is not only a wonderful storyteller but a very fast talker, so allida, there's a debate among historians about franklin roosevelt and civil rights and maybe you -- when he became president, he faced a country that was not only facing depression, but was a seg gated nation. and like president kennedy and others, he faced conservative leaders in congress and within his own party and so as he was trying to put forth legislation, if he moved too quickly on integration in terms of some of that legislation, that could have held back some of his other legislative accomplishments. so give us the quick gloss of franklin roosevelt and civil rights. >> this is like doing my whole life in 15 seconds, just so you know. [ laughter ] >> well, i think first of all, we have to remember that the democratic party was profoundly southern and a western party so when roosevelt comes into office he has not yet realigned the party to become the party that we all know today, but so it's quite interesting to me that some of the things that immediately happened with the staff that he picks.

so far. can you say more about this? >> yes. and what i'm talking about there is as allida black has so wonderfully laid out, eleanor was an ally, but one of the things about these alliances, and that is absolutely essential in understanding movement, and understanding these -- these freedom strategies, is that your allies can take you so far, they can only go so far, and if you're relying upon your ally to go this far, because what the naacp was counting on, because she was a member of the naacp board of directors, and w.e.b. dubois had pulled together a fabulous petition to the u.n. called an appeal to the world, where he pulled together top school ears, legal school ears, socialists, his tore tans to document the systematic violation of human rights for african-americans since the founding of this nation, and because no government entity within the u.s. was willing to fully address these issues, the naacp took it to the u.n. this is 1947. this would be the beginning of the cold war, and in that cold war frame, eleanor roosevelt was not about to allow this dirty laundry t

allida is a real leader in education around, and we're so grateful she could be here today and hope you come back and join us often. the same is the same for our third panelist, amity shales who serves as director of the george w. bush institute for progress. she's also a syndicated columnist for bloomberg news and author of a forthcoming book on calvin coolidge that will be the definitive biography of that very definitive body and overlooked president, an economics history we're very lucky to have amity as part of our panel and finally we have our moderator cokie roberts. cokie, as i'm sure you all know, is an internationally acclaimed journalist who has won so many awards, including three emmys, in the broadcasting and cable hall of fame and was cited by american radio and television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting. author of two works especially relevant to our topic today, "founding mothers" and "ladies of liberty." cokie, a real honor to have you here, and with that i'll turn the proceedings over to you. thank you, thank you so much. thank you. >> wel