“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
“Well, the reality of her father was that he was a very diseased alcoholic, who died at the age of 34. And one always has to pause to wonder how much you have to drink to die at 34. And he was a really tragic father. I mean, he was absolutely unreliable. He was absolutely involved with various people. He had outside families, outside children, outside wives. He made his wife's life miserable. And she [Eleanor Roosevelt]ignored all of his faults and retained this sense of him as the perfect father.” PeopleWellsMeanChildrenMadeRealityAgeDiesFatherPerfectWonderWifeInvolvedDrinkDiedFaultsVariousMiserableTragicPausesIgnoredAlcoholicsUnreliableEleanorDiseasedPerfect Father 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
“Well, the fact is, we can never know what people do in the privacy of their own rooms. The door is closed. The blinds are drawn. We don't know. I leave it up to the reader. But there's no doubt in my mind that they loved each other, and this was an ardent, loving relationship between two adult women.” PeopleKnowsMindWellsTwoFactsRoomsDoubtDoorsReaderAdultsNo DoubtPrivacyArdentLoving Relationships Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“I think that Eleanor Roosevelt really learned about the limits of power and influence from Arthurdale. She could not make some things happen. And she particularly learned that she could not, just because she was nominally in charge, she could not change people's hearts and minds; that a very long process of education would result before race was on the national agenda. And it really did move her into the racial justice arena with both feet. She came out fighting.” PeopleThinkingMindHeartLongHappensMovingFightingProcessJusticeResultsRaceFeetInfluenceLimitsThings HappenAgendasHeart And MindArenaEleanorRacial Justice Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
