128 “general satisfaction . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 212.
129 “The party longs . . .”: Perkins, OH, Columbia University.
129 “Well, damn it . . .”: Grace Tully, F.D.R., My Boss (1949), p. 239.
129 “I suppose all the . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 213.
129 convention out of control: WP, July 19, 1940, p. 1.
129 “He not only wants . . .”: Perkins, OH, Columbia University.
129 “quite concerned . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 215.
129 ER arrival: NYT, July 19, 1940, pp. 1, 5.
129 Farley confided: Farley, Jim Farley’s Story, p. 299.
129 “which was just . . .”: Perkins, OH, Columbia University.
130 convention rose to its feet: NYT, July 19, 1940, p. 4.
130 “The rebel yells . . .”: ibid.
130 “It was agony . . .”: Perkins, OH, Columbia University.
130 “Poor Mrs. Wallace . . .”: ibid.
130 “The noise in the room . . .”: ER interview, Graff Papers, FDRL.
130 “meeting ground . . .”: J. William T. Youngs, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Public and Private Life (1985), pp. 99–100.
131 scene in president’s study: Parmet and Hecht, Never Again, p. 194; Burns, The Lion and the Fox, p. 429.
131 “As the fight got . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 215.
131 “Put that in shape . . .”: Ross McIntire, White House Physician (1946), p. 125.
131 “hamlike paw . . .”: ibid.
131 “until the Democratic party . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 216.
132 “Sam, give . . .”: ibid., p. 217.
132 “Fine, I’m glad . . .”: ibid., p. 216.
132 “Pa, I hope . . .”: ibid., p. 217.
132 “Pa Watson was almost . . .”: ibid.
132 “Oh, she can’t go . . .”: ER interview, Graff Papers, FDRL.
133 ER quietly rose: U.S. News, July 26, 1940, p. 9.
133 “Nobody could appreciate . . .”: WP, July 19, 1940, p. 1.
133 “No man who is . . .”: NYT, July 19, 1940, pp. 1, 5.
133 Genuine applause: Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, p. 623.
133 “above the petty . . .”: ibid., p. 624.
134 “weary and bedraggled . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 219.
134 Missy was in tears: ibid.
134 FDR’s acceptance speech: WP, July 19, 1940, pp. 1, 6.
134 “painful humbuggery . . .”: Hedley Donovan, Roosevelt to Reagan (1985), pp. 20–21.
134 ER on platform: Chicago Daily Tribune, July 19, 1940, p. 1.
135 “‘Her speech was . . .”: TIR, p. 218.
135 “You young things . . .”: Lash Diary, July 19, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.
135 “it had all been a dream . . .”: TIR, p. 218.
135 “What a schedule . . .”: Lash Diary, July 19, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.
135 “swamped with wires . . .”: Tommy to LH, July 25, 1940, LH Papers, FDRL.
135 “Your speech practically finished . . .”: AB to ER, July 19, 1940, Bernard Asbell, Mother and Daughter (1988), p. 121.
135 “Mrs. Roosevelt saved . . .”: AB to ER, July 22, 1940, box 59, Halsted Papers, FDRL.
135 “he is sulking . . .”: Tommy to LH, July 25, 1940, Halsted Papers, FDRL.
135 “Jim, I’m going to . . .”: Farley, Jim Farley’s Story, p. 317.
136 “Gosh. It seems hard . . .”: Tommy to LH, July 25, 1940, LH Papers, FDRL.
136 “was much like . . .”: MD, July 20, 1940.
136 “ . . . truly a magnificent person . . .”: Tommy to LH, July 25, 1940, LH Papers, FDRL.
CHAPTER SIX: “I Am a Juggler”
137 “I am a juggler . . .”: Ted Morgan, FDR: A Biography (1985), p. 550.
138 life in the capital that summer: NYT Magazine, July 28, 1940, p. 10.
138 “I shudder for the future . . .”: J. Garry Clifford and Samuel R. Spenser, Jr., The First Peacetime Draft (1986), p. 175.
138 electric fans bothered him: Samuel I. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt (1952), p. 204.
138 On July 16, Hitler: William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1981), p. 753; Martin Gilbert, The Second World War (1989), pp. 107–14.
138 “Mr. President . . .”: Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence (1984), vol. I, p. 57.
138 “the survival of the British . . .”: William M. Goldsmith, The Growth of Presidential Power, vol. III, Triumph and Reappraisal (1974), p. 1754.
139 “in all probability . . .”: ibid.
139 “It would have been too encouraging . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 225.
139 black-veiled matrons: Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 175.
139 “ . . . conscription might die . . .”: NYHT, April 3, 1940, p. 13.
139 “The President has taken . . .”: Stimson Diary, Aug. 1, 1940, Yale University.
139 Stimson’s cold sweat: Jay Pierpont Moffat, The Moffat Papers (1956), p. 327.
140 press conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940 (1941), pp. 317–21.
140 “It may very easily . . .”: FDR to L. B. Sheley, Aug. 26, quoted in Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 204.
140 “To tie it up . . .”: MD, July 11, 1940.
140 ER a dreamer: Lash Diary, Sept. 18, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.
140 “The way it was written . . .”: May Craig to ER, Aug. 6, 1940, “The Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1933–1945,” Susan Wars and William H. Chafe, eds., University Publications of America, 1986. Hereafter cited ER Microfilm Collection, FDRL.
140 “I am not bucking . . .”: ER to May Craig, Aug. 8, 1940, ER Microfilm Collection, FDRL.
140 “is simply a question . . .”: MD, Aug. 6, 1940.
140 “stupid beyond belief . . .”: NYT, Sept. 17, 1940, p. 25.
141 “We are all sorry to see . . .”: ibid.
141 “a dozen timid . . .”: Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 192.
141 “What Wendell Willkie thinks . . .”: ibid.
141 “like nothing a Republican . . .”: WP, June 28, 1940, p. 1.
141 On Willkie: NYT Magazine, June 28, 1940, p. 6.
142 “Nothing so extraordinary . . .”: Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diaries of Harold L. Ickes, vol. III, The Lowering Clouds, 1939–1941 (1954), p. 221.
142 “a momentous conference . . .”: Stimson Diary, Aug. 13, 1940, Yale University.
142 Acheson had: NYT, Aug. 11, 1940, p. 18.
142 Jackson on constitutional authority: Jackson to FDR, Aug. 27, 1940, Public Papers and Addresses, 1940, pp. 394–405.
142 cabled WC the good news: Churchill & Roosevelt Correspondence, vol. I, pp. 58–60.
143 “steal half the show”: Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 200.
143 FDR arrived in Ogdensburg: NYT, Aug. 17, 1940, p. 3; Aug. 18, 1940, p. 2.
143 “girls in their prettiest . . .”: NYT, Aug. 18, 1940, p. 3.
143 “The weather was beautiful . . .”: Stimson Diary, Aug. 17, 1940, Yale University.
143 drilling with broomsticks: NYT, Aug. 18, 1940, p. 3.
143 “They haven’t got the bodies . . .”: TP, Aug. 20, 1940, p. 7.
143 never fired a gun: NYT, Aug. 7, 1940, p. 3.
143 falling to the ground: NYT, Aug. 18, 1940, p. 3.
144 “The voluntary system . . .”: NYT, Aug. 23, 1940, p. 9.
144 “Let us not . . .”: NYT, Aug. 8, 1940, p. 3.
144 “The men themselves . . .”: Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 204.
144 “the radio in the President’s car . . .”: NYT, Aug. 18, 1940, p. 2.
144 Willkie’s reception in Elwood: NYHT, Aug. 18, 1940, pp. 1, 29; NYT, Aug. 18, 1940, p. 35; Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 194; Steve Neal, Dark Horse: A Biography of Wendell Willkie (1984), pp. 133–35.
144 “
Today we meet . . .”: NYT, Aug. 18, 1940, p. 33.
145 “He has a good voice . . .”: MD, Aug. 20, 1940.
145 “It was a brave speech . . .”: column from Aug. 21, 1940, paper unidentified, ER Microfilm Collection, FDRL.
145 Starling had train moved: Time, Aug. 26, 1940, pp. 11–12.
146 “He talked at random . . .”: Moffat, Moffat Papers, p. 325.
146 “Willkie is lost”: ibid.
146 “able and courageous . . .”: ibid., p. 327.
146 “had originally felt . . .”: J. W. Pickergill, ed., The Mackenzie King Record, vol. I, 1939–1944 (1960), p. 131.
146 “Almost with tears . . .”: ibid.
146 “a place of terror . . .”: Richard Collier, 1940: The World in Flames (1979), p. 210.
146 “perhaps today would mark . . .”: Moffat, Moffat Papers, p. 327.
146 “ . . . bargain or sale . . .”: Churchill & Roosevelt Correspondence, vol. I, pp. 63–64.
147 “Congress is going . . .”: Grace Tully, F.D.R., My Boss (1949), p. 244.
147 yellowish tint; “brooding about something . . .”: David E. Lilienthal, The Journal of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 1 (1964), p. 207.
147 “twenty odd jammed in . . .”: Time, Sept. 16, 1940, p. 11.
147 “the most important event . . .”: ibid.
147 “It is all over . . .”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and Addresses, 1940, p. 379.
147 “massive,-grey-headed . . .”: Time, Sept. 16, 1940, p. 11.
148 “the most dictatorial . . .”: James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956), p. 441.
148 “Note well the word . . .”: reprinted in NYT, Sept. 4, 1940, p. 13.
148 “If Mr. Roosevelt can . . .”: Clifford and Spenser, Peacetime Draft, p. 213.
148 “a decidedly unneutral act . . .”: Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, vol. II, Their Finest Hour (1949), p. 358.
148 “Let it roll on . . .”: ibid., p. 362.
148 “their four tunnels raking . . .”: BG, Sept. 4, 1940, p. 1.
148 “by the long arm . . .”: Churchill, Finest Hour, p. 368.
148 “There were coffee makers . . .”: Philip Goodhart, Fifty Good Ships That Saved the World (1965), pp. 194–95.
149 “We haven’t had . . .”: excerpts reprinted in WP, Sept. 4, 1940, p. 4.
149 “The President’s . . .”: ibid.
149 “exactly as a princess . . .”: Bess Furman, Washington By-Line (1949), p. 288.
149 On Martha and family: Patricia C. Bjaaland, The Norwegian Royal Family (1986), pp. 22–41.
149 “I cannot accept . . .”: Shirer, Rise and Fall, p. 705.
150 “It left the door . . .”: NYT, April 29, 1939, p. 1.
150 royal couple spent weekend: ibid., p. 9.
150 Martha’s escape to the U.S.: Time, Sept. 3, 1940, p. 28; Newsweek, Sept. 9, 1940, p. 19.
150 “brave words”: MD, Aug. 30, 1940.
150 “Martha would sit . . .”: interview with Trude Lash.
150 “Nothing is more pleasing . . .”: James Roosevelt, My Parents: A Differing View (1976), p. 17.
150 “at his sparkling best . . .”: James Roosevelt and Sidney Schalett, Affectionately, F.D.R. (1959), p. 22.
151 “adoringly . . .”: Joseph P. Lash, Love, Eleanor (1982), p. 399.
151 “She was a lot of fun . . .”: interview with Eleanor Seagraves.
151 “It became a kind . . .”: interview with Henry Morgenthau III.
151 “but the big bonfire . . .”: MD, Sept. 9, 1940.
151 “Mrs. Roosevelt loved . . .”: interview with Henry Morgenthau III.
151 bombers over London: Shirer, Rise and Fall, p. 780; London Times, Sept. 9, 1940, p. 4; Newsweek, Sept. 16, 1940, pp. 22–23.
151 “The London that we knew . . .”: Ben Robertson, I Saw England, (1941), p. 121.
151 Goering had decided: Shirer, Rise and Fall, pp. 774–80.
151 “A few more weeks . . .”: ibid., p. 777.
152 “no longer such things . . .”: Molly Panter-Downes, London War Notes, 1939–1945 (1971), pp. 98–99.
152 “The amazing part . . .”: ibid.
152 “human character can stand . . .”: Robertson, I Saw England, p. 130.
152 “vast smoky pall”: Newsweek, Sept. 16, 1940, p. 23.
152 “We are on the brink . . .”: NYT, Sept. 8, 1940, p. 8.
152 Empress Zita: NYT, July 21, 1940, p. 25.
153 “Sara was known . . .”: interview with Egbert Curtis.
153 Martha in Rose Suite: Victoria Henrietta Nesbitt, White House Diary (1948), pp. 253–54.
153 “ . . . a special character . . .”: interview with Milton Lipson.
153 “I don’t think . . .”: Martha to FDR, Aug. 6, 1941, box 21, Roosevelt Family Papers Donated by the Children, FDRL.
153 “There was no question . . .”: interview with James Roosevelt.
153 “the president’s girlfriend”: interview with Roberta Barrows.
153 “Early tried every way . . .”: interview with Walter Trohan.
154 “Martha and her lady-in-waiting . . .”: MD, Sept. 26, 1940.
154 “there was always a Martha . . .”: Lash, Love, Eleanor, p. 399.
154 “I can’t imagine . . .”: interview with Betsey Whitney.
154 flirting was the one thing: interview with Eleanor Wotkyns.
154 Missy was distraught . . .: interview with James Roosevelt.
154 “Absolutely not . . .”: interview with Barbara Curtis.
154 “Missy had me put . . .”: Lash, Love, Eleanor, p. 118.
155 William Bullitt: CB, 1942, pp. 122–25.
155 “He used to telephone her . . .”: interview with Barbara Curtis.
155 “the one real romance . . .”: James Roosevelt, My Parents, p. 107.
155 “ . . . Bullitt used Missy . . .”: interview with Henry Morgenthau III.
155 “I was very much amused . . .”: John Morton Blum, From the Morgenthau Diaries, vol. I, Years of Crisis, 1928–1938 (1959), p. 134
155 “I don’t know why . . .”: James Roosevelt, My Parents, p. 107.
155 “I remember that she . . .”: interview with Roberta Barrows.
155 “Nearer my age than father’s . . .”: James Roosevelt, My Parents, p. 106.
156 Anna admitted: interview with James Roosevelt.
156 “Are you always so agreeable? . . .”: Lash Diary, June 4, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.
156 In mid-July: John Morton Blum, From the Morgenthau Diaries, vol. II, (1965), p. 290.
156 “delay in enacting . . .”: Stimson Diary, Aug. 2, 1940, Yale University.
156 “no such harsh . . .”: I. F. Stone, The War Years, 1939–1945 (1988), p. 17.
156 “a lousy bill”: Blum, Morgenthau Diaries, vol. II, p. 293.
156 “the very kinds of . . .”: ibid., p. 295.
157 “a grave . . .”: ibid., p. 296.
157 “This is abandoning . . .”: Ickes, Secret Diaries, vol. III, pp. 210, 295–96.
157 “there was no clearcut . . .”: Lash Diary, Aug. 1, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.
157 “draft such capital . . .”: MD, Aug. 6, 1940.
157 “I, for one, am glad . . .”: MD, Aug. 30, 1940.
157 “ . . . should the government . . .”: Newsweek, Aug. 19, 1940, p. 38.
158 “There are a great . . .”: Stimson Diary, Aug. 26, 1940, Yale University.
158 “I regret to say . . .”: Ickes, Secret Diaries, vol. III, p. 295.
158 “I want a tax bill . . .”: Blum, Morgenthau Diaries, vol. II, p. 292.
158 “Leave the President alone . . .”: Lash Diary, Aug. 5, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.
158 “a liability into . . .”: R. Elberton Smith, The Army and Economic Mobilization (1959), p. 475.
159 A study: ibid., p. 413.
159 “We had to take industrial . . .”: ibid., p. 414.
159 Story of poker game: interview with Verne Newton.
C
HAPTER SEVEN: “I Can’t Do Anything About Her”
161 A. Philip Randolph: CB, 1940, pp. 671–73.
162 Mary McCleod Bethune: CB, 1942, pp. 79–81.
162 Walter White: ibid., pp. 888–90.
162 “by his being a colored man”: ibid., p. 888.
162 “I quite understand . . .”: Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin (1971), p. 522.
162 darkies: ibid.
162 “began to resemble . . .”: Harvard Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks, vol. 1 (1978), p. 60.
162 Under the AAA, NRA: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Roosevelt, vol. III, The Politics of Upheaval (1960), p. 431.
162 “Is it true . . .”: ER to HH, July 16, 1935, HH Papers, FDRL.
163 to sign executive order: Sitkoff, New Deal, vol. 1, p. 69.
163 Negroes share in New Deal: ibid., pp. 70–74.
163 “For the first time . . .”: ibid., p. 83.
163 ER in 1938 in Alabama: ibid., p. 64.
163 ER in 1939 and Marian Anderson: Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, p. 525.
163 “Blacks in the thirties . . .”: Nancy J. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln (1983), p. 157.
163 “I did not choose . . .”: Walter White, A Man Called White (1948), pp. 179–80.
164 “They were afraid . . .”: TIR, p. 164.
164 “Frankly, some of his messages . . .”: Early to Tommy, Aug. 5, 1935, Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, p. 518.
164 “If I were colored . . .”: ibid., p. 519.
164 “If you have any influence . . .”: Meldra Barber to MLH, June 4, 1940, PPF 3737, FDRL.
164 “The South is sick and tired . . .”: CR, 76th Cong., 3rd sess., Jan. 8, 1940, p. 130.
164 “No, certainly not . . .”: Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny (1990), p. 246.
164 ER represented the more generous: Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, p. 435.
164 photos of ER entertaining blacks: Sitkoff, New Deal, p. 95.
164 “I’m not for the Democrats . . .”: Weiss, Party of Lincoln, p. 292.
165 “When you start . . .”: ibid., p. 211.
165 Negroes to recruiting stations and figures in services: Jean Byers, “A Study of the Negro in Military Service,” War Department Study, June 1947, p. 67, given to the author by Jean Byers Sampson.
165 “forget our special grievances . . .”: W. E. B. Du Bois in Richard Polenberg, War and Society: The United States, 1941–1945 (1972), p. 100.