Chapt Twenty-One- Reluctant Savior

Chapter 21

Reluctant Savior

A Mother Goes to the U.N.

While conventional wisdom stewed over wood stoves all over rural America, and urban savvy evaporated in cocktail bars and country clubs from coast to coast, Eleanor packed her bags. There was great shock and dismay at President Truman's choices for the United Nations. The very idea of the United Nations was quite questionable, the culmination of a generation of failed hopes, once dreamed and broken under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson, abandoned and then resurrected after the Germans and Japanese had finally been subdued, at great cost. One more war like that could destroy the world. The civilized world had to try, with its greatest minds, to carve out world peace. But Eleanor Roosevelt?

Eleanor mashed her dresses down in her suitcase one more time. A Russian-English dictionary would be useful. She would not need much makeup, just a little face powder. Pens and pencils, and plenty of paper were put in any cavity available. Her hair was cut short, no need for a lot of curlers. She would need some comfortable shoes, but she was running out of room. She might be able to stuff in that thick packet sent over from President Truman... London would be cool in the evenings... perhaps a sweater would squeeze into her handbag. The phone rang, it was a concerned friend, with one more argument about why she should stand down this time...

Of course she was in over her head. Anybody would be. But few people were any more prepared for this assignment. Years of listening and counseling with Franklin had taught her a great deal about the strategies of diplomacy. The most important message that America had to send was its commitment to world peace; Its regret about using the Nuclear option, its willingness to work with the community of nations to establish a lasting dialog to prevent another world war, and thus eliminate the need to ever use nuclear weapons again. 

Who better to represent that message than the wife of the world leader who came to the rescue of many free countries- from Europe to the Philippines? The symbolic mother of the free world. She was just obedient enough to try to please her President, and naive enough to try. And besides, there were others, all men, going with her who had plenty of practical experience. The delegation needed one last ingredient to be viable: a woman's touch

It had been a slow process, like the formation of a stalagmite in a remote cave, but Eleanor Roosevelt was ready to show, however humbly, that she too was a Roosevelt, in fact the favorite niece of the flamboyant Roosevelt who charged San Juan Hill. The country had no idea about her. She admitted that up until this time, “I had erected someone outside myself who was the President's wife.” But many years later she confessed in her autobiography that she was a bit like her uncle, Teddy Roosevelt, who relished in a fight. The Rednecks and the blue bloods, the battle-weary Brits, and even the Russians would soon find out. Besides, mothering four soldiers during that war was enough preparation for anyone.

Behind the wallflower-

 burned a world-changer:

The knowledge that courage and 

problem-solving was within.

(portrait of young Eleanor is a 

detail from author's tintype)

Eleanor Roosevelt was always a controversial figure. People seemed to be in two camps, either adoring her, or despising her. It was partly politics, which can be very brutal. But it was also a bi-product of class rivalry. Americans have always been dubious about the wealthy, and most of the country had always been contemptuous towards New England aristocracy. The Roosevelts knew this and Teddy and his brother Elliott, Eleanor's father, spent a great deal of time in the West proving themselves in rural Midwestern communities; Ranches, wilderness hunting lodges, places where western legends had made names for themselves. They donned boots and big hats and hunted and drove livestock and ranched and grew mustaches... Even if they were sons of privilege, they were also chameleons and masters of ingratiation.

So Eleanor understood, had been bred for such a challenge, and knew what she had to do to be successful. There would be no mustache... no broncs to ride, but she had within her the same kind of fire and determination. And as a mother, she would much rather be stretching her abilities and charging the hill for International peace, rather than herding cattle on the high plains- or burying her sons or grandchildren. Eleanor had successfully avoided the press concerning much of her private life, her closest relationships, her farthest personal adventures, and Americans did not discern her fierce eccentricities; Her independence forged early from orphanhood; or her cunning in escaping their most devoted scrutiny. They had not followed her through her clandestine travels, gallavanting around New England, driving her own Buick, acquiring and managing a colonial-style furniture factory in the Appalachian Mountains New York. The Press and thus the public had been distracted trying to keep pace with her husband, who had deftly shrouded his own secrets.

With Franklin gone and her children grown, Eleanor had for the first time, a chance to step into her own skin. Facing daily temptation to fall into grief, or boredom, she knew she would be better off with some kind of meaningful project: “...my philosophy has been that if you have work to do and do it to the best of your ability you will not have much time to think about yourself.”

It goes without saying, but being sent by the President to establish the United Nations was one of her greatest honors. She wrote that serving at the UN was “...one of the most wonderful and worthwhile experiences in my life.” She considered her contribution to the establishment of the Human Rights Commission, her “most important task,” and the subsequent creation of the International Bill of Rights to have been the highlight of her life.

So it was almost inconsequential to her if there was begrudging acknowledgment by most Americans, that Eleanor Roosevelt, gangling and unattractive and socially awkward, would have the guts to go, to speak anywhere for that matter. Those were historic days when Americans wanted their heroes glamorous, and their women pretty- with heels and nylon stockings. And they were supposed to stay at home. Women had no business in business, in men's minds, and especially in politics, or anything important. But American women had been introduced to men's jobs and meaningful employment during the labor shortage in World War II, and there was no going back. And Eleanor was already way ahead in that regard, having been first lady for over a decade, and having seen the country through a terrible depression and a bloody world war.

Looking back at his decision, we can only wonder, did President Truman know that by appointing a trusted friend and ally, he was making history by putting a woman on the delegation to organize the United Nations?

Harry Truman was most famous for his quote, when asked about the unpleasantness and pressure of political office, he replied, “If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!” He was the epitome of a resolute man between the rock and a hard place, having to make extremely hard, historic decisions. He obviously thought Eleanor could stand the heat. Truman tapped into a heretofore unexplored reservoir of talent, as Eleanor Roosevelt blazed the trail for American women in high-profile administrative government service.

Neither of the two could have possibly understood the significance and symbolism of her recruitment, for generations of women. And it also served as an inspiration for women in every country in the world, from that day on. Later Eleanor would be elected so many times as the most admired and influential woman in the country- and the world, that announcing it became a mundane annual event... thirteen times. Of course she was. Who else? Queen Elizabeth was quite young in those days. Few women would ever hold a close second to her position as the matriarch of Western Culture. It took beautiful, elegant Jackie Kennedy to knock her off of the top.

Still, Eleanor had to win her political victories like a ninja fighting her way through a maze. A mother on a mission, she fearlessly engaged with the Media, the Right Wing, the Communists and the oligarchs.

One of Eleanor's most overlooked struggles was her running battle with the Republicans. Very tall, yet stoop-shouldered, with a wide toothy smile which suggested ignorance and simplicity, she was always a tempting target for partisan detractors. And they were ruthless. In her biography she casually mentioned various Republican antics which were designed to humiliate her or embarrass her husband. Often originating from untraceable sources, they were an irresponsible, unseen enemy, so their creativity and persistence became her greatest adversary. She wrote of her frustration with totally unfounded “word on the street,” like when the opposing party planned to warn voters that polio victims like her husband were susceptible to insanity. Roosevelt haters were quick to repeat this fallacy. The indignant Roosevelts were forced to line up the doctors to refute such devilish untruths.

Over the years Eleanor became toughened towards such cheap shots. One erroneous account claimed that President Roosevelt had forgotten Fala his dog, on the Aleutian Islands, and was already out to sea, and he required the United States warship he was on to go back to retrieve him. Such hearsay and apocrypha became typical flak from his weak and jealous adversaries, who knew better than to challenge either of the Roosevelts on a visible line of scrimmage.

After FDR was dead, the Republicans aimed their missiles of misinformation directly at her. Taken as a whole, they were nothing but a professional hatchet job, on a relatively harmless woman. But she was always ready to defend her actions or words, if she was given a chance. The Republicans were never so courageous, but preferred to plant hurtful lies in reporters after she had left a place- and she had no idea about what the newspapers had said until weeks later. She had been appointed by Mayor La Guardia to help New York organize civilians during the war effort, and the suspicions and accusations flew. She was forced to step down. Whenever she got involved in anything, those causes suddenly became suspect. When she contributed to the Red Cross, Red Cross leaders were concerned for their public image and the possibility of losing donors. The war had everyone on the offensive, and irrational suspicions and hatred reigned in some parts of the country. The Media seemed to stir up more controversies than it calmed. Harmony is the antithesis of news.

Eleanor was a class act and took it all in stride. Years in the White House had prepared her and made her a quiet but happy warrior. She owned her mission, and she knew she was on the right side of history, and had learned long ago that you have your enemy nearly beaten if they are depending on cheap shots and character assassination to discredit you.

The more Eleanor strived and succeeded, the less and less her detractors could find an audience. Finally there came a day when Democrats and Republicans, all Americans recognized the invaluable contribution she had made to our country, and to our world.