,090 --> 00:30:16,040 [typewriter clicking] 592 00:30:16,140 --> 00:30:17,171 [Eleanor] You had an opportunity to lead... 593 00:30:18,060 --> 00:30:21,171 [narrator] But the first lady refuses to toe the line on race. 594 00:30:23,060 --> 00:30:25,201 When African American opera-singer Marian Anderson 595 00:30:25,221 --> 00:30:28,161 is banned from performing at a concert-hall 596 00:30:28,181 --> 00:30:30,251 owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution, 597 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,080 Eleanor once again springs into action. 598 00:30:35,100 --> 00:30:38,021 Eleanor is quite upset about this. 599 00:30:38,171 --> 00:30:41,151 First of all, she's a member of the DAR. 600 00:30:41,251 --> 00:30:43,140 So, she writes a letter. 601 00:30:46,231 --> 00:30:49,070 It is a-- a classic Eleanor Roosevelt letter. 602 00:30:49,211 --> 00:30:52,181 "I'm afraid I have never been a very useful member 603 00:30:53,070 --> 00:30:54,201 of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 604 00:30:55,130 --> 00:30:58,070 I know it will make very little difference to you 605 00:30:58,090 --> 00:31:00,110 whether I resign or whether I continue..." 606 00:31:00,130 --> 00:31:02,080 [Eleanor] I'm in complete disagreement 607 00:31:02,100 --> 00:31:03,191 with the attitude taken... 608 00:31:03,211 --> 00:31:05,181 [Robin Gerber] She sends it to newspapers 609 00:31:05,201 --> 00:31:06,231 all over the country. 610 00:31:07,070 --> 00:31:09,171 Soon, there's international recognition about this. 611 00:31:10,090 --> 00:31:11,130 [Paul Sparrow] "...and I feel obliged 612 00:31:11,151 --> 00:31:13,060 to send into you my resignation. 613 00:31:13,251 --> 00:31:16,211 You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way, 614 00:31:17,070 --> 00:31:20,251 and it seems to me that your organization has failed." 615 00:31:23,060 --> 00:31:25,080 Her resignation was huge news, it was very important, 616 00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:26,181 and it put enormous pressure 617 00:31:26,201 --> 00:31:28,241 on not just the Daughters of the Revolution 618 00:31:29,021 --> 00:31:30,070 but all organizations 619 00:31:30,090 --> 00:31:32,211 to confront their racist policies. 620 00:31:35,100 --> 00:31:36,221 [narrator] The world is watching, 621 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,241 and Eleanor helps organize a new venue for the concert... 622 00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:44,251 in the place that most symbolizes freedom. 623 00:31:45,030 --> 00:31:46,080 [cheering] 624 00:31:46,201 --> 00:31:50,040 In this great auditorium under the sky, 625 00:31:51,021 --> 00:31:52,151 all of us are free. 626 00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:59,040 [Robin Gerber] Marian Anderson is standing there, 627 00:31:59,161 --> 00:32:04,050 and in front of her are 75,000 people, 628 00:32:05,030 --> 00:32:06,090 black and white together. 629 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,070 [Blanche Weisen Cook] This was the first public event 630 00:32:10,151 --> 00:32:13,161 that was de-segregated. 631 00:32:15,100 --> 00:32:18,161 [Patricia Bell Scott] Everybody there could freely mingle 632 00:32:18,181 --> 00:32:22,211 and sit next to each other without regard to race, 633 00:32:22,231 --> 00:32:24,060 creed or color. 634 00:32:24,151 --> 00:32:26,231 It was just simply awe-inspiring. 635 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,211 [reporter] Spectators include Supreme Court Justice Black, 636 00:32:30,090 --> 00:32:31,211 New York Senator Robert Wagner, 637 00:32:31,231 --> 00:32:35,211 and a host of notables, here to listen the voice of... 638 00:32:35,231 --> 00:32:37,201 [Robin Gerber] Eleanor didn't go to the concert. 639 00:32:38,110 --> 00:32:40,060 She wanted that moment in history 640 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,070 to belong to Marian Anderson. 641 00:32:44,070 --> 00:32:50,040 [sings "America: My Country, 'Tis of Thee"] 642 00:32:55,191 --> 00:32:58,181 [Patricia Bell Scott] People in the audience silently wept... 643 00:32:59,181 --> 00:33:03,021 as a wave of emotion washed over the throng. 644 00:33:03,231 --> 00:33:05,140 [Robin Gerber] "My country tis of thee, 645 00:33:05,161 --> 00:33:07,030 sweet land of liberty, 646 00:33:07,231 --> 00:33:10,080 to thee we sing." 647 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:14,211 [Patricia Bell Scott] Eleanor Roosevelt defied 648 00:33:14,231 --> 00:33:17,241 the conventions of her role as first lady, 649 00:33:19,140 --> 00:33:22,211 a woman in arms with African Americans. 650 00:33:27,050 --> 00:33:31,140 [cheering and applause] 651 00:33:31,161 --> 00:33:33,090 [Blanche Weisen Cook] This was the first step 652 00:33:33,151 --> 00:33:36,130 in the great journey to freedom. 653 00:33:49,211 --> 00:33:51,140 [reporter] We have witnessed this morning 654 00:33:51,161 --> 00:33:55,171 severe bombing of Pearl Harbor by enemy planes. 655 00:33:57,050 --> 00:33:59,171 [narrator] With World War II raging across Europe, 656 00:33:59,251 --> 00:34:01,251 American neutrality is shattered 657 00:34:02,110 --> 00:34:05,030 when the Japanese launch a surprise attack 658 00:34:05,050 --> 00:34:06,100 on the Pacific Fleet. 659 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:09,180 [newscaster] We interrupt this program 660 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,140 to bring you a special news bulletin. 661 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,100 The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by air, 662 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:16,031 President Roosevelt has just announced. 663 00:34:16,100 --> 00:34:18,191 Americans would have been listening to the news 664 00:34:18,211 --> 00:34:21,140 probably all day, waiting for an update. 665 00:34:21,240 --> 00:34:24,160 Franklin is busy with his cabinet, 666 00:34:24,180 --> 00:34:28,021 determining what action the United States should take. 667 00:34:28,220 --> 00:34:31,051 [newscaster] Secretary Early informed all correspondents 668 00:34:31,071 --> 00:34:32,151 and then rushed to the White House 669 00:34:32,171 --> 00:34:33,200 to be with President Roosevelt. 670 00:34:33,220 --> 00:34:35,021 [Anya Luscombe] Eleanor is scheduled 671 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:36,160 to go on air that evening 672 00:34:36,180 --> 00:34:39,040 as part of one of her regular broadcasts, 673 00:34:39,171 --> 00:34:42,140 so, she sets about rewriting the script. 674 00:34:42,251 --> 00:34:44,160 [reporter] ...that the 50 planes attacked the island... 675 00:34:44,180 --> 00:34:47,031 [narrator] Speaking on behalf of the administration, 676 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,091 the first voice the nation will hear is Eleanor's. 677 00:34:51,091 --> 00:34:55,021 It's an unprecedented moment for a first lady. 678 00:34:58,100 --> 00:35:00,031 [Eleanor] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. 679 00:35:00,100 --> 00:35:02,100 [clears throat] I am speaking to you tonight 680 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:05,151 at a very serious moment in our history. 681 00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:08,251 Many of you all over this country 682 00:35:09,031 --> 00:35:10,171 have boys in the services 683 00:35:10,191 --> 00:35:13,200 who will now be called upon to go into action. 684 00:35:15,060 --> 00:35:17,060 You cannot escape anxiety. 685 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,051 You cannot escape the clutch of fear at your heart. 686 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,071 I have a boy at sea on a destroyer. 687 00:35:23,131 --> 00:35:26,080 For all I know he may be on his way to the Pacific. 688 00:35:27,071 --> 00:35:30,151 Two of my children are in coast cities on the Pacific. 689 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:36,031 Whatever is asked of us, I am sure we can accomplish it. 690 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,240 I have faith in you. 691 00:35:40,031 --> 00:35:42,251 [Anya Luscombe] It's as if she is the president speaking 692 00:35:43,100 --> 00:35:45,251 when she tries to unite the country, 693 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,180 tries to put people's minds at rest, 694 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:55,060 and at the same time make sure that they are ready for action. 695 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:57,140 [Eleanor] We are the free 696 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:02,100 and unconquerable people of the United States of America. 697 00:36:03,051 --> 00:36:06,220 If that isn't presidential, then I don't know what is. 698 00:36:07,211 --> 00:36:08,231 [narrator] The next day, 699 00:36:09,021 --> 00:36:11,040 President Roosevelt declares war. 700 00:36:14,021 --> 00:36:15,171 [Robin Gerber] All four of her sons 701 00:36:15,191 --> 00:36:17,151 were fighting in the war. 702 00:36:17,171 --> 00:36:22,051 You can imagine like any mother, any military mother, 703 00:36:22,140 --> 00:36:23,091 how she felt. 704 00:36:23,231 --> 00:36:27,171 She was not one who thought war was glorious. 705 00:36:27,251 --> 00:36:30,151 But her duty to her country 706 00:36:30,171 --> 00:36:35,140 and to her husband really came first. 707 00:36:36,211 --> 00:36:38,080 [narrator] So, when Franklin asks Eleanor 708 00:36:38,100 --> 00:36:41,031 to make a perilous trip to the South Pacific, 709 00:36:41,151 --> 00:36:43,211 she puts personal feelings aside. 710 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,080 [reporter] Travelling under the code name "Rover," 711 00:36:47,100 --> 00:36:48,191 she visits combat areas 712 00:36:48,211 --> 00:36:51,060 and makes it a point to stop at every hospital. 713 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,220 Naval commanders were opposed to this idea 714 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:55,040 MacArthur and Nimitz, 715 00:36:55,060 --> 00:36:56,180 they thought this was a terrible idea. 716 00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:58,240 "We do not want the first lady traipsing through our war zone, 717 00:36:59,021 --> 00:37:00,160 what a disaster this is gonna be." 718 00:37:00,231 --> 00:37:02,120 You know, she could have been killed 719 00:37:02,140 --> 00:37:03,180 and shot down at any point. 720 00:37:04,031 --> 00:37:05,191 [reporter] Watching the faces of those kids light up 721 00:37:05,211 --> 00:37:07,071 when she talked to them made you know 722 00:37:07,091 --> 00:37:09,100 that she was the best medicine they could have had. 723 00:37:09,180 --> 00:37:10,220 [Paul Sparrow] But at the end, 724 00:37:11,111 --> 00:37:14,040 Admiral Halsey said she had a greater impact on the people 725 00:37:14,060 --> 00:37:16,120 in the field than any person who ever visited 726 00:37:16,191 --> 00:37:17,251 throughout the entire war. 727 00:37:21,211 --> 00:37:24,231 [Blanche Weisen Cook] She visited every single hospital 728 00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:29,151 and spoke to every single GI Joe 729 00:37:29,171 --> 00:37:30,240 who was wounded... 730 00:37:32,180 --> 00:37:34,160 and took their family names 731 00:37:34,180 --> 00:37:35,211 and when she got back, 732 00:37:35,231 --> 00:37:38,151 she called their parents and their loved ones. 733 00:37:43,251 --> 00:37:46,040 [Allida Black] The war haunts Eleanor. 734 00:37:46,140 --> 00:37:49,231 Her anger over the slaughter that she saw 735 00:37:50,051 --> 00:37:53,251 was the single motivating factor for the rest of her life. 736 00:38:06,071 --> 00:38:08,040 [reporter] Over the White House at Washington, 737 00:38:08,060 --> 00:38:10,111 the flag flies at half-mast 738 00:38:10,131 --> 00:38:12,051 as a grief-stricken nation mourns the death 739 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:16,111 of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president of the United States. 740 00:38:18,131 --> 00:38:21,091 [narrator] Three months into Roosevelt's fourth term, 741 00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:25,091 the longest presidency in American history is over. 742 00:38:26,091 --> 00:38:28,140 [Patricia Bell Scott] Franklin Roosevelt's death 743 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,151 really shocked the nation. 744 00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:32,100 It was a double loss 745 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:36,180 because Eleanor Roosevelt was leaving as first lady, 746 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,071 and for many African Americans, 747 00:38:38,091 --> 00:38:41,060 she was the unofficial president. 748 00:38:44,151 --> 00:38:47,191 [Anya Luscombe] I think that she was very concerned 749 00:38:48,031 --> 00:38:50,040 that under President Truman, 750 00:38:50,111 --> 00:38:54,021 everything that she and Franklin together had fought for, 751 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,131 domestically and globally, would now somehow be forgotten. 752 00:38:58,220 --> 00:39:01,051 And she wanted to secure that legacy. 753 00:39:02,051 --> 00:39:04,160 [narrator] So, when President Truman asks Eleanor 754 00:39:04,180 --> 00:39:07,031 to join the first American delegation 755 00:39:07,051 --> 00:39:09,131 to the newly formed United Nations, 756 00:39:10,031 --> 00:39:11,091 she jumps at the chance. 757 00:39:11,111 --> 00:39:12,231 [reporter] By far the most interesting the arrival 758 00:39:12,251 --> 00:39:15,091 was that of Mrs. Roosevelt, widow of the late president. 759 00:39:15,180 --> 00:39:17,191 [Blanche Weisen Cook] The UN is created 760 00:39:17,211 --> 00:39:20,131 to make a forum for discussion 761 00:39:20,151 --> 00:39:22,240 so we never have to go to war again. 762 00:39:23,060 --> 00:39:25,111 [Robin Gerber] Now, this was the great dream 763 00:39:25,131 --> 00:39:28,160 of the Roosevelts. A United Nations 764 00:39:28,251 --> 00:39:31,040 that would ensure peace in the world. 765 00:39:32,031 --> 00:39:34,091 [reporter] 2,000 delegates are attending the meeting. 766 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:36,111 From all the corners of the earth they came. 767 00:39:36,171 --> 00:39:39,060 Secretary of State Marshall greets a fellow delegate, 768 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:40,111 Mrs. Roosevelt. 769 00:39:40,180 --> 00:39:42,040 [narrator] Eleanor is unanimously elected 770 00:39:42,060 --> 00:39:44,120 chair of the subcommittee charged with drafting 771 00:39:44,140 --> 00:39:47,080 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 772 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:51,080 [Allida Black] She has to negotiate 773 00:39:51,100 --> 00:39:52,140 with 18 countries. 774 00:39:52,251 --> 00:39:54,100 They don't agree on anything. 775 00:39:55,051 --> 00:39:57,031 They don't agree whether God exists! 776 00:39:57,051 --> 00:39:59,100 It took almost two years. 777 00:40:00,091 --> 00:40:01,140 It was absolutely grueling. 778 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:03,100 [reporter] The Soviet Union insists... 779 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,051 [Allida Black] Her ability to navigate 780 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:10,040 the hundreds of meetings that it took... 781 00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:12,060 to craft the declaration. 782 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:16,021 It was brilliant negotiation strategy. 783 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,080 Her whole public life 784 00:40:18,100 --> 00:40:20,220 and her life in the White House had helped her 785 00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:22,200 to exceed in that role, 786 00:40:22,220 --> 00:40:25,071 because she's figured out decades ago 787 00:40:25,091 --> 00:40:27,140 that you can get a tremendous amount done 788 00:40:27,231 --> 00:40:29,160 if you don't care about taking credit for it. 789 00:40:30,071 --> 00:40:33,040 This Universal Declaration of Human Rights... 790 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:38,051 may well become the international Magna Carta 791 00:40:38,071 --> 00:40:39,200 of all men everywhere. 792 00:40:40,171 --> 00:40:42,100 [narrator] Eleanor's presentation 793 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,220 caps a lifetime of championing human rights. 794 00:40:46,071 --> 00:40:48,051 [Eleanor] The proclamation of the Declaration... 795 00:40:48,071 --> 00:40:49,211 [Allida Black] It's the most important document 796 00:40:49,231 --> 00:40:51,100 of the last 100 years. 797 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:56,060 All human beings are born free and equal, 798 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:58,091 in dignity and in rights. 799 00:40:58,111 --> 00:41:00,071 All human beings. 800 00:41:00,091 --> 00:41:02,031 It's the first time in the history 801 00:41:02,051 --> 00:41:05,040 of the flipping world that we say that. 802 00:41:05,220 --> 00:41:08,100 [delegate] And I must congratulate the person... 803 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:10,220 who has been the leader in this movement. 804 00:41:11,051 --> 00:41:14,100 The person who has raised to even greater honor, 805 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:17,021 so great a name, and I refer, of course, to Mrs. Roosevelt, 806 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:18,240 the delegate of the United States. 807 00:41:19,021 --> 00:41:21,111 [applause] 808 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:30,131 [narrator] The longest serving first lady in American history, 809 00:41:31,031 --> 00:41:33,220 Eleanor Roosevelt exemplifies greatness, 810 00:41:34,131 --> 00:41:37,100 and her achievements still resonate today. 811 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:41,140 This a better day for What's My Line? 812 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:42,220 We will always remember very fondly 813 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:44,231 that you honored us by being our mystery guest, 814 00:41:44,251 --> 00:41:46,200 and I'm sure that the panel would love very much 815 00:41:46,220 --> 00:41:47,240 to shake your hand. 816 00:41:48,091 --> 00:41:50,060 -Thank you very much. -Thank you, Mrs. Roosevelt. 817 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:51,131 [applause] 818 00:41:51,251 --> 00:41:53,251 She's just not a first lady. 819 00:41:55,031 --> 00:41:57,171 She's a first woman, 820 00:41:58,031 --> 00:42:00,031 a first activist, 821 00:42:01,071 --> 00:42:03,080 way beyond first ladyhood. 822 00:42:04,100 --> 00:42:07,071 Eleanor Roosevelt was Lady Big Heart.