announcer 1: val-kill is the first home that lady roosevelt ever owned by herself. we learn about her political contributions. ms. macsali-urbin: certainly this became the very first national historic site to be dedicated to a first lady and the only historic site dedicated to one first lady. two majorncompasses buildings. the first building, the stone cottage, was built in 1925 two initially serve as a retreat for eleanor roosevelt and her two political mentors, nancy cook and marion dickerman. it was built on the eastern end of the roosevelt property at the time. it was land that fdr had

purchased in 1911 to do forestry experiments on. he offered to build his wife eleanor a little cottage here because the early 1920's, she was getting very active in political life, and she really needed her own space to bring friends and associates, to have a place for she could talk politics and plan political strategy. fdr realized the big house really didn't serve eleanor roosevelt's purposes well, because that was her mother-in-law's house and choose -- she used to say that for years, she was just a visitor 40 there. it was important for her to have her own space where she could really do things that she was interested in and not have to worry about whether or not her mother-in-law had to give her permission to do this or that in her mother-in-law's home. so this was her little space. now the building we are in right now, which later became eleanor roosevelt's home, was really initially built to be a furniture factory that she

started because she was very concerned about young people in her community of hyde park or farmers who could not make a decent living through farming. so she thought by teaching them a trade, they could add to their earnings have a much better life. so nancy cook, one of the ladies who shared the cottage with eleanor roosevelt, basically ran the val-kill industries, and it was a nine-year operation that went from 1927 to 1936 and made some really nice furniture there. and in this room, all of the wood things that you see except for the car trunk are examples -- carved trunk are examples of the val-kill furniture that was produced year. they also made pewter products for a while. this was when she was first lady of the nation, and her official duties kept her busy, but her commitment to her community and val-kill industries never wavered. however the great depression

came along, and the furniture was all handmade pretty pricey. , a little table would have cost you back then about $145, which was a small fortune during the great depression years. and so mrs. roosevelt used to say that she ended up being the best customer the val-kill industries ever had. so when it became too much for her to keep on going with it financially, she then, with great reluctance in 1936, shut down the val-kill industries and then remodeled this building into her home. she called it her cottage of 20 rooms. the outside the building pretty much looks like a furniture factory. it is stucco over cement block and it is actually -- as one child described it, it looks like a whole lot of houses bunched together. the building actually was built in several stages, two separate factory buildings and then

little additions were added on for showroom and pewter forge and so forth. inside, it's kind of like anyone's home. it is nothing elaborate, and people who come here just feel very much at home. the visitors do. but the people who came to visit mrs. roosevelt also felt very comfortable and relaxed, because her whole point was to have people come here and talk and share ideas, and talk about issues of the day, and how perhaps they could deal with those issues. eleanor roosevelt, nancy ickerman metion d during the early 19 20's. nancy cook was the executive director of the women's division of the democratic committee. she invited eleanor roosevelt to come speak at a luncheon as she was just getting really involved in political activity after fdr had contracted polio and was not able to really keep his name in front of the public because his

dream was to become president of the united states one day, and she wanted to keep his dream alive at a time when he was really feeling pretty down over the fact that he might not be able to walk again. man's so she was going out and trying to keep his ideas in front of the american people. >> very good to have this opportunity of greeting the people of southern california and telling them what a pleasure it is to be here, even for a little while. ms. macsali-urbin: and that is when she met nancy and mariam when she went to speak at a luncheon of the women's division of the newyork state democratic committee. and they were two veterans of the political scene. they were very very active in , political life much earlier than eleanor roosevelt. and very nancy and marion were life partners. nancy was very active in

politics. she ran for political office in 1919, very early on after women had gotten the vote. and she garnered quite a few votes. she didn't win, but she did get quite a few votes for that time period. so basically nancy and marion became eleanor roosevelt's time whenmentors at a eleanor roosevelt was just getting started in political life. we are in a room that originally was a living room and office for eleanor roosevelt's secretary melmina thompson, or tommy, she was called. she lived here until her death in the early with eleanor 1950's roosevelt. and then mrs. roosevelt took over the use of this area and this became her office sitting room. this is where she would receive guest. this is where she would work every day at this desk, which was made at the val-kill

industries. the industry thing about the -- interesting thing about the desk is there is a little name there on there, and it is actually her first name is misspelled on the nameplate. this was given to her as a gift by a child. she obviously noticed right away that her name was misspelled, but she didn't say a word. she said thank you very much, and she used it from that day to the time of her death. this tells you a lot about eleanor roosevelt. it was not important to her that misspelled. she appreciated the gift of the child had given her. mrs. roosevelt wrote a daily column, my day which was , her way of reaching out to the american people and connecting the government to the american people during a time when people were feeling a lot of fear, a lot of despair after the great depression happened, and people had lost everything. their homes, their jobs, their

life savings. it was her close friend lorena hickok who suggested she do that my day column, and this was a column eleanor roosevelt wrote six days a week, no matter where she was. that column would be written. she could be traveling overseas, that column would be written. but many times, the column was written right here atthis desk and val-kill. the my day column really made people realize that the first lady was more than just a hostess at the white house. that the first lady at that point was a partner with the president of the united states. that she was there, sharing her thoughts and ideas with the president, and even suggesting some of the changes he needed to make to help improve people's lives. so people realized they had a very activist first lady in eleanor roosevelt. eleanor roosevelt and fdr were radio people. this was before television was

really produced widely and , eleanor roosevelt had her own radio program, very unusual. she was the first first lady to really have a radio program. and when pearl harbor happened, eleanor roosevelt was the first person to address the american people about pearl harbor, not the president of the united states, but eleanor roosevelt. >> i am speaking to you tonight at a very serious moment in our history. the cabinet is convening and the leaders in congress are meeting with the president. the state department and army and navy officials have been with the president all afternoon. in fact, the japanese ambassador was talking to the president at the very time that japan's airships were bombing our citizens in hawaii and the philippines and sinking one of our transports loaded with lumber on its way to hawaii. by tomorrow morning, the members of congress will have a full report to be ready for action.

in the meantime, we, the people are already prepared for action. ,ms. macsali-urbin: it was the first time that a first lady and probably the only time that a first lady would have addressed the nation about anational crisis. so mrs. roosevelt had one of the modern inventions of that time, the television, in her home. she wasn't a television watcher, maybe she turned it on to see some political convention or an important news story. but she was a person who used to -- used television again to get ideas out to the american public. she had her own television program called prospects of mankind. but also, she did a commercial for television for a product back then called good luck margarine. back in those days, for a former first lady to do a television commercial was considered a scandal. >> years ago, most people never dreamed of eating margarine, but

times have changed. nowadays, this margarine really tastes delicious. that is what i spread on my toast. like that. i thoroughly enjoy it. ms. macsali-urbin: so after she did that television commercial, and she did it not to make money for herself, but she wanted to use that money to help feed for -- poor people overseas. she wrote to her daughter and said when i got -- when i have , completed that commercial for television, i got tons and tons of letters here commenting on it. and she told her daughter anna that it was kind of divided. half the people who wrote to me were sad i ruined my reputation, and half the people wrote to me were happy that i ruined my reputation. we are now entering eleanor roosevelt's living room, and this is where, after meals, people would gather and sit and

talk about issues that they perhaps had started talking about during the meal here in the dining room. mrs. roosevelt usually sat in this chair. this was her favorite chair and then everyone would gather in these other chairs to sit. sometimes she had such a huge group, it was almost literally wall-to-wall people. people even seated on the floors. one of her friends said her hobby in life was people. she collected them, and you definitely did that hero -- here at val-kill. this was a place where she loved to have conversation. over here in this area, she had a little library, and she was an avid reader. she read books on almost any topic you can imagine. both fiction and nonfiction. she loved poetry -- reading poetry aloud. and quite often when her grandchildren visited her here in the summer, she would have them here, and she would read

aloud to them on a nice day, she would be reading to them outside. but she would always spend time every single day when she was here reading to her grandchildren. and one of her grandchildren told us that the moment they arrived, their grandmother would hand them a suggested summer reading list. they didn't really appreciate it. but she did this because she wanted them to at least read a book during their visit here, which she felt was very educational and important to them. but this alcove really has a very important part in the story here at val-kill. it's a bit historic. because she and john kennedy, then senator john kennedy, met in this little alcove. now the meeting happened because john kennedy was then running for the presidency of the united states in august of 1960. he wanted eleanor roosevelt's support. she had been a factor of atlas stephenson, but -- adlai

stevenson, but the democratic convention had nominated john kennedy. she really wasn't especially fond of john kennedy. she felt he was a little bit too young to president, and she was worried about his commitment to civil rights legislation. but he needed her support, he felt, in order to win what he knew would be a very close election. she was a very powerful woman in the democratic party at a time when women didn't have a lot of power in politics, but eleanor roosevelt did. she was well respected, and he knew that without her support, he might not win that election. so he came literally here, wanting to get her support, asking her for support. so they had a very intense meeting together here. she wanted him to promise that he would support civil rights legislation if he became president. that was a clause very close to her heart. she made him promise that, and when he finally agreed to do that, she did agree to support him. >> john f. kennedy came to visit

me at hyde park. we talked together, and i learned that he was truly interested in carrying on many of the things which my husband had just begun. mr. kennedy is a strong and determined citizen who, as president, would provide the leadership for greater social security benefits, which the social welfare of a civilized nation demands. i urge you to study mr. kennedy's program, to look at his very remarkable record in congress, and i think you will join me in voting for john f. kennedy for president. ms. macsali-urbin: now that election was close, but he did win, and there are many people who felt it was her activism and her support of him theygave him that little extra edge to become

president of the united states. ♪ mrs. roosevelt arrives in paris one of the delegates from , 58 countries converging on the french capital of the most critical session of the general assembly united nations history. ms. macsali-urbin: well eleanor , roosevelt became a delegate to the united nations because once she left the white house, president truman decided that he wanted to do something that fdr had always planned on doing, which was to establish a united nations in the hope that an organization like that would prevent future wars. both franklin and eleanor roosevelt had lived through two major wars, world war i and world war ii, and they wanted the future to be a peaceful one. president truman felt that eleanor roosevelt would be the perfect person to represent the

united states at the organizing meeting of the united nations. she was actually the only woman delegate from the u.s. and she knew that none of the men were too happy to have her as a member of that delegation. she figured that they were trying to find a spot for her to do the least damage, because as she said, they thought she didn't have the qualifications to be a good delegate. so they put her on a committee called committee three, which was going to work on more social kinds of programs. and that would end up being the most important committee that they had at the united nations, because her proudest achievement was the universal declaration of human rights. because in the 30 articles are -- that are in that document, it outlines all the rights every human being on this planet should have. in order to achieve world peace.

and she always felt that was the one thing she accomplished that made everything she did prior to that worthwhile. you are on the second floor of mrs. roosevelt's home, and we are now entering her bedroom. and this was a room she probably didn't use it a lot during the year, because she was traveling. when she was first lady, she traveled a huge amount of times. remember, this was a time when airplane flight was fairly new, but she was a woman who likes to -- liked to try new and unusual things. she loved flying. in fact, even during war years, mrs. roosevelt traveled overseas at a time when it was pretty dangerous to be traveling overseas, but she wanted to study what people in europe were doing during the wartime. she went into some really not very safe areas in the pacific, because again, she wanted to report back to the president

what was happening during the war. and even after she left the white house, she was traveling on behalf of the united nations, and even after she left the u.n., she was kind of a goodwill ambassador, talking about the u.n. and the importance of people supporting united nations. >> it is right that we should be gravely concerned with the gaps that still separate us from each other, with the problems we left unsolved. ms. macsali-urbin: so off of this bedroom, there was her favorite sleeping area, her sleeping porch. and sleeping porches were added houses at a time when air-conditioning was not something that most people had. and eleanor roosevelt was a outdoors. loved she loved nature. here at val-kill, she would take at least two or three walks

every day with little scottie dogs who would accompany her. and her outdoor time was a time when she could kind of think about things and just relax and enjoy nature. and in her daily column my day quite often she would talk about , things she could see from her sleeping porch, some of the birds in the trees or the pond or the purple loosestrife, which was her favorite flower that grew in the pond. she would talk about every year in july and she could see a august. guarded from here. -- a garden from here. she could see the tennis court that was put in for the family to enjoy. and even the outdoor fireplace where barbecues were held during fdr's lifetime, as well as during the time eleanor roosevelt lived here on her own, hotdog picnics were a big way of entertaining guests. val-kill was the backyard to the big roosevelt home, and during the summer time this was used a

lock for parties and the next. there was a swimming pool here too. it was quite a historic pool, because people like king george vi of great britain and winston churchill both swam in that pool. eleanor roosevelt passed away and when she died this , was not given over to the national park service as fdr's home was. her son, john, was living here at the time of her death in the stone cottage. by then, nancy cook and marion had moved away, and she was here for a number of years. -- he was here for a number of years. then he decided to sell val-kill. it offered to the national park service and the federal government in 1970 and they were not interested. so he sold the property, and he sold eleanor roosevelt's furniture at public auction.

it was in 1975 that a grassroots movement here in hyde park started the movement to save val-kill and make it into a national historic site. well, eleanor roosevelt's story not just the story of a first -- story is not just the story of a first lady, but it's a woman activist who really devoted her life to improving the world. she had always hoped that there would be world peace someday. so she is really an inspiration to women, because she was a woman of great courage who spoke out against issues that really needed to be addressed, like civil rights, and she made a difference in the world. and she is such an incredible role model for women, even today. she was a woman who was way ahead of her time. she was a woman who was very important in the 20th century, but her ideas in the 21st century still ring loud today. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2017] announcer 1: in his book grandmere, david roosevelt memories of his grandmother and her life outside the political spotlight. the home of franklin d. roosevelt national historic site features this spring when a his presidential library next door, and the final resting places of fdr and first lady eleanor roosevelt. we visited the grounds and went to the home of david roosevelt, a grandson of president and mrs. roosevelt, to talk about his memories of hyde park and his time spent there with his grandmother. david roosevelt: it really was not until my grandmother's funeral that i realized that it really kind of hit me that she andreally special person something of a