dignity, and gracious beauty. She who had been anti-Semitic and prejudiced against “darkies” had become the epitome of a concern that excluded no one from the circle of its compassion and love. Although she had opposed the woman’s suffrage movement, she was now a tough-minded and astute political figure in her own right. She for whom speaking had been an ordeal had become one of the most self-possessed and moving speakers in public life.
She had even learned to cope with the sense of alienation, of being an outsider, that she had acquired in childhood with the death of her parents. Work and loving people no matter what they did were her formulas for transcending loneliness and disappointment.
Could the story be over? She was only sixty-one, full of vitality, at home in the corridors of power, and adept at using power to help others. She had a vast political constituency and felt an obligation to promote her husband’s objectives, especially the achievement of peace through the United Nations. Before long the realization would come to her that the story was far from over.
E L E A N O R :
T H E Y E A R S A L O N E
Illustrations
Discussing the draft Covenant on Human Rights. Left to right: Dr. Charles Malik of Lebanon; Prof. René Cassin of France, who was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in this field; Marjorie Whiteman, a State Department adviser to Mrs. Roosevelt; Mrs. Roosevelt; and James Simsarian, another State Department adviser.
She called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “a Magna Carta for mankind.”
Eleanor Roosevelt with Adlai Stevenson and John Foster Dulles at the United Nations, 1946.
Addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations, 1947.
Mrs. Roosevelt addresses a plenary session of the General Assembly, October 20, 1949. Carlos Romulo of the Philippines is in the president’s chair.
Mrs. Roosevelt with Anna, James, John, and their children.
Mrs. Roosevelt with grandchildren Nina and Sally and dog Fala at Val-Kill, November 1951.
Mrs. Roosevelt with Norman Thomas and Alf Landon at a peace rally in New York City, May 1960.
Arriving in Washington on one of her many journeys there.
“I am not a candidate,” Adlai E. Stevenson insisted in 1960, but Mrs. Roosevelt would not take “no” for an answer.
To President Truman she was the “First Lady of the World.”
At a Polo Grounds “Salute to Israel” meeting. To Mrs. Roosevelt’s left are Gen. Moshe Dayan and Abba Eban of Israel and George Meany, president of the AFL. Directly behind Mrs. Roosevelt is Ralph Bellamy, who portrayed FDR in Sunrise at Campobello .
Every summer the children of the Wiltwyck School for Boys picnicked at Val-Kill, and Mrs. Roosevelt would tell them stories—usually favorites from Kipling.
Roosevelt on her television program in 1961.
Appendix B
MRS. ROOSEVELT AND THE SULTAN OF MOROCCO
E LEANOR R OOSEVELT’S SUPPORT OF I SRAEL WAS A CONTINUING one. In 1956 Judge Justine Wise Polier came to her, distressed over the plight of more than ten thousand Moroccan Jews who had reached Casablanca in order to go to Israel and who were now being prevented from leaving. They were living in conditions of misery with the danger of an outbreak of epidemic ever-present. The World Jewish Congress, organizer of the exodus which it thought had the support of the sultan of Morocco, was distraught.
Mrs. Roosevelt listened and, “with the smile that lighted her face when she felt she could be of help to others,” told Justine that the latter had come at an opportune moment. She could help, she thought. She had recently received the ambassador from newly independent Morocco, who had come as an emissary from Mohammed V, the sultan, to Hyde Park to lay a wreath on FDR’s grave. The ambassador had arrived with such a large entourage from his embassy and from the State Department that Mrs. Roosevelt had not even had enough food for tea and had to send out for more. When tea was
She had even learned to cope with the sense of alienation, of being an outsider, that she had acquired in childhood with the death of her parents. Work and loving people no matter what they did were her formulas for transcending loneliness and disappointment.
Could the story be over? She was only sixty-one, full of vitality, at home in the corridors of power, and adept at using power to help others. She had a vast political constituency and felt an obligation to promote her husband’s objectives, especially the achievement of peace through the United Nations. Before long the realization would come to her that the story was far from over.
E L E A N O R :
T H E Y E A R S A L O N E
Illustrations
Discussing the draft Covenant on Human Rights. Left to right: Dr. Charles Malik of Lebanon; Prof. René Cassin of France, who was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in this field; Marjorie Whiteman, a State Department adviser to Mrs. Roosevelt; Mrs. Roosevelt; and James Simsarian, another State Department adviser.
She called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “a Magna Carta for mankind.”
Eleanor Roosevelt with Adlai Stevenson and John Foster Dulles at the United Nations, 1946.
Addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations, 1947.
Mrs. Roosevelt addresses a plenary session of the General Assembly, October 20, 1949. Carlos Romulo of the Philippines is in the president’s chair.
Mrs. Roosevelt with Anna, James, John, and their children.
Mrs. Roosevelt with grandchildren Nina and Sally and dog Fala at Val-Kill, November 1951.
Mrs. Roosevelt with Norman Thomas and Alf Landon at a peace rally in New York City, May 1960.
Arriving in Washington on one of her many journeys there.
“I am not a candidate,” Adlai E. Stevenson insisted in 1960, but Mrs. Roosevelt would not take “no” for an answer.
To President Truman she was the “First Lady of the World.”
At a Polo Grounds “Salute to Israel” meeting. To Mrs. Roosevelt’s left are Gen. Moshe Dayan and Abba Eban of Israel and George Meany, president of the AFL. Directly behind Mrs. Roosevelt is Ralph Bellamy, who portrayed FDR in Sunrise at Campobello .
Every summer the children of the Wiltwyck School for Boys picnicked at Val-Kill, and Mrs. Roosevelt would tell them stories—usually favorites from Kipling.
Roosevelt on her television program in 1961.
Appendix B
MRS. ROOSEVELT AND THE SULTAN OF MOROCCO
E LEANOR R OOSEVELT’S SUPPORT OF I SRAEL WAS A CONTINUING one. In 1956 Judge Justine Wise Polier came to her, distressed over the plight of more than ten thousand Moroccan Jews who had reached Casablanca in order to go to Israel and who were now being prevented from leaving. They were living in conditions of misery with the danger of an outbreak of epidemic ever-present. The World Jewish Congress, organizer of the exodus which it thought had the support of the sultan of Morocco, was distraught.
Mrs. Roosevelt listened and, “with the smile that lighted her face when she felt she could be of help to others,” told Justine that the latter had come at an opportune moment. She could help, she thought. She had recently received the ambassador from newly independent Morocco, who had come as an emissary from Mohammed V, the sultan, to Hyde Park to lay a wreath on FDR’s grave. The ambassador had arrived with such a large entourage from his embassy and from the State Department that Mrs. Roosevelt had not even had enough food for tea and had to send out for more. When tea was
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