tried to influence the senate finance committee. but that is off on a tangent. the point is that endowments are being seen as a revenue source. a revenue source that could substitute for tuition income which could in turn conceivably affect kawlija going for at least the prices or the amount of borrowing that goes on. that's the federal level. at the state level, something kind of similar is happening. in the massachusetts legislature , a bill has been introduced that hasn't been acted on yet to tax a 2.5% tax that is being proposed on all

endowments of colleges and universities with wealth over a billion dollars. .. is there a logic for colleges and universities having their

endowment taxed in one way or another. in other words, what business is of it government to decide how schools devote their resources. the schools want to reduce the endowment, they can do it. they're not really forced to -- there are some arguments they are. i believe those are -- what is the government doing in mucking around in this? our answer is that the government certainly has at least a very plausible basis for mucking around in this because the subsidizes for the tax system are such that they are really much encouraging this. first of all, donations to these organizations are tax deductible, second of all, the revenue generated is not taxed. at all.

it's not taxed there's no taxation at all. so it further subbization of this relative to the private sector. we think that it's perfective sense only raise the question. we don't think think it's a good answer. we don't think that attacking endowment is all likely to accomplish anything that is useful, and basic arguments is even if you accept senator grassley's view there could be a larger payout from endowment and the debt payout could substitute for revenue from tuition. even if you believe all of that that these things could happen. it's a long way from that. there would be lower constitution wigs. visit booktv.org to watch any of the programs you see

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that happens next on c-span2 booktv. maurine beasley is next. she discusses her book "women of the washington press: politics, prejudice, and persistence." at annual festival is hosted by the franklin d. roosevelt museum in hyde park, new york. this is about 45 minutes. good morning. my name is jeff and i'm the especialist here at the >> g presidential library andducation museum.ist a liary and of the presidential library and museum. o i would like to welcome you heri dienceand dethose of you at home watching on c-span. franklin roosevelt plan forked

the library to become a premiere research institution.tion for t study oearch room is consistently one of the busiest of the all of the presidentialls library. this year's group of authorsnd reflect the wide variety of research done here. at the top of each hour a session begins with a 30-minute author talk.author then they move to the table nex to the lobby where you can purchase their book and havehors them sign them. oohase bop of the next hour, the process repeats itself again.heo today's attendee of the lecture can visit the exciting new permanent exit in the prcialesan library and museum.it xhee of charge.citing pam e just ask one of the staff member for the admission button. adm also, i would like to remind you at the end when we have the question and answer session, wh please come to the microphone ss we can get the question on the mic and we'll be an to that. now it's my pleasure to

introduce maurine beasley.ureen she's the author of "women of the washington press: politics, prejudice, and persistence" which is the winner of the research award in 2012. she's a professor of journalisme at the university of maryland,er and as the author of eleanor th roosevelt transformative first lady. and first ladies and the press,e the unfinished partnership in the media age.roelt:tr she's thean coauthor of taking their place, the documentary history of womenin in journalis, and coed or it of eleanor roosevelt encyclopedia. it's my pleasure to introduce maurine beasley. [applae]e] >> thank you so much. it's really great to be back at hyde park. this is a tremendous researchk facility. i would like to express my faciliiation to the roosevelt ebrary tymuseum for inviting mo to be here today and c-span fort

presenting this program. you may wonder how my book fits to the program its into this program. part of my research was done here at the roosevelt library. i have to introduce my husband and the audience, hank beasley. eleanor roosevelt is one of the dominating figures in the first portion of the book, women of the washington press, politics, prejudice, all of these are touched in the book. the first portion of it seen through the eyes of eleanor roosevelt and the women who covered her press conferences. i start out with women in

washington journalism with a back in 1830. you may see what is there a woman in washington journalism than? yes. there was a notable if not notorious individual. so the book then move through the 20th century and the first decade of the 20 first to today. women probably constitute half of the working journalist in the nation's capital. why concentrate on washington women journalists. when i write about women journalists in general. journalism in the nation's capital is so closely allied to the political power structure of today that it can be considered a testimony to the extent to which women have been able to break into what is traditionally a male preserve of politics, journalism. if we look at this group of washington women journalists we

can gauge how far women have come in both of these areas. how are wind and fairing today? i am not going to go into that, but i would like to point out in this period when we are changing from print oriented culture to digital culture and so forth, the very idea of journalism itself is being discussed and read the find, women are playing important roles but they are still more likely than not to be working for male superiors. the roosevelt library helps chart the course of women in washington journalism due to the extraordinary career of eleanor who in the opinion of many, the single most important in the mid 20th century, and we think of her as the path breaking first

lady of 1933-1945, and the guiding spirit dog and the universal declaration of human rights when she served as u.s. representative to the united nations 1945 to 1952. we tend to for get she was one of the most successful washington women journalists herself. and not to mention all her paid speeches, when she was in the white house. equally important to the story of washington women journalists was her impact on other women in the field and that is what i am going to talk about, ground covered in the first chapters of the book. i had to tell you i had been working on this book for a very long time. it started with my dissertation many years ago at george washington university. i had the opportunity to

interview some of the women who actually attended press conferences when they passed from the scene. therefore i think i do have some insights here into the way these press conferences when that would be of interest to us. the importance of the conferences which are often brushed off by people who write about eleanor, she held press conferences for women only and go to something else. the importance of them has been overlooked. i would like to ask some questions of view about eleanor as the focal point of women journalists in the capital of her day. i would like to raise these questions and elaborate on them and i would like to hear from your answers when we get to q&a.

questions? did these press conferences allow women journalists, newspaper women, that is what most of these women were, 1933-1945, when newspapers were still the name of the journalism game. and still newspapers where the thing. and period when washington d.c. and five newspapers, but these press conferences allow newspaperwomen to be admitted into the male culture of washington politics if only on a very marginal level. did these press conferences and eleanor roosevelt helped 350 of them for women reporters only

while she was first lady. did they help eleanor enhance her own journalism career through not working with other women? a third question, to what extent did they facilitate opportunities for women to bond with each other and promotes an alternative journalistic culture to be male-dominated one that excluded them. then there is an overreaching question that i raised in the book and i would love to hear your answers to, after we get to the q&a, did the conferences help or hurt the women professionally who covered them? i will tell you the reasons people hurt women and some of the reasons people thought they helped them and you can decide.

a step backwards to the first washington woman journalist of the 1830s who published two newspapers in the nation's capital from 1830 to 1854. one was named paul fry and the other was nathan hunt first. and royal was the count joke, an impoverished town where the who got off tight band hired a couple of boys from orphan age to run the press for her and put out these newspapers. she was determined to have her say about what went on political politically. she would let on to members of congress as they entered the capital. and insist they get hurt news items and if she did a row nice things about them and if they didn't you can imagine.

a story went around that she once said on president john quince--john quincy adams's closed when he took a dip in the potomac and refuse to get up until answering her question. historians say that never happened, but no less a famous washington journalist, then the trail blazing helen thomas who unfortunately died a few days ago called it a wonderful legend when she spoke to a society of professional journalists audience in 1990, but there was no rule against, quote, irritating presidents with impudent questions. by the time franklin roosevelt was elected president in 1932 women journalists were washington freaks. if you got close to a president.

you were allowed to be in the same room, in the same city room with men reporters. imagine ourselves back in an era when most women in journalism worked in segregated quarters for what were called women and society pages. do you remember the women in society page? newspapers dropped in the 1960s going to lifestyle section but anyway these were segregated sections of the newspaper and they were segregated in terms of where the women were, not even in the same room. in washington, these women were known as the green room group probably after the green book, washingtonians on society. a small number had credentials to cover the president, actually paid dues to the white house correspondents association.

but they were not allowed to go to dinner because they were when. it was some 30 years later that women members of this association actually were able to go to dinner. and the first women president. in this year and now in the early 1930s when franklin roosevelt was elected president did have the handful of women like this foreman, a clever feature writer from nebraska to work for the associate press accredited to the capitol press galleries. opportunities were limited. and listed at the bottom of all the a p representatives to the press galleries and could cover only women members of congress,

you can imagine how many there were. she said the men at capitol hill were holy ground on which all was not to set foot without explicit orders. and knew she was fortunate to be employed at all. united press, the chief rival refuse the any women. when eleanor roosevelt held women reporters, was compelled to hire rudy black, a 5 the kappa graduate of the university of texas, black, who started her own news bureau in washington and had a hard time hunting up plans found eleanor a welcome change from her first lady predecessor, lou henry hoover. mrs. hoover had stayed so far away from the fresh that black

had been forced to bribe a male colleague to reveal details of mrs. hoover's daily schedule so black could write an article for women's magazine. doug mitchell colleague who was brought and had to snoop around a secret servicemen and report back to black, similarly thurmond reported to dressing up in a single girl scout uniform and sneaking into the white house to cover a christmas party that mrs. hoover gave for a scout troop. you can see that the idea of the lenore meeting openly with women journalists was very welcome to a good number of washington women. with the greatest of pleasure thurmond and black were among the 35 who gathered for a lenore's press conference on march 6, 1933.

they had a nervous first lady who knew the white house staff was very undignified to meet with the press, explain why she intended to hold a conference. the idea of making an understanding from the white house to the general public, eleanor told them in a statement you are the interpreters to the women of this country of what goes on politically in the legislative national life and also what the social and personal life is at the white house. it must have been so gratifying for these women who were paid less than male journalists and generally looked down on actually to be told they were important and had a political role in washington which is up placemat revolves around politics, to be sure, eleanor said she could not comment on political topics. that would be her husband's

department but she sometimes did. the idea for the press conferences came from lorena hitchcock, the reporter who became an eminent friend of a little while covering her in franklin at successful 1932 presidential campaign. she was described by time magazine as a rotund and lady with a husky voice, peremptory manner and baggy clothes who had gone along -- gone around a lot with the first lady. time didn't like her, was forced to give up her reportorial career because of her closeness to eleanor. historians disagree on the exact nature of their relationship but letters of endearment which are here at the library changed between the two, testified to their closeness and some physical intimacy.

according to eleanor's autobiography, hic as hiccock was called suggested the press conference because women were losing their jobs as newspapers cut payrolls and of course being women less capable than men, let the women go. hiccock who went to work directly for the roosevelt administration as an undercover investigator of police activities never attended the press conference but often stayed at the white house when she was in washington and probably council eleanor on them. and good fortune of talking to some of these women who attended the press conference years ago, according to the christian science monitor, a woman who was so capable that she was given the highest praise possible she wrote like the man.

anyway, she thought lorena hiccock persuaded mrs. roosevelt everything she did was news and certainly at these press conferences, eleanor would go into all kinds of detail about her personal life. she would tell the women for example, on like to have facial, like to go horseback riding, i do this, i do that. dorothy gukiss who covered these press conferences for the international news service said that hiccock tried to guide eleanor on how to handle herself. she said hiccock tried to make her say the wise thing, not the impulsive. mrs. roosevelt had a tendency to ramble on and these press conferences went for an hour, an

hour and a half. 0 women chatted among themselves. as a group, the women covered up for eleanor by not reporting comments they did not think suitable to the fringe. why would they shield her from edward's publicity? they did not want the conferences to end. they liked them. the first conference produced little news. eleanor would allow herself to be courted directly and only one sentence. one that requires courage and common sense on everyone's part. a reference to the anxiety gripping the nation in the great depression. this was hardly a startling assertion and it resulted in a modest oneoline on a brief story very deep inside the new york times yet the press conference had been a great success judging by a picture taken at the second press

conference on march 13, 1933, and ordered -- ordered by fair and of the associated press that this picture became an embarrassment. it showed roosevelt seated in a chair with the women reporters clustered around her. some of them were standing up but others were sitting at her feet. male reporters scoffed, targeting globe women as eleanor's incense burners. they said their scorn reflected prejudice against women in general, franklin himself made a joke about the newspaper women seated in his life at sea, clifford berryman, a noted cartoonist for the washington star newspaper drew a caricature of the conferences and i think for years it was here on the library, museum exhibit. i don't know if it is still out

or not. black countered this by publishing a comment that mrs. roosevelt, without ever mentioning it, put it into this girl, mrs. roosevelt's seat by giving orders to the white house that it shares be provided and attended by meetings. a the black was attacked as a lenore's slave because she ropes as laudatory things about the first lady, which the conference produced more hard news. riding herd journalism sorry publication, black said the first lady would speak in generalities about social concerns including housing, education and legislation that aimed to bark married women from working. the mundane quality of the

announcement elenore had announcements about her social schedule or places she was going to, and a great traveler. and the personal schedule. it offered feature material for women's pages. male journalists gave the conferences more respect after the roosevelt administration decided eleanor, not franklin, should release the news on may 3rd, 1933, a visit at the white house as the first step ending prohibition. this decision showed the white house press conferences as part of its political communication strategy. eleanor discussed this in advance with marcus fraser of the washington daily news, to extend had become a member of

eleanor's inter press conference circle. this group coached her by planting questions and advising statements. strah straher, a trim teetotaler advised eleanor to have a carefully thought out statement along with a carefully worded expression of hope that the change would contribute to temperance. eleanor accepted these suggestions but did not follow the recommendation, with the beer announcement. and but questions on other subjects as varied at easter hat. and what you going to wear this early. and her views on sweatshops? she would be asked her opinion on issues of the day. i must move on here, a lot more we can say about these press

conferences. they continue to draw reporters. by 1939 there were 120 women accredited to these press conferences. and during world war ii when women formed mrs. roosevelt's press conference, and chiefly many craig from maine newspapers who was close to the press conference encircled thought men should be admitted on grounds of fairness. eleanor said no claiming men would force her to encroach on my husband's side of the news. did these press conferences enhance her own career as a journalist. and writing the most famous journalistic endeavor, my day

column in 1935, and in 1962, the women thought this column was silly, a very amateurish thing. they were the professional journalists. at first they were quite willing to overlook it and write about it positively. but as time went on this column became very important. it was one of the most widely syndicated columns of the day and eleanor made monday out of it. the women got a little bit jealous. for example, press conference group was rather annoyed when she used the my day column to break stories that otherwise might have come out in the press conference such as resignation from the daughters of the american revolution over its

refusal to let the african-american singer marian anderson give a concert in the constitution hall. they called the column very naive but today we would call it a blog with emphasis on where eleanor went, and a chatty, informal style. and mainly as a reflection of the lenore's desire to make money. and for 12 years. and the draw of these women eager to gain access to the white house. detractors said they weakened the status of women journalists. and encourage dependence on one source. eleanor was careful what she said to these women.

also she would stipulate they not face certain things. and running for reelection in 1936 she told the women to related to birth control that come up at these conferences last because that was a politically volatile subject. black's closeness to roosevelt did not help her career. he became known as roosevelt's apologist, obtained a government position with eleanor's help that did not work out. and alcoholism and mental problems and identify. and wrote in her autobiography that i pitched my wagon to a star. and the star was eleanor roosevelt. so eleanor continued to help theremin and thurmond was less

needy perhaps then rudy black and got help from eleanor but not in such an -- after eleanor left washington, following franklin's death in 1945, must be remembered. i have here at lenore's earnings in the white house years. this is based on study of income tax returns available in the hyde park library and it showed from the years 1937 to 1939 she averaged annual earnings of $62,000, a lot of money in those days, 68,000 before expenses. and they never wrote about

eleanor. and enhance yourself. they covered up that kind of thing because they did feel somewhat grateful to her for allowing them to come to the white house every week. it was made craig, the one wy c first asked men be allowed in the pushed for the civil-rights activist for end to sex discrimination and forced news organizations to hire women on an equitable basis. in 1964, 81-year-old howard w. smith, a conservative virginia congressman, major civil rights legislation, and the pending act, jolo discrimination on the

basis of race, by including sex, he held to review the proposed legislation to debt. capitol hill insiders, tagged the measure. and pushed for years, adjacent to the capitol press galleries for the women reporters accredited to the press galleries. the closest bathrooms were weighed down the hall, women had to run down flights of stairs and that kind of thing just to use the restroom. was craig supported by other washington women in this endeavor? not particularly. other women journalists thought was on ladylike. and she was by herself on that

one. and one reason capitol hill insiders tend the measure in honor of craig's feminist views. at this point in 1964 craig, who was known for her down-homey eastern accent, from maine newspapers and her sunny hat, maybe you remember her, was one of the few women to be a regular guest on meet the press. passage of the amendment outlined sex discrimination was a short when senator herbert humphrey of minnesota told a meet the press audience in answer to a question from craig that the democratic leadership in congress had decided to accept the amendment with the word tax. at this point, one can say perhaps eleanor would have been extremely pleased that a member

of her press conference circles this -- succeeded in widening opportunities for women journalists. thank you. [applause] >> if you have any questions please go to the microphone. >> this is about women and men in journalism today. i have been concerned about the increasing partisan politics that came into print journalism and tv journalism. i wonder if it really is new, has always been as bitter and as vicious as it is today and is it possible for a journalist to have a career today and be neutral, present the facts and be more traditional in the way

they are presenting the news? >> i am happy to comment on that. it is the new development, certainly in eleanor roosevelt's day these press conferences were not controversial. they didn't ask pointed questions about using your position to earn money? i you using your name to sell things no one would buy otherwise? they would have considered that rude. nobody asked eleanor about the rumor floating around the capital that franklin had an affair with lucy three years before, those things were not mentioned. what has happened in recent times is a result of the fragmentation of the audience and the increasing demand of the 24 hour news cycle that we have with cable television with

digital media getting everything, people so interested in objectivity and accuracy, they are interested in terms of being journalists in getting ahead by being edgy, by being out there, being talked about by getting attention. also there is a fine line between entertainment and journalism. journalists are supposed to be people who actually got facts and presented those facts to the public. the public no longer seems interested in fact, seems to be interested mainly in having media reports from those who have the same biases that they do so i think it is a recent development, a very disturbing one which we would get back to an age in which facts were validated statements, but since there seems to be less of a

public consensus, makes it very difficult to reach such an agreement. >> i am curious about fdr's role in relation to eleanor and her relationship with the press through press conferences and the myday column and other activities. what degree did fdr either directly or through a press secretary or someone else on the white house staff attempt to play a role, tactfully or otherwise, in monitoring and screening was eleanor was doing. obviously she could be a great political asset to demand his administration but one false step could cause a great deal of damage. how active in the middle of everything else was the president in relation to his

wife's press activities? >> excellent question. thank you for asking it. he was quite active. he supported the press conferences, louis howell who was his political guiding genius supported the press conferences. steve riley, his press secretary, had a big hand in deciding who got in and who didn't, no african-american women got in because african-americans were not admitted to the president's press conference. steve didn't want any african-american women admitted to a lenore's press conferences c. there. they were kept out on grounds they represented weekly newspapers, not daily newspapers but actually that was just a ploy to maintain segregation. definitely the white house of these press conferences as a political at with -- asset for franklin. at the relationship between franklin roosevelt and

newspapers of the time, the reporters, individual reporters like the roosevelts, the people who ran the newspapers did not. one of the members of the lenore's inner circle at a press conference was a woman names and the but the --emma bugby newspapers opposed to franklin roosevelt, here she is writing these nice features about the roosevelt family and the white house, going to the white house living quarters and telling how eleanor furnished fingers, that sort of thing. franklin definitely realized these press conferences helped him reach women who were voters. he also had absolutely no objection to eleanor writing her my day column and once offered to write it for her when she was sick with a cold but she

refused. it was her thing. he talked of a column by telling the man, there were few women, very few, that is just -- she writes a diary, and it was what we would today consider a blog. thing, humanize the presidency. franklin, as smart as he was, realized this quote from the first night day column, december 31st, 1935, writing about herself in the white house. the house was full of young people, my husband had a cold and was in bed having no test for his supper so i said a polite good night to everybody and at 7:30 close my door, but my fire and settle down to a nice long evening by myself. does that give you a nice picture of life in the white house? it certainly doesn't tell you about the opposing political factions in the white house

itself between franklin and eleanor. so franklin is very supportive of her efforts and she was careful not to do things that would upset him such as talking about subjects like birth control that were no-nos to a political conclusion including a lot of women catholics. [inaudible] >> she was. >> advancing liberal causes that for political or other reasons he did not have interest in advancing. and if you want to put it that way, in a way that he was not always happy about. >> that is very true but to what degree she used these press conferences to advance these liberal causes and to what degree she used my day to do