inflation will remain subdued. i believe the actions taken by the federal open market committee to support economic recovery are appropriate. i am confident our commitment to monitor economic conditions and take action is needed. .. >> this program is about 50 minutes. >> thank you very much for your welcoming words, and it's a pleasure to be here. thank you all for coming in this

cold evening, chicago, windy city. let me, first, thank the federation of chicago and especially michael for arranging and supporting my coming here to chicago. it has been a pleasure being here, and i thank you for that. i would also like to thank the uic jewish studies program and especially my friends and colleagues, robert johnston and sam fleishhacker. it has been a true, wonderful experience being here. and finally, let me thank the illinois holocaust museum and education center and especially rick for allowing me to come here and present my work to you. this is my first time presenting this work, and it's an exciting moment for me to be able to do this, and i couldn't find a better mace than here.

place than here. so i will be speaking tonight with you about the very famous photograph of the little boy raising his hands in the warsaw ghetto. this photo, which for many of us represents the holocaust, a photo e which encapsulates within it the horror of that terrible time, the terror on the face of the little boy, and the ss men standing in the background with the rifle possibly aimed at the little boy. this is, of course, the icon of the holocaust which many of us are familiar with and know. it's a very famous photograph, and as is well known, it was published -- it was first, it was taken in warsaw i ghetto during the uprising in the spring of 1943 and was ip corporated within -- incorporated within an album made by the notorious ss general

strup, an album which he prepared on the occasion of his victory over the jews in warsaw. now, over the past five years that i have been investigating and researching the background, the story behind the photograph, friends and colleagues would approach me and ask me, dan, how did you come up with this topic? how did you come up with the idea of investigating a story behind one photograph? and, frankly, they usually were disappointed with my answer. my answer was that it was no inspiration, no revelation, it was mere coincidence. i, basically, stumbled upon this topic, and it took, basically, the moment when this photograph became for me a topic began in the winter of 2001 in jerusalem.

i was conducting a research project on the way israeli teenagers perceive the holocaust about their knowledge of the holocaust. and in that winter i was in the home of one teenager. her name, shelley, a 16-year-old, and i can vividly remember that moment when we were talking about the horrors of the holocaust, and she was describing the experience of her family, much of it murdered during this event. her father was sitting by her. he literally was born on the rubble of the warsaw ghetto. and as she was talking, i pulled out this photo, and i placed it on the table. what happened next was extremely surprising. she smiled. and she began to giggle. and then she pointed at the

little boy, and she said, you know, he's a relative of mine. he lives in new york. and the punchline was, do you want his phone number? [laughter] you can imagine my face at that moment. now, i would hear that story time and time again in the years that would come. i heard it from other students, i heard it from an official guide, i heard it from professors in the university, i heard it from history professors. but unfortunately, i can say very clearly that today i know of at least seven different identities of the little boy, none of which -- again, unfortunately -- are accurate. the boy in my mind -- and i'm very strong in this opinion -- was either shot minutes after this photo was taken or was gassed a couple of days later.

but looking at this photograph, a different question came up, a question that in my mind is even more significant than the question of the identity of the little boy. and this question was the question of how was this photograph taken in the first place. how was this photograph in which most of us, most human beings see the cruelty, the repeated cruelty, i should say, of man towards man, how could this photograph be incorporated in a victory album? how could someone take pride in this photograph, see it as an expression of pewty, an education -- beauty, an expression that he wants to boast about? how could this be a photograph included in a victory album? and that was the basic question that would lead my research in

years to come and at the core of my book. and to answer that question i turned to five biographies which intersect in the photo of the little boy. the first of them is a, an ss man, soldier, the ss man who stands behind the little boy. his name is josef blosche. the second is a low-ranking s, officer, administrative officer, franz conrad, who in all probability was the one who took the photograph. and the third is the notorious stroop who was the one who incorporated the photo in his victory album and was the commander of the previous two.

blosche was his personal bodyguard, and konrad was on his staff and went with him wherever he went in the ghetto. now, in contrast, two jewish lives also intersect in this photo. the first of them being that of riska who was in the ghetto during the revolt and reports seeing photos being taken, and there is a good chance that she saw this group of ss men taking the photos. and finally, the story of dr. nussbaum, a doctor from new york, a holocaust survivor, who claims he is the little boy in the photo, and he's the one that shelley mentioned. and, in fact, while he's not

factually the little boy in the photo, i argue that the photo totally represents his horrific experience. now, the first person i would like to speak about is josef blosch. he was born in 1912, and he lived in a very authoritative family. his father, basically, for the first 27 years of his life his father was the one who determined everything he did. he was the one who pulled him out of school at the age of 14 as was customary at the time. he was the one who determined that blosch would become a waiter, would go to learn to become a waiter so he could work in the family inn. he was the one who determined the daily schedule of blosche, whether he would work in the inn

or possibly go to work in the fields or take care of the family livestock. he was the one, the father, who determined that,blosche's elder brother would be removed from his will was he was not as subordinate and did not follow the father's order and would, instead, put blosche as his heir. it was in the family inn that blosche was exposed to much of the national socialist ideology that came about in this time. the father arranged there for party, the nazi party assemblies and also they would hear their radio transmits from germany calling for the unification of the land with the fatherland of germany. it was there that he was also exposed to newspapers coming in to germany, and he himself was a

member of a nazi youth movement, earning a gold medal for his participation. and it was only at the age of 27 for the first time that blosche moves away from his childhood scenery and goes out of that vicinity up to be trained by the ss. and that is in december of 1939. two years later in 1941 he takes part in his first mass execution. and that mass execution is very clearly recorded in his he memo. unlike the 20 or more mass executions in which he would take part and hundreds of individual killings, he would not remember almost any one of those. but this first one was marked in

his mind. he could remember the 10 or 12 soviet citizens which walked up the forest. he remembered the pom craters -- bomb craters which served as the death pits. he remembered that one of these men, the soviets, was not shot well, and they had to use what's called a mercy shot so his, to finish his execution. this was a transformation for blosche. he was not a killer in his initial setting. he basically, this was the moment where he shifted from treating humans as humans to a, an understanding from his point of view that a command is a command, and it is superior to human life. and in the summer of 1942, blosche is transformed -- transferred to the warsaw

ghetto. and there he becomes much more ingrained in this capacity of a killer. when in the ghetto, one of his common activities was when his commander would order him, go out and make racket, he would get on a rickshaw and ride down the ghetto streets. and as he's riding, the jews are dispersing because they know what is coming next. blosche would shoot his favorite prey which were pregnant women and children. and the jews report about this rickshaw coming down the streets, and the killing that came x they to not -- and they do not know the name of these killers, they don't know the name of the ss people, so they nicknamed him, appropriately, frankenstein. and what was most amazing for me

when i was reading the documents of his interrogation in berlin was one story which came up wise or three times in his reporting. it was an incident that came after the ghetto was destructed. the jewish police was called in to the prison within the ghetto, and those jews who took part in sifting the nazis and deporting the jews were lined up. and it was very clear what was going to happen next. blosche takes his jewish policeman and walks him over to the courtyard on the other side of the streets. and z as he walks over there -- as he walks over there, the policeman who knows what's coming swerves and punches him in the face and runs for his life. he is immediately shot dead, but

the important point comes now which is blosche falls back, and his commander, brunt, runs to him, yanks away his rifle and scolds him, sends him back to the prison and orders him not to take part this mass execution. blosche remembers the story 4 years late -- 24 years later and repeat it two or three times. and i was wondering, what was so significant for him many this story -- him in this story? and basically, my interpretation is that for the first time he is not fulfilling the command that his commander gave him, and his inverted moral perception of seeing, fulfilling the command as the main goal becomes -- violating that is, for him,

something that is more important than saving a person's life. basically, a very strong expression of his inverted moral come pass at this point. compass at this point. blosche is arrested in 935 -- 1945 by the soviets, and after a year of being transferred, he is not identified as an ss man. and he arrives in 1946 in a mine this czechoslovakia. and this is august of 1946. and on his second day in the mine, he walks off the mine, and he is very curious at what is around him. he peeks at a certain point into a shaft, and what happens next is this: his whole face is

caught between the elevator floor and the mine floor, and his whole face is disfigured. he loses sight in one of his eyes. he has a very hard time swallowing, and for a yearlong he goes through surgeries. but this formation of his face did not sop him from -- stop him from becoming a family map. and -- man. and in 1950 he marries hannah blosche. he's, of course, a montage of him before his disfiguration. he marries her, and they have of three children, one from a previous marriage of hannah. and han 2345 testify -- hannah testifies in letters that she writes to the east german security service years later, she writes how wonderful a husband he was, how he cared for each and every ailment of his

children. and reading his letters from the prison in berlin to his wife, i ran into a letter where he cautions her, please, don't let our granddaughter to run around the village alone because there are too many cars, and it might be dangerous for her. so he becomes, and he becomes a normal family member. not anyone who -- it's hard to say this -- is wicked within him at least. he becomes, at this point, back into normal life. and in january of 1967 after being tipped by the west german jewish community, the east german secret service arrests plosche and takes him into custody. and on his second day in the investigation room -- and, again, i saw this in we are lin -- he writes on the back of

the famous photo, and this is literally on the back of the photo, he writes an admission that i am the person in the photograph who is standing with a helmet and with goggles on the helmet and with a weapon in combat position. this is a case where i am taking part in the deportation of jews out of the warsaw ghetto. blosche is put on trial in 1969, in this a show trial. he deserved everything he got. and he was sentenced to death. he was executed, his body and belongings cremated and dispersed in an unknown location in east germany. so that is the story of josef blosche. but now i would like to turn to

the story of franz konrad who is the person who, in this all probability, was the one who took this photo. franz konrad had a very different story. he was surely not he's tinned -- destined to become a nazi initially. he was born in the austrian alps in 905 and was -- 1905 and was a member of the social democrat party. he was even the treasurer of the local party and spied on the nazis. similar story to the other cases. he was a person of the world. he played chess, he sang in the choir, he learned espiranto, he worked in a co-op food chain, and his downfall began in 1932 when he was arrested by the austrian police for stealing 900

shilling from the food cooperative. and he was sentenced to three months in jail x that was a point -- and that was a point where the nazi party kicked in. his attorney was probably the one who introduced him to the nazi party, and over the three months that he was in jail, the nazi party support bed his family -- supported his family. it was the one who also offered him a job when he came out of prison as a road constructer. and at that point he joins the ss, becomes an administrative officer, and can in his local ss department in austria. he arrives in the ghetto after being on the eastern front -- sorry about that. he arrives in the get toe after being -- ghetto after being on the eastern front in 1943 and becomes in charge of the

authority in the ghetto in charge of collecting the property left behind by the jews. and you can see his testimony for that right here on the right-hand side of the photo. that is probably some type of property that was taken from the homes or the businesses of jews and would be transferred into konrad's warehouses. within these warehouses he had an amazing collection. he had a room with 200 grand pianos, and he reports about in this 1945 when he is arrested by the americans. he has a roomful of art and the like. he has a room full of clothes buttons. he has a room with 50,000 toys that he took from jewish

children and was planning to send to german kids in the ukraine. and the jews in the ghetto named him the ghetto king because they believed that he himself collected for himself property that was worth, that he was richer than the rights for an ss officer himself. he collected mostly stamps and tapestry. and konrad is arrested -- and for him, of course, the photo of the little boy, unlike blosche for whom this is prey, this is fulfilling of a command, of an order, for him he sees the valuables. the valuables either the jews are carrying in their luggage, hiding this their body or leaving behind in the participants or the bunkers where they dwelled. and in 1945 the american cic,

the predecessor of the cia, is tipped off that konrad has hitler's diaries. those diaries that don't exist. and the americans seek him high and low. and they do find him in the end, and instead of finding a pair of hitler's diaries, they find a pair of hitler's trouserses. in the interrogation room, the investigator turns to konrad and says, what were you planning to do with a pair -- i should add -- of shredded trouserses of hitler and a suit of hitler? konrad says this pair of trousers and suits is from the assassination attempt on the life of hitler in the summer of 1944. okay. what are you planning to do with them?

he says, i was planning to travel to america and sell them for a lot of money. a typical konrad answer. he also is executed in march of 1952 in warsaw. and finally, within the nazis -- i will still talk about the jews. the third nazi which i want to mention here is that of stroop, the notorious ss general. stroop was a veteran of world war i. here he is pictured with his colleagues in the department of the government in deathhold. i actually visited his home, and he was a highly -- he would have

loved to have become an officer, but due to the structures of the social, the social structures of german society after world war i, he was unable o become an officer. and his opportunity comes in 1932 when he joins the ss. and heinrich hemler becomes a close associate of him, pushing him up the ranks very quickly to become a high-ranking ss officer. and on april 17, 1943, hemler phones up stroop and be orders him to warsaw to oversee the liquidation of the ghetto. stroop arrives there and promises to became out the ghetto within -- wipe out the ghetto in three days. and as we all know, this took him over four weeks. and at the end of these four weeks in the may of 1943, he

submits three copies of a secret report to heinrich hemler, and it would later get into the hands of eichmann as well. a report entitleed, "there are no more jews in the warsaw ghetto." and within this report stroop has, basically, two goals. the first of them is to elevate his own status. this photo entitled the leader shows stroop right here with two of his bodyguards holding rifle to his side. the cars surrounding him, the fire blazing in the background, and clearly he is standing with a very authoritative position. this is blosche on the right-hand side right here. this was, clearly, to mark him as a leader, especially in light

of his failure to fulfill the eradication or liquidation of the got toe within three days -- ghetto within three days. that is one goal. the second goal is to degrade the jews, to fit into the ideology which he strongly believes of the jews as being subhumans. this photo entitled "jewish rabbis," and you can clearly see the soiled clothes of the jews, you can clearly see their desecration, the sense of putting them down. in the same way, this photo also included in the report entitled "dregses of humanity," shows a jew with skoal owe sis and possibly someone with a deformed foot and an axe between them. i don't know what that axe is doing there but, clearly, that is the second goal, degrading the jews, showing them as

subhumans. and that is, in fact, those two goals are also what he sees in this photo within his album entitled, "pulled from the ghetto by force." on the one hand, it is an orderly evacuation of the jews. it shows his control of the scene, of his forces. it shows, also, the contrast between the subhuman jews, the rats, the cockroaches in his view, versus the powerful german p standing with a hell met on his head, a rifle in his hand, the superior aryan race versus the subhuman jews. stroop is arrested, also, by the americans, extradited to poland and placed on trial in warsaw together with konrad.

while konrad was convicted and executed for only killing seven jews, stroop is convicted and executed for killing tens of thousands of jews. .. as to the group of rebels in

the ghetto and she is 20 years old. she miraculously survived. she did not take a weapon into her hand. she was in charge of managing the home in jerusalem and reports being pulled out of the bunkers and at that point the nazis taking photos repeatedly and since other nazis were ordered not to take photos it is very likely she saw them taking photos. i do not know whether she's often take this photo or any other photos that they took it and she herself to the best of my knowledge was not with anyone of the photos. she was put on a train and jumps

off and miraculously survived. losing to process, her boyfriend of three or four years, possibly her husband, she is hurt but able to find shelter and to obtain polish identity cards and she is liberated in 1945, joins or takes part in the jews across european borders and to land of israel. she herself mary's, moves to israel in the 1940s and gives birth to two boys, this one being her eldest. 24 years later, in 1973, an ambush in the sinai's highest hills, a couple of years later,

she dies of anguish. finally, and a very tragic story. she was born in televisa in 1945. 1936 comes, coastal arabs and jews and parents make a decision to return to poland. in retrospect a fatal decision. both his parents are murdered, his grandparents are murdered. most of his relatives are murdered. for and and and uncle, going to

warsaw into hiding where they hide through the revolts. the rule comes around that the germans are arranging for a safe haven in a place, number 29. could germans are planning to use jews with farm takers with bargaining chips in return for the german abroad. or go to the hotel. and v s s stormed the hotel.

the germans start hobbling out names and they call out the names of -- and walks away and board of the truck. and walks away and boards of the truck. his name never comes and at that point, he steps forward, a nazi raises his rifle and he raises his hand. that is the moment when the photo was taken. this is a horrific story of course and a very tragic story. it is inaccurate because we know the report was on the table on june 2nd. and the photo was taken in the

ghetto. this sow represents is true experience and it is a true photo of his experience of being arrested by this, and it is incarcerated after two years. an american platoon liberates him and other jews. the group that was destined by the land of israel, was mostly liberated. in 1947, by a yiddish poets in

new york, the poet turns to the nations of the world. achieved something in it you have sought. the world is filled with powers of the jewish bodies but he doesn't stop by turning to the nation's of the world. he also turns to the little boy and says to him following words. and hugh, jewish boy, in the guilt i kiss your face. your kosher jewish eyes through a million years until the end of days they demand an answer to the child cries. thank you. [applause]

>> a really wonderful talk. i hope his short presentation gives you a sense how magnificent and powerful this book is and why it has received prominent mention in the new york post. what we would like to do is engage in the questions and commentary on what you just heard. we would like to hear what you think and ask questions. stand up and identify yourself. >> i am curious what sort of functional highs and lows did you experience in one period of time when you were investigating all of the aspects of the sort? >> an interesting question. i will mention one thing.

it was most amazing to me to follow my own -- you read about when you investigate this kind of material, you read about one killing after another and that a certain point you don't realize this, and hugh -- terrible to say this but you are happy about finding -- that is a down emotional point. the store for me has no high. there is no redemption for this story. these are really unimportant things. there are no highs in this kind of story in my mind. none whatsoever.

>> thank you very much. i just want to ask a more research oriented question. how did you determine the second person you talked about was the photographer? >> the famous photograph, personal bodyguard struck there. by the way, another bodyguard grew up. we should assume that is almost obvious -- we can see struck in several photos and since conrad was ordered to accompany konrad all along the way it is very likely that conrad was there. i will say that konrad states clearly that he took photos, he

was a person taking photos in the ghetto. he did not recollect this specific image. none of the nazis remembered this image. it is a normal seen for them. he can't recollect where this was taken but for us it is iconic. it is very likely and a few other researchers agree with me, this was konrad who took the photo. >> in your research the question goes through my mind is was that little boy alone? do you assume his relatives are in that crowd? what could you find out? >> i have no answers to that. the only thing i know about this boy is he was probably younger than 10 because he doesn't have a star on his -- i don't have

any idea how this woman could have left him, his mother or someone else. i have no idea. i have no information. from the entire set of photos i investigated i was able to identify in a high probability or complete certainty these images in only one photo and only one photo of tree 3 women -- three women in the revolt. on the other hand i can identify many of the germans in these photos and that is the imbalance of holocaust photography and we must remember that most of the photographs we see of the holocaust, majority of them are from the perception of the nazis. this is also a photo taken from the vantage point of nazis.

this is a racist--initial interpretation, a racist photo. that should be very clear. >> when did this become -- etc.. >> how it became iconic is something i plan to address and an article i am writing. this is a work in progress. hy will say a few words about that. the photo to be more accurate, the report was presented in the nuremberg trials by chief justice jackson. jackson, the american prosecutor, i am not sure -- this was not aired.

that turned the album -- brought the album spotlights and from there, the jewish survivors who saw the revolt at the time as the one important achievement against the nazis, took photos from there and many of the iconic photos we know from the holocaust come from that report. that is the historical explanation but there are some explanations with in the photo. this is a sanitized version of the holocaust. the jews themselves are not as malnutrition as you see in later photos. they look relatively good in comparison to what comes later. beyond being a sanitized version of this is also a picture that touches on the mother/child

connection. assuming this is a mother and child volvo we do not know that. within that line of thought there are primarily women and children. you barely see any jewish men here. there are others, but i will leave those for later point when i published an article about this. >> i arrived late when you were being introduced. two points i want to talk about. am i right in assuming this isn't so much a result of assuming the resistance of the jews because that clearing people out of houses, they carry their positions because they went back. i am assuming that the bunkers that you saw over the photograph of people with nothing in their

hand -- >> this might be a bunker. i don't know. caught in the early stage of the revolt but clearly, 100% and the jews are being stopped along away for the nazis to take away property. it is ferry clear their need to be some belongings. >> in this place in particular maybe we can take the victory the photographer gives to the nazi regime and give it back to the people being forced out by looking beyond the fear and terror, looking for the dignity of the people coming out and give it back to them. these photographs are always taken without consent.

that is one way we can honor those whose lives ended in such a terrible way. >> i endorse your words. >> you said there are seven other identities. who are they? >> two of them are english. one is australian. i know of two is real. i will tell you of one of these cases. the earliest i am aware of, quite a tragic story. the earliest i know. most are from the 1980s and on. this was in the 1950s. the photo was published in an israeli newspaper and a foster lost both his children in the ghettos is convinced that this photo is a photo of his two children and has no photo to

compare it to. 15 years later he is able to locate a photo and says don't they look the same. for him, this photo is those two children and even identify volvo at he gave her. he still comes back with remorse because he believes his children survived until the result in -- he lost them in 42 and is convinced that he neglected them for eight months in the ghetto. he saw his children but these were not factually his children. >> you are saying all of the

claims, and they knew -- >> the likelihood of this child surviving is 3%. the number of jews exceeds the 90% of those caught by the germans and at this age, would never survive. there is no chance in the world that he survived. each and every account of these seven or eight there were indications that it did not fit. and frankly it is important for me to say that this jewish boy is a symbol or an icon but in no way do i believe he was less or more important than the child on the left hand side. any child not photographed in the same -- something that

arouses our curiosity but there were so many killed and it is impossible. the more important question for me at least was held this photograph came about. >> time for one more brief question. [inaudible] >> i spoke with one -- heard of terrific story. want cannone cannot communicate day. >> one of the founders of the

museum -- [inaudible] >> really? i have never -- this photo basically represents for me surely all of those who perished and also for some one of my age represents lost childhood and 4 survivors the lost childhood of parents. this is a photo from childhood that we do not have. that is the photo. 75, and -- >> we need to end but we can continue the discussion, he will be selling books. they are not officially out in the bookstore yet. i want to thank the museum for hosting such a wonderful event

and i appreciate you turning out and i want to thank the federation for sponsoring the professorship and talk and all the things done for us. [applause] >> thank you. we will shepherd dan porat downstairs and he will be happy to continue talking to you. >> this event was hosted by the illinois holocaust museum. for more information visit iholocaustmuseum.org. in the national press club talking to andrew young and kabir shegal about book "walk in my shoes: conversations between a civil rights legend and his godson on the journey ahead". tell us how you came up with the idea. >> he came to interview me when i was mayor and he was in second

grade. we started a friendship. i was impressed with him as a second grader. he has been to the dartmouth school of electronics and now he is with j. p. morgan. we are 50 years apart. it is a generation dialogue. we don't agree on anything. we say things and do things to provoke each other intellectually but what that does is it makes for lively ideas. >> what are some of these debates that you have? >> whatever it is on the economy and unemployment, how we should go about that. he was the big leader and the civil-rights movement. the jobs and economic front was part and parcel of the civil-rights movement.

we are you about the approach to this or more keynesian approach. we also argue about funny things like he believes it arranged marriages. i don't. my tradition is, we need to find someone for you and find someone for you and i said thanks but no thanks. we argue about love, life. no religion and politics. >> is there a sequel in the works? >> you never can tell because we finish the year ago and still talk every other week and still find something to disagree about. but the thing is the world is a complex place and he is traveling around now, i have travelled around more than one hundred countries in my lifetime so we are always comparing

notes. our real objective is to try to understand and help him have enough vision to create the future. >> what are you helping him do? >> trying to get this book on the candle and technology but i try to help understand as best as possible the financial world and why hedge funds or private equity funds are not the enemy. they are part of the solution and we need financial engineering. and less economic crisis is the way out of the financial crisis. >> i say both are true. i had engineering that led to the financial crisis. we don't have to agree. but not be disagreeable. >> thank you both very much. >> booktv is on twitter.

follow as for regular updates on our programming and news on nonfiction books and authors. twitter.com/booktv. we are at the national press club talking to maureen beasley about her new book "eleanor roosevelt: transformative first lady". can you tell me what aspect of her life you concentrate on? >> this book concentrates on the way eleanor roosevelt wrote the script for first lady. every first lady since eleanor has either followed the script or hasn't followed the script but they had to read the script. they had to know about it. what this book does is tell what she did in the white house to make the job more than just that of a hostess for someone interested in a cause or two.

she really made the first lady shift. an important part of the american presidency. >> so was the script she wrote giving the first lady a role to play in policy? >> it showed what a first lady could do. showed the first lady could make the job of the president's wife into one in which she could promote the administration. she could show the public that the presidency was interested in individuals. she was the public face of her husband's political program, the new deal but because she traveled so much and really had an inmate glove of people she personalized the presidency and made it a lot more than passing laws. she made it a way of connecting

with people. >> did you come upon any fact you had not previously known about her? >> in doing their research for the book i was struck by the way her personal life impact on the way she developed the role of the first lady. for example, when she first became first lady she had some reservations about this because she said i don't just want to sit in the white house and 40. she had an intimate friend, a newspaper reporter, political reporter for the associated press, who introduced eleanor to the flight of miners in west virginia who were living in horrible circumstances. so one of her first project as first lady was to try to do something about these miners and set up a model community called

arthurdale which she would not have gotten interested in had it not been for lorraine ahead talk, similarly before the second world war, eleanor had a very warm personal relationship with a young man who was a socialist and a leader of the student movement. eleanor was always interested -- very warm relationship, she became officially involved in causes of young people and international student work, ways to get young people as part of the political process. in doing so, skirted communism.