Eleanor and Franklin

"So many books were written about Eleanor Roosevelt—for instance, Doris Goodwin’s wonderful No Ordinary Time and Blanche Wiesen Cook ’s two volumes, which took us until the cusp of World War II. But no book surveyed all 12 of her White House years, until Joseph Lash wrote Eleanor and Franklin. Lash covers her life up to the death of Franklin. He also wrote a second volume, Eleanor: the Years Alone , about her global role and her role in Democratic politics during the post-World War II era. When Lash wrote, he was limited by the public records then available. And he was a part of the story. As a representative of the American Students Union he was accused of being a communist; Mrs Roosevelt rose to his defence. This is a highly readable and engaging story. It really shows that this was a complicated union between two people who loved each other, shared each other’s values, and made a lifelong commitment to each other—even though they were no longer physically intimate or sexually compatible. Dolly Madison, the spouse of the fourth president, didn’t get paid and didn’t have an official title, but she became a very important symbol of the early days of the Republic. After her husband died, she always appeared at public events, which was very unusual, given the role of women in the 19th century. And then there was Frances Cleveland, the Princess Diana of her age. She was 21 when she got married at the White House in 1886. During World War I she gave speeches and helped rally the public. But Eleanor was the first first lady to have a prominent public policy role—that role was thrust upon her by President Truman. He recognised her analytical capacity and her passion for humanitarian causes. In 1945 he appointed her to be a delegate to the nascent United Nations, where she became the first chair of the Commission on Human Rights."