“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
“Eleanor Roosevelt's very helpful to a lot of children who cannot speak French, who do not write well. And Marie Souvestre is fierce. She tears up students' papers that are not, you know, perfect. And Eleanor Roosevelt goes around, again, being incredibly helpful to children in need, children in trouble. And her best friends are the naughtiest girls who are in trouble. And she is a leader. And she is encouraged to be a leader. And everybody falls in love with her. She's a star.” KnowsNeedsWritingWellsChildrenFallGirlSpeakStarsPerfectLeaderTroubleStudentsTearsPaperFalling In LoveHelpfulFiercePapersEleanorMarieSpeaks French Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“So in 1924, Eleanor Roosevelt really gets a sense of what the limits of the battle and the contours of the battle are going to be. The men are contemptuous of the women, and the women really need to organize. She writes an article which becomes an article she writes in different ways over and over and over again: Women need to organize. They need to create their own bosses. They need to have support networks and gangs so that they are a force.” MenWayNeedsWritingDifferentForceSupportHe ManBattleLimitsDifferent WaysBossArticlesOrganizeGangEleanorContemptuous Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“Politics is not an isolated, individualist adventure. Women really need to emerge as a power to be the countervailing power to the men. And Eleanor Roosevelt's really the dynamo and the spearhead of that effort.” MenNeedsEffortHe ManAdventureIsolatedEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“By 1938, Eleanor Roosevelt was so angry at FDR's policies, she writes a book called This Troubled World. And it is actually a point-by-point rebuttal of her husband's foreign policy. We need collective security. We need a World Court. We need something like the League of Nations. We need to work together to fight fascism. We need embargoes against aggressor nations, and we need to name aggressor nations. All of which is a direct contradiction of FDR's policies.” WorldNeedsWritingBookTogetherFightingNamesNationsSecurityPolicyHusbandDirectAngryCourtLeagueContradictionCollectivesWorking TogetherFascismForeign PolicyEleanorAggressorsLeague Of NationsRebuttalCollective Security Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
