Iris Berger
As part of her visit to Albany to read from her new biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, historian and activist Blanche Wiesen Cook also spoke on the topic, "Eleanor Roosevelt's Legacy, Hilary Clinton's Mandate." While referring to the Clintons as having the first feminist marriage in the White House, Professor Cook discussed the many critical, politically controversial issues that Eleanor Roosevelt addressed and the enormous influence she exerted on national political life.
Noting that Eleanor Roosevelt was consulted on all appointments and issues and even held press conferences for women journalists only, Blanche Cook was delighted to report that, in the first year of her husband's presidency, the first lady succeeded in earning as much as he did.
Cook's talk went on to highlight Eleanor Roosevelt's activism around the issues of poverty, racism, and hunger. Her work on these questions ranged from pressing FDR on the subject of European refugees from Hitler's Germany to mobilizing support for an anti-lynching bill.
After touring the slums of Washington, D.C. in her initial act as first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt decided to devote her time to a home building project. When criticized for the egalitarian implications of her intention to include indoor plumbing and kitchens in every household, she responded, "in matters of decency" there should be no distinction between rich and poor.
Professor Cook stressed the controversial nature of many of Roosevelt's activities by observing that in her 3,000 page FBI file, the single largest section recorded her ideas and actions on the issue of race.
Throughout her remarks, Blanche Cook emphasized the common challenges of the present and the past, stressing the millions of "casualties to our disregard" among the homeless and the hungry and suggesting that Hitler's category of "lives not worth living" remains alive in today's politics of hate. Only global organization, she argued, will reorient the Social Darwinian policies that ignore dire human needs, while continuing to expend vast resources for military purposes.
The talk concluded by citing Eleanor Roosevelt's warning (as appropriate to Hilary Clinton as it was to herself) that women in public life need "to develop skin as tough as rhinoceros hide."
Professor Cook's visit to Albany, on March 4-5, was co-sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and the New York State Writers Institute.