J. William T. "Bill" Youngs, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Personal and Public Life, Chapter Eight  
                                  "Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt" courtesy of the Wiki Commons
We are in a tremendous storm, and none of us knows where we are going to land.  The important thing, it seems to me, is our attitude toward whatever may happen.  It must be willingness to accept and share with others whatever may come and to meet the future courageously, with a cheerful spirit.
- Eleanor Roosevelt, to Lorena Hickok, 1933

Chapter 8: First Lady

Picture
"Eleanor Roosevelt" courtesy of the Wiki Commons

Summary

In this chapter Eleanor Roosevelt becomes accustomed to her position as first lady, she involves herself in the great civil rights struggle of the mid 20th century for black rights, and becomes part of the team selling the New Deal to America.  It details her relationship with the press including a loving friendship with Lorena Hickok.  Eleanor becomes a mother figure for a nation in the midst of a deep economic crisis, and she does it while simultaneously re-defining the role of First Lady.  

Author reads from the Text

Eleanor guided the driver unerringly through a maze of driveways to the Adams Memorial and led Hick to the statue of Grief.  For a long time the two women sat in silence on a curved stone bench before the figure.  Hick saw in Grief "a Woman who had experienced every kind of pain, every kind of suffering known to mankind and had come out of it serene - and compassionate."  Eleanor spoke in a hushed tone, as if she were in church.  "In the old days," she said, "when we lived here, I was much younger and not so very wise.  Sometimes I'd be very unhappy and sorry for myself.  When I was feeling that way, if I could manage it, I'd come out here, alone, and sit and look at that woman.  And I'd always come away somehow feeling better.  And stronger."  A decade and a half had passed since those troubled days, and during that time Eleanor had become, in the public eye, an embodiment of serenity and compassion.  But now, as she faced the greatest challenge of her personal and public life, she needed once more to draw strength from a statue.  

A Friendly Journey: Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok Tour the Northeast



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