Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way by Robin Gerber

Author:Robin Gerber [Gerber, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101551172
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2003-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

Communicate from Your Heart

Columnists, even some who disliked Eleanor, admitted that her style and public presence helped the president. They were astonished that after her speeches she subjected herself to grueling questions and handled them so ably. Eleanor regularly took written questions passed up by the audience and read them aloud. At a lecture in Akron, Ohio, in 1938, she got an unexpectedly harsh inquiry. “Do you think your husband’s illness has affected your husband’s mentality?” Eleanor read with no apparent show of emotion. “I am glad that question was asked,” she said, as the audience seemed to hold its breath. “The answer is yes. Anyone who has gone through great suffering is bound to have a greater sympathy and understanding of the problems of mankind.” The audience rose in a standing ovation.

Eleanor’s own sympathy and understanding overflowed, leading her to communicate in ways that were previously unimaginable for a first lady. In 1933, for example, a group of rag-tag World War I veterans marched into Washington for the second year in a row, demanding payment of their veterans’ bonuses. The year before, President Hoover had ordered tanks and tear gas to blast them out of the squatters’ shacks they had occupied. FDR opposed the bonuses too, instead encouraging the men to go to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) for a dollar a day. Insulted by the offer, the men grew more incensed. They settled uneasily into an encampment at Fort Hunt, about twelve miles from Washington. Eleanor encouraged FDR to arrange a meager campsite and meals for the veterans. FDR had even driven out to the camp, waving from his car and ordering hot coffee for all, but the situation remained tense.

Louis Howe talked to the veterans’ leaders daily, and he came up with an idea. He suggested to Eleanor that she accompany him on a visit to the “bonus army”—as the veterans had come to be known. But when they arrived at the campsite, Howe stayed in the car. The first lady waded into the ankle-deep mud, hesitant but prepared to face the men alone. She told them she had no answer for their demands but had come to see how they were getting on. They walked her around the barracks and hospital, ending up in the mess hall, where Eleanor gave an impromptu speech. She talked of her work in the canteens, of visiting the battlefields after the war. “I never want to see another war. I would like to see fair consideration for everyone, and I shall always be grateful to those who served their country.” Then she led the men in singing some of their favorites songs, such as the sentimental tune “There’s a Long, Long Trail.” She departed to cheers. Until Eleanor visited, the men didn’t believe “there was a dime’s worth of difference between Hoover and Roosevelt,” according to historian Blanche Wiesen Cook. Within a few days, they had dispersed, more than twenty-five hundred of them eventually taking jobs with the CCC.

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