eleanor roosevelt on screen. her first book, please join me in welcoming ms. beachum to the roosevelt reading festival. well, thanks for that introduction and thanks, everybody, for being here. thanks also to the archivists here who are so important to all this work that we do, thanks to the other researchers and scholars. and also, i have to thank both franklin and eleanor roosevelt for the shining example that they made for all of us. so i'll be talking about my book. eleanor roosevelt on screen. and i think i'm the only one here today talking about air rather than fdr. and i'm also a film and television historian. so my topics a little different than everyone here today. but over the years, i found myself recognizing that eleanor was not just a pioneer in print and radio, but she's the first woman in the united states to host major public affairs, broadcast television. and that's something nobody talks about. but quite a big deal today with mrs. roosevelt, aired weekly on nbc in 1950, and albert einstein made

it's no surprise here in all of this that the first lady, eleanor roosevelt, did not seem to love the idea of churchill staying so long. what did you learn throughout the course of your reporting, research about her response and her interactions with churchill, eleanor. roosevelt by, her husband, that's a bad start. that's bad start. but a true start actually not informed that they would have visitors that christmas. and as she in her column, you know are you aware that eleanor roosevelt a very popular newspaper column my day and over 100 newspapers i think pretty sure and she this right after it's announced that churchill has arrived that she knew nothing about it to take care that group of people coming might involve the moving of furniture over and things like that that. she should have known about. well to get to your point she was someone who did not look favorably upon his habits. his habits he did i think we acknowledge that he was known to drink somewhat. he was also known to roam the hall aisles of the white house. and one morning at 3 a.m. he is walking around in his rompers

helen taft and eleanor roosevelt and betty ford and others had published memoirs before 1982, but therend accelerated in this time. in the 1980s and mrs. reagan and rosalynn carter wrote two each. first lady public wife in 1988. it was just one in a line of fascinating insider stories. the 1990s was a rich decade. scholarly articles based upon archival research began to appear in presidential studies quarterly. the saga of the president's wives their power, two ambitious volumes over 1,000 pages written as a kind of temporally layered multibiography of all of the first ladies together. then came the first of in would be a landmark of eleanor roosevelt's secret book. >> we don't have three-volume biographies. to think that a first lady, even eleanor roosevelt could be worthy of three volumes and published bia published by a major press and that was huge and academic acceptance. in the 1990s lewis gould noticed that while interest in first ladies was increasing we lacked reference book detailing their achievements and he sought exemplary scholars in different fields and it's true he som

that was a foundation foot eleanor roosevelt later did -- of what eleanor roosevelt later did. when the united states -- extracted the essence of what the primary interval values are and pull together in semi-legal terms in the declaration of human rights. now i'm afraid they are being basically abandoned in many ways around the world. the carter center is fighting against that. >> when you are running for president in 75 and 76, did you know that the human rights agenda would be essential to you if you got there? mr. carter: yes, i did. i would say that when i became president, during my term, there was a general sigh of relief in america than for finally we had resolved the race issue, gotten over years of slavery and then 100 years of official and legal discrimination by white people against black people. we kind of breathed a sigh of relief we were finally out of that period. but lately, there are developments in the white house and other places, it has become a very burning issue again. there's a great deal of discrimination and racial animosity that has evolved again or c

now, helen taft and eleanor roosevelt, lady bird johnson, betty ford and others had published memoirs 1982. but the trend accelerated in this time in the 1980s, mrs. ford wrote a second book, and rosalynn carter and nancy reagan published two books apiece. mrs. reagan's chief of staff, james rosebush, wrote first lady, public wife, for example, 1988, it was just one in a line of fascinating insider stories. the 1990s was a rich decade. scholarly articles based upon archival research began to appear in journals like presidential studies quarterly. author carl anthony, published first ladies the saga of presidents wives and their power to ambitious volumes over thousand pages written as a kind of tempore lee layered, multiplied biography of all the first ladies together. then came the first of what would be a land three volume biography of eleanor roosevelt by historian reece and cook, three volumes. there are united states presidents who don't have three volume biographies. to think that a first lady, even eleanor roosevelt, could be worthy of three volumes and that it was published a

we only had until saturday morning to get ready for the next lady who was eleanor roosevelt. and this is the dress that probably many of you have seen at the smithsonian. it's made silk and metallic and it's on display. the first lady's gallery. the first lady's gallery was started in 1916. by the way, and i don't know how many of you subscribe to smithsonian magazine, to some of you get the smithsonian magazine. well, they had an article about washington's dress from the smiths and in it, and it's a hand-painted silk dress and it had flowers on it. and they said these were the flowers from her garden. and i wrote a letter to them which they published and. it's not true. the silk was made in china. it was all hand-painted in china. and import had nothing to do with the in her garden. a little fact that they forgot. but lu lu. was the first lady of style charm and substance as. as anybody interested in her will know. anybody who's read any of the books on will know. and this these speaker before me made it very clear that we have a serious woman. but don't forget that fact. sh

and that was that was a foundation of what eleanor roosevelt later done. then and evolving that helped to happen to all of the universal declaration of human rights. so the only time in human history when the united states had gone to all the basic the major religions that extracted the essence of what they are from our moral and ethical values are, and put them together. and then they kind of lay terms, but also some are some are legal terms was in the development of the universal declaration of human rights. and that has never happened before. sense and history. and now i'm afraid that they are being basically abandoned in many ways or many of them around the world because then it is fighting against that abandonment by the way, every day when you were running for president in 75 and 76, did you know that the human rights agenda would be as central to you once you if you got there? yes, i did. and i would say that when i became president and during my term, there was a general sigh of relief in america then. well, finally, we have resolved the race issue

the works of theodore roosevelt here at the top and a beautiful bust of eleanor roosevelt and then overe you'll like this, i think. this is a replica of the biden family bible that he has taken the oath of office on through every time he's been elected to office including the presidency, and so we have a replica -- >> how did you re-create that? >> it even has the wear marks. >> this is an exact same edition as the one that he has in the oval office. i wish we could take credit for recreating it, but we went out and obtained an exact copy of what he has. >> we walked past a couple of doors. where do the doors go in the real white house? >> well, if we were in the real white house this door would go into the president's study and into a little dining room. you see picture of the president having lunch with the vice president traditionally and it would be in that space. some presidents actually work in there most of the day and use the oval only for ceremonies. others will spent most of the work day in here and use that to take a phone call or do something just to have a change of scenery

here we have this is the douglas chandler portrait of eleanor roosevelt. she's probably the most i would say, the most famous most well known, most influential first lady. obviously, she was there for 12 years, so she had plenty of time to to to put more effort into it. but she was very much an advocate and activist as a first lady and really sort of mold it. that role more than has really defined it ever since. and this was the first portrait of a first lady that the association acquired and gave to the first permanent white house collection. the the whole background history of commissioning portraits for the white house collection was, really more of a government supported thing until the association came along. and now it's something that we've done with the last several administrations and administrations previous. where would this portrait be today? the actual portrait, this portrait today be downstairs in the ground floor in the vermeil room. and that was an idea that stretches back to first lady edith roosevelt. she had suggested putting first lady

previous first lady ladies were not doing that other than eleanor roosevelt. most were not doing anything like this but eisenhower see something and pat and they come to have a very good relationship as well and he tells dick nixon, take pat with you. peter: they went on several worldwide trips. heath: yes. they would be gone for months and pat was always conflicted because she adored julie and trisha and hated being away from them but she loved to travel and that was her job. her job was to go in that position as the second lady and she was a working second lady. most second ladies before that really weren't, it was more ceremonial and they were certainly not traveling the world on diplomatic missions with their husbands. peter: 1958. heath: caracas and all of that. this is something i think a lot of people have forgotten. they were on a goodwill tour, there was a communist bob that threw rocks at the motorcade where nixon was in one car and pat was in another car and there was th entougend a communist mob aacd them, there were shots fired, they were almost a

how about eleanor roosevelt and hillary clinton and so forth? if you define her influence on her husband who considered her his partner and his closest advisor, and she had better political skills than he did, she was enormously accomplished, got the first mental health legislation through, first immunizations for children, a huge variety of accomplishments they did together even though they went through very difficult times politically. and of course he lost when he ran for re-election. but this was one of the great partnerships ever, if you actually study what they did together. and almost nobody was married -- has been married for 77 years. you can count on two hands the number of americans who can claim that. >> jonathan alter, i want to thank you for this insight. i invite everybody to read your biography. and i do note as we're about to emp bark on this 47th presidency administration, this is kind of a sobering remind about what a presidency and a man and a marriage of humility and decency and morality, what that looked like. thank you for

this is kind of a radical at the time previous the first ladies were not doing this other than eleanor rooseveltome of this. most were not doing anything about eisenhower sees something and pat they come to have a very good relationship as well he tells dick nixon take pat with you. >> host: they would on several worldwide trips. >> guest: several worldwide trips to be gone for months and pat was always very conflicted she loved travel that was her job choose a working second lady. they really were not. it was more ceremonial. they were not traveling the world on diplomatic missions with her husband. throughout 1958 venezuela. >> guest: oh my goodness. caracas and all of that, this is something i think a lot of people have forgotten. they were on when these good world tours there is a communist mob not only threw rocks at the motorcade where vice president nixon is in a one car, pat is in the other with the prime minister's wife in there is a whole entourage. the communist mob attacks tm. there were shots fired. there almost assassinated. the trying to overcome the cars. pat is remarkable. she k

franklin roosevelt, as it affected eleanor roosevelt. yes. tend the white house when roosevelt was in the white house. she attended hazel scott, the famous pianist and probably her best friend or one of her best friends. it was it was no, it was a fundraiser for the infantile paralysis. but she had yearly and they and she actually ran into him in the basement when was in his wheelchair. and they had a conversation. but yes, she was invited to the white house. she did go to the white house and hazel scott went her. yes. franklin roosevelt was never as daringly progressive as his wife, eleanor. we know that eleanor was much more liberal after this brilliant dissection of the song. wouldn't it be appropriate for us to close this session with another hearing of the original performance. i'm sorry. yes. let's get a question over here first. i'm over here. not a lot. c-span wants to. all right, i'm just curious. the new yorker had that ad. so the ad was get people to go to cafe society. it was an ad for the song, which they got. right. i mean, what

uh, she was the second next to eleanor roosevelt, to testify in congress.nd she was sent on an early mission by the president to latin america to tell latin america that a new day was coming of human rights, and she was not going to meet with and have teas with the first ladies of latin america. she met with the leaders, and she gave them a very harsh message. we're going to cut your arms off unless you improve your human rights record. and that resulted in thousands of political prisoners getting out and ending up with democracies coming. so yes, it was a marriage, but it was also a partnership. during the administration. >> all right. ambassador stuart eizenstat, we're so grateful to have your perspectives and reflections on the show today. and i know there will be many emotions as we honor president carter, thinking of you and everyone who knew him. thank you. >> thank you. casey. >> all right. 54 minutes past the hour. here's your morning roundup. lawyers for donald trump want to keep the public from seeing special counsel jack smith's final report on t

prank lin roosevelt had eleanor roosevelt who he considered a welcome thorn in his side.resting to know who these people feel as their heroes. as you know, joe, in many ways, i think carter valued truman more than anyone. he thought truman was the greatest president in the century of the country, and i think it was because truman never ducked an important issue for public opinion. truman listened to other people. truman never really wanted to become wealthy. truman had the simple personality that he responded to. it's interesting to think how different truman decided to have his ceremonies. he went through the whole state funeral planning, 600 people, you know, thousands of soldiers involved, he said, no, i want a simpler affair, i just don't want to be in washington. i don't want to be lying in state. i don't want to be in arlington. then he quipped, i want to be buried near my library so that i can wake up in the morning and go there if i have some work to do, so it's interesting to see that carter combined the simplicity of truman by starting in plains, going back to p

president and eleanor was also friends with billie as were the children who often went to see her at cafe society when she was playing downtown in '39 and '41. she had a strong connection with roosevelt which makes a lot of sense since we're having this symposium for her here today. in terms of bitter crop, my book is different from a lot of what has been said and written about billie in the past because that often portrays her as a victim or as a failure, and i see her quite differently, and depict her quite differently in my book. i see her for what she was. she was a powerful woman who overcame the hardships of her life to create a body of work that made her a preeminent jazz singer and ultimately an american icon so that's my take on billie holiday, and the other depictions of her that we've seen through the years are, you know, they're valid, i suppose, from that point of view, but i have a quite different point of view of her and that's what will be reflectioned ed in my book a reflected in the symposium today. obviously, strange is probably her most famous song and she recorded it in 1939, and i wanted to talk a little bit about the beginning about the song and how it came abo

eleanor. she was doing her radio shows from the white house. she was writing her columns. >> the various stages of like in the white house. >> is the roosevelt increase the public visibility of the white house to new levels, with world war ii comes a need for secrecy inside the mansion, and with it, a transformation of another room inside the home, in part due to one of the one of the most famous visits ever to the white house. >> in a dramatic redirection, the white house lets the nation in on an inspiring secret. winston churchill is here. after a daring 10 day trip from london, the british prime minister begins face-to-face conversations with president roosevelt. >> arriving only weeks after pearl harbor, he works with roosevelt, setting up temporary war headquarters inside the house. influenced by churchill's use of maps, fdr has his staff assemble his own war room inside the home. located next to the diplomatic reception room, here on the ground floor of the white house, and with his physician's office just on the other side, fdr's staff takes over what had been a low ceilinged ladies coat room and converts it into a hideaway office where he and

she had her own staff in the east wing and she was a bit like eleanor roosevelt and very much involvedn the day—to—day decision—making there wasn't much he didn't consult her on. sometimes for a president, having _ sometimes for a president, having that spouse is someone that you — having that spouse is someone that you can really confide in an obvious not for national security— an obvious not for national security purposes but terms of the one — security purposes but terms of the one person can trust above all else — the one person can trust above all else. you want a friend in washington, get a dog, the order— washington, get a dog, the order harriet truman statement. but for— order harriet truman statement. but forjimmy carter, that was some — but forjimmy carter, that was some comfort and he was the one who got— some comfort and he was the one who got ruth bader ginsburg elevated her as well and she eventually became under bill clinton — eventually became under bill clinton a supreme court justice. _ clinton a supreme court justice, even though she was deemed _ justice, even though