“Eleanor Roosevelt started off almost every early article she wrote, starting with, "My mother was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen." And I think her life was a constant and continual and lifelong contrast with her mother.” ThinkingBeautifulMotherConstantStartingArticlesContrastBeautiful WomenLifelongEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“Eleanor Roosevelt never thought that she was attractive. She never thought that she was really sufficiently appealing. And I think her whole life was a response to her effort to get her mother to pay attention to her, to love her, and to love her as much as she loved her brothers.” ThinkingWholeMotherEffortPayAttentionBrotherResponseWhole LifePay AttentionAttractiveEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“She writes that one of the moments that she felt most useful was when her mother had a headache, and she would stroke her head and rub her forehead. And I think Eleanor Roosevelt's entire life was dedicated to two things: (one) making it better for all people, people in trouble and in need, like her family.” PeopleThinkingNeedsWritingTwoMomentsMotherFeltTroubleTwo ThingsDedicatedStrokesForeheadsHeadacheLike HerEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“I mean, her father was an alcoholic, and her mother was the suffering wife of a man who she could never predict what he would do, where he would be, who he would be. And it's sort of interesting because Eleanor Roosevelt never writes about her mother's agony. She only writes about her father's agony. But her whole life is dedicated to making it better for people in the kind of need and pain and anguish that her mother was in.” PeopleMenNeedsWritingKindMeanWholeWould BePainLife IsMotherSufferingFatherInterestingWifeWhole LifeDedicatedAgonyAnguishAlcoholicsEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“Her mother died at the age of 29, essentially turning her face to the wall and deciding to die. And so we can only imagine the agony she felt. And Eleanor Roosevelt really wanted to make her mother happier, and - and to make her live, you know, make her want to live. And there's something about, you know, when your mother dies, this sense of abandonment. I think Eleanor Roosevelt had a lifelong fear of abandonment and sense of abandonment after her parents' death.” ThinkingKnowsWantAgeWantedFacesMotherDiesFeltParentImagineWallDiedAgonyAbandonmentLifelongEleanorMother Died Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“I think that, very often there's a pain that's just too painful to touch. You'll break apart. And I think her mother's death and disappearance and abandonment was something she just never could deal with. Eleanor Roosevelt, when she's really very unwell in 1936, she takes to her bed. She has a mysterious flu.” ThinkingPainMotherDealsBreakBedPainfulMysteriousAbandonmentFluDisappearanceEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“Her [Eleanor Roosevelt] father was the love of her life. Her father always made her feel wanted, made her feel loved, where her mother made her feel, you know, unloved, judged harshly, never up to par. And she was her father's favorite, and her mother's unfavorite. So her father was the man that she went to for comfort in her imaginings.” KnowsMenFeelsMadeWantedMotherFatherHe ManComfortJudgedEleanorUnloved Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“And in her [Eleanor Roosevelt] letters, she writes the most, you know, fanciful letters: when we are together, and when we are reunited, and you know, I will be your surrogate wife. Of course she doesn't use that word, but I will be the mother to my brothers, and I will be your primary love.” KnowsWritingUseTogetherMotherCoursesWifeBrotherLettersPrimariesMy BrotherEleanorSurrogatesReunited Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“Well, when Eleanor Roosevelt's mother dies, she goes to live with her Grandmother Hall. And her Grandmother Hall is in mourning. She's in widow's weeds. She's in her 50s, but appears very old. And she's exhausted from raising rather out-of-control children. Her favorite daughter, Anna, has died (Eleanor's mother), and she has living at home two other sons, Vallie and Eddie. And they are incredible sportsmen, incredible drinkers, out-of-control alcoholics.” WellsChildrenTwoHomeMotherDiesSonDaughterDiedIncrediblesMourningGrandmotherHallsWeedExhaustedAlcoholicsWidowsAnnaDrinkersEleanorSportsman Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“And of course, FDR was very charming. At 6'2", he was tall enough to be her beau, and they made a beautiful couple. And she could encourage him. His mother also encouraged him. So this notion of a woman with ideas of her own and a spirit of her own and a style of her own was very congenial to Franklin. And he loved her. And their romance was a very dear and true and deep romance.” MadeIdeasEnoughBeautifulRomanceSpiritMotherCoursesStyleCoupleNotionDearTallCharmingFranklin Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“It's right around this time that her Grandmother Hall dies. And Eleanor Roosevelt is responsible for making all the funeral arrangements. And there are a couple of things that she really understands, as she contemplates her grandmother's life and makes the funeral arrangements. One, she's really talented, an organizational woman. She knows how to do things. She begins to compare her life to her grandmother's life. And it's very clear to her that being a devoted wife and a devoted mother is not enough.” KnowsEnoughMotherDiesKnow HowClearWifeCoupleResponsibleCompareGrandmotherHallsFuneralContemplatingDevotedArrangementsEleanorOrganizational Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“A lot of people say that Eleanor Roosevelt wasn't a good mother. And there are two pieces to that story. One is, when they were very young, she was not a good mother. She was an unhappy mother. She was an unhappy wife. She had never known what it was to be a good mother. She didn't have a good mother of her own. And so there's a kind of parenting that doesn't happen.” PeopleKindTwoStoriesHappensYoungMotherKnownPiecesWifeUnhappyEleanorGood Mother Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“And in the same way, FDR's not much of a father. Although the children in all their memoirs really talk about what a fun-loving guy Dad was, and how brooding and unhappy Mom was. The children sort of blame it all on the mother. Well, this is kind of standard and typical, and aggrieved Eleanor Roosevelt that she was not a happier mother. She wanted to be a happier mother. And I must say, she was a happier grandmother.” WayWellsKindChildrenWantedMotherGuyFatherFunMomDadStandardsBlameUnhappyMemoirGrandmotherTypicalBroodingEleanorFun Loving Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“One of the things for me, as a biographer, that is so significant is for Eleanor Roosevelt - the child who never had a home of her own, who lives in her grandmother's home and then goes to school and then gets married and lives in her mother-in-law's homes, and then in public housing (like the White House and the State House) - housing becomes for Eleanor Roosevelt the most important issue.” ChildrenImportantStatesHomeSchoolLawMotherHouseWhiteIssuesMarriedSignificantGrandmotherWhite HouseHousingIn-lawsEleanorImportant IssuesMother In LawBiographersPublic Housing Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
