My Favorite Things: Roosevelt Edition

When I walk through the Roosevelt home, I envision Fala following me, leading me to his favorite spots. Fala takes me to the President’s office and runs in and jumps into HIS chair, calmly commanding the attention of all who enter. Fala listens intently as FDR delivers his Fireside Chat. I see Fala comforting the President as he leads the country through the dark days of WWII. Fala knows he is the First Dog and he carries out his duties, one of which is to greet the press corp. Fala, ever the public servant, meets the cameramen with the Scottish flare his adoring fans have come to expect. Fala bids adieu to his fans and heads back to the President’s side, awaiting his drive in the Presidential convertible. Fala, the proud First Dog, sits next to FDR taking in all that passes before them. As I leave the Presidential home, I imagine Fala at the door seeing me off. My new friend. President Truman once said if you want a friend in Washington get a dog. I have had many friends adopted from shelters, friends like Fala. I would say if you want a friend adopt a dog.

One particular summer I decided to take my grandchildren to Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-kill home. At the time, my grandson was 7 and his sister was 10. As we stood in the living room at Val-kill at the edge of the oriental rug, my grandson asked me, “Nana, do you think Eleanor Roosevelt stood exactly where I’m standing?” I told him she must have because this was her living room and she probably walked everywhere. There was an amazed look on his face and then he looked at the end table within arms reach.

Although all participants on the tour were asked not to touch any of the furnishings, my grandson reached over and placed one finger on the table. He then looked at me and said, “Nana, do you think Eleanor Roosevelt touched this part of the table?” I said, “She must have, Jake.” He then said, “I’m never going to wash this hand!”

I grew up in Poughkeepsie in the shadow of Franklin Roosevelt. As a child, Hyde Park was a world away. I knew that something was important and special about Hyde Park. While others swooned over Elvis, I was interested in FDR.

When I began to date my now wife, in 1968, I let her know right off the bat that I was a history geek. One of our first day-dates was an afternoon spent in FDR’s Presidential Library & Museum, where I proudly showed my then-new girlfriend the original “Day of Infamy Speech.” Don’t forget, in those days the speech was on public display. That memory stays in my mind as my favorite.

Eleanor’s two granddaughters: Eleanor “Ellie” Roosevelt Seagraves, the first granddaughter (Ann’s child) often photographed at the FDR White House, was such a great help to me when I was doing research for my book on Val-Kill. We frequently emailed and talked on the phone and my husband and I had lunch with her and her daughter and husband in her home outside Washington DC; I met Nina Roosevelt Gibson (John’s daughter) and her husband when she came to speak in North Carolina and we share many interests. Ellie and Nina agree Eleanor was a “wonderful” grandmother and Val-Kill in summers with her were “paradise.” Grandmere also took them on overseas trips. All of these personal experiences helped inform my understanding of Mrs. Roosevelt beyond historic research.

Louis McHenry Howe is one of my favorite players in the Roosevelt administration. What makes him unique is he was a key figure in both Franklin and Eleanor’s lives. Individually they were ordinary people, together their accomplishments were extraordinary. When FDR and Howe met they just simply clicked. Howe planned Franklin’s first presidential campaign and Franklin won by a landslide. Eleanor soon realized Louis’ talent as a political strategist. Howe encouraged her to be a political and outspoken First Lady. He realized once FDR had polio, Eleanor could be his eyes and ears helping with the campaign. These three individuals were pieces of a puzzle that fit into a perfect political landscape. Howe believed he could make Eleanor Roosevelt the first woman president.

I love walking the grounds. On the west side of the library in Freedom Court is a sculpture, entitled BreakFree, created by Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, Edwina Sandys. Edwina Sandys describes the sculpture as, “the physical embodiment of the Iron Curtain,” a term her grandfather coined. Actual panels of the Berlin Wall were used to create the sculpture.

I like hiking with a friend on the trails that go from the gardens down toward the Hudson River, past the ice pond, where I understand FDR would swim with his kids. The woods are beautiful and serene with ringing bird songs, tall tree trunks, and the beaver dam and resulting bog now blocking the old path to the river perch. I like to imagine FDR connecting with nature in this same place 130 years ago.

It is so difficult to choose a single favorite, but I love FDR’s oval office desk. I stop for 5 or 10 minutes every time I visit. Even more than in his home, I can feel his presence. I imagine him taking a cigarette from his cigarette case and lighting it with the ship wheel cigarette lighter as he answers his vintage telephone. How worn the desk chair is, with the seat collapsed in the center and the arms frayed. The donkeys and elephants of many shapes and materials on the desk show his great sense of humor. I, myself, covet the little black and white Scottie dog magnets!

The WAR! section is one of my favorite places in the museum. Like most boomers, my dad served in the Philippines and I grew up watching WWII movies, so I was always fascinated by Rosie the Riveter and Victory Gardens. So of course, I am drawn to everything WWII. But the real draw of this exhibit is that you can see the hard decisions being made, the challenges being faced one after the other, and the wearing down of a man. I always walk away thinking, thank goodness, this man was president and how much I wish we will one day have another great man lead us.

It started in the second grade. That year, my birthday coincided with the weekly “Show & Tell.” I brought from home the R volume of our encyclopedia, stood up in front of the class, opened the book to Roosevelt, Franklin D, and explained to my classmates who he was and why I chose that date to “educate” them. The date was (still is) January 30th (we’ll leave off the year).

Some decades later, unless prevented by severe weather or work, my husband and I have made a tradition of going to Hyde Park for the Library and Museum’s annual birthday commemoration. For a couple of years, the ceremony was followed by an invitation to dinner at the nearby Culinary Institute’s American Bounty Restaurant. One year stands out in which Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin and Eleanor’s granddaughter, hosted the evening. Somehow she was told that the night also was my birthday. I was surprised with a petite birthday cake for dessert.

That’s not all.

Ms. Roosevelt led all the attendees in the Roosevelt family toast, followed by a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

My feet didn’t touch the ground for quite a while afterward.

The Larooco Logbook. I was privileged to see the original, with all its funny drawings, pictures, and the hand-entered entries by FDR, Missy LeHand, and others. FDR’s handwriting is so hard to read that I was thrilled a few years ago when Karen Chase issued an edited and annotated transcription, FDR on His Houseboat (State University of New York Press, 2016).

Favorite place to visit on the Library and Museum grounds (other than the museum or house):

My mother’s parents nearly lost their home in Columbus, OH when her older brother fell ill and lingered, in and out of the hospital, for five years during the Great Depression. My grandparents chose to pay his medical bills, rather than mortgage payments. Their property went into foreclosure and was scheduled to be sold at sheriff’s auction in July 1935. At the last minute, through the intercession of their members of Congress, they were able to apply to FDR’s Homeowner’s Loan Corporation for relief. Their house was saved! Sadly, though, they lost their only son in June 1936, days shy of his 24th birthday.

My dad was the sixth born of nine children in a family who lived in rural Union County, OH. I somehow always understood that his folks were FDR fans, but when I finally asked Dad exactly why, I was amazed by his answer: “Because we got a new outhouse, thanks to Franklin Roosevelt (and one of his alphabet soups agencies)!” Who knew that a more sanitary, concrete block outdoor toilet would win that family over as lifelong Democrats?

Favorite thing in the Museum:

Actually my favorite spot is the bridge and bench at Val-Kill. Sitting on that bench over the years I have been visited by everyone from chipmunks to a very inquisitive deer. With all the activities and sometimes chaos that those grounds have witnessed I wonder if Eleanor and her many guests, family, and staff ever had the time to experience that peace of mind that sitting by that stream or anywhere away from the cottage offers. Did Eleanor ever just stop and listen to the birds or watch the squirrels play tag over the willows?

One of the things I find so special about the Library, as compared to other venues where historians give lectures and talks, is that audience members often have a personal connection to the people or incidents discussed. For example, when Susan Quinn gave a talk about her book, Eleanor and Hick, some audience members were Hick’s Hyde Park neighbors and they told stories about their experiences with her. Or, if grandson David Roosevelt was in the audience, he would often add a comment which personalized the topic under discussion.

One favorite spot at the FDR Home and Library is the gift shop [New Deal Store]! I spend a lot of time in there buying gifts for family and friends. The buyer there certainly has a bead on the tastes of those who visit this shop!

Frances Perkins. I admire all of her accomplishments. I like that she stayed Secretary of Labor through all of FDR’s presidential years. I enjoyed listening to her grandson [Tomlin Coggeshall] take part in the Library’s program, The New Deal Today: The Grandchildren Speak. I love the picture of Perkins and FDR having a great laugh together, and wonder what was so funny. They were a great team.

Favorite memory or experience involving the Roosevelts or the Library:

I enjoy being a docent and have so many experiences with interesting visitors to the Library. I think the most exciting experience was attending the Rededication of the Library, June 30, 2013. It was a beautiful, exciting day. I enjoyed all the speeches, met many of the authors I admire, and some Roosevelt family members. The new Library is fantastic and it was so exciting to help visitors find their way through it on the first official day it was open.

I’m a baby boomer, and my parents were of the Greatest Generation—15 and 14 years old when FDR first took office, and 27 and 26 when he died. Together they lived through the Great Depression, and were married for less than 3 months when Pearl Harbor changed their lives. My father served in the Navy during World War II.
Growing up, I heard again and again how they loved and admired Franklin Roosevelt, who was like a beloved father figure to them, as he was to so many. They visited his home in Hyde Park many times over the years after his death.

It’s been a dozen years since my parents passed on, and I moved to Hyde Park just 7 years ago from Brooklyn Heights. They never knew that I would come to live so close to FDR’s home. But whenever I visit the Library and Museum grounds, I feel that they are with me, and that I am representing them when I visit FDR’s graveside, my favorite place on the grounds.

I stand for a long time at the grave in silent reflection. Several times I’ve attended and photographed the graveside ceremony on FDR’s birthday. As I shiver in the January cold, I’m nevertheless warmed by the presence of World War II veterans like my father paying their respects to their Commander in Chief.

These visits bring me closer to my parents’ memory, and closer to the vital and momentous times in which they lived. When I was young, I used to feel sorry for my parents for having had to endure first the Great Depression and then World War II. But as I grew older, I actually came to envy them for living in a time when a President, who was loved and trusted and respected by so many, united America in common purpose.